Professor Glenn Burgess, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Hull and Hull 2017 Board Member, said: “Hull’s UK City of Culture year delivered a high-quality programme and a strong visitor welcome which has left audiences with an overwhelmingly positive impression of the city. The city has capitalised well on the boost being City of Culture has provided, delivering positive social impacts and building its cultural infrastructure significantly right across the city. 2017 is the foundation for what comes next for Hull. The onus is now on Hull to build upon the success of the year and continue to develop a vibrant cultural city – I have every confidence that it will do so.”
Professor Franco Bianchini, Director of the University of Hull’s Culture, Place and Policy Institute, said: “The evaluation of Hull’s UK City of Culture year is one of the first major pieces of work for the institute which researches the impacts of cultural activities across a range of areas including the economy, the sustainability of the arts sector, health and wellbeing. Our hope is that our evaluation of Hull’s City of Culture will help inform the design and implementation of the post-2017 legacy strategy and help make Hull a blueprint for cities considering cultural investment as a tool for urban development.”
Katy Fuller, who was recently appointed Creative Director at Culture Company, which as Hull 2017 was set up to deliver a world-class, 365-day cultural programme for the city's transformative year, said: "This early evaluation shows that Hull being UK City of Culture touched the lives of almost everyone living here. It increased the already fierce pride in their city and changed perceptions here and across the country.
"That it has had an impact on the bottom line is fantastic, but most important is how it has empowered people, as audiences, participants and artists. It offered unparalleled opportunities for artists to take risks, try new things and flex their creativity due to the huge number of new commissions. I believe this has had a direct impact on the levels of audience engagement, resulting, as it does, in work which is relevant, resonant and truly reflects the context.
"The vision of Hull City Council and support from the many funding and creative partners cannot be overstated and this continued working together will be critical to the future success of this great city, economically and as a centre for culture and creativity. We are passionately committed to playing our part in this vision for the future."
Hull City Council Leader, Councillor Stephen Brady said: “
“The evaluation demonstrates that our investment in City of Culture and in culture-led regeneration has paid off. It is incredibly encouraging to see that 800 jobs have already been created in the cultural and visitor sector as a direct result of the unprecedented public and private sector investment in Hull’s cultural and visitor offer.
“The impact our City of Culture journey has had on local people has been just as remarkable. Levels of participation and pride within the city have exceeded all of our expectations, with the opportunities for local people to get involved enriching and improving people’s lives in ways we could not have imagined when we decided to bid.
“The project has also resulted in soaring confidence in Hull from outside the city, and we know that there is more investment to come
“Our legacy plans have been in place since 2013 and we are already on our way to fulfilling them with the 3,500 seat music and conference centre Hull Venue due to open this summer, detailed plans for Yorkshire’s Cruise Terminal in development, a £27million project to create a new visitor attraction around the city’s Maritime History, and the continuation of our existing strong programme from our existing cultural institutions, as well as more major art commissions from the newly formed Culture Company, who will ensure Hull stays on the international culture map.
“I would like to thank Hull University’s Culture, Place and Policy Institute for this incredibly in-depth and thorough piece of work that will help us to further understand the impact of our year in the spotlight and help to shape our bright future.”
The preliminary outcomes evaluation includes data gathered from sources including an annual resident survey, UK-wide perception research, a survey of businesses across Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire, field research with attendees of the main programme events and in-depth consultations with cultural stakeholders.
For further information, visit the Culture, Place and Policy Institute.
The full report can be downloaded here.
The summary document can be found here.
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[1] Official visitor numbers for 2017 will be released in the autumn.