HULL'S winning bid to become the UK's City of Culture could kickstart a new era of prosperity for Hull, according to the Culture Minister.
Maria Miller, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, visited an elated Hull today after the city was announced as the country's City of Culture for 2017.
On a whistlestop tour of some of city's most thriving arts venues, Mrs Miller, described the Hull bid as "tremendous" adding that it had all the right ingredients to provide a #8220;superb" year of culture.
Walking between the new independent galleries that have sprung up on Humber Street, before dropping in to see live band at Fruit, Mrs Miller said she was looking forward to seeing the bid taking shape in the next four years.
"This is brilliant news for Hull and everyone involved in the bid there," she said. "This year's UK City of Culture, Derry-Londonderry, demonstrates the huge benefits that the title brings.
"These include encouraging economic growth, inspiring social change and bringing communities together.
"It can produce a wonderful mix of inward investment and civic pride and I hope Hull's plans will make the most of all that being UK City of Culture can bring."
She said the passionate public support behind the bid had played its part in convincing the judges Hull was the right candidate to take on the cultural mantle.
She said: "I think the Hull bid was absolutely tremendous and it demonstrated that the whole of the city and its people were behind it.
"It clearly sets out that Hull is a place that has great heritage and culture but that it also has a bright future too.
"The programme that the Hull team have put together will clearly give the whole community as chance to become more involved in the city's culture and I really look forward to seeing that develop in the next few years."
The minister added that she had followed Hull's progress from rank outsider to winning city with interest in the past year.
"It's been really interesting to see the momentum that has been growing behind the Hull bid," she said.
"Now it will be great to see all the excitement that winning the City of Culture can bring to Hull."
Mrs Miller acknowledged that Hull's claim that it needed the title more than the other cities may have played a part in landing the deal.
She said: "The bid was looked at by an independent panel who made their own decision but, for me, reading the bid it was clear that all the community was involved and that there would be a significant legacy left behind for the city which is crucial.
"It's recognised that Hull is a city that has faced many challenges down the years but now wants to take itself out of the shadows and put a spotlight on all the great things that are going on here."
Flanking the minister was judging panel chairman and proud Liverpudlian Phil Redmond who, after refusing the shake the hand of the reporter from The Sun, decided to buy a couple of prints from the Studio Eleven Gallery.
He said the word that kept coming back to him from the bid process was "Hullness".
Hullness, said the silver haired writer, was very much like being a Scouser.
"Hullness was the word that they kept using throughout the presentation and, to me, it reminded me of talking about being a scouser.
"It's about having the passion, the hunger and the creativity for something and getting on and doing your own thing no matter what anyone outside thinks.
"It's about recognising that Hull has a great past but also that's it's also time to move on to something new and exciting.
"It was the same feeling when Liverpool bid to be European City Of Culture, and the same feeling we got from Derry when they bid to be City Of Culture back in 2010.
"It was a belief in their own city and a desire to tell the world a new story about what there city had to offer.
"Hull is the next one to take on that baton – and it will be hard work."
Mr Redmond, who created TV shows such as Brookside and Grangehill, also paid tribute to the other three finalist cities, Dundee, Leicester and Swansea.
"There was real understanding and appetite from all four short-listed cities for the sort of transformational change that a year of culture can bring," he said.
"But ultimately it was the unanimous verdict of the panel that Hull put forward the most compelling case based on its theme as 'a city coming out of the shadows'.
"This is at the heart of their project and reminds both its people and the wider world of both its cultural past and future potential.
"We were particularly impressed with Hull's evidence of community and creative engagement, their links to the private sector and their focus on legacy, including a commitment to enhance funding beyond 2017 and I'd like to congratulate all involved."
