Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced the first 15 contenders for the UK Town of Culture competition, aiming to shift cultural investment and engagement beyond London. The announcement comes as part of a government initiative intended to address long-standing disparities in arts funding and participation across the country.

The competition, which concludes in 2028, will award £3 million to the winning town to support a year-long cultural season designed to “showcase, empower and celebrate” local heritage and creativity. Two additional towns will receive £250,000 each to deliver smaller cultural projects. The initiative builds on the model established by the City of Culture competition launched in 2009 under former culture secretary Andy Burnham.

Nandy expressed concern over the concentration of cultural resources in London, highlighting the need for national institutions to engage more actively with young people in towns such as Wigan and Barnsley. She described current funding patterns as demonstrating “huge imbalances” in favor of the capital and emphasized the goal of reintegrating towns into “our national story.”

The culture secretary also raised the issue of ongoing funding challenges faced by national museums, which have experienced reduced public funding over recent years. She indicated that the government is reviewing the sustainability of the current policy of free admission for foreign visitors to major London museums, including the National Gallery, Natural History Museum, and Tate Modern.

“In an ideal world we would keep access open to everyone for free,” Nandy said, “but at the moment we don’t have that situation because the costs of getting to London for lots of people across the UK are prohibitive.” She acknowledged that while free entry helps connect people to British culture, more effort is needed to extend such opportunities to children growing up outside of London’s cultural hub.

The competition and potential policy changes come amid broader efforts by the Labour government to rebalance cultural investment and promote regional participation in the arts. Nandy conveyed pride in the steps taken so far to “tilt” arts funding away from London and expressed hope that increased support for towns would foster greater cultural inclusion across the UK.