Tourism News Section
Tourism Team Joined Campaign to Make Colchester ‘Most Musical City'!
In May the tourism team joined the campaign to make Colchester Britain's Most Musical City. The campaign, was organised by the Arts Council, and offered people the opportunity to choose the nation's most musical place.
Ten cities from across the country were short-listed at http://www.mostmusicalcity.co.uk/ by the Arts Council's ‘Take it away' scheme, which makes musicianship accessible and affordable for all.
Celebrity ambassadors for each city, including Sting, Jamelia and Richard Hawley, led the debate for the Most Musical City. Colchester's celebrity ambassador was Dave Rowntree of Blur. Dave commented on the website: "Colchester may not boast as many artists as some of the other cities, but music is about quality not quantity, which is why you should vote for the outsider and choose Colchester as the Most Musical City.
Commenting on the campaign, the Council's Visitor Services Officer, Claire Taylor, said: "Colchester has a very strong musical tradition. It is great to have the town linked with such talent as Blur, Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, Steve Harley and more recently, Koopa."
"But it's not just pop music." She added: "Colchester has an impressive range of musical events across to appeal to all tastes from concerts at St Botolph's Church, The Rotary Music Festival, the open air Concerts in the Park, the Roman River Music Festival, regular Jazz nights to the strong relationship the town has with the Oscar-winning Academy of St Martin in the Fields. It's also a great place for creating music as the Colchester New Music Festival shows. This musical vibrancy makes Colchester very attractive to live, work and visit."
The ten cities competing to win were: Birmingham; Brighton; Bristol; Colchester; Leicester; Liverpool; London; Manchester; Newcastle; and Sheffield.
Mary-Alice Stack, Development Manager, Arts Council England said: "Music is at the centre of our culture, one of our greatest exports and an endless source of debate. Strong contenders for the title of Most Musical City are Manchester, Liverpool and London, but with the winner to be decided by public vote, the competition is wide open." The winning city was announced in June and Colchester came 9th with Liverpool winning the title.
Colchester is recognised as a burgeoning hub for the arts and has ambitions to develop as an even more prestigious regional centre. Around £3bn is currently being invested in four regeneration areas around the town which will bring more jobs, more opportunities for local businesses and more opportunities for creativity.