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Grantham 2028 Town of Culture Bid
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Why Grantham?
Grantham is a town with a national story and a local heartbeat, from ideas that changed the world to everyday creativity that brings people together.
Grantham is a town that has shaped the national story quietly but profoundly.
It is where Isaac Newton was educated and began the thinking that transformed science and the modern world. It is also a town built on engineering, industry and innovation, with a legacy that reaches far beyond Lincolnshire.
World-leading industrial firms such as Aveling-Barford and Ruston & Hornsby helped shape modern infrastructure, heavy engineering and wartime production. Alongside them, companies including BMARCo, Coles Cranes, Barfords and Wiseman’s employed generations of skilled workers and helped build Britain’s post-war economy.
This is a culture rooted in making things, solving problems and taking pride in skilled work. A tradition that continues today through modern manufacturers like Fruehauf.
Grantham has also produced figures who shaped national and international life.
Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s first female Prime Minister, was born and educated here. Her legacy remains contested locally, but her global impact is undeniable. It is part of Grantham’s story, and one the town tells honestly.
Alongside these global contributions sits everyday culture: a centuries-old market town tradition, Grantham gingerbread as a distinctive local heritage, landmark architecture such as St Wulfram’s Church, and a growing contemporary arts and music scene rooted in grassroots participation.
Grantham 2028 brings these strands together into one confident narrative. A town that helped shape science, industry and national life, now coming together to tell its own story through culture. The programme explores ideas, invention and identity, using heritage not as something to preserve behind glass, but as raw material for new work.
Grantham is a place grounded in ideas, with creativity in the everyday!
What is UK Town of Culture 2028?
The UK Town of Culture is a national competition that recognises the role towns have played, and continue to play, in shaping our shared story.
It’s not about prestige for its own sake, but about giving places the space, confidence and support to tell their story through culture and creativity.
For Grantham, entering UK Town of Culture 2028 is about bringing together the ideas, skills and stories that already exist here, and using culture as a way to strengthen pride, participation and connection across the town.
Grantham’s vision is built around three connected themes:
IDEAS, reflecting the town’s contribution to science and innovation;
MAKING, rooted in its industrial and manufacturing heritage;
and IDENTITY, exploring who Grantham is now and how it tells its story honestly.
That means.....
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The 2027–28 period builds on momentum from the 300th anniversary of Isaac Newton’s birth, using that moment not as an end point, but as a springboard, connecting Grantham’s world-changing past to its creative future.
Just as importantly, this is not a heritage-only programme, a council-led initiative, or something aimed at a narrow audience. Grantham 2028 is community-led, non-political and inclusive. It values new voices as much as established ones, and sees heritage not as something fixed, but as raw material for new work.
At its heart, UK Town of Culture 2028 is an opportunity for Grantham to tell its story in its own words and to invite the people who live here to shape what comes next.
Who is it for?...
EVERYONE
You don’t need to be an artist.
You don’t need to be “into culture”.
You don’t need permission.
If you live here, grew up here, work here, or care about Grantham, you’re already part of it.
How can you get involved?
GOSH it's Grantham 2028 will only work if it’s shaped by the people who live here.
You can get involved by:
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Taking part in events and activities
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Sharing your story, ideas or memories
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Supporting local creative projects
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Helping organise or host an activity
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Simply turning up and getting involved
It could mean:
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Creative science events inspired by Newton and innovation
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Pop-up art in unexpected spaces
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Live music and performances in the Market Place
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Community storytelling projects sharing memories and future hopes
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Activating town centre spaces with culture, creativity and participation
Some ideas will be large. Some will be small. What matters is that they feel like Grantham!
This is about building something together!
Why
Culture Matters
Culture isn’t just galleries and theatres.
It’s:
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The places we gather
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The stories we tell
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The pride we feel in where we live
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The opportunities young people can see for themselves
When culture works, it strengthens community, improves wellbeing, and changes how a town is seen, both by others and by itself.
Grantham's Town of Culture Bid 2028 is all about unlocking that potential.
Grantham Together & Grantham Town of Culture Bid 2028
Grantham Together is proud to support Grantham 2028 as a community-led, non-political cultural
initiative.
Our role is simple:
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To share stories
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To amplify voices
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To help people connect
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To make it easier for the town to take part
This page will be updated with opportunities, stories and events as the project grows. You can also follow us on our socials to see what's happening
The UK Town of Culture 2028 belongs to Grantham!