This week, OnTheWight will be sharing the visions of four Isle of Wight towns that have entered the competition to become UK Town of Culture 2028. They are among more than 200 towns across the UK vying for the title. The winner will receive £3,000,000 to celebrate their town and help to create a lasting cultural legacy.
OnTheWight is sharing each bid’s vision in the order we received them.
Up next: Ryde
Ryde’s bid for UK Town of Culture 2028 rests on a simple but powerful idea: in Ryde, the street is the stage.
The submission draws on the town’s long tradition of public creativity – from carnival and festivals to everyday life along the seafront – and sets out a vision for a year-long programme of events, commissions, training and community activity.
A public meeting gave residents the chance to feed directly into the bid, alongside engagement with all seven of Ryde’s schools and organisations across the town’s six wards.
Young people sit at the heart of the programme, which aims to be one of the largest youth-led creative initiatives in the region, guided by the principle: nothing about us, without us.
As the Island’s main gateway, the bid team say a Town of Culture win would turn Ryde’s long-established sense of arrival and exchange into lasting opportunity – for local talent, the high street and the wider creative economy.
Ryde: The street is our stage
Ryde’s UK Town of Culture 2028 vision
Ryde has submitted an ambitious bid to become the UK Town of Culture 2028, putting forward a bold vision that places creativity, community and young people at the heart of the town’s future.
At the centre of the bid is a simple but powerful idea: in Ryde, the street is our stage. For generations, culture here has been created in public, from carnival and festivals to everyday moments along the seafront and in our neighbourhoods. This bid builds on that proud history, celebrating Ryde as a town where creativity is visible, participatory and shared.
As the gateway to the Isle of Wight, Ryde has always been shaped by movement, exchange and new ideas. The Town of Culture programme would transform that sense of arrival into opportunity, showcasing the town’s creativity on a national stage while creating lasting benefits for local people.
A key focus of the bid is young people. The programme is designed as one of the largest youth-led creative initiatives in the region, guided by the principle “nothing about us, without us.” Young people will not only take part but help shape and lead the programme, building skills, confidence and pathways into creative careers.
The bid also responds directly to challenges facing the town, including limited opportunities for young people, changes to the high street and the need to support the local creative economy. Through a year-long programme of events, commissions, training and community activity, it aims to strengthen connections, support local talent and bring new energy into the town centre.
Importantly, this is not a programme being delivered to the town, but created with it. The bid has been shaped through extensive community engagement, including work with all seven schools in Ryde, local organisations and residents. If successful, this approach will continue through open “Town Conversations”, creative workshops and neighbourhood projects across all six wards.
With a strong network of partners, including Shademakers UK, New Carnival, Ryde Town Council, Creative Island and Network Ryde, the bid builds on significant recent investment in the town’s cultural infrastructure and growing creative momentum.
Town of Culture 2028 represents a major opportunity for Ryde to tell its story, celebrate its identity and shape its future.
This is a moment to bring the whole town together.
It’s Ryde’s time.
