EVERY school pupil in Renfrewshire will be given the chance to shape Paisley’s UK City of Culture 2021 bid with the help of a specially-commissioned children’s short story written by an award-winning author.
Ross Mackenzie penned Grace’s Big Idea, which aims to make culture and Paisley’s bid relatable to a young audience, and includes Paisley-themed illustrations from artist Neil Slorance.
Copies are going to all 14,000 primary pupils in Renfrewshire as part of a community engagement push which will have seen more than 30,000 people join the conversation around the Paisley 2021 bid when it is lodged at the end of next month.
Children are being asked to nominate one thing they like about Paisley and submit one idea they would like to see as part of the bid – with the results to be collated by bid bosses to inform future work.
Members of the bid team have already toured every high school in Renfrewshire.
Paisley is bidding for the title as part of wider plans to transform the area’s future using the town’s unique cultural and heritage.
Bid director Jean Cameron said: “From the start of Paisley’s bid we said it would be by the people of Paisley, for the people of Paisley – and when the bid goes in it will be their voices contained within it.
“Once this schools exercise has been completed we estimate around 30,000 people will have had the chance to feed ideas into the bid – equivalent to more than half the town’s population.
“That could only have happened with the hard work of our dedicated community engagement team, who have toured every corner of Renfrewshire over the past year to capture the views of cultural, business and community groups about the town and what culture means to them.
“The bid and related work aims to create a lasting legacy for the Renfrewshire our children will inherit – so it was crucial we captured their views.”
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