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Ulster Applauds City Of Culture Shortlisting

24 February 2010

The University of Ulster today welcomed the shortlisting of the Derry City Council-led bid to become the UK’s City of Culture in 2013.

Professor Deirdre Heenan, Dean of Academic Development at the campus said: 

“ Staff and students at Magee – and the whole University of Ulster community – are delighted by this  achievement, which marks a giant step on the way to the city being designated UK City of Culture for 2013.

“Magee is a major component in the cultural life of the city, being home to teaching, performance and research of international excellence in the creative arts, including music, dance and drama.

“Fostering the creative and cultural industries is at the heart of our work, and we look forward to continuing our work with our cultural partners across the city.

“This announcement gives an enormous boost to all those people and organisations who have invested such extraordinary amounts of energy in putting this City of Culture bid together, and I want to pay tribute to the work of Valerie Watts of Derry City Council, Aideen McGinley of Ilex, and the Strategic Investment Board in bringing the city’s bid to the brink of success.

“The task now is to redouble our efforts  to place Derry firmly on the cultural map of the UK, and ensure that our city achieves the status of UK City of Culture 2013 when the final decision is made later this year.”