The team behind Dundee’s City of Culture 2017 bid are working “full tilt” as the final countdown to the competition’s closing date begins.
The group has just one month to complete its final submission to the competition judges, with the man spearheading the bid saying that the team were “clearing their diaries” to beat the deadline.
Sarah Johnson and Yolanda Aguilar from Ardler touring dance company Smallpetitklein took to the River Tay’s sandbanks to plant the flag kicking off the countdown to the September 30 closing date.
Leisure and Culture Dundee director Stewart Murdoch said: “There is no question that we will be working on this right up to midnight on the night before it’s submitted. I don’t think we’ll be alone in that.
“It is very tight and it means that people are clearing their diaries. But that’s just a measure of the volume of ideas we have received.
“There is a lot of material to work through in a short time. Over the summer, it’s inevitable that people in cultural agencies and the public are on holiday. Now everyone is going full tilt.
“We also have had some assistance from Event Scotland to allow us to do things we couldn’t do within our own resources to enhance the bid team. Event Scotland have also seconded someone two days a week until the bid is submitted.”
The final bid, which must be submitted by the four shortlisted cities, includes a full business plan and a presentation that will be subsequently pitched to the judging panel in Derry/Londonderry in mid-November.
The team have also been sourcing ideas from the city itself and more than 600 people have submitted events they would like in Dundee during a year of culture to the WeDundee website.
The ideas are being collated and will form part of the completed bid document.
Mr Murdoch said: “Anyone who has looked at it will see that there are some very well-thought out ideas there.
“Some of the others are slightly more ambitious, but what we love about them is that people have that range of creative ideas for the city.
“We are not editing out people’s ideas, but what we are doing is focusing on the ones we think we can deliver.”
The Tay has featured heavily in almost a third of the public comments that have been submitted since the second phase of WeDundee launched three weeks ago.
These include a marathon along the river, a boat parade and a plea for the return of the “Fifie” ferry which carried people between Broughty Ferry and Newport until 1966.
The bid team have now had conversations with all national companies including Scottish Opera, National Museums of Scotland and Scottish Ensemble, each of whom have pledged their support to the bid.
The team are also waiting to hear when they will meet UK culture secretary Maria Miller after she had to postpone a planned visit to the city yesterday due to the recall of Parliament.
An eight-strong Dundee delegation will travel to current UK City of Culture Derry/Londonderry to make their presentation in November along with competition rivals Leicester, Hull and Swansea Bay.
The winner of the competition will be announced shortly after the presentations are made.