Move to stimulate tourism and culture in city for next decade

The strategy involves marking the 40th anniversary of the Crucible Theatre and the 100th anniversary of the creation of stainless steel in the city in 2013, expanding the city's festivals and committing to a 10-year plan for Sheffield Arena.

In July it was announced that Sheffield had missed out on becoming UK City of Culture in 2013, losing the title – and an estimated 300m of income from tourism -– to the city of Derry in Northern Ireland.

Called Created and Made in Sheffield, the new strategy, which will be agreed by council bosses next week, also aims to increase tourism and take culture to new and unexpected places such as workplaces, hospitals and parks.

Coun Roger Davison, Sheffield Council's cabinet member for culture, sport and tourism, said; "The top priority of the new strategy is to encourage more people to take part in culture in Sheffield.

"We know that if young people get involved in creative activities at an early age, they go on to enjoy culture throughout their lives.

"This could mean getting involved in music, festivals, cinema or theatre right through to visiting art galleries and heritage sites.

"It also means celebrating the culture made and created in our diverse communities and neighbourhoods as well as our city centre venues.

"We have excellent support behind us, with the annual investment in Sheffield culture in excess of 35m each year."

Derry was selected for the accolade by an independent panel of judges who also considered Norwich and Birmingham as well as Sheffield which were shortlisted from 29 initial applicants.

Paul Billington, acting director of culture at Sheffield Council, added: "The strategy we're presenting to cabinet is for the whole city, not just the city council. It will be shared and delivered by many organisations, individuals and artists.

"The council is committed to supporting the wider arts and culture sector to make things happen.

"Our shortlisted bid to become UK City of Culture showed the rest of the country that Sheffield is already a city of culture – the plan will allow us to press on and make the many great things we do even better."

Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that Sheffield is set to become one of the first places in the UK to launch a mobile application for smart phones to promote the city.

Brendan Moffett, director of strategic marketing at development agency Creativesheffield, which commissioned the application, said: "The launch of this application comes following consistent requests from the city's business community to be armed with more materials, both printed and digital, in order to sell the city externally.

"Wherever you are in the world, Toronto, Tokyo or Tinsley, we want you to be able to show the people you meet how brilliant Sheffield is – simply at the touch of a button."

The application shows photographs of Sheffield and provides information on the business and culture in the city.

Sheffield Council leader Paul Scriven said: "It is fantastic to see Sheffield at the cutting edge of using new media to sell the city.

"I'm always talking Sheffield up when I meet people from around the UK and the rest of the world.

"So it's great news that I can finally do Sheffield justice when explaining about our wonderful city by using the features included on the app."

John Pickering, national managing partner at law firm Irwin Mitchell, added: "This application will be particularly useful for organisations and individuals who are regularly asked about Sheffield's unique selling points."