Major festival will herald the arrival of the Tour de France

The Arts Council has awarded £1m towards a 100-day series of events in the run-up to one of the biggest single sporting events in the world.

And with match-funding expected to attract a further £1m, the project should deliver one of the biggest and most spectacular arts and cultural events ever seen in the region.

Next year’s Tour will see the first two days - known as the Grand Départ - spent in the region taking in, among other places, Swaledale, Wensleydale, Leyburn, Ripon, Harrogate, York and Knaresborough.

And from the end of March the festival will showcase Yorkshire as a creative county and include keynote commissions to animate the Grand Depart and the route.

The initiative is the first of its kind in the 110-year history of the Tour and an appeal is now being made for ideas and events which could be part of it.

The chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, Gary Verity, said they planned to celebrate the tour with an ambitious programme of festival events.

He added: “ It will be a fantastic opportunity for the whole county to share in the excitement and interest that will be building in the run-up to the 2014 Tour de France, helping to put Yorkshire on the map for millions of people months before the riders arrive.”

The regional director of the Arts Council, Cluny Macpherson said the festival would showcase all that was great about Yorkshire arts and culture as well as proviee an opportunity for specially-commissioned work.

He added: “Building excitement across the region in the run up to the Tour de France, I can’t think of a better way to mark the historic occasion of the Grand Départ taking place in Yorkshire.”

A search is now underway for a festival director to run the festival.

BAFTA-award-winning TV and film producer David Lascelles, the Earl of Harewood, will chair the steering group which, with the director, will determine the programme.

To register suggestions and ideas visit http://letour.yorkshire.com/artsfestival