ENFIELD Council has launched a campaign for the area to be named the next ‘borough of culture’.

Artist Patrick Samuel marked the start of the bid with a show at the Dugdale Centre last Tuesday.

The borough hopes to show how art and culture can transform lives, and its bid will showcase its cultural initiatives, vision, hidden gems and rich history.

Patrick, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, returned to art after a 20-year break after starting art therapy sessions in December 2016.

The National Autistic Society, BBC Breakfast and BBC News online have all acknowledged his work and story.

Enfield Council is partnering charity UP Projects to help with the bid.

UP Project curates and commissions art for public spaces.

Cllr Yasemin Brett, Enfield Council’s cabinet member for community, arts and culture, said: “Enfield is fiercely supportive of the arts and culture and positively celebrates the diversity of its community and the transformational effects wholeheartedly embracing new cultures can have on an area.

“Enfield is blessed with a vast array of theatre, music venues and cultural assets which are much loved and popular both within the borough and further afield and the borough itself is a vibrant melting pot of different cultures, races and religions which give the borough a vibrant, colourful and generous spirit of togetherness and community.

“I can’t think of a better example of how Enfield views the transformative power of culture and the arts than the exhibition Escape and Return by Patrick Samuel.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan introduced the competition in June, which is part of his plans to bolster the arts in London.

A City Bridge Trust grant of £300,000 supports the programme.

Two winners will be announced in February next year, one of which will take the title of London Borough of Culture for 2019, and the other for 2020.

Patrick Samuel is also preparing for two solo shows in November and December.