This year is becoming hugely significant for Brighton - the year in which the city's cultural stature will be defined for decades to come.

After its lengthy closure, the restored Dome has reopened as an international concert hall along with the performance spaces in the Dome theatre and Corn Exchange - a splendid £22 million investment.

The city's bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2008 has been submitted - a brave display of our confidence in the future.

For the first time in more than 25 years, there is real hope for the West Pier, assuming the developers accept our heritage of clear sea views is not negotiable.

Brighton Festival starts next weekend - the first to be produced by chief executive Nick Dodds, bringing to it the benefit of his long experience at the Edinburgh international festival.

Coinciding with that opening, the impressively transformed Brighton Museum and Art Gallery reveals its £10 million facelift.

It is ravishing - a museum for the city to be proud of. Beautifully lit, it is full of inspired presentation ideas and the latest interactive information technology.

The displays are intriguing, ranging through fashion and style, the things we have done with our bodies down the years, 20th Century fine art as well as paintings from the British and European Schools and watercolours, prints and drawings.

As well as a children's gallery there is, of course, one devoted to images of Brighton, how it was and how it is.

And for film buffs, there is the already widely touted Kiss and Kill collection, a compelling collection of around 40 films using Brighton as a setting. It finishes on September 1, so don't miss it.

If, during your visit, you are lucky enough to spot John Roles, head of collections and exhibitions, try and persuade him to give you a quick tour. He is a stimulating guide and storyteller who knows how to share his enthusiasms.

But let me paint you a broader picture about regional museums in England.

Resource, the national museums' strategic body, has submitted a bid to Government for £267 million over the next five years.

It sounds enormous but compared with the potential cost of £700 million for a new Wembley Stadium, or the £1 billion wasted on the Millennium Dome, it is rather less dramatic.

There are more than 1,400 museums in England. Some are among the finest in the world, some are run down and dilapidated.

The bid, titled Renaissance in the Regions is being described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to modernise, revitalise and transform England's regional museums.

The bid appears to have the support of the "two terrible Tessas" - Jowell and Blackstone, the secretary of state and the minister for the arts respectively. There should be a Government response by the summer.

If the money is granted, Brighton is sure to be a beneficiary to help the new gallery plan for the future and put an even bigger smile on John Roles's face.