The organisers of Brighton and Hove's failed bid to become European Capital of Culture 2008 have vowed to continue promoting arts in the city.

As the bid was attacked as a waste of money at a time of council cuts, organisers said the development of arts and culture was important for the economy and would secure jobs.

Yesterday, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced Brighton and Hove was not among six cities put forward for the final stages of the contest.

But Councillor Jackie Lythell, chairwoman of the Where Else campaign, said there was plenty more to come.

She said: "This year was special. We put on a whole series of events that were showcasing what we can do but we are not going to leave it at that.

"Firstly, the year has not finished yet. Together with arts group Same Sky we are bringing back the popular Burning the Clocks ceremony in December and there will be the winter festival, also in December.

"Next year we will have a new museum in Hove, a start will be made on the new library, plans will begin on the new conference centre and we are going to increase the size of the festival.

"On top of this, we will be meeting very soon to discuss how we can take things forward.

"Of course, if we had been shortlisted, we would have had the advantage of receiving more investment. Now what we have to do is work much harder to get the investment in other ways."

Brighton was one of 12 cities to submit bids for the title.

Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool, Newcastle/Gateshead and Oxford were all shortlisted.

Belfast, Inverness, Canterbury, Bradford and Norwich were rejected along with Brighton and Hove The city's application, which used £150,000 in public money, has been criticised by some groups as a waste of funds.

Shanti Haft, welfare rights worker at the Unemployed Workers Centre, said: "The Capital of Culture bid did nothing to help the issues in Brighton that matter. It was just a case of residents being pushed out and bringing in more yuppies."

The city council's Lib Dem leader, Paul Elgood, said public money should not have been spent on the campaign at the same time as the council made cuts of £3.8 million and was more than £1 million in the red.

He said: "I am proud of my city and all it has to offer but it was pretty clear from the start we were not ready for the bid. This is a lot of money and the time and effort could have been spent on directly benefiting local residents and communities."

But Coun Lythell said the bid created jobs in the creative industries and attracted a further £500,000 in sponsorship and grants, which was spent on staging a host of events.

She said: "Through the bid we have set up fantastic partnerships right across the city and we want to keep that group of people working together for the future."