European Capital of Culture

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Banner promoting Liverpool as European Capital of Culture in 2008
Banner promoting Liverpool as European Capital of Culture in 2008

The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one year during which it is given a chance to showcase its cultural life and cultural development. A number of European cities have used the City of Culture year to transform their cultural base and, in doing so, the way in which they are viewed internationally.

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[edit] History

Conceived as a means of bringing citizens of the European Union (at that time the European Community) closer together, the European City of Culture was launched on June 13, 1985 by the Council of Ministers on the initiative of the Greek Minister of Culture Melina Mercouri. Since then, the initiative has been more and more successful amongst European citizens and has had a growing cultural and socio-economic impact on the numerous visitors it has attracted.

The European Cities of Culture were designated on an intergovernmental basis until 2004; member states unanimously selected the cities most likely to welcome the event and the European Commission granted a subsidy to the selected city each year. As of 2005, the EU's institutions will take part in the selection procedure of the cities that will host the event.

In 1990, the Ministers of Culture launched the "European Cultural Month". This event is similar to the European City of Culture but goes on for a shorter period and is addressed to Central and Eastern European countries in particular. The European Commission grants a subsidy for the European Cultural Month each year.

As early as 1990, initiated by Glasgow, the organisers of the different European Cities of Culture created the Network of European Cultural Capitals and Months — enabling the exchange and dissemination of information, also to the organisers of future events. This network carried out in 1994 a study on the impact of the European City of Culture since its creation. ECCM is a non profit organisation based in Luxembourg and acting in close collaboration to the European Institutions.

In 1999, the European City of Culture was renamed the European Capital of Culture, and was financed through the Culture 2000 programme. Cork, in Ireland, was the first city in Europe to hold the Capital of Culture title. The European Parliament and Council Decision of May 25, 1999 integrates this event into the Community framework and introduces a new selection procedure for the Capitals for the 2005–2019 period. This was done to avoid overly fierce competition to win the accolade; each EU member nation will be given the opportunity to "host" the capital in turn. Starting in 2005, two cities will now share this status each year.

In 2004, the European Commission asked cultural adviser Robert Palmer, director of Palmer-Rae Associates and former director of Glasgow 1990 and Brussels 2000 Capitals of Culture, to evaluate the programme of European Capitals of Culture 1994-2004, following an earlier evaluation study examining European Capitals of Culture 1985-1993. The latest study comprehensively deals with cultural, economic, visitor, social and European perspectives of the European Capital of Culture action. It comprises two volumes: one of summary findings, analyses and conclusions; a second of individual case studies. Based on Palmer's findings, the European Commission made recommendations for changing the procedures for selecting and monitoring European Capitals of Culture and for placing increased emphasis on the cultural and European components of the action. The European Parliament subsequently agreed to changes, and to continue the action of European Capitals of Culture until at least 2019, with the designation of two European Capitals of Culture each year. Details are provided on the website of the European Commission Education and Culture: Culture in European Union

On 11 March 2006, the German city of Essen (representing the Ruhrgebiet region), the Hungarian city of Pécs and the Turkish city of Istanbul were selected as European Capitals of Culture for 2010 by the EU Council.

[edit] European Cities/Capitals of Culture

Note: Between 2007 and 2018 multiple cities are named European Capital of Culture. In some future years, cities have not yet been selected, but the country from which that city will be chosen has already been determined (based on a rotation system), as listed below.

[edit] Past European Capitals of Culture

[edit] Future European Capitals of Culture

According to the official EU website[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Official EU website
  • García, B. (2005) “De-constructing the City of Culture: The long term cultural legacies of Glasgow 1990” in: Review Issue of Urban Studies (vol 42, n5/6) (pp. 1-28)
  • García, B. (2004) “Cultural Policy in European Cities: Lessons from Experience, Prospects for the Future” in: Special edition on Cultural Policy and Regeneration, Local Economy (vol 19, n4) (pp. 312-326)
  • García, B. (2004) “Urban Regeneration, Arts Programming and Major events: Glasgow 1990, Sydney 2000 and Barcelona 2004” in: Gibson, L. & Stevenson, D. (Eds) Special Issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy: Urban Space and the Uses of Culture (vol 10, n 1) (pp. 103-118)

[edit] External links



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European Capitals of Culture

1985 Athens · 1986 Florence · 1987 Amsterdam · 1988 West Berlin · 1989 Paris · 1990 Glasgow · 1991 Dublin · 1992 Madrid · 1993 Antwerp · 1994 Lisbon · 1995 Luxembourg City · 1996 Copenhagen · 1997 Thessaloniki · 1998 Stockholm · 1999 Weimar · 2000 Reykjavík · Bergen · Helsinki · Brussels · Prague · Kraków · Santiago de Compostela · Avignon · Bologna · 2001 Rotterdam · Porto · 2002 Bruges · Salamanca · 2003 Graz · 2004 Genoa · Lille · 2005 Cork · 2006 Patras · 2007 Luxembourg City and Greater Region · Sibiu · 2008 Liverpool · Stavanger · 2009 Linz · Vilnius · 2010 Essen · Pécs · Istanbul · 2011 Turku · Tallinn · 2012 Maribor · Guimarães