The "European Capital of Culture" programme between local and international cultural policies: an observation and analysis of debates and strategies employed by German cities when applying to be European Capital of Culture 2025
Final Report Abstract
The ‘European Capital of Culture’ (‘Ecoc’) is regarded as a flagship cultural policy programme of the European Union. Based on an initiative by the Greek cultural politician Melina Mercouri in the 1980s, the aim was to counterbalance a purely economic understanding of European integration. The organisation (governance) and programmatic focus of the initiative have undergone significant changes since its beginnings. Two to three cities from different countries are now designated as European Capitals of Culture each year in advance; these are selected by an international jury of experts. Since 2014, it has been clear that Germany will once again hold a Capital of Culture in 2025 and that the two-stage selection process is expected to be completed by the end of 2020. A number of German cities considered applying for the Capital of Culture year 2025; in the end, eight cities submitted an application (bid book). This submission was prepared in the candidate cities through numerous events and activities. This is where the research project came in. Although a wide range of interdisciplinary literature on the Capital of Culture format was available up to that point, its focus was generally on the designated Capitals of Culture and not on the selection process or the candidate cities. The project used qualitative social research methods (participant observation and interviews) and document analysis to observe the nationwide selection process and the bidding activities of the eight German candidate cities for the Capital of Culture year 2025. With this approach and the scope and duration of its own empirical surveys, the research project closes a gap in interdisciplinary research on the Capital of Culture programme. In addition to procedural questions (governance, role of different groups of actors in the application process), the debates and thematic priorities in the candidate cities and their bid books were of interest. The project identified different, partly compatible, partly antagonistic readings of the Ecoc format. Its relative success can be explained, among other things, by the fact that different groups of actors with different interpretations can unite behind the Capital of Culture idea. Furthermore, the debates in the candidate cities on urban, cultural, European and socio-political topics were analysed.
Publications
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Running for the European Capital of Culture: The German candidate cities for 2025 at a glance. In: Schneider, W. & K. Jacobsen (Hg.): Transforming Cities. Paradigms and Potentials of Urban Development Within the „European Capital of Culture“. Hildesheim: 71–77 (ISBN 978-3-487-15796-2)
Lendl, J. & T. Schmitt
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Cultural governance. Cultural Governance, 29-46. Routledge.
Schmitt, Thomas
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Das EU-Format „Kulturhauptstadt Europas“ zwischen lokalen und internationalen Kulturpolitiken. Einsichten aus dem deutschen Auswahlverfahren für die Kulturhauptstadt 2025 (Heidelberg Papers in Heritage Studies & Cultural Policy Vol. 1). Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net.
Schmitt, T. & Lendl, J.
