2020 marked the second and third semester of ECoC-SME project. How have our cultural capitals encountered, adapted, and revived after the first waves of COVID-19? Here is our year in re-cap:
Pandemic resilience as a criterion for ECoC 2026
In June, the panel for the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 2026 announced the cities to proceed to the second and final bidding round. Our associated partner Saimaa Phenomenon 2026 from Savonlinna made it to the next round, along with two other candidates from Finland.
As COVID-19 hit just before candidate cities submitted their bid books after a year of intensive preparation, it is only for the second round that they are required to show their financial commitment, including national and regional strategies. This brought about an opportunity for cities in the course of the next 12 months to actually prepare and design their programme in terms of the “new normal”.
Timisoara 2021 officially postponed to 2023, Rijeka 2020 to continue until April 2021
Due to the continuous waves of COVID-19 outbreaks and the tightened restrictions’ hindering cultural activities and the mobility of people – two necessary conditions for an eventful ECoC, The European Parliament Commission on Culture and Education (CULT) endorsed the European Commission’s proposal to postpone Timisoara from 2021 to 2023, while Rijeka – the title-holder of ECoC 2020 – will continue implementing their programmes until April 2021.
Community as the driver for cultural & economic revival
European Capital of Culture (ECoC) is anticipated to draw visitors, revenues and employment to crown cities. However, since March, travels are restricted, resources are remobilised, and employment plummets. The local community has been the silver lining for the representatives from Matera, Rijeka and Timisoara in reviving cultural activities and supporting small cultural businesses.
Digitalisation has been frequently brought up as the solution to the “new normal”. While our partners did explore and employ some virtual means of cultural expressions and communications, all agreed that although promising, digitalisation is not the ultimate alternative to culture.
Local Learning Labs on post COVID-19 recovery for SMEs and the CCI
As the second wave of COVID-19 hit, our partners once again are navigating with their stakeholders on how to revive SMEs and the Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) through innovation and cross-sectoral cooperation.
Held over the summer, Rijeka’s third LLLs examined the essentialities to adapt to the “new normal”, and the cross-sectoral collaboration opportunities it brings for SMEs and CCI. Timisoara’s fourth LLLs envisioned a creative environment in a non-pandemic world, and sought to tighten the sector's relationship with SMEs and Timisoara 2023 European Capital of Culture. Leeuwarden’s third LLL invited their regional stakeholders and our Italian partner Materahub to share ideas for promoting entrepreneurial opportunities for artists.
Action Plans under development
For the past months, our partners have been designing their Action Plans (AP) through close consultation with their local stakeholders, and interregional exchanges with other partners.
Kaunas recently introduced their community integration model for the youth, cultural, educational, business and social sectors. Rijeka presented “Creative Doctors”, a collaborative digital platform for day-to-day problem solving in the CCI. Timisoara designed “Cultural2Business”, a three-day hackathon for cultural businesses to develop their ideas through mentoring, co-creation and innovation, inspired by Leeuwarden’s good practice Cultural Launch Game.
To conclude 2020, we would like to wish everyone happy holidays and a better next year.
Our project will use the next six months for finalising our APs, organising an open seminar and hoping for the possibility to do a site visit and see the whole team face-to-face at some point during next year.
