Our first progress video is here!
ECoC-SME is thrilled to share with you a short clip of our progress in the first semester.
Watch the video
Our first semester’s interregional exchanges in recap:
Our kick-off project workshop in Leeuwarden
ECoC-SME Project Partners – representing five European regions and simultaneously five former, current and prospective European Capitals of Culture (ECoCs) – met for the first time in person last June in Leeuwarden.
During the three-day event, the participants presented their regions and their ECoC programme in further details, and familiarised themselves with the diverse local-regional contexts, the key themes and features of the ECoC events hosted in these regions, as well as the five targeted Policy Instruments with respective Action Plans.
The workshop also included an interesting site visit to Blokhuispoort, a former prison in Leeuwarden now housing creative start-ups.
Our first open seminar in Matera
Over 60 people participated in this event from all over Europe, including ECoC representatives, experts, businesses, policy makers and practitioners from the culture and creative industry (CCI), regional and community development and related research.
The theme of the seminar is “European Capitals of Culture as drivers for local development”.
Ten speakers were invited to discuss various aspects and concrete cases that demonstrate the importance and potential of CCI in generating social and economic development, often in the form of new avenues, for regions that have for long faced structural and/or geographical disadvantages.
The topic was further elaborated through thematic group discussions on circulating three topics: transformative tourism, opportunities for CCIs, and how positive and sustainable legacies of the ECoC can be ensured.
The seminar was held back to back with our second Project Workshop in Matera, where the project partners discussed opportunities and gaps specific to their regional contexts, especially regarding the promotion of youth entrepreneurship and engagement in the ECoC programme.
