timisoara2021.ro

Transcription

timisoara2021.ro

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timisoara2021.ro
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Timișoara 2021 European Capital of Culture / Candidate City
INTRODUCTION / GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Why does your city wish to take part in the competition for the title of
European Capital of Culture?
E
urope relies on those cities where little sparkles can
constantly generate trans-continental transformations.
For this reason, TM2021 aims to become an open
experiment which overcomes the passivity in today's Europe.
TM2021 stimulates the individuals’ inner energy, which can
shine through and unite their community, their city and the
whole continent powered by culture.
What now? – Și acum?
How many times have we found
ourselves or the people around us
asking this two-word rhetorical
question? It is the expression of our
passivity as a comfortable habit
of shifting the responsibility to
somewhere else. Unfortunately, too
often we come across this attitude
among today’s Europeans. The city
programme for the European Capital
of Culture in 2021 fights against this
energy-draining apathy-inducing
attitude.
Passivity is a main problem in the
Europe of today
The gap in Europe between the poor
and rich widens, tensions between
religions arise, there is an increasing
distrust in democratic structures and
participation in political life erodes
further. The disappearance of middle
class values is damaging the economic,
social and cultural stability of our
continent. Radicalism and xenophobia
appear at the horizon. Instead passivity
is comforting, while in relationships
with others, only the opportunity of
disagreement takes the individual out
of the comfort zone. It is time to reestablish a dialogue, to take a critical
attitude and to decide what kind of
Europeans we want to be, which are
our common and specific values as
Europeans.
As a middle-sized city in the far west
of Romania with 319.272 inhabitants,
close to the border with Hungary
and Serbia, Timișoara is facing the
difficulties many cities in Europe
are also facing, but it is ready to act.
The city wants to take a chance of
translating the lost values of middle
class - which have always been part of
its history in a contemporary scenario.
The people of Timișoara have lived
a life inspired by entrepreneurship,
multi-confessionalism, multi- and
interculturality and active civic society
while encouraging their comunities
to follow the same values. In the
consultation process we carried out
with citizens in the last years, they
have expressed the longing that it is
time to retrieve those values which
gave the city the inspiration to be the
flagship of both the Banat region and
neighbouring Transylvania, carrying
light throughout Romania and beyond
its borders throughout the Balkans, in
the south and throughout Europe to the
centre, west, east and north.
This application for the European
Capital of Culture (ECoC) title does not
want to look at the past. Instead, it is a
call to action to make changes happen
through culture in the Europe of today.
It is culture that offers a safe place
left to develop creative solutions that
work on passivity and learn from each
other. Therefore, as European Capital
of Culture, we will offer an array of
programmes founded on the inherent
transforming power of each individual
within their respective communities
across Europe.
timisoara2021.ro
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Shine your light
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By accepting the challenge of the
Candidacy, Timișoara has asked its
citizens about their current urgencies.
Issues which repeatedly emerged are
the lack of civic energy, intolerance
towards marginalised groups, the
loss of public space, the lack of an
international profile of the city
and of the region defined by multiand interculturality which is truly
contemporary European, and the lack
of a common vision. Therefore, we
have chosen to design our TM2021
cultural programme around these
urgencies, starting with the inner
energy and inherent strengths of the
individuals to make a difference within
their own circles of influence, be they
their close family network, their faraway facebook friends as in Addictive
Lights, their neighbourhoods, their
schools as in Dare to Shine, their cities,
their countries and even the continent
and the world like the closing event.
The result of restoring this energy is
the transformation of the individual
into a citizen who is able to light up the
city. Therefore, in relation with others,
just as you have a reason for dialogue
and interaction with the community,
you can shine the light. If the title of
European Capital of Culture is awarded
to us, we intend to find more concrete
reasons for the individual to go out
of their comfort zone into the public
space, to leave passivity behind and
experience engagement through
culture. Only in this common space
can culture generate opinions and
influence decision-making. In other
words, culture is the last free zone to
being a European citizen.
Light up your city
Geographically situated at the
meeting point of many cultures,
from west to east and from south
to north, Timișoara has a history of
being cosmopolitan and ecumenical,
with over 30 cultures and ethnic
community groups - including
Germans, Hungarians, Serbians,
Bulgarians having lived alongside
each other for centuries. Orthodox,
Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Lutherans,
Reformists and other religions have
freely worshipped together. The place
was an engine in the region which
offered people the opportunity to move
forward and let others do the same.
Furthermore, Timișoara’s diaspora
has spread all around the continent,
having the possibility to interact with
other Europeans, by facing the same
cultural challenges from a different
perspective.
Throughout its history, Timișoara has
been a city of little sparkles that started
trans-continental transformations.
The first city in the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy to have street lights and
later the first city in continental Europe
with electric street lights, the first
newspaper in what is now Romania
and the first newspaper in German
in East-Central and South-Eastern
Europe, the first public lending library
and telegraphic and phone service in
what is now Romania, the first cinema
screening, the first public swimming
pool and the first football stadium
in Romania, and the only European
city with three state theatres in three
different languages. In 1989 the sparkle
of the civic revolution toppled the
communist regime in the country.
Shine your light - Light up your city!
Nowadays, Timișoara is at the forefront
of medicine, technology and IT
breakthroughs in the region. Thus it
is the moment to recreate the history
of the city in a new European scenario
and to restore those middle-class
values the city has always exported,
such as cooperation and harmony,
tolerance and civic responsibility, in
a very contemporary context where
entrepreneurship is to be understood
within a network, where religions
learn values and spiritual energy
from each other and real freedom is
in culturally-diverse relationships. For
this reason, the Candidacy is about
the relationship with the other, about
how to build the bond between the
individual and the community, and
how to learn to be a European citizen
and light up the city through culture.
For the people of Timișoara, culture
is the wave to speed up change
at political, religious, economic,
educational and social levels.
Therefore, the programme we propose
for the European Capital of Culture
will reach out into these areas. We
wish to create a common platform
for culture advocacy which facilitates
rethinking of the system in terms of
cultural and social engagement, acts on
increasing the local authorities’ budget
for cultural activities, and incorporates
the creative industries in the long-term
economic strategy of the city and of the
region.
Does your city plan to involve its surrounding area?
Explain this choice.
O
ur approach to involve the surrounding area is not
merely based on geographical criteria. Instead we are
planning to involve people who feel a deeply-rooted
emotional connection to Timișoara. These are people from
afar - the diaspora; from nearby - the people living in the Banat
region (presently stretching over three countries: Romania,
Serbia and Hungary); and from here - the population of
Timișoara.
Since the 18th century up until the
Second World War, the city was a
powerhouse fuelling the economic
development in the Banat region
with an echo through Central and
Southeastern Europe. This drive was
also powered by the city’s openness
to Western Europe, making Timișoara
a quintessential European city. Thus,
our surroundings are the whole of
Central and Southeastern Europe.
We approach them on three levels
representing the city’s ties with Europe,
the Banat region and Romania.
Timișoara in Europe - Europe in
Timișoara
Szeged, Novi Sad, Graz, Karlsruhe and
Mulhouse are among the most active
twin cities of Timișoara. We have
close partnerships with these cities,
and exchange cultural programmes
which we want to develop further with
TM2021.These partnerships enable
us to spread our wings from the far
western to the far eastern corners of
the continent.
When it comes to the diaspora
dispersed across Europe and the world,
they still maintain their long-lasting
connections with their hometown,
and it is these connections we want to
build upon in our TM2021 programme.
Official statistics show that almost
110.112 people have left in the last 25
years, but in reality these figures are
likely to be much higher.
The first wave saw the emergence
of the ethnic diaspora, who moved
abroad in masses in the second half
of the twentieth century. The socalled ‘Banater Schwaben’, more than
100.000 strong, are mainly German
farmers and one of the most important
communities of the Banat region,
along with the Romanians and Serbs.
During the communist period and
after the revolution they gradually
left the country. In 1992, there were
just over 13.000 Germans living in
Timișoara, while at the 2011 census
there were 4.193. The once-thriving
Jewish community numbered 13.000
persons after the Second World War,
while today there are only 600. The
Hungarian ethnic group also decreased
from almost 30.000 people in 1992 to
half in 2011.
The Banater Schwaben hold regular
meetings in Germany where they
celebrate their common heritage
and links with Romania. Every year,
they return to Timișoara to celebrate
traditional holidays. The German and
Hungarian communities established
cultural institutions like the German
State Theatre, the Hungarian State
Theatre, the German Cultural Centre,
the Austrian Library and the German
Forum.
The second wave of emigration took
place after the 1989 Revolution.
Timișoara has seen its brightest young
people and important workforce leave
for Western Europe. Many Romanians
from the Banat region are mostly
trained professionals and skilled
labourers, but also seasonal workers
in Italy, Spain, Germany, and France.
They will become our ambassadors
for two reasons: they still maintain
transnational connections with the
family left at home, and in migration
their local pride is reactivated and they
become more civically oriented.
Timișoara in the Region - Banat in
Timișoara
On the regional level, we have
three frameworks which can help
us build connections and which
makes Timișoara an incubator
for transnational and national
collaboration projects.
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Timișoara is situated in the far
western part of the country, with
a population of 319.272. Within
a radius of 600 kilometres, there
are seven major capital cities of
Central and Southeastern Europe:
Bucharest, Bratislava, Belgrade,
Budapest, Skopje, Zagreb and
Vienna. This will enable us to build
valuable connections with these
major cultural, political and
administrative centres.
•
A second framework of cooperation
is the Danube–Criș–Mureș–Tisza
Euroregion (DKMT) of which
Timișoara is part, being also the
largest city. Covering 70.000 km2,
this stretches over the southeastern
area of the Carpathian Basin, with
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a population of about 5.3 million.
This also connects Timișoara to
the Danube via the Bega Canal,
a connection the city is trying
to re-establish, not just on an
infrastructural level, but also
on a cultural one. That is why
Timișoara was the host of the third
International Danube Conference
on Culture entitled Danube - The
River as an Experience organised in
June 2015 by our Association.
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Timișoara is also the capital city
of the historic region of Banat,
which has a population of around
1.7 million. This has facilitated the
collaboration in many EU-funded
projects and the establishment of
the Regional Office for Cross-border
Cooperation in Timișoara.
Timișoara in Romania - Romania in
Timișoara
Timișoara is at the centre of one of
the eight development regions of
Romania, making the city an important
economic and cultural hub, attracting
waves of internal immigration as
well. Young people from neighbouring
counties move to Timișoara either to
study or to work. Many of them are
from struggling cities like Reșița, once
a thriving industrial city, now in a
constant state of decline.
By involving all these people who have
a close or distant relation with the city
in programmes like Flash of Memory
or the closing event, we are bestowing
them the name of Timișoreni - citizens
of Timișoara - and we welcome them to
our TM2021 community, which spreads
around the whole world.
Explain briefly the overall cultural profile of your city.
T
Timișoara has a renowned cultural
heritage where the arts have
thrived. Experimenting with new
forms of artistic expressions and the
creative industries, particularly the
IT&C, has contributed to the overall
economic development of the city.
Yet, Timișoara lacks a well-defined
international cultural profile and
the instrument to make the much
needed connections between the
local and the international contexts.
Recent steps
Some promising small steps to
recognise the economic potential of
culture as essential investment have
recently been taken. First the local
budget for cultural activities has
trebled for the last three years. The
second remarkable step was the longterm cultural strategy (2014 - 2024).
Despite these noteworthy efforts,
Timișoara is yet to become a
progressive cultural city with an
appropriate cultural infrastructure.
Out of the 30.479.861 million lei
(€7 million) representing the local
budget for culture in 2014, a little
over 12% reached independent
cultural initiatives, thus inhibiting
the stimulation of the local creative
industries and their long-term
sustainability. The situation is not
different at regional (the Timiș County)
level, where 85% of the budget for
culture goes to public institutions and
15% to the cultural agenda. Despite this
shortfall, Timișoara can pass as a very
vibrant artistic city, since the yearly
agenda looks impressive with around
3.500 to 4.000 cultural and artistic
events.
imișoara is defined by culture, experiment, innovation
and heritage. Rather, for now, it is known for its IT&C and
automotive industry.
Shortfalls
Nevertheless, there is still a lack of
cultural coherence, capacity building
and audience development, a lack
of strategic direction and cultural
innovation. Very modest, and few,
initiatives have been organised in these
directions. One example is Plai Festival,
an international world music and art
festival, in its 10th year. Plai Festival
is a volunteer-run event held in the
Banat Village Museum of Timișoara,
which is a great example of audience
development. Other examples are
Ambasada as a creative incubator
for cultural startups, the Museum of
the Communist Consumer, and the
Simultan Festival, an annual festival
dedicated to media art and artistic
experiment.
contemporary performing art took
place in Timișoara, in the ruins of
what is now the restored Timișoara Art
Museum, the Baroque Palace.
With all its deficiencies, Timișoara is
still a city where creativity, solidarity,
connectivity and responsibility
complement an open attitude, and this
is what makes Timișoara stand out.
The citizens are proud of their city and
believe it needs to be maintained and
nurtured for future generations.
Future steps
Timișoara aims to brand itself as the
city where the IT world and culture
meet. While the IT sector can claim a
good international profile while still
staying locally rooted, the cultural
sector cannot claim the same. Hence,
there is little evidence of these two
entities working in tandem, yet. The
aim is for the economic strategy to be
aligned with the cultural strategy of the
city and vice-versa.
During the industrial revolution,
Timișoara had an emerging middle
class among whose values were a
cultivated taste for culture. During
the communist regime, Timișoara was
the only city in Romania where artists
were allowed to perform cultural
interventions in public. After the
1989 Revolution, the first festivals of
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Explain the concept of the programme which would be launched if the city
is designated as European Capital of Culture.
S
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hine your light - Light up your city! captures the
reflection of the inner energy and the individual values
into the community, followed by their dispersal over panEuropean borders from where they travel back imbued with
new meanings.
The purpose of our programme for
the European Capital of Culture is
to generate, through culture, the
energy that the individual needs
to rediscover the connection with
the community and the willingness
to take the future into her/his
own hands. The concept of our
programme is that by sharing your
cultural identity and memories with
others, or as we call it - Shine the
light, you transfer human energy
into the community and build a
new sense of citizenship, or as we
call it - Light up the city. This new
sense of European citizenship is
inclusive, caring, responsible and
also technology-minded, competent
and confident.
In our work with the community
during the last four years, we have
identified those urgencies that reflect
both the aspirations of the citizens and
the problems which prevent the city
from becoming the place its citizens
want it to be.
This includes the lack of action
needed to turn change into
decision-making;
•
•
•
distrust in common ownership
of PUBLIC SPACE and disbelieve
that public space is where changes
take place. This is mainly due to
commercial speculation, limited
access due to bureaucracy, poor
design, neglect and also vandalism;
•
lack of a visible INTERNATIONAL
PROFILE of the city, since its
enlightened identity was destroyed
by the totalitarian regime, and
afterwards by private interests, and
has not been strongly redeveloped
yet into the contemporary version
of the interconnected and authentic
place that used to be;
•
no shared VISION of the future,
since there is no common
understanding of the past and
the present, and no trust in the
democratic systems to truly
implement any commonlydeveloped strategy. This also
Our strategy is to work
with urgencies
These necessities for change give
meaning to the programme:
increase of EXCLUSION towards
marginalised groups, namely Roma
people, disabled, migrants and
low-income people. Whereas in
the past we were such multi- and
inter-cultural society, now we have
lost the cultural strengths of living
in diversity and we tend to separate
instead of include the other;
lack of CIVIC ENERGY to speak
out, take responsibility and act
as citizens in the context of the
community and the neighbourhood.
includes the lack of awareness of
the relationship of humankind with
the environment.
These urgencies taken separately are
common to many European cities,
but all together is what makes them
specific to the city of Timișoara.
The aim of our cultural programme
is to offer in 2021 an array of
interventions that throughout the cocreation of cultural contents recreate
an active European citizenship. The
cultural programme is the medium that
stimulates and generates a proactive
civic involvement.
Our approach is coherent in
the concept
Shine your Light! is our participation
strategy. It works with the principle
of inspiration - a gentle push for
engagement and yet, stronger than an
invitation. Basically, the way we work
is that artist-activists look over the
shoulder of the individual to see what
blocks him or her from releasing their
inner energy in the community, and cocreate authentic and powerful cultural
interventions that try to take away
those blockages. The artistic initiatives
are able to stir the status quo, highlight
dysfunctionalities ignored by decision
makers, and propose experimental
approaches to the challenges faced by
society.
CIVIC ENERGY
TOLERANCE
Inner Light
Shared Sight
OPENING EVENT
accelerate
expose
reflect
Light up your city is our
communication strategy. Reflection is
the principle that works as an echo
effect, that makes the messages more
intense and repetitive, sent from
Europe to Timișoara and bouncing
back. As people in our city tend to pay
more attention to the diaspora and
the international media and social
channels, we will send out messages
that bounce back via the European
network of our citizens, with a higher
intensity for the local audience.
Shine your light - Light up your city!
is our artistic vision. It is the overall
integrating approach that initiates
and accelerates the radiation from
the source - the individual and her/his
culture and experiences - to a target the community - with intrusive effects
in society, which remove passivity and
release civic energy for engagement
and art.
Our audience development strategy
is to inspire through meaningful
artistic works and projects, thus
widening the individual’s perspective
and accelerating the embedding into
the mainstream consciousness. Our
strategy is to transform individual
culture and memories from isolated
bubbles into growing clusters of citizen
action, by working with the direct
connection between active audiences
and active citizenship. As there is an
increasing hunger for dialogue, debate,
co-creation and interaction, our artistic
programme offers a response through
that type of cultural participation that
increases the likelihood of broader
civic engagement.
Examples in our programme include,
but are not limited to, open and
transparent consultations and decisionmaking processes for public spaces
and services, a degree of trust and
confidence to initiate citizen-led
actions, funding mechanisms and new
business models for citizen initiatives,
accessibility of public spaces and
services, educational programmes
involving an intergenerational
audience, exchanges with international
art and cultural institutions.
Our programme reflects
the civic reality
During consultations and debates with
members of the local, European and
regional community, urgencies have
been developed into the essentials of
the artistic concept. The result is that
each of the five urgencies has its own
strand with a flagship and main events.
We envisage our opening ceremony,
Light My Fire, as an event literally
powered by people. The polymorphous
performance, gathering a huge crowd
of people and the attention of the world
is meant to accelerate each individual’s
longing to experience new ways of
relating to each other, and show their
openness for engagement in the larger
community.
Inner Light invites people to expose
their own stories, memories and
experiences to turn them into a
propellant for civic action. As Europe is
experiencing a digital divide between
generations, the programme aims to
challenge each individual’s status quo.
We transform the youth’s technologyinduced trance into purposeful
collaborative action, while engaging
with the older generations, and
creating new opportunities to make the
common European heritage accessible.
Shared Sight is about encouraging
Europeans to reflect on and change
the way they relate to each other,
thus embracing the benefits of living
together in diversity.
Light and Dark Spaces is an opportunity
to penetrate the rigid mentality which
holds back many Europeans from
new social experiences. People are
invited to explore places they do not
usually look at, because of the way they
are publicly perceived. The eyes will
also open to unexpected new vertical
dimension of the city: the space above.
Light over Borders brings onto the
Timișoara stage an array of European
cultural interventions and initiatives.
All major cultural operators in the city,
in partnership with European peers,
put together an extensive programme
floating downstream towards new
public and networking opportunities.
The abundance of encounters will
lead the quest to explore diversity and
difference, but also to underline basic
common humanity.
Towards the end of our year-long
artistic programme we hope people are
prepared to widen their perspective.
Lightscapes shows the need to globalise
our thinking in order to create thriving
local communities. It also defines the
vision for the future and reveals the
Insights of the legacy which TM2021
leaves behind.
On 20 December 2021 Timișoara is
ready to re-start along with the places
and the cities where the radiation
of energy from Timișoara has been
spread in a human geography of
empathy, exchanges and interactions.
At the end of that magic night all the
citizens will ride A Never Ending Ray
of Light rising from Timișoara in the
direction of the new ECoC cities.
INTERNATIONAL
PROFILE
PUBLIC SPACE
Light and
Dark Spaces
LACK OF VISION
Lightscapes
Light over
Borders
CLOSING EVENT
penetrate
network
globalise
re-start
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1. CONTRIBUTION TO THE LONG-TERM STRATEGY
Describe the cultural strategy that is in place in your city at the time of the
application, as well as the city’s plans to strengthen the capacity of the
cultural and creative sectors, including through the development of long
term links between these sectors and the economic and social sectors in
your city. What are the plans for sustaining the cultural activities beyond
the year of the title?
T
he cultural strategy acknowledges the diverse and
dynamic cultural activities which have taken place in the
city. It realises the strong connections Timișoara has
with the other cities in the region and it considers the strategic
position of Timișoara in the heart of the Euro-region which
includes parts of Serbia and Hungary.
Timișoara is the first city in Romania to have such a long-term
public policy document.
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In October 2014, the local authorities
published the cultural strategy for
the following ten years after more
than one year of public consultations,
workshops and debates held with the
local cultural sector, since this has
been among the top four priorities
and an integral part of the overall
development of the city.
The main objective is the development
of the city through culture and the
creative industries, by collaboration
with other sectors and with other cities
in the region, in the country and across
the continent.
The strategy draws on the analysis of
twelve public policy documents (see
below) which acknowledge culture as
a development factor for the city and
the region, as well as on numerous
participative workshops, focus groups
and qualitative interviews involving
almost 2.000 individuals, aiming to
highlight the contribution of culture to
the long-term development of the city
and the region.
Following these consultations the
strategy identifies five main directions
together with their objectives:
1. Open Timișoara: cultural
governance is based on
participatory democracy, where
the public sector creates a suitable
environment for excellent cultural
activities;
2. Creative Timișoara: contemporary
art is encouraged in an active
manner with a special interest
towards experimentation and
interdisciplinary;
3. Involved Timișoara: cultural unity
and diversity live side-by-side and
the city identity, in its continuous
efforts to redefine itself, is rooted
in the multicultural, multilinguistic
and multiconfessional profile of the
city;
4. Connected Timișoara: connected
to the contemporary artistic
movements in Romania and
Europe;
5. Responsible Timișoara: the
natural and man-made heritage is
protected, with good and generous
public spaces offering a diverse
cultural and artistic experience.
Links with the economic and
social sectors
While the cultural sector has developed
strong links with the social sector
(such as the Pentru Voi [For You]
organisation which promotes the
social integration of people with
mental disabilities), it cannot boast
the same closeness with the private
sector. One of the weaknesses of the
cultural sector is its reliance on public
funds and subsequently its inability
to attract private funding. This limits
its capacity to develop and engage
with new segments of audiences.
However, the strategy strongly suggests
developing these links for their long-
term sustainability. This includes a
first-year mentoring scheme which
would enable economic agents, and
the IT sector, to help the cultural and
creative industry agents to become
profitable and sustainable. During the
year, programmes such as Addictive
Lights, Brilliant, Insights or the closing
event are based on a close cooperation
between the cultural sector and a
variety of business representatives
from technology companies to small
creative start-ups.
Long-term sustainability plans
The vision for the next ten years
concentrates on building on the
inherent character of the city defined
by experiment and disciplinary
mix. This direction has been the
key recommendation of the cultural
strategy, as well as the outcome of the
workshops carried out by the TM2021
Association.
Among the strategic recommendations
are: the creation of a cultural hub to
support emerging artists; a platform
for cultural startups including financial
support for the first year; new spaces
of artistic production and exhibition
so that contemporary art is accessible
in public spaces. Other long-term
recommendations are: investment
in human resources involved in the
creative industries; stimulation of
artistic mobility; developing long-term
links between the economic sector
and the cultural and creative industry;
engaging and reaching out to new
segments of audience; developing
regional and cross-border cultural
networks.
The document rightly notes that not
only the cultural offer of the city needs
to be developed sustainably but also
the community itself, with a greater
concern for the younger generation.
The proposed institutional framework
for sustaining the long term activities
of the city beyond the year of the title
is a shared responsibility between the
Communication Department of the
Municipality of Timișoara and a newlyrecommended Centre for Cultural
Projects. Given the large budget it will
administer for cultural initiatives, this
institution is subjected to the principles
of transparency and accountability,
therefore any political influence should
be monitored by the civil society.
Through TM2021 we want to build
on the good things which enrich the
cultural life of the city and make them
better with the purpose of developing
audiences at local, regional and
international level.
Public Policy Documents
1. General Concept of Urban
Development (Master plan) – part of
the General Urban Plan, 2012;
2. The Sustainable Urban Mobility
Plan – in development in 2015, with
an estimated budget of €70-100
million, integrating Vision 2030 –
General Development Strategy for
the Traffic within Timișoara and the
Metropolitan Surrounding Areas
from 2008;
3. Socio-Economic Development
Strategy for the Timiș County
2009-2015, estimated at around
€870 million, now being continued
through the Socio-Economic
Development Strategy for the
Timiș County 2015 - 2020, in public
consultation;
4. The Strategy of the Management
of the Green Public Spaces in
Timișoara 2010-2020, of around
€16-17 million;
5. Joint Development Strategy for
the Development of the Tourist
Potential of the Bega Canal in
the Romanian-Serbia Area, 2014,
with an estimated budget of €195
million;
6. Strategy for the Development of
the Western Region 2014-2020,
based on which the West Regional
Development Agency of Romania
has allocated €642 million of
European funds;
7. IPA Programme for the cross-border
collaboration between Romania
and Serbia 2014-2020, with a total
budget of €88 million;
8. Interreg V-A Programme between
Romania and Hungary 2014–2020,
with a total budget of €232 million;
9. Study of the Development Potential
of Timișoara and Arad, 2013, having
an estimated budget of €6.820
million;
10. Integrated Development Plan of
the Timișoara City Hall 2012, of €70
million;
11. Historical Study of the Protected
Built Areas – Timișoara 2011;
12. Strategic planning based on the
analysis of the eligible programme
area of Cross Border Cooperation
Programme between Romania and
Hungary.
How is the European Capital of Culture action included in this strategy?
T
imișoara’s candidacy for the ECoC title is acknowledged
in the city’s cultural strategy. It is envisaged that the
cultural strategy and the TM2021 programme will work
in tandem, and one should not be mistaken for the other as
they are two distinctive projects which strengthen each other.
The strategy supports the candidacy,
providing a vision for the cultural
development of the city before and
after 2021. The TM2021 programme
is founded on, as well as contributes
to the strategy. The winning of the
title is not regarded as a goal per se,
but rather a means to boost cultural
development and social change.
The Timișoara – European Capital
of Culture Association was actively
involved in all stages of shaping the
cultural strategy.
The candidacy is analysed in terms
of long-term implementation,
sustainability and impact. The
document acknowledges that the
candidacy prompted an increase in the
local budget for culture.
and the programme of the European
Capitals of Culture 2021-2030.
The timeline of the whole cultural
strategy integrates the 2021 moment as
follows:
• 2014-2016 - the preparation of the
TM2021 bid;
• 2017-2021 – the preparation of
the TM2021 cultural programme
(should the bid be successful);
• 2022-2024 - the long-term
management of the legacy of the
TM2021 programme.
The evaluation of the impact of the
cultural strategy used the Liverpool08
European Capital of Culture, the
European Parliament’s Agenda 21
In conclusion, the cultural strategy
acknowledges the role which the
Association will play in its long-term
impact, should the candidacy bid be
successful. Winning the ECoC title will
revive the spirit of Timișoara, thus
recovering, restoring and rethinking
the identity of the city. Nevertheless,
the strategy can be implemented
regardless of the bid outcome, but it
will probably not have the same boost.
timisoara2021.ro
9
If your city is awarded the title of European Capital of Culture, what do you
think would be the long-term cultural, social and economic impact on the
city (including in terms of urban development)?
W
ith a possible ECoC year in Timișoara, Europe
gets an open experiment with multiculturalism,
multiconfessionalism, active civic society and
entrepreneurship as a basis, and can therewith engage
individuals into European citizens.
10
These are central values that build
stability in the turbulent Europe of
today. They are values well-rooted
in Timișoara’s past, and although
pushed into the background during
the last decades, the city currently
reinvents them in a contemporary
European context. As identified causes
of the city’s status quo, the specific
combination of our city’s urgencies
have provided the underlying thread of
the cultural programme.
The following long-term impact is
foreseen:
•
The cultural impact is the
outcome of pursuing the values
of multi-confessionalism and
multi-culturalism: through
ECoC interventions we prove the
transformative power of culture
in Europe especially by addressing
the urgency of increasing exclusion
towards marginalised groups,
namely religious (among others
muslims), disabled, migrants and
poor people.
•
The social impact is the outcome
of pursuing the value of active
civic society: through ECoC
interventions we empower the
existing social capital in Europe
to get organised and act as a
group especially in order to speak
out, take responsibility and act
as citizens in the context of the
community and the neighbourhood,
and to trust in their common
ownership of public space.
•
The economic impact is
the outcome of pursuing
entrepreneurship: through
ECoC interventions we enlarge
the shared vision and strengthen
European societies to share the
commonly-developed motion of
what their cities are about. In
terms of employment our cultural
programme builds competences
and provides links to business
development. We do so by
encouraging artists, activists,
citizens, media representatives,
entrepreneurs, decision-makers
and politicians to contribute to and
build a shared vision for European
cities to increase their international
profile.
The gradual transformative process
of the individual starts with the
participative strategy of inspiring
him/her to engage. It continues with
the communication strategy where
the individual is encouraged to
share their personal stories, which
are then integrated and accelerated
by the artistic vision, until they
become a contagious radiation from
the individual to the community.
The audience development strategy
strengthens the process, by directly
connecting active audiences and active
citizens. Therefore, the candidacy
leaves a lasting legacy on the cultural
fabric of Timișoara and of its partners,
through the power of the individuals’
culture within their communities,
which as a result, become cultural
neighbourhoods. The European
dimension frames the whole process
of transformation, both of individuals
and their communities, into a
contemporary scenario and anchors it
into today’s values and challenges.
Hence, the long-term impact is
structured as presented below:
European dimension impacts
Addresses passivity, an energy-draining, apathy-inducing attitude
Aim: active European citizen
• Extended citizens’ knowledge about European issues, especially regarding young, minorities, migrants and vulnerable groups;
• Acknowledgment of Timișoara’s and its citizens’ role in the construction of Europe, especially of politicians, decision makers, civic
leaders, academics and media representatives;
• Long lasting developed co-productions and exchanges with European artists, organisations, cities and regions.
Cultural impacts
Social impacts
Economic impacts, including visibility
Addresses exclusion of marginalised
groups
Addresses lack of civic energy and distrust
in public-space ownership
Addresses lack of shared vision and of
visible international profile
Aim: to stimulte multiculturalism
Aim: to facilitate the emergence of an
active civic society
Aim: to encourage entrepreneurship
• Involved citizens in co-creation and
co-production of cultural experiences,
especially of marginalised groups
namely Roma people, disabled, migrants
and poor people;
• Strengthened facilities, capacity and
opportunities of artistic content in
Timișoara itself;
• Consolidated collaborations, networks
and shared structures, both within and
outside the culture sector;
• Continuously-developed cultural
projects, unique, new, innovative and/
or experimental which offer different
and various experiences for citizens and
visitors;
• Transformation of the image of the city;
• Strengthened cultural policy of the city
and the local governance architecture
related.
• Citizens’ sense of place and pride built
through awareness of the ECoC and
changed perceptions;
• Strengthened facilities, capacity and
opportunities for artistic community
projects in neighbourhoods;
• Widened cultural access and
participation, addressing audiences of
all ages, education, geographical origin,
language, social background, digital
literacy;
• New audiences developed, by exposing
people, who usually avoid participation,
to cultural events going on in schools,
churches, social centres, parks and
squares;
• Increased international profile of the city;
• Evidenced effects on wider governance
and democratic activity as a result of
the ECoC process, at local, regional,
national, cross-border and European
level;
• City’s improved tourism, economic,
urban and accessibility infrastructure;
• Increased tourism sector;
• Developed cultural and creative
industries sector and employment.
• Particular groups addressed as
audiences, such as young and seniors;
• Developed volunteering opportunities.
Urban development impacts
• changed mentality in terms of habits
and independent self-criticism;
• understanding of the importance
of public space as place for
experimentation;
• boost in social integration especially
towards those parts of the city that
suffer from exclusion;
• rethinking of the consequences of
design of neighbourhoods on the
mobility between social strata;
• optimised mobility and accessibility of
employees and entrepreneurs;
• shared and agreed common view on the
international profile of the city;
• new cultural destinations.
Performance targets of the long-term
impacts – and for the year itself – can be
found on page 14.
timisoara2021.ro
11
Describe your plans for monitoring and evaluating the impact of the
title on your city and for disseminating the results of the evaluation. In
particular, the following questions could be considered: Who will carry
out the evaluation? Will concrete objectives and milestones between
the designation and the year of the title be included in your evaluation
plan? What baseline studies or surveys – if any – will you intend to use?
What sort of information will you track and monitor? How will you define
‘success’? Over what time frame and how regularly will the evaluation be
carried out?
T
12
he evaluation project for TM2021 must set up a rigorous,
independent evaluation system that establishes
a dialogue with the local community to create a
widespread culture of transparency and accountability, helping
local stakeholders to build trust in the project as a fair, win-win
game and a real opportunity for human, social and economic
development of Timișoara.
In the Romanian context, we cannot
rely on a long history of setting up
evaluation systems for large cultural
programmes such as the ECoC. Thus,
in choosing the evaluation team, we
focused on three key criteria:
1. Ensuring full independence of the
evaluator subject, to guarantee
a fair, rigorous evaluation and a
useful basis of comparison with
other ECoCs;
2. Ensuring a strong competence
base, allowing an evaluation that
complies with the best standards building on earlier experiences in
the region as in Sibiu 2007 and Pécs
2010 - and enables a substantial
knowledge transfer to the local
players;
3. Ensuring an in-depth knowledge
of the local context, to tailor the
evaluation tools to the specificities
of Timișoara and its territory.
To this purpose, the evaluation team
features both local players (the West
University of Timișoara), and an
international partner, who cooperates
with a consultant that knows the
region, chosen through an open call
to European research institutions
with a strong background in cultural
evaluation. Proposals must comply
with the European Commission
requirements, in particular the ECoC
2020-2023 Guide for Cities preparing the
bid, and Guidelines for the Cities’ own
evaluation of the results of each ECoC,
and with the bid’s general and specific
objectives.
financial offer, knowledge-transfer
programme for local experts and young
researchers, and a programme for
citizens’ consultation and involvement
in the evaluation process itself.
General objective
A community of practice that has
reputational interests in evaluating
ECoCs and large scale cultural projects
with a strong development focus, is
made with bidding institutions that
are not chosen, the Romanian and
international experts involved in the
evaluation of Sibiu 2007, other ECoCs
in 2019-2020-2021-2023, cultural
observatories (like the Budapest
Observatory) and with representatives
of the European Commision’s DG EAC
(wherever possible and appropriate).
Together they will regularly engage
in digital hangout sessions and in
occasional face-to-face meetings, and
will accompany the development
of the evaluation activity through a
continuous exchange of information,
opinions, and expertise, and will
have a direct insight in the kitchen
of evaluation of TM2021 and provide
peer-to-peer review. In principle, the
community of practice should outlive
the ECoC programme itself, becoming
a constant, long-term reference for
Timișoara, and possibly for other
Romanian cities, as an expert hub
for cultural evaluation. We expect to
learn, especially via cooperation with
evaluation of culture in developing
countries, such as, for example with
cultureradius.co.sa from South Africa.
GO1. To build cultural neighbourhoods,
to strengthen social cohesion and to
improve well-being in Timișoara, its
region and beyond, through and by
active European citizens.
Specific objectives
SO1. To increase tolerance, acceptance
and inclusion among citizens and
widen individuals’ cultural horizons,
within strong multi- and inter-cultural
neighbourhoods and communities in
Timișoara, its region and beyond.
SO2. To increase civic awareness,
knowledge, commitment and
initiatives among citizens, within the
context of an active, large and various
civic society, on the basis of common
ownership of the city;
SO3. To embrace and implement
a shared vision of the city’s future
by citizens and decision makers
and increase visibility of the city’s
international profile.
Our choice of the international partner
will be on the basis of the competences
to deliver the best methodology,
In total 1% of the overall budget
is used for checking and making
visible the overall effects of the ECoC
through evaluation and monitoring,
practical working sessions with
international and regional experts,
public scorecards that show the
progress on the implementation, data
collection and tracking, ‘data war
rooms’ and master classes, citizens and
artists’ sessions on design, information
collection and analysis-communication
and involvement in the half yearly
information markets that are planned.
We use instruments as follows:
•
citizens’ focus groups involved
in the design, data collection and
communication of monitoring
outcomes;
•
the ECoC Art Markets presenting
the status and outcomes of the
monitoring and evaluation
programme;
•
a balance score card displayed in
public space and on the web stating
the latest indicators of success and
their progress.
Our concrete objectives are formulated
with reference to the bid’s general
and specific objectives, according to
the methodology proposed by the
international partner.
We expect to measure them by means
of indicators highlighting aspects such
as:
•
the level of involvement of citizens
in co-creation and co-production of
cultural experiences, especially of
marginalised groups, namely Roma
people, disabled, migrants and poor
people (GO1);
•
the level of cultural access
and participation, addressing
audiences of every age, education,
geographical origin, language,
social background, digital literacy
(SO1);
•
the development of new audiences,
by engaging people who usually
avoid participation to cultural
events, and particular sociodemographic groups such as the
elderly and the teenagers (SO2);
•
the level of European exposure and
visibility of Timișoara (SO3).
The first stage of our baseline research
consists of all collected relevant
documentation about the European
Commission guidelines on ECoC
evaluation.
In the second stage we continue
collecting all the evaluation studies
conducted by external experts on ECoC
cities (including single city studies),
such as the Palmer Reports and the
Ecorys ex-post evaluation of the 2012
ECoCs.
The third phase collects all available
evaluation studies by ECoCs
themselves.
The fourth phase collects all the
research papers on the impact of ECoCs
published in scientific journals.
The fifth stage collects all relevant
studies on the city of Timișoara and
its region, within the framework set
by the Timișoara Cultural Strategy
2014-2024, possibly integrated by a new
study on the social and cultural capital
of Timișoara, investigating current
levels of cultural participation.
The evaluation team will carry out
an in-depth meta-review of the first
four stages, pinpointing the main
methodological approaches, findings,
and outstanding issues, and will
analyse the fifth stage in a reference
Policy Document.
The European Commission has set
clear standards for the evaluation
toolbox in terms of General, Specific
and Operational Objectives and their
pool of core indicators in the ECoC
2020-2033 Guidelines. This will be a
central reference for our evaluation
methodology, and will be integrally
adopted as a precondition for the
methodological proposals of bidding
international partners.
that accurately reflect them and are
effectively measurable on the basis of
available data. We will also exchange
views with other ECoC evaluation
teams to take advantage of ideas about
new indicators, offering full reciprocity
in this respect.
There are two distinct dimensions of
success we are interested in:
•
whether or not the ECoC is able to
accomplish its stated goals, which
are defined in terms of target
values of the chosen indicators as
specified above, and to what extent;
•
whether the culture of evaluation
itself can become part of the
professional framework and
background of all local players as a
consequence of the ECoC evaluation
process.
A useful way to tackle both criteria
is to combine them as an integral
part of the citizens’ participation
process. In particular, during the
public consultation phase in the
pre-ECoC years, we will spark a
professionally-moderated discussion
with all local stakeholders, including
public administrations, companies and
cultural and civil society organisations,
as to what we should consider as
criteria for success. We will finalise
the adopted ‘success’ criteria with
the conclusion of the methodological
set-up phase by Q2-2018. We think
that by fixing target values through a
process of public consultation, we will
also stimulate the local community
to appreciate the importance of
evaluating and benchmarking as a way
to make better public decisions and to
learn from experience.
Also part of the preconditions for
the international partner selection
will be the possible formulation of
additional Operational Objectives,
and possibly of an additional Specific
Objective, reflecting the thematic focus
of Timișoara’s bid as expressed by GO1
and SO3, and to develop indicators
timisoara2021.ro
13
A first workshop with citizens, prepared by experts, has already taken place and led to this first table of indicators:
European dimension impacts
Extended citizens’ knowledge of European issues, especially of
young, minorities, migrants and vulnerable groups
14
50% of Timișoreni
55% of young Timișoreni
60% of minorities
65% of migrants
70% of vulnerable groups
By 2022, 50% of Timișoreni, 55% of young Timișoreni, 60%
of minorities, 65% of migrants, and 70% of vulnerable groups
will know their basic human rights as European citizens. That
percentage will increase yearly by at least 2-3%. Similar indicators
are put in place on stability and mobility, but also on the Europe
Direct contact points, for example.
Methods: Questionnaire surveys among residents (city and region).
Every Q4/Y19-23
Acknowledged Timișoara’s and citizen’s role in the construction of Europe, especially of
politicians, decision makers, civic leaders, academics and media representatives
By 2022, Timișoara will have an independent strategic civic Advisory Board put in place
for representing the city’s interests in its relationship with Europe and beyond, with
politicians, citizens and other stakeholders involved.
Target in the long-term is to facilitate local appreciation of the diversity of European
cultures, through concrete yearly initiatives. Direct contact points, for example.
Long-lasting developed co-productions and exchanges with
European artists, organisations, cities and regions
By 2021: at least 50% of the cultural programme will be coproduced through European partnerships; directly and indirectly
the ECoC cultural programme will involve at least 3.000 operators
and artists from all over Europe; 100 European residence and
mobility programmes will be implemented; 100 internships,
exchanges and work share schemes in Europe will be offered to
cultural operators from Timișoara.
By 2022, 45% and in 2023 35% cross-border European
cooperation from the ECoC year will still be in place, and 10 new
cross-border European cooperations will be established. Target
in the long-term is to maintain at least 25% of cross-border
European cooperation from the ECoC year and to build yearly 5
new cross-border European cooperations.
Methods: Quantitative analysis of the cultural programme.
Every Q4/Y19-23; Every Q4/Y24-26.
By 2021
50%+
of the cultural programme
will be co-produced through
European partnerships
Long Term
25%+
The long-term target is to
maintain at least 25% of crossborder European cooperation
from the ECoC year
Methods: Annual activity reports.
Independent experts’ reports.
Analysis of local and regional
public policies.
3000+
at least 3.000 operators and
artists from all over Europe will
be involved
5+
At least 5 new cross-border
European cooperations will be
established yearly.
Cultural impacts
Involved citizens in co-creation and co-production of cultural
experiences, especially of marginalised groups
By 2021, 60% of the city’s cultural programme provided by the
direct involvement of citizens through co-creation and coproduction of projects (in 2022 this should be 20%); 20% of the
artistic programme co-designed by cultural and ethnic minorities
and marginalised groups, including communitarian projects
developed within neighbourhoods; 25% of the 65-80 year olds
are active in transferring their knowledge of art or craftsmanship
to other generations; 45% of the 20-30 year-olds are active in
transferring their IT knowledge to seniors; 30% increase of digital
literacy in elder population. Target in the long-term is to increase
yearly by 2%.
60%
of the city’s cultural
programme provided by the
direct involvement of citizens
through co-creation and coproduction of projects
30%
increase of digital literacy in
elder population
Method: Quantitative analysis and surveys on audiences and outreach
(e.g. tickets sold, IT platforms traffic and up-loads, events data basis).
Strengthened facilities, capacity and opportunities of artistic
content in Timișoara itself
By 2021, 240 capacity building and exchange programmes will
be implemented for the cultural operators; 100% increase in
the number of active cultural operators; 25% increase of jobs in
cultural fields; 25% increase of the cultural operators’ budget; 20%
increase of private funding resources for public cultural operators.
Target in the long-term is to maintain the engagement level.
Method: Quantitative analysis of the cultural programme. Unconventional
research methods (e.g. qualitative research done by artists).
245
new collaborations will be
developed within and across
genres of cultural operators
140
120
new collaborations
with business, social
and other sectors
international networks that
Timișoara will join and be active in
By 2021
240
capacity building and
exchange programmes will be
implemented
increase in the number of
active cultural operators
increase of jobs in cultural
fields
increase of the cultural
operators’ budget
25%
By 2021, 245 new collaborations will be developed within and
across genres of cultural operators; 140 new collaborations with
business, social and other sectors; the city and region will join and
be active in 120 international networks, arising from ECoC activity
and context.
Starting from 2022, 50% of cultural operators will take part in two
international projects each year.
Method: Quantitative analysis of the cultural programme. Unconventional
research methods (e.g. qualitative research done by artists).
By 2022, 25 original art works produced and/or commissioned by cultural operators each year, with a
5% yearly increase afterwards, and yearly implementation of 40 neighbourhood projects achieved by
citizens in collaboration with public administration.
By 2021, 90% of people will believe culture has a very important
role in the economy of the future; 70% of people will say that
Timișoara is attractive to young people; 70% of people will say
that the city is an innovative and creative city; 40.000 national and
local mass, social and new media articles with reference to ECoC,
out of which 75% positive; 15.000 international mass, social and
new media articles with reference to ECoC, out of which 90%
positive.
Method: Questionnaire surveys among residents (city and region).
Monitoring of the European, international and national media and social
media. Every Q4/Y19-23; Every Q4/Y24-26.
25%
Consolidated collaborations, networks and shared structures,
within, as well as outside, the culture sector
Continuously developed cultural projects, unique, new, innovative and/or experimental
Transformed image of the city
100%
Method: Quantitative analysis
of the cultural programme.
Unconventional research methods
(e.g. qualitative research done by
artists). Every Q4/Y19-23; Every
Q4/Y24-26.
By 2021
90%
70%
of people will believe
culture has a very
important role in the
economy of the future
of people will say that Timișoara is an
innovative and creative city;
Strengthened cultural policy of the city and the related local governance architecture
By 2021, involvement of 40 public directors and officials in mobility projects and European Learning
Partnerships; governance of the cultural scene, especially cross border, is focused on participation
and development with the citizen; the citizen participation is secured within the Cultural Strategy
institutional design (put in practice in 2016); City Council of Timișoara is actively involved in 12
relevant European cultural networks.
of the cultural programme.
Stakeholder interviews. Analysis
of strategy implementation reports
and surveys. Every Q4/Y19-23;
Every Q4/Y24-26.
Social impacts
Citizens’ sense of place and pride re-built, through awareness of the ECoC
and changed perceptions
By 2021, 80% of citizens in Timișoara say ECoC developed more pride, joy,
social cohesion and optimism for the people.
Method: Questionnaire surveys
among residents (city and region).
timisoara2021.ro
15
Strengthened facilities, capacity and opportunities of artistic communitarian projects in
neighbourhoods
Method: Analysis of urban
development reports.Stakeholder
interviews. Every Q4/Y19-23;
Every Q4/Y24-26.
By 2021, 50% increase in re-use of empty and/or neglected industrial sites.
16
Widened cultural access and participation, addressing audiences
of all ages, education, geographical origin, language, social
background, digital literacy
By 2021, 8 million people in Europe were contacted for
co-creation projects, including via on-line platforms; participants
attended 2.000 ECoC events (per type of event we will analyse
demographics, e.g. % breakdown of audience by socioeconomic
background - age, income, education levels, referencing European
Qualifications Framework).
By 2022, 30% more visits to museums, theatres, concerts, art
exhibitions and literature events and 50% rise in awareness of
culture for the 6-24 year olds.
By 2022
30%
50%
more visits to museums,
theatres, concerts, art
exhibitions and literature
events
rise in awareness of culture for
the 6-24 year olds.
Quantitative analysis of the cultural programme.
New and particular audiences and volunteering developed, by exposing people who usually avoid
participation to cultural events going on in schools, churches, social centres, parks and squares
By 2021, at least 65 socio-cultural operators involved in exchange programmes and refresher
courses on cultural production and audience engagement; 100% of primary school children, 75% of
secondary school children and 50% of high school children participate in cultural education; 25%
participation from groups with traditionally little affinity to culture; each year 100 children below
poverty line have direct access through facilities and subsidies to culture; 60% of citizens will declare
themselves willing to do volunteer work; Timișoara will have a core group of 1500 volunteers with
strong networks in culture; starting with 2021, 100 labour-learning students each year in cultural and
creative sector; at least 10% of the artists will be hosted by local families.
and surveys on audiences and
outreach. Quantitative analysis of
the cultural programme.
Economic impacts
City’s increased international profile
By 2021, 30 million people in Europe have heard about Timișoara;
90% of international visitors state that they would come back
to the region for culture/holiday/ leisure; 60% of 13-20 year olds
consider coming back after studying elsewhere; 75% of students
at the universities in Timișoara consider staying in the area if they
can find a job; increased partnerships with foreign universities,
exchange students and exchange of students.
By 2021
30.000.000
people in Europe have heard about Timișoara
Monitoring of the European, international and national media, social media
and websites. Every Q4/Y22-23; Every Q4/Y24-26.
Evidenced effects on wider governance and democratic activity at local, regional, national,
cross-border and European level
By 2022, there is coherence between existing institutions promoting a higher quality of life (culture,
sport, leisure time, science, innovation, education, economy), with an improved synergy with other EU
projects.
Grown tourism and cultural-creative industry sector
By 2021, 1.5 million visitors in Timișoara; after 2021,
increase the average time of visit by 30%; after 2021,
10% increase of tourist spending budget; after 2021,
€92 million income into the regional economy through
visitors. After 2022, achieve an annual inflow of
600,000 visitors to the city, of whom 50% are from
abroad. By 2021, 25% increase in students for Cultural
and Creative Industries sector and 25% increase of creative
industry enterprises that grow sustainably for more than 3 years.
By 2021
1.5M
visitors in Timișoara
Method: Analysis of the annual
Cultural Agenda of the city.
30%
increase in the average time
of visit
Method: Quantitative analysis (e.g. tickets sold, accommodation booked,
flights). Stakeholder interviews.
2. EUROPEAN DIMENSION
Elaborate on the scope and quality of the activities:
Promoting the cultural diversity of Europe, intercultural dialogue and
greater mutual understanding between European citizens.
B
y the end of 2021, through our artistic programme, we
hope we will restore the values of cultural diversity,
intercultural dialogue and greater understanding
between Europeans, values which once were part of the social
fabric of the city and now they need a new contextualization
for the 21st century.
The commonly-shared European
values lay at the foundation and the
enlightenment of the 18th and 19thcentury middle class in Timișoara.
We will revisit those values, restore
them and make use of them in a
contemporary context. We want
Timișoara to become a laboratory for
these restored values in Europe.
maintain it. For example, it is normal
to celebrate Easter in many ways if the
members of the family follow different
traditions; or the civic spirit that was
also reflected during the Revolution
which was started by a priest who
belonged to both a cultural-linguistic
and religious minority - a Protestant
Magyar (Hungarian). This is what
defines Timișoara.
The cultural diversity of Europe
For TM2021 European diversity will
be a founding block of most of our
programmes. For example, in the
Heritage in the Spotlights thousands
of heritage items are documented in
a collaborative and interdisciplinary
way and promoted through storytelling
by trained local guides, from a variety
of backgrounds, including Roma
youngsters, migrants, people with
disabilities, elderly; six historical
neighbourhoods will become living
museums with the inhabitants being
the directors, curators and guides; and
throughout the month of August we
will organise the Mega Bega Festival,
an event of European diversity.
Our understanding of cultural
diversity is the acknowledgment of
each individual’s unique identity
given by his or her cultural, religious
and social background.
Diversity is ingrained in Timișoara’s
DNA. This is the way we are, no matter
what. The city has been a melting pot
of cultures for centuries, assimilating
three major influences: Ottoman,
Austro-Hungarian and Romanian.
Nevertheless, social identity was
constructed in the Banat not through
nationality, but through culture and
heritage. Values have always been
more important than ideologies.
From the social behaviour perspective,
Timișoara was an example of multiand inter-cultural society for three
hundred years, which made it possible
for the city to be integrated into Europe
in the 18th century and to represent
the main link between the Catholics
and the Orthodox, the Christians and
the Muslims, the Habsburgs and the
Ottomans. The multicultural dimension
gave consistency to the anti-totalitarian
resistance in the 20th century.
The Timișoreni are proud of this
plural heritage and they want to
Intercultural dialogue
We cannot talk about
multiculturality without
interculturality. We see the
intercultural dialogue as the unity
which binds together the religious,
cultural and social diversity of our
community.
This definition draws on the city’s
and the region’s long tradition of
multi- and interculturality based on
a civic engagement from which it has
emerged, what is known in Romania as
‘the spirit of Timișoara’.
Timișoara’s European openness
has been facilitated by the
practice of plurilingualism and
multiconfessionalism. At the beginning
of the 20th century, Timișoara’s
population spoke five languages,
Hungarian, German, Serbian,
Romanian and Bulgarian. The main
religious affiliations were Roman
Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Greek
Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran and
Reformist - Calvinist*. During the
Hungarian domination, Timișoara
had the only multi-lingual local
administration in Central and Eastern
Europe. This ethos stimulated a
multicultural citizenship within the
Banat region long before this became
a vision and a value of Europe, laying
the foundation of the European Union.
These features will be showcased in
programmes such as Heritage in the
Spotlights, Words of Light and Let There
Be Light.
The multicultural citizenship is
characterised by an intermingling
of cultures, by practices and habits
based not on ethnic or religious
identities but on interculturality: a
high number of inter-religious and
inter-ethnical marriages, schools
with teaching in minority languages
attended by Romanian children as
well, press published in minority’s
language, the German and Hungarian
theatres attended not only by
Germans or Magyars (Hungarians),
a yearly ecumenical march attended
by representatives of all Christian
denominations. The political regimes
of the 20th century, however, did leave
scars. As the Germans from the Banat
emigrated, a certain reticence towards
the Roma community and towards
the newcomers from other Romanian
timisoara2021.ro
17
regions has slowly made its way into
our communities. We are going to
address this issue in programmes
such as Invisible/Visible and Flash of
Memory.
18
During TM2021 we aim to enhance
this intercultural dialogue and
celebrate the different languages
spoken in Timișoara, not only by the
historic ethnic groups such as the
Banatian dialect of Romanian and the
Schwabian dialect of German, but
also by new communities such Arabic,
Asian, Italian. We will organise Words
of Light, a multilingual international
programme curated by Guerrilla
Translation and the Fraktura Literature
Festival.
Greater mutual understanding
between European citizens
Peaceful coexistence, the
acknowledgment of the diversity
within the community, and the
initiation of dialogue between cultures
has been the norm in Timișoara
since the Middle Ages. After 1918
the population of Timișoara resisted
the nationalistic temptations of the
interwar period. When communism
gripped the country after the Second
World War they retained values such
as solidarity, tolerance and respect
regardless of the social group the
individual belonged to. The fact
that the anti-communist revolution
started in Timișoara is proof that
these commonly-shared values of our
communities could not be altered by
the influences of nationalism. More
recently, with the great brain drain
which Timișoara has experienced,
the city risks losing its identity given
by these values if it does not instil the
ethos within the communities of the
newcomers to the city.
others do the same. These values
were achieved through wider access
to culture and education, closing the
gap between rich and poor, speaking
the language of others and sharing the
spiritual values of one’s neighbours.
We will spread these shared values
within society by producing and
implementing educational projects
in schools, artistic intervention of the
theatre, music, film, social sciences and
humanities.
Circulating Skyscapes programme
illustrates the deep cultural effects of
individual mobility, metaphorically
represented by people who lived
under more than one sky and can
share their enriched views further in
communities.
Encouraging others to reach their
potential has been a core value
within the Banat community, where
individuals moved forward and let
Highlighting the common aspects of European cultures, heritage and
history, as well as European integration and current European themes.
O
ur strategy is to strengthen our relationship with
the enlightened cities and beyond, through artistic
exchanges, co-productions and co-creations, and by
doing this, create a wave that empowers us to rediscover the
open-minded social fabric of Europe, the shared history and
the common future.
Common aspects
What bind Europeans together are the
material and the immaterial culture,
the buildings heritage and the people
(the living heritage), the past and the
future. We aim to discover shared
transcultural values across Europe.
We do not have to look too far back
in history to discover a network of
European cities similar to Timișoara in
the way they were built and the values
they promoted. Timișoara’s values
need to be understood within this
framework of enlightened cities: Košice
(Slovakia), Novi Sad (Serbia), Pilsen
(Czech Republic), Pécs (Hungary),
Chernivtsi (Ukraine), Lviv (Ukraine),
Kraków (Poland), Trieste (Italy),
Stuttgart (Germany), Ruse (Bulgaria)
and beyond. Their commonly-shared
values of immaterial culture, such as
cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism,
education-oriented, entrepreneurship,
social innovation, cultural hybridity
and anti-nationalistic discourses,
are reflected in the elements of the
material culture, the architecture,
buildings, monuments, food. The
fitting image to reflect this spirit is
the Unirii Square in Timișoara where
three places of worship belonging to
three different denominations share
the public space. Let There Be Light
will symbolically add to these the
contemporary diversity of spiritual
beliefs in Europe.
Current European themes
European integration
Misuse of public spaces is a concern
for cities which inherited a lot of
buildings and infrastructure from the
18th and 19th centuries. Timișoara
has the oldest manufacturing district
in Romania, dating 1732-1744, but
also large areas of decayed socialist
industrial sites. We plan to address
the need to reclaim this space,
rehabilitate the buildings and create
neighbourhoods with a strong
community spirit with programmes
such as Brilliant and Inspired View.
With such strong and clear values in
mind, we envisage Timișoara to be the
European laboratory which advocates
a more tolerant, open-minded
and collaboration-driven Europe.
Heritage in the Spotlight contributes
to the European platforms for sharing
common heritage of the past, Twinkling
Little Global Cities reflects the quest
for a sustainable future for small and
medium-sized cities while Circulating
Skyscapes portrays the emerging new
European that assumes more than one
cultural identity.
Besides sharing the heritage, history
and culture, these cities also share
similar current European challenges.
anxiety and frustration. Labour Day
Stripped to the Bone is a reminder to
reconnect with those aspects that go
beyond a materialistic, consumptiondriven society.
Immigration is a critical issue in
Europe. Timișoara hosts the first
UNHCR Transit Refugee Centres in
Europe. We include in our programme
people with refugee / migration
backgrounds willing to share their
experiences and culture in safe spaces
such as Chiaroscuro and Words of
Light.
Unemployment, is a constant worry,
especially for young people, adding
Featuring European artists, cooperation with operators and cities in
different countries, and transnational partnerships. Name some European
and international artists, operators and cities with which cooperation
is envisaged and specify the type of exchanges in question. Name the
transnational partnerships your city has already established or plans to
establish.
T
We have specific educational
programmes on a digital divide such as
Addictive Lights, conducted by Trànsit
Projectes (ES) in collaboration with the
West University of Timișoara -Social
Science Research Centre, and the EOS
Foundation, affiliated to Telecentre
Europe Network. Within Dare to Shine,
the Danish Network for Children
(the advisory body of the Ministry
of Culture for children’s culture),
CRAFTed project (IR), will be invited
to offer workshops and educational
laboratories, in collaboration with
the local Banat Village Museum of
Timișoara, and the Rubin Foundation
and Street Delivery Festival, where
local and visiting children and adults
he whole artistic programme of TM2021 involves
European partners and prioritises a stronger and more
focused cooperation.
create and learn together. In Blossoms
and Transparent Walls we have a series
of social projects for increased-risk
groups and cultural activities with
multiethnic or intercultural profiles,
run by Opera Circus (UK), PartecipArte
(IT), Métaforum (FR), Aufbruch (DE)
and TeatroDentro – TransFormas (ES),
in collaboration with the local The
Intercultural Institute from Timișoara
and independent theatre companies
such as Auăleu.
The creative repurposing of the former
industrial estates, arranged by ZK/U Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik (DE)
and the French collective of architects
Encore Heureux, will allow us to host
our programme Space - Where Dark
Meets Light, a new version of DEEP
SPACE run by Ars Electronica (AT) in
collaboration with the local Simultan
Association and Unstable Media / Dutch
Electronic Art Festival. Media artists
such as Jane Boyde (GB) and Laurie
Frick (USA) and interactive designers
such as Sergio Galán (ES) will be also
involved.
We have a core flagship, such as
Insights, for strengthening the link
between art and management:
International partners such as
Conexiones Improbables (ES) and
Antiheroes (NL), and artists such as the
Michael Hanna (GB), will bring along
timisoara2021.ro
19
their experience in creating the right
environment, where international
creators, thinkers and also NGOs,
such as Goteo Foundation (ES) and the
Circular Company (NL), will recognise
innovative and viable business models
and up-cycling solutions for industry,
by conducting laboratory activities
in collaboration with the local Helion
Club and Eco Stuff Timișoara.
20
From a different artistic perspective,
both the Mega Bega and Baroque
Reloaded programmes are about
co-curation and they count with the
network Corners of Europe and River
of Europe, the International Danube
Festival, Elias Canetti Gesellschaft (BG),
Novi Sad Jazz Festival (SRB), Hungarian
Limes Association for recreating
local and existing festivals such as
Bega Boulevard Festival, Baroque
Festival, Access Art, Jazz Festival, Plai
Festival, Festival of Hearts, StudentFest,
International Performing Arts Festival
and Ethnic Minorities Folklore Festival.
All these cooperations will create
conditions for sustainable development
through long-lasting partnerships
between creative artists and networks.
Our policy stimulates transnational
partnerships to strengthen the local
cultural operators in the development
of a good cultural offer aligned with
the Timișoara Cultural Strategy 20142024. We will establish an international
partnership between the National
Centre of Expertise for Cultural
Education and Amateur Arts (NL),
the National Association of Cultural
Councils (DK), the Interfolk Institute for
Civil Society(DK) and the Department
for Culture of Timiș County, as well
as the local cultural institutions: the
‘Mihai Eminescu’ National Theatre of
Timișoara, the German State Theatre
of Timișoara, the ‘Csiky Gergely’
Hungarian State Theatre of Timișoara,
the Romanian National Opera of
Timișoara, the Banatul Philharmonic
of Timișoara, Antic Music Association,
House of Culture Timișoara, Timiș
County Arts and Culture Center,
Timișoara German Cultural Centre,
Timișoara French Institute.
Furthermore, within our project
Twinkling Little Cities, together with
the medium-sized, multilingual
and multinational cities of Novi
Sad, Szeged, Osijek, Sarajevo, Banja
Luka, Skopje, Shkodra, Ioannina,
Chișinau, Uzhhorod, Košice, Graz,
Brno, Bratislava, Chernivtsi and Lviv
or Kraków, expanding an initiative
initiated in Timișoara by the InterEst Foundation, we plan to create
a mobility scheme and exchange
opportunities for researchers.
Can you explain your strategy to attract the interest of a broad
European and international public?
T
he main goal of our actions is to make the city of
Timișoara a name well-known within the European and
international contexts, able to reflect both our local
specificities and the common aspects we share with Europe.
We have designed a three-level
strategy: raising the international
profile of the city through the
Romanian diaspora; building a solid
international network of partnerships;
producing a participative artistic
programme with a European profile
and a strong communication impact
on a wider public. For this multilevel
strategy we rely especially on social
media, on crowd sourcing and
storytelling platforms, TV, radio,
printed press, online streaming and
global networks.
Before the ECoC year the people
of the diaspora, from their clusters
scattered around Europe, will be the
main ambassadors for our inspiring
message calling for civic involvement.
With their proactive storytelling, the
international context they belong
to will soon know about Timișoara,
through the experiences of real
people that are international, but still
retain that special bond with local
specificities.
audience, thanks to those projects
especially designed to reach a wider
public that will follow us both
physically and digitally:
In the meantime, most of our artistic
programmes have been designed to
be developed in close collaboration,
cooperation and co-production with
a wide European partner network
of cultural institutions, artistic
associations, and formal and informal
civic society groups. The network will
play a key role in guaranteeing the
quality of our artistic offer and the
interest for a European public. The
consolidation of such a network will be
facilitated by social media technologies
for the sharing, dissemination and
production of the cultural content.
•
with the Opening and Closing
events, we start and we end with
a boom. A series of emotional
performances focused on the theme
of light, which will awake in our
European guests the passion for art
and civic engagement;
•
with Vision, the viral nature of the
data art will attract the attention
of audiences thanks to its power to
visualise identity and aspirations
decorated with real faces, showing
the differences and common
aspects;
During the ECoC year we will attract
a large European and international
•
with Space - Where Dark Meets
Light we organise a spectacular
and futuristic larger version of Ars
Electronica’s DEEP SPACE, in the
setting of the derelict industrial
sites situated in the heart of the city;
unexpected collective performance
we empathise with wide
international audiences;
•
•
with Mega Bega, we invite people
to the longest stage in the world,
where diverse art forms and
performances are presented;
•
with Labour Day Stripped to the
Bone, we tackle one of the main
ongoing European concerns
- unemployment. Through an
•
with Baroque Reloaded, we send
our ambassadors all over Europe to
invite a wider public to Timișoara,
to join a multidimensional
party with a contemporary and
provocative reinterpretation of
Baroque;
skyscapes above European
cities, will unite people under an
unconventional sky to share stories
of mobility.
Each individual’s inner energy counts
as we need every sparkle to accelerate
the culture-led transformation across
Europe - our legacy for the future.
21
with Circulating Skyscapes, an
amazing exchange of depicted
To what extent do you plan to develop links between your cultural
programme and the cultural programme of other cities holding the
European Capital of Culture title?
O
One of our artistic programmes,
ECoC Boulevard, has been especially
designed for cities that hold, or hope
to hold the ECoC title. This is in open
space where they can showcase some
representative cultural flagships, as
well as artistic manufacturing, media
and visual products.
Other initiatives include an ongoing
artistic project, Invisible/Visible
featuring theatre performance and a
documentary in co-production with
Kalamata 2021 ECoC Candidate city
and Plovdiv 2019 ECoC, involving
Roma children from Greece, Bulgaria
and Romania who live in marginalised
or temporary settlements.
Within one of our flagship
programmes, Mega Bega, we develop
a project about the River as a medium
for culture with other cities along the
Bega and the Danube and we can count
on established partnerships with other
Danube cities such as Pécs 2010 or
Novi Sad 2021 Candidate City (3rd
party).
The programme Twinkling Little
Global Cities addresses medium-sized,
multilingual and multinational cities
in Europe, based on an existing project
run by Inter:est Berlin in twelve cities
ur cultural programme will develop joint projects with
other former, current or future candidate ECoCs on the
basis of those similarities we share with them.
from Central and Eastern Europe.
We want to expand the circle to new
cities, including ECoC Candidates such
as Cetinje 2021 Candidate City (3rd
party) and Ioannina 2021 Candidate
City to share a debate about the
common cultural heritage.
We will develop new joint projects
with other ECoC candidates with
the aim of exchanging knowledge,
experiences and best practices in
the cultural area. In particular we
already have with Ioannina 2021
an ongoing collaboration between
West University of Timișoara and the
University of Ioannina in the field of
humanities. With Larissa 2021, Rijeka
2020 and Pula 2020, all candidate
cities, we have an agreement for
exchanging artists and residences,
and for programmes with innovative
experimental art supporting the people
within their own communities. Our
candidature addresses educational
and cultural programmes about the
diversity of the Europeans, to influence
long-term European policies on
multicultural heritage.
We envisage a cooperation with the
ECoC candidates in Greece, Ireland
and Croatia, sharing and developing
evaluation methodologies, exchanging
staff, artists, artefacts and citizens, and
making agreements on how best to
share countries and events. With each
of them we foresee working together
on EU-funding for capacity building
programmes.
We are interested in re-launching,
continuing, or further developing
projects already featured in
previous ECoCs, such as Lille 2004
which presented in Timișoara the
Futurotextiles exhibition curated by
Lille3000, the association built to
develop the legacy of the ECoC year.
We plan a special event, developed
with Linz 2009, which will recreate
Ars Electronica’s DEEP SPACE in the
post-urban scenario of the derelict
industrial parks of Timișoara.
Invitations and exchanges with
experts, practitioners and members
of impact evaluation groups of other
ECoCs, such as Lille 2004, Sibiu 2007,
Liverpool 2008, Stavanger 2008, Linz
2009, Marseille 2013, Wrocław 2016,
Paphos 2017, have all been featured in
our plans for the implementation of a
solid base of skills, as well as discussing
co-productions and joint participation
to European calls.
timisoara2021.ro
3. CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC CONTENT
What is the artistic vision and strategy for the cultural
programme of the year?
T
he artistic vision of our programme, Shine your light Light up your city! is a process of self-discovery and
social transformation that brings new meanings. We
want people to search for their inner light and energy, to share
their personal stories and experiences and release them into
the community they live in, so that the social transformation is
accelerated, removing passivity and generating civic energy for
engagement and art.
22
The cultural programme takes our
audiences on an incredible journey,
whose goal is to create inner and
external metamorphoses, and to cause
civic motion through emotions. For this
purpose our programme for the ECoC
year involves particular artistic ideas
that show an intense, active connection
with the spirit of the community.
While Europe is facing the digital turn,
which has integrated new technologies
into daily life, Europeans need to
rethink the relationship between
culture and its audience in terms of
co-creation and open access to the
common European heritage. The big
difference is that the newly-integrated
audiences - in a social sense - are
always right. In this new scenario,
whereby the distinction between
producers and users of content has
been blurred, the very intermediary
are exactly those professional artists,
who make things happen in an artistic
way and bring people together in a
thriving community.
Our strategy is summed up by seven
verbs which individually are the driving
principles of the opening event, the
five strands and the closing ceremony,
respectively: accelerate, expose, reflect,
penetrate, network, globalise and
re-start.
They all illustrate the power of light
to expose things, bring them out from
the dark, penetrating to the bleakest
corners, and shining all around. The
process takes the individual out of
his or her comfort zone, by exposing
his or her experiences, sharing
these experiences with the others,
penetrating those neglected places of
the city, facilitating the networking
with the other Europeans over the
borders and globalising his and her
vision, and finally becoming the change
to re-start in a wider community of
citizens.
The whole process can be described
as a ubiquitous dispersal of energy
which is propagated from each
individual, drawing on his/her cultural
identity, experiences and memories
which instill the flow of energy
throughout the community’s space. The
surrounding community is a medium
affected by this energy exposure, a
space which both captures the light it
produces and bounces it back in the
common space, and in the process it
reaches those shaded and neglected
spaces nobody wants to look at. The
stronger the light which started with a
local sparkle in Timișoara, the further
it reaches over the city borders,
throughout the region, the country
and the continent. Once globalised, the
vision has a deflection effect: it comes
back again to the local community
with a new breath of energy needed
for a fresh re-start. The outcome of
the process is the emergence of a new
sense of citizenship, which is both
Timișorean and European.
Describe the structure of the cultural programme, including the range and
diversity of the activities/main events that will mark the year. For each
one, please supply the following information: date and place / project
partners / financing.
CULTURAL
PROGRAMME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
Opening
Closing
Inner Light
Addictive lights, Vision - Post-selfie Data Fest, Ana=logic,
Smartness Revealed
Shared Sight
Dare to Shine, Blossoms, Heritage in the Spotlights, Flash
of Memory, Invisible / Visible
Light and Dark Spaces
Space, Where Dark Meets Light, Labour Day Stripped to
the Bone, Transparent Walls, Chiaroscuro, Brilliant
Light over Borders
Mega Bega, Baroque Reloaded, Words of Light, ECoC Boulevard,
Twinkling Little Global Cities
Lightscapes
Insights, Circulating Skyscapes, Solar City, Let There Be Light,
Inspired View
timisoara2021.ro
23
24
January 2021
LIGHT MY FIRE:
TALKING ABOUT
A REVOLUTION
Action
ACCELERATE
The fundamental element for civic passion is represented in the
opening event in many ways. Let’s call it light, let’s call it fire.
City of Timișoara
Starting point of the '89
Revolution
Gathering points of the
Opening Event
Main points of the
Opening Event
Bega Canal
25
In January 2021, we, the inhabitants of Timișoara together with our European
friends, will start with a boom: a Revolution. This only happens when ‘The time
to hesitate is through’. For Timișoara, talking about a revolution is both an act
of remembering our past, but also a moment of celebration of the first spark
which set off the social change. The opening event is a big gala on the Bega
Canal for a collective releasing of energy, designed to be in international media
and reach the largest audience.
This will be an event entirely powered by human energy collected and
stored throughout the previous year thanks to savvy devices. Human motion
installations set along the artificially-frozen Bega Canal light up a forest of
lights decorating the river banks. In such a setting, live paintings of the main
moments of the Timișoara Revolution realised in fluorescent colours glowing
on the white light of the ice will be interposed with stories of Europeans from
1989, from the well-known fall of the Berlin Wall to the more anonymous
personal stories.
/ Opening event
Group F (FR) • Licht Festival
Gent (BE) • Glow Eindhoven
(NL) • Blake Shaw (US) •
Dedo Barcelona (ES) • Jane
Boyd (UK) • ‘Mihai Eminescu’
National Theatre of Timișoara
• ‘Csiky Gergely’ Hungarian
State Theatre of Timișoara
• German State Theatre of
Timișoara • Romanian National
Opera of Timișoara • Banatul
Philharmonic of Timișoara
€ 2.000.000
As in 1989, the Timișoreni leave their homes and follow the voices of the
revolution. The accumulating flow of people wearing lights, overcoming the
natural barrier of the river and walking over it, will be projected onto public
buildings. All the energy used to freeze the Canal is now reconverted in The
sound of the fire. From Victory Square, a DJ marathon mixes the voices of 1989
from both Timișoara and Europe in an electronic soundtrack that ignites the
first night of the ECoC year. The groove culminates with a march towards the
rock concert. Fire art concludes the night. We are in flame!
timisoara2021.ro
26
January → June
INNER LIGHT
Urgency
LACK OF CIVIC ENERGY
Action
EXPOSE
Today’s fascination with technology has turned artificial light
from an opportunity to a tremendous challenge for keeping
the inner light visible. Inner Light will expose each individual’s
stories, memories and experiences envisaging the new
challenges of the digital culture. Like holding up a mirror, we
will encourage people to consider their own daily cultural
habits.
27
/ Flagship
Addictive Lights
Trànsit Projectes (ES) • Europeana
Foundation (NL) • UNITE IT (BE) •
Telecentre Europe Network (BE) • West
University of Timișoara • Centre for
Psychological Studies and Research of
the Department of Psychology (West
University of Timișoara) • Politehnica
University of Timișoara • Samsung
Romania • Timișoara Startup Hub •
CoderDojo Timișoara
We will empower citizens to transform their addictive exposure to
new technology into a craving for culture and digital inclusion. New
technologies can keep us isolated in our own bubble, giving us a false
sense of connection, but they are also a fundamental tool for cocreation and sharing of cultural contents.
€ 900.000
In line with European-wide archives such as Europeana, Addictive
Lights aims to boost the creative use of the digital heritage to all
generations of Timișoara. We create a crowd-sourced platform
curated by the young and addressing the elders, for giving a new
lease of life online to the cultural content we care about, and which
connects us to European heritage and memories.
Vision - Post-selfie Data Fest
/ Main event
For seven days at the beginning of 2021, and continuing throughout the year, Vision - Postselfie Data Fest is the ultimate data-selfie, based on the idea that your life and your data can
be turned into an artistic message. Passers-by, both in Timișoara and the other twin cities,
take a photo of themselves as a backdrop and explain who they are or who they want to be.
The collage of different faces from one city will be broadcast to private houses in other cities
to enlighten them during the winter nights. This data will be collected, and as a semantic
cloud of the most popular hashtags will be presented at the end of the festival and exported
all over Europe. Thanks to this exchange, we can look at ourselves as in a mirror and find
how similar and different we are as European citizens.
Laurie Frick (US) • Magnum
Photo (FR) • Dédale Culture
Technologie Innovation Social
(FR) • PanSpeech (IT) • Faculty
of Arts and Design Timișoara •
Simultan Association
€ 850.000
Ana=logic
Smartness Revealed
Our exposure to new forms of technology makes us hyperactive. The Ana=Logic festival teaches the young about the
benefits of a lifestyle embracing slow and low-fi technologies.
The event promotes exclusively analogue art and technology,
such as photo, film, sounds, books created by artists and
amateurs without digital processes. Moreover, the festival
takes place in the meeting place for people of different ages,
from senior clubs to teenager skating parks.
There is a human being behind any technological
advancement, whether this is an inventor, a start-up hero,
a hacker, a young miner victim of the global conflict for the
control of the mineral resources, a child working illegally on
gadget assembly lines or an e-waste up-cycler. We will invite
artists to reveal the human light behind our devices but
also to remind as we all have the capacity to create things.
Smartness Revealed is a celebration of the ‘Homo Faber’
across time, from the old fashion craft to the next generation
maker.
/
ANALOGICA Festival (IT) • Notodofestival (ES) • ‘The Cultural
Ambulance’ Timișoara • Timiș County Public Library
/
€ 150.000
VivaCidade (PT) • MOB, Makers of Barcelona (ES) • MakerConvent
(ES) CRAFTed project (IR) • Smart City Association Timișoara
€ 350.000
timisoara2021.ro
February → July
SHARED SIGHT
Urgency
EXCLUSION OF MARGINALISED GROUPS
28
Action
REFLECT
Culture is the ambiance to transform separate individual
glitters into collective glows and initiatives. For this, we turn
the mirrors around and we let the inner light reflect from one
individual to another, directed from one mirror to another until
it reaches every corner of our neighbourhoods. We want to
spread the light and change perspectives in order to achieve
authentic harmony in diversity across Europe.
29
Dare to Shine
/ Flagship
This is a key programme for civic engagement, audience
development and self-expression; a transformation of
disadvantaged areas of the city through culture. Timișoara`s
metropolitan area will become a dense network of spaces
for cultural co-creation by the audience. After several years
of preparation with local and international artists, the
inhabitants of Timișoara can get out in the familiar space
of their neighbourhood to express their perspectives in a
colourful diversity of languages and forms of expressions
in spots chosen by them and furnished with small cultural
infrastructure. Schools and educational organisations host
extra-curricular art, craft and technology projects that will
be assembled in a dedicated route for children. ECoC will
provide the resources to create partnerships between artists
and cultural animators and similar schools and initiatives all
over the world.
CIVILSCAPE European network
(DE) • Danish Network for
Children and Culture (DK) •
Kulturelle Samråd i Danmark
(DK) • Oposito Company
(FR) • Old School Ilica (HR) •
‘In Community’ Association
• Timișoara International
Street Art Festival (FISART)
• Artdendum Association •
Rubin Foundation • Timișoara
Cultural Centre • Timiș County
Arts and Culture Centre • ‘Am o
Idee mai ARTfel’ Association •
Cărturești Foundation
Blossoms
/ Main event
The ‘blossom moments’ of Dare to Shine will unfold many small events,
performed all over the city and its surroundings, to create an explosion
of self-expression opportunities. Musicians and performing artists
are invited to propose European projects where the audience is the
main artist. After the creation of ‘nuclei’ in as many neighbourhoods
as possible, each act will come together, physically and artistically, in
three large mass performances. Music composers and choir masters
of different genres work with 20 to 50 small amateur groups dispersed
across the town, each moving slowly, before joining together in a peak
of over thousand people. Dance instructors and circus artists animate
similar invasions, while the audience is invited to join the mass happy
parties.
Opera Cirkus (GB) •
Compagnie MALABAR (F)
• Fundacja Teren Otwarty
(PL) • Chalon Dans La Rue
(FR) • La Strada Graz (AT) •
The Carabosse Company
(F) • Palucca Hochschule
für Tanz Dresden (DE) •
Kolben Dance (IL) • Art Stage
San (KR) • Street Delivery
Festival • The Intercultural
Institute Timișoara (I.I.T.) •
Timisens Association • Auăleu
Independent Theatre • Rubin
Foundation • White Steps
Dance School • Mirtys Dance
School • Valsport Dance Club
• Bolero Dance Club • Dance
Stars Club • Timișoara Circus
School • Thespis Student
Theatre
€ 950.000
€ 950.000
timisoara2021.ro
30
Heritage in the Spotlights
/
The neighbourhoods of the city become living museums with the inhabitants
being the directors, curators and guides. Tangible and intangible heritage of all
ages of the city become alive and interesting when interpreted by passionate
people, wherever they are in Europe. The highlight will be thousands of items
(museums and private collections), buildings and immaterial heritage documented
in a collaborative and interdisciplinary open source cultural database. Trained
local guides from a variety of backgrounds, including disadvantaged groups such
as Roma youngsters, migrants, people with disabilities and the elderly, tell their
stories of heritage with support of augmented reality items created by media
artists.
Q21 (AT) • Voluntary Arts (GB) • LKCA •
National Centre of Expertise for Cultural
Education and Amateur Arts (NL) •
Interfolk, Institute for Civil Society (DK) •
‘Save the heritage’ Cultural Association,
Aquatim Company • Timișoara Art
Museum • The Romanian Union of Visual
Artists – Timișoara Branch
€ 800.000
Flash of Memory
Invisible/Visible
The city landscape is the subjective frame for millions of
memories in Europe. Are there one million people to share
them? User-generated stories and poetry in many languages,
and visual creations, are posted on a platform that recreates
the city from the subjective perspective of the memories
it has sparked. Tourists and homeless people, natives and
newcomers, imagine together a cascade of flashes and their
reflections, spreading across the city and widening mind
frames. The best stories and photos, ranked by the users,
will create collective digital and printed books of individual
buildings, streets or districts published under Creative
Commons Public Domain. The chosen poetry is displayed on
public transport information screens.
How does the ‘collective eye’ choose to see or ignore things?
How are interpretation and reputation created and how do
these impersonal mechanisms return and determine people’s
lives?
/
Mjestimice svjetlo (HU) • Neighborhood Diaries (IN) • Dragoljub
Zamurovic (RS) • Fondazione Bruno Kessler (IT) • Timișoara
French Institute • Timișoara German Cultural Centre
€ 550.000
This artistic project involves Roma children from Greece,
Bulgaria and Romania who live in marginalised or
temporary settlements. A theatre performance and a
documentary will be produced and presented in each of the
three countries. In Timișoara the theme continues by inviting
the diverse local Roma communities to express, through
visual and performance arts, how they experience ‘visibility’
and ‘invisibility’. Showing how different generations cope
with living unknown at the edge of the city, concealed in the
mainstream or in the spotlights of the tabloid media.
/
Kalamata 2021 ECoC Candidate city (GR) • City of Plovdiv • ECoC
(BG) • Teater NOR (NO) • AIDROM- Ecumenical Association of
Churches from Romania (Timișoara Branch) • Timișoara Roma
Centre for Studies • Integration and Solidarity in the Community
Development (CRISS-DC) • Timișoara Resource Center for Urban
Regeneration
€ 500.000
31
April → September
LIGHT AND
DARK SPACES
Urgency
DISTRUST IN COMMON OWNERSHIP
OF PUBLIC SPACE
Action
PENETRATE
Whenever the light meets the dark it opens it up. We will use
the power of light to penetrate the darkness, bringing forward
the things and places which were once hidden and avoided.
Scheduled for the summer, the strand features the benefit of
shadow, understood as the physical place in which one can
find relief. The aim of the project is to make the city open
and accessible by overcoming those physical and mental
thresholds which prevent us from seeing new dimensions of
the city, neglected public space or social exclusion.
timisoara2021.ro
32
Space, Where Dark Meets Light
/ Flagship
Outer space is perceived as a dark place, but our source of
light comes down from there. This project opens up the dark
and mysterious ‘Space’ to the general public, to understand
the meaning of Light in Europe. The post-urban scenario
of derelict industrial sites host a larger version of Ars
Electronica’s DEEP SPACE arena, for an audience of 1000. It
will provide a new dimension of travel through space and
time, the immersion into a realm of breathtaking 3D imagery
and high-definition visuals in jumbo format. The project
also develops detailed images of solar activity from 2016
to 2021. The industrial sites, reminiscent of lifeless planet
surfaces, host two large scale mainly open air exhibitions
focusing on the Moon and Mars. The opening event of the
strand involves a large immersive panoramic projection and
a performance by the Ars Electronica quadcopter swarm
‘Spaxels’.
Ars Electronica (AT) • ZK/U
- Zentrum für Kunst und
Urbanistik (DE) • Sergio Galán
(ES) • Unstable Media / Dutch
Electronic Art Festival (NL) •
Encore Heureux (FR) • West
University of Timișoara •
Timișoara Astronomical
Observatory
€ 2.500.000
Labour Day Stripped to the Bone
/ Main event
Silent 1st May is an inverse celebration of Labour Day, while Europe is still recovering from
the biggest economic crises which left many unemployed and unable to pay even for the
basic living expenses. The event is a plenary collective performance lasting for one day
in which all of Timișoara stops and other cities in Europe follow the example. Telephones
blocked, no wi-fi, no artificial noise, no artificial light, only candles when the evening
comes. Citizens perform ‘the pure nothing’, guided by meditation masters and social theatre
companies working in the periphery space between the world inside and world outside,
with people, such as prisoners, forced to do nothing. For those that really cannot stand still,
we propose walks to reconnect with nature, whether it is Shinrin-yoku forest bath, bird
watching, following animal tracks or foraging for wild eatable gifts. The event is supported
by a public campaign led by the social international movements specialised in sharing act of
kindness in public.
Aufbruch (DE) • The
Liberators (AU) • TeatroDentro
-TransFormas (ES) • Cultural
Camarille’ Association •
Sam-Sho Club • Ecostuff
Club Timișoara • StudentFest
Festival
€ 750.000
Transparent Walls
/
Videomapping artists and experimental theatre and dance companies are invited to visit
public institutions and services - city administration, education, hospitals, the prison, the fire
brigade, the water (AQUATIM) and the waste (RETIM) services - and re-create, throughout
performances, the most typical scenes they see. The work is projected onto the walls of the
respective places, suggesting transparency. Each representation will be followed by an open
debate exploring the old and new meaning of public and community work.
Public Art Lab of Berlin
(DE) • The Triage Live Art
Collective (EU/AU) • Visionaria
Film Festival (IT) • Auăleu
Independent Theatre
€ 500.000
33
Chiaroscuro
Brilliant
How could we digest topics such as the communist
legacy, the enigmas of the 1989 Revolution in Timișoara,
or European themes such as the Yugoslav wars, refugee
crises, gender violence and so on? Galleries, cafés and
unconventional spaces host theatre and contemporary
dance productions, documentary films or experiential
installations that immerse the audience in those human
experiences where light and dark struggle to prevail.
In this way we comprehend collective traumas but also
individual perspectives, from common transitions such
as aging or mourning, to concealed circumstances such as
sexual orientation, to the stigma positions of homelessness
or mental health to inescapable situations like disability or
terminal illness.
On a November night of 1884 the entire city of Timișoara
was lit up by over 700 arc lamps. Each had the power of
several thousand candles and the temperature in each arc
rose to a few thousand degrees Celsius. Today we need
intelligent street lighting for thousand and one nights. The
project intends the simultaneous implementation in two
neighbouring squares of the original arc light street lighting
system (provided by the still existing Brush Electrical
Machines company in GB) and of a contemporary lighting
design. The resulting contrast is the starting point to reflect
on the impact of public lighting on public spaces.
/
Empathy Museum (GB) • Cardboard Citizens (GB) • La Xixa Teatre
(ES) • PartecipArte (Italy) Métaforum (FR) • EDN • The European
Documentary Network (DK) • European Network Remembrance
and Solidarity • Human Rights Film Network • Timishort Film
Festival • Four You Association • Association for the Promotion
of Women in Romania (APoWeR) • The Caritas Federation of
the Timișoara Diocese • Timișoara Center for People in Need •
‘Something to Say’ Association • Timișoara Association of People
with Locomotor Disability • Association for the Integration of
Disabled Persons • AIDROM- Ecumenical Association of Churches
from Romania (Timișoara Branch) • Auăleu Independent Theatre
/
SIGNAL Prague Light Festival ( CZ) • Mulhouse Alsace
Agglomération (FR) • LUCI Lighting Urban Community
International (FR) • Brush Electrical Machines Group (GB) • Ivan
Marušić Klif (HR) • ELBA Company • Timiș Agency for Economic
and Social Development (ADETIM)
€ 350.000
€ 350.000
timisoara2021.ro
34
May → November
LIGHT OVER
BORDERS
Urgency
LACK OF A VISIBLE INTERNATIONAL
PROFILE OF THE CITY
Action
NETWORK
The Light over Borders strand sets the trend for cross-border
networking. As an international-oriented programme, it aims
to inspire the local cultural operators to grow out of their local
and regional context and aim for a global reach. Reciprocally,
we want those with an international profile to bring their
cultural initiatives to Timișoara.
35
Mega Bega
Mega Bega is the longest stage in the world. We create 21 floating stages that can go
all the way to the Danube and many cultural spaces along the Bega Canal. Successful
international festivals from Timișoara and abroad, including visual and performing arts,
music and literature are invited to propose thematic events connected with the river.
They adapt their current concept to new artistic contributions, so they can reach new
audiences. Mega Bega celebrates co-curation as a base for artistic excellence, the river
being the ideal medium for transnational networking.
/ Flagship
River of Europe • D.ID Dance Identity (AT) • Pro Progressione (HU) • Nanoturism (SI) • International Danube
Festival (DE) • Elias Canetti Gesellschaft (BG) • Novi Sad Jazz Festival (RS) • Hungarian Limes Association (HU) •
Hungarian Cultural Institute Stuttgart (DE) • Arts Festival • International Wine Fair Timișoara • Veg Fest Festival •
European Theatre Festival Eurothalia • German State Theatre of Timișoara • International Festival of Performing
Arts • Timișoara German Cultural Centre • Bega Boulevard Festival • Baroque Festival • Street Delivery Festival •
Jazz TM Festival • Plai Festival • Festival of Hearts • StudendFest Festival • European Festival of Performing Arts
• Romanian Drama Festival (FEST- FDR) • Festival of Etnhies and Gastronomy • “Csiky Gergely” Hungarian State
Theatre of Timișoara • Nautica Company • Aquatim Company • Musica Antica Association • Jazz Banat Cultural
Foundation
€ 2.500.000
Baroque Reloaded
/ Main event
When European Baroque was exhausted from all perspectives, the
Habsburg Banat was building a new world, known as provincial
Baroque. Paradoxically, for Timișoara, Baroque is the moment
of historical and cultural Enlightenment. If Baroque, in pure
interpretation, means blaze, fast, glossy and glamour, Baroque Reloaded
is instead the celebration of the many meanings of Modernity and its
legacy for the contemporary world. To celebrate the internationalism
of the Baroque movement which connected a vast territory, we’ll send
local artists as ambassadors performing across the continent, handing
out personal invitations to the largest unconventional Baroque party of
the year.
Lille3000 (FR) • Corners of
Europe • Dani Brazila (RS) •
Akademie Schloss Solitude
(DE) Fête de la musique (FR)
• Close-Act Theatre (NL) •
Amsterdam Corelli Collective
(NL) • Le Baroque Nomade
(FR) • German State Theatre
of Timișoara • “Csiky Gergely”
Hungarian State Theatre of
Timișoara • Romanian National
Opera of Timișoara • Banatul
Philharmonic of Timișoara •
Musica Antica Association •
Timișoara Cultural Centre
Heritage buildings, such as the Baroque Hall, the Evangelic Baroque
Church, and the Synagogue in Fabric host contemporary performances
and silent discos, while a postmodern spot such as a shopping mall
is turned into a Baroque carnival, with music, costumes, classic
theatreeven reinvented food and beverage recipes, to allure the
contemporary consumer into both celebration and reflection on the
transient nature of cultural categorisation.
€ 950.000
timisoara2021.ro
36
Words of Light
/
Words of light is a programme celebrating the languages
spoken in Timișoara by the historic ethnic groups and the
new emerging communities as well as those of tourists.
People will be encouraged to think and speak in other
languages (mistakes are allowed). Artists are invited to
propose language games in the public space while cafes,
hotels and hostels will offer ‘travelling books’ with stories
in many languages. In a city where inhabitants used to be
fluent in at least two languages, the pupils and students
are developing together with the partner schools visual
textbooks of ‘European urbanity’ with greetings in all
languages spoken today in Europe.
The British Council (GB) • Goethe-Institut (DE) • Alliance Française
(FR) • Istituto Italiano di Cultura (IT) • Instituto Cervantes (ES)
• The Danish Culture Institute (DK) • Kikindashort Festival (RS)
• Fraktura Literature Festival (HR) • Guerrilla Translation (ES)
• Dotventi (IT) • Timișoara French Institute • British Council
Romania • Writers ‘ Union of Romania - Timișoara Branch •
International Literature Festival in Timișoara (FILTM) • StaffeteGerman Literary Club • Association of Serbians in Timișoara • The
Hungarian Women’s Association • Democratic Forum of Germans
in Romania- Banat Branch • The Association of Bulgarians in
Timișoara • Syrian Association from Romania • Beli Bagrem
Association • Arte Factum Association • Romanian-Arab Cultural
Centre • The Intercultural Institute Timișoara (I.I.T.)
ECoC Boulevard
Twinkling Little Global Cities
The Republicii Boulevard is a cultural kilometre where
people can walk, dream, shop and eat, as well as see how
the concept of ECoC has evolved over time. The Boulevard
will host special EcoC stations where the visitor will meet
the cultural flagships and the best manufacturing products
designed by EcoC cities. Each station will be marked
by a representative street art sculpture and a dancing
graffiti performance that transform a very neglected and
unwelcoming part of the city into a creative spot.
A city does not need to be a big metropolis to shine a
global glamour. Many medium-sized cities in Europe are
multilingual and multinational, close to new borders and
in constant flux; they are places for art, full of unexpected
encounters and stories. ‘Little global cities’ was initiated
in Timișoara by the Inter-Est Foundation from Berlin, in
partnership with 12 cities from Central and Eastern Europe.
For 2021 we would like to expand the circle to new cities and
uncover more old and new twinkles of their global spirit. We
will propose a call for teams of the most brilliant minds of
these cities, from social researchers, historians to technology
geeks and futurologists that will review the common
cultural and technological heritage of the “little global
cities” while keeping in sight their future. The results will be
brought to the public in attractive formats with potential to
reprogramme the 2021-27 political agenda.
/
All cities that have been awarded the ECoC title before 2021 •
Timiș County Arts and Culture Center
€ 550.000
€ 100.000
/
Inter-Est Foundation (DE) • Cities of Novi Sad (RS), Szeged (HU),
Osijek (HR), Sarajevo (BA), Banja Luka (BA), Skopje (MK), Shkodra
(AL), Ioannina (GR), Chisinau (MD), Uzhhorod (UA), Košice (SK),
Graz (AT) • Ziua Memoriei (FR) • Fondazione Campus Lucca (IT)
• Instytut Kultury Miejskiej (PL) • West University of Timișoara •
‘Timișoara’s Sphere’ Association • Rotaract Clubs • Rotary Clubs
• Lions Clubs • Timiș Chamber of Commerce • Industry and
Agriculture (CCIAT) • German Economic Club from Timișoara
€ 400.000
37
June → December
LIGHTSCAPES
Urgency
NO SHARED VISION
Action
GLOBALISE
We want the traces of the light we have set in motion to
remain beyond TM2021, captured in physical and mental
Lightscapes. The last strand of our programme is an invitation
to globalise our thinking and create the vision for a thriving
local community. The openness to the world, the collaborative
society and the transformation of mistakes into unexpected
solutions are some of the directions we want to explore.
timisoara2021.ro
38
Insights
/ Flagship
The last flagship programme of the year creates the
environment for open laboratories of co-creation for a
thriving city in a global context. The purpose is to create
‘a-ha moments’ that reveal perspectives of intricate issues,
from dealing with waste or mistakes in production to
dealing with social behaviour and urban development.
Some examples of such laboratories are: Fuck-up
nights (business and entrepreneurs present their worst
professional experiences and the audience feeds back
with their own creations inspired by the story); Zero waste
(design and upcycling in industry); Trees please! (landscape
and architecture solutions for keeping secular trees in the
urban space); CoCulture now! (new models for cultural
management and financing); Imaginative engineering
(innovation through interdisciplinary creativity). The results
harvested will be disseminated in different international
contexts and networks as a basis for launching Timișoara
Open Free Academy.
Conexiones Improbables (ES) •
NICE - Network for Innovations
in Culture and Creativity
in Europe (DE) • Culturing.
eu (IT) • SEAD Network for
Sciences, Engineering, Arts &
Design (US) • EECN - Ecology,
Environment Culture Network
• Goteo Foundation (ES) •
Ouishare (FR) • Antiheroes
(NL) • Makea tu vida (ES) •
Bea Johnson (US) • Circle
Economy (NL) • The Circular
Company (NL) • Michael
Hanna (EI) • Politehnica
University of Timișoara • West
University of Timișoara • Timiș
Agency for Economic and
Social Development (ADETIM)
• Let’s Do It Romania •
Ecostuff Timișoara • Helion
Club
Circulating Skyscapes
/ Main event
Mobility and its cultural effects become visible under artistic skyscapes.
Artists from cities from all over the world are invited to depict their
sky on canvases that circulate in an exchange that has Timișoara as
a central point. The guest skyscapes hang above streets that become
open air cultural spaces of the sending city. Here, a native Catalan
living in Timișoara can meet a former exchange student and under
the Barcelona sky add their favourite pictures. Similarly, Timișoara
natives living in Montreal may cook their favourite food and offer it
to strangers passing under ‘their sky’ in the Canadian city. The sky
also unites the world in the common responsibility for air quality. We
will bring this into public awareness with an exhibition of air samples
sent from all across Europe and further, and their test results, with a
highlight on historic ones like the cans sealed with the ‘last breath of
communism’ in 1989.
James Turrel (US) •
DZESTRA (UA) • Metaland
(PT) • Kunstrepublik (DE)
• Ziva-Dvorisca (SI) • Via
Rumania Cultura Association
• Romanian-Arab Cultural
Centre Timșoara • Institut
für Auslandsbeziehungen
Timișoara • French Institute
Timișoara • 13 Romanian
Cultural Centres and Institutes
abroad
€ 900.000
€ 850.000
Solar City
/
Solar inspired art and technology, from prehistoric symbols and ancient calendars
to contemporary installations made of solar panels will permanently decorate the
city. The audience will enjoy the occasion to come together in the Solar City Centre
and learn about sun in different cultures, to manipulate the interactive and opendesign installation and create their own solar powered souvenir inspired by the
Timișoara ECoC logo. After an international contest the Solar City of Timișoara will
be created as the long lasting remembrance of the year.
Brush Electrical Machines company (GB)
• Stanford Solar Center (US) • Akihisi
Hirata (JP) • Bausch Foundation (DE)
• Politehnica University of Timișoara •
Romanian Order of Architects - Timiș
Branch (OAR)
€ 1.500.000
39
Let There Be Light
Inspired View
Coming from a tradition of centuries of multiconfesionalism,
TM2021 is the European laboratory to invite artists
who represent the theme of light in a variety of views,
independent or affiliated to various faiths. The works
will be displayed in the Liberty circular square as a large
installation where the public encounters all the beliefs
present in the Europe of today, from state-recognised
religions to paganism, yoga practice communities or
pastafarians. The exhibition is complemented by a series
of international conferences on the role of spirituality in
bringing together divided communities. The peak moment
is a collective performance in which over 25 different
communities from Timișoara and their international guests
will converge from different spatial directions to the Union
square sharing music, light and kindness.
A refreshed window view may open the appetite for a
re-think of mental representations. TM2021 hosts landscape
architects, designers, city planners, social scientists and
street artists from all over Europe in a residence and training
programme that addresses the contemporary imperative
of a city to be open, accessible, navigable, explorable and
determined to eliminate physical, mental and social barriers.
They will also work practically with those citizens that take
a conscious look around them and propose meaningful
changes to the shared public space. A large exhibition,
with photos and simulations, shown online and in various
locations of the city will foster debates about the future view
of the city and in the same time will collect the insights of the
visitors of how the European Capital of Culture has altered
their views.
/
/
China Arts Entertainment Group Beijing (CN) • Kultur Bewegt
(DE) • Chris Torch (SE) • Intercult (SE) • Torino Spiritualità (IT) •
Terre du Ciel (FR) • Faouzi Skali (MA) • Shiva Ananda Lahari (IN) •
Theatre Company Shelf (JP) • ISAO Festival (IT) • John Feodorov
(US) • Philippe Morvan (FR) • Steve Buchanan (CH) • AIDROMEcumenical Association of Churches from Romania (Timișoara
Branch) • The Orthodox Mitropoly • Roman Catholic Diocese of
Timișoara • The Jewish Community of Timișoara • The Baptist
Church • Romanian-Arabic Cultural Centre
Arquitectura Colectiva (ES) • Spiekermann (DE) • Centre
for Excellence in Universal Design (IE) • Romanian Order of
Architects- Timiș Branch (OAR) • Angelo Roventa • Faculty of
Architecture and Urbanism Timișoara • Faculty of Arts and Design
Timișoara • Timișoara International Street Art Festival (FISART)
€ 550.000
€ 500.000
timisoara2021.ro
40
December 2021
A NEVER ENDING
RAY OF LIGHT
Action
RE-START
During the closing event citizens will harvest the joy of
watching how the light from Timișoara has spread all over the
continent and given communities the energy to take the future
in their own hands again.
At the end of our journey we celebrate the radiating community we
have built, as far as our message has reached, as much as we have
contributed to mobilise people and awake them from passivity and
nothingness. During the closing event citizens will harvest the joy
of watching how the light from Timișoara has spread all over the
continent and given communities the energy to take the future in
their own hands again.
/ Closing event
Olafur Eliasson (DK) • Little Sun (DE) • Lux
Helsinki Festival (FI) • Norfolk & Norwich
Festival (GB) • Zoe Irvine (AT) •
Timișoara European Capital of Culture
Association – Candidate City •
Municipality of Timișoara
€ 700.000
Diaspora families, tourists who have visited Timișoara, all ECoC artists
and partners, social business initiatives on alternative lightening
across the world – all have been provided with solar-powered gadgets
with a GPS locator that shine in the night of the closing gala.
An enormous map shows with luminous points those people have
been infused with our energy. People taking part in the show will
create live twinning with each other, as a promise of new encounters
to come. In the culminating moment, a giant ray of light rising from
the surrounding area, submerges the city. People ride the groove of a
soundscape concert, a symphony of natural and man-made sounds all
related to the semantic of light. At the end of the night the radiance of
light will travel from Timișoara in the direction of the two new ECoC
cities. It is time to re-start, we are ready, don’t stop the ray.
timisoara2021.ro
41
How will the events and activities that will constitute the cultural
programme for the year be chosen?
O
ur cultural offer is a blend of the three types of
programmes, aligned to the concept and the objectives
of the Candidacy: framework, predefined and open call.
The latter will be developed through capacity-building training
for cultural managers. The selection will follow an open call in
the format of Art Markets and an assessment process based
on ten criteria.
42
The cultural programme is organised
in five strands consistent with our
concept Shine your light - Light up
your city!
Framework programmes cover a
large number of smaller events and
activities that fit the logic of artistic
message (Light My Fire opening event,
Addictive Lights, Ana=Logic, Dare
to Shine, Heritage in the Spotlights,
Invisible/Visible, Inspired View,
Transparent Walls, Chiaroscuro, Mega
Bega, Baroque Reloaded, Words of Light,
ECoC Boulevard, Insights, Solar City, A
Never Ending Ray of Light);
Predefined programmes are
opportunities for joint local-European
co-productions;
Open-call programmes and projects
selected through the Art Markets that
have an allocation of cca. 30% of the
programme expenditure.
An independent jury, composed
of cultural managers and festival
directors will evaluate and advise on
the project proposals based on the
folowing criteria:
1. Interdisciplinary artistic
excellence with originality and/
or quality. Proposals have to
creatively mix different artistic
forms, but also combine arts and
culture with other sectors, such as
the social and economic ones. The
blend of traditional art forms with
new, innovative and experimental
cultural expressions will be
encouraged.
2. European dimension which
highlights the richness of cultural
diversity in Europe. A vast range
of possibilities will be encouraged,
from creative exchanges to
sustainable partnerships, and
co-productions between existing
initiatives, such as festivals and
new partners including, but not
limited to, Timișoara’s twinning and
enlightened cities networks. 3. Audience development. Each
proposed programme will have
to address one or more levels
of audience engagement: to
inspire self-expression, welcome
user-generated cultural content,
foster co-creation or engage and
train volunteers. Proposals are
encourage to include vulnerable
groups and/or address social issues. 4. Promotion of heritage and
new technology encounters, in
line with the European Digital
Agenda schemes to promote open
and collective cultural content
platforms, and provide citizens the
opportunity to acquire advanced
skills for content production, access,
and circulation.
5. Culture as a driver for
development and innovation.
We are interested in projects which
promote new forms of cultural and
creative entrepreneurship, new job
opportunities within the creative
industries sector and which
contribute to the transformation of
Timișoara and the Banat into a hub
of cultural creativity.
6. Educational component, actively
involving schools and promoting
cooperation among schools from
different European countries.
Lifelong learning and active ageing
proposals will also score.
7. Cooperation between established
cultural institutions and emerging
independent groups and artists,
whether local or international.
8. Focus on public space and
contribution to making the city
open and accessible, integrating
neglected dimensions.
9. Drive for the development of
the tourist sector presenting
attractiveness for both tourists and
the local population. The locations
of the events are to be both
spread equally in the city and the
surroundings, covering the entire
region;
10.Long-lasting legacy in line with
the city’s cultural strategy for
2014 - 2024. Legacy will be assessed
in terms of durable cultural, social
and economic impact.
The selection body will additionally
take into account the balance between
the programme strands and the
diversity of cultural interventions. To
be eligible, a project should receive a
high score on at least four out of the ten
above criteria. Artistic quality, citizen
involvement and European dimension
must score at least 80%. To collect proposals and elaborate
projects we consider the following:
In 2017 we initiate capacity-building
training programmes for cultural
managers with renowned European
organisations (e.g. Atelier for Young
Festival Managers, Culturing in
Sienna). Throughout 2017 and 2018, we
will organise quarterly information
sessions and workshops with
artists and cultural operators to raise
awareness, stimulate creativity and
facilitate partnerships. We will have a
constant open call for project proposals
at the Art Markets, to offer meeting
opportunities among artists, cultural
operators, project teams and possible
private and/or public funding bodies.
In 2019 and 2020, we will assist the
teams of the selected projects in their
first stages of developing their ECoC
proposals. In 2020, we will organise
a participative selection process
for community projects in the city
neighbourhoods to raise awareness
and increase participation of the
general public. The shortlist will be
drawn by a jury specially selected
for this purpose, while the final vote
will be given by the general public to
projects which are shortlisted.
Timeline for the 2021 cultural programme development:
2015 - 2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Proposal phase
Development phase
ECoC cultural
programme
Production phase
Technical phase
8 information workshops;
Capacity-building training sessions for
cultural managers
Open call for
workshops with
open programmes
and contributions to
frame programmes
The 2021 cultural
programme
progress
6 Art Markets
Logistical assistance of the initiators
Concept, frame
programmes
and defined
programmes
proposed in the bid
book
Signed contracts
All flagships are
with Cultural
confirmed, and
Coordinator
partnerships signed;
and 2 local and
25% of the major
international Artistic
projects are
Chiefs
confirmed
75% of the cultural
programme
confirmed
The entire
programme is ready
and made public
timisoara2021.ro
43
How will the cultural programme combine local cultural heritage and
traditional art forms with new, innovative and experimental cultural
expressions?
T
he theme of light provides an excellent inspiration for
artists and activists to deal with heritage and place
it in a contemporary perspective. By challenging and
debating, by analysing and rethinking our traditions within the
light framework, the cultural interventions in our programme
reinvent our heritage and bring it to life.
44
Timișoara and the Banat region hold
an array of cultural heritage and
forms of multi-cultural traditional arts
which deal with the European crises
and dilemmas. The rich architectural
heritage – with over 14.500 historical
buildings - linked to all European
architectural styles of the past three
centuries has often been mentioned
as an urgency of the city, since most
are in an advanced stage of decay. The
value of the local cultural heritage and
the preserved traditional arts lies not
only in their physical, historic, cultural
and artistic attributes that shape the
local and regional identity (especially
the multi- and intercultural character
of Timișoara and Banat), but also in
their significance for individuals,
communities and different structures,
the personal stories that are part of
people’s identity.
We address the local
cultural heritage and the
traditional forms of art
in each of the cultural
programme strands, with a
variety of approaches.
The first strand Inner Light combines
the local cultural heritage with digital
forms of expression which will be
developed within the project Vision.
In the second strand Shared Sight we
use audience development tools to
address the very complex situation
of the heritage of decaying buildings,
which has existed for decades. The
complexity of stakeholders (public and
private owners, tenants, authorities,
specialists) and the bureaucracy has
prevented them from finding the
mechanisms to listen to each other
and to find solutions. The programme
Heritage in the Spotlights will offer to a
wider spectrum of audience different
ways to express their perspectives
using cultural forms. For example,
tenants that come from disadvantaged
backgrounds will be given cameras
to document and present their daily
life in a decaying heritage building,
they will learn about the history of
the building and participate as local
guides. The specialists will be invited
to find creative ways to present their
passion and expertise for heritage, in
ways that are easy to understand by
the public.
The Light and Dark Spaces strand will
bring innovative and experimental
artists working under the Ars
Electronica umbrella, to reintegrate
derelict industrial sites into the public
space and public consciousness.
Chiaroscuro will explore what is worth
keeping from the unwanted communist
heritage.
The fourth strand Light over Borders
will put the local heritage into a
European context (the past multilingual culture, the architecture,
the music and the manufacturing
traditions) with support from the
partners in the Words of Light and
Baroque Reloaded.
The fifth strand Lightscapes will put
the local heritage into a global context
from a long-term perspective. Heritage
in a variety of forms, including
religious and spiritual practices like in
the project Let There Be Light, will be
one of the main themes for the capacity
building and the exchange programme
with a focus on the future and the
cultural legacy of the year 2021 for the
city. Additionally, the Insight project
will approach heritage dealing with
key aspects regarding its preservation,
such as new cultural business models
and decision-making processes.
How has the city involved, or how does it plan to involve, local artists and
cultural organisations in the conception and implementation of the cultural
programme? Please give some concrete examples and name some local
artists and cultural organisations with which cooperation is envisaged and
specify the type of exchanges in question.
T
Local artists and cultural organisations
were involved in the candidacy process
from the early beginnings and will
continue to play a fundamental role in
the implementation of the programme.
More than fifty are members of the
ECoC Association, another eight
are part of our Steering Committee,
thus they are directly involved in
the decision-making process. Other
cultural organisations have given us
significant feedback and contributed
with project ideas, while others are
co-organising projects together with
the Association. Last but not the least,
many cultural actors supported and
collaborated with us in many other
ways, behind the scenes.
In 2009, the idea of the city’s
candidacy was first discussed within
the community as a consequence of
Sibiu’s success two years before. It
was not by chance that Timișoara’s
he TM2021 cultural programme is the outcome of our
permanent dialogue with more than two hundred local
artists and cultural operators for more than four years.
candidacy was announced in 2010,
on the occasion of the inauguration
of a new theatre hall, once an AustroHungarian riding school. Later, in
2011, The Timișoara – European Capital
of Culture Association was founded at
the initiative of local public cultural
institutions and service clubs. This
ensured a good collaboration between
the Association and the cultural
organisations and artists from the
very beginning. More than 50 of the
112 members of the Association are
local cultural organisations, such
as the ‘Mihai Eminescu’ National
Theatre of Timișoara, the ‘Csiky
Gergely’ Hungarian State Theatre of
Timișoara, the German State Theatre of
Timișoara, the Banatul Philharmonic
of Timișoara, the Timișoara Art
Museum, the Banat Village Museum
of Timișoara, the ‘Merlin’ Theatre for
Children and Youth (Puppet Theatre),
local art galleries, the Timiș County
Public Library, and local cultural
figures such as the musician Codrin
Emandi, actress Ramona Olasz and the
writer Daniel Vighi. Representatives
of local cultural institutions or
organisers of major artistic events
are part of the Association’s Steering
Committee and thus directly involved
in the decision-making process:
Victor Neumann, historian, university
professor and Director of Timișoara
Art Museum; Levente Kozma, visual
artist, co-founder of Simultan Festival;
Codruța Popov, literary advisor of the
‘Mihai Eminescu’ National Theatre
of Timișoara; Vlad Gaivoronschi,
architect, president of the Romanian
Order of Architects, Timiș Branch;
Corina Răceanu, cultural manager
at the Intercultural Institute from
Timișoara; Norbert Tako, independent
festival producer; Marcela Titz, urban
planner; Ingrid Diac, cultural manager
at the Timișoara French Institute.
timisoara2021.ro
45
46
One of our goals has been to involve
as many local artists and cultural
organisations as possible, to collect
valuable ideas and to harmonise
different points of view to one
single coherent vision, so that the
whole artistic community could
identify with the programme. We
organised workshops, information
and mobilisation campaigns, and
informal meetings where we invited
freelance artists, or the ones acting in
public institutions, cultural NGOs, and
decision-makers from public cultural
institutions, with whom we had lively
debates over project ideas. Some of
them responded to our invitation,
others expressed their wish to be part
in the conception process. Their role in
the development of the final concept
was crucial.
The Intercultural Institute from
Timișoara also had a key role in the
conception of the cultural strategy of
the city. A large group of people came
with valuable project ideas: Florin
Iepan, representing the Association of
Documentary Filmmakers, Lia Lucia
Epure representing community service
clubs, Oana Borlea and Lorena Vlad
from ProPhilarmonia, Marius Gaiță
from Baroc Festival Association, the
visual artists Gabriel Kelemen, Corina
Nani, Rareș Moldovan, Dana Sarmeș,
Constantin Flondor, the writers Radu
Pavel Gheo, Alexandru Potcoavă, Viorel
Marineasa and Eleonora Ringler-Pascu,
the musicians Vlad Colar, Teo Milea,
Gabriel Almași, Sebastian Spanache,
Santa Csaba, Szabó Zsolt, Bogdan
Nagy, Aura Twarowska, and the actors
Georg Peetz, Borbély B. Emília, Baczo
Tünde, Simona Vintilă, Attila Balázs,
Ana Maria Pander, Iova Ionuș, Roman
Ștefan, Mădălina Ghițescu Petre, Olga
Török, also cultural managers Alina
Cristescu, Călin Rus, Alina Baciu,
Adrian Mirescu and representatives
of the international community
Siegfried and Geraldine Geilhausen
and Jose Miguel Vinals, came with
valuable project ideas. We have closely
collaborated with sociologists and
humanists from the West University
of Timișoara, such as Bogdan Nadolu,
Alin Gavreliuc and Corina Turșie.
The historian Victor Neumann had
a strong influence throughout the
TM2021 concept elaboration process
offering consistent historical elements
regarding the multi- and inter-cultural
past of the city and the region.
Social organisations had an input on
the cultural aspects as well, suggesting
examples and approaches for audience
engagement. Special thanks to ‘Ceva de
Spus’ and ‘Pentru Voi’ Associations, to
Andrei Stratilă from the accessibility
team and to Roma activists Letiția
Mark, Valentin Pepenel, Ion Goracel,
Victor and Ramona Făcăleț who have
contributed to a large extent to address
and raise awareness on the topics of
accessibility and Roma during our
conferences and workshops.
The logo of the Association is the
creation of the local visual artist and
graphic designer Pavel Vereș, after two
public calls for proposals launched
in 2011 and in 2012. The logo of the
candidacy, differing from the one of
the Association, is the work of Ștefan
Lucuț, a young artist from Timișoara.
Forty-six local musicians, writers,
visual artists, directors of cultural
institutions are ambassadors of
TM2021 and their number is growing.
Their testimonials are accessible on the
Association homepage:
www.timișoara2021.ro. They promote
the candidacy at their events.
While the launching of our first
two concepts - 'REVOLutionary' and
'Channel of Cultures' - took place in
formal locations such as the hall shared
by the Romanian National Opera of
Timișoara and the ‘Mihai Eminescu’
National Theatre of Timișoara in
2012 and, respectively the Timișoara
City Hall in 2014, the course of the
preparation process took us closer to
the alternative scenes in locations such
as Ambasada Plai or the space of the
Auăleu Independent Theatre.
technology together in Addictive Lights,
revive Ana=Logic, inspire innovation
but also crafts and manufacturing with
Smartness Revealed, small cultural
infrastructure spread all over the city
for Dare to Shine, mass celebrations
in Blossoms, bring the Heritage in
the Spotlights, find one million of
Timișoreni in Flash of Memory, address
the growing uneasiness towards
the Roma with Invisible/Visible, do
something unseen yet in a derelict
area in Space - Where Dark Meets
Light, bring bureaucracy to public
debate in Transparent Walls, address
painful issues like those in Chiaroscuro,
rekindle historic lights and think
of future technology in Brilliant,
expand with vibrant projects to new
spaces like Mega Bega and Baroque
Reloaded, showcase the incredible
linguistic and spiritual diversity of the
city in Words of Light and Let There
Be Light, make the pedestrian route
between the railway station and the
centre more attractive with the ECoC
Boulevard, invest in local talents in
Insights, encourage voices of returned
youth contributing to a new vision
under Circulating Skyscapes, promote
participative city design with Inspired
View, think of the future in Twinkling
Little Global Cities and Solar City, make
the light from Timișoara radiate all
over the world in the Never Ending Ray
of Light.
The dynamics of the process behind
our candidacy made us realise the
local artist-activists are crucial to
implementing a complex programme
such as TM2021.
The concept Shine your light – Light
up your city! was tested in the summer
of 2015 in 21 organised workshops and
countless informal meetings with over 250
people.
Most of the programmes were
developed from suggestions written
on post-it papers during meetings:
use alternative power for events in
the opening event, bring culture and
4. CAPACITY TO DELIVER
Please confirm and evidence that you have broad and strong political
support and a sustainable commitment from the relevant local, regional
and national public authorities.
T
he ECoC Candidacy is the city’s first community-wide
project since the 1989 Revolution.
Our local political support is due to the community’s
great interest in the ECoC project and the direct involvement of
the citizens and civil society organisations in our initiatives.
Timișoara City
Council’s Decisions,
adopted unanimously:
• No.82/29.03.2011 on
supporting the candidacy.
• No.250/12.07.2011 on the
Municipality becoming
founder member of the
Association.
• No.271/14.05.2013 on
increasing the amount of the
city’s membership fee.
• No.371/01.08.2014 on
including the candidacy logo
on all official documents.
• No.252/26.05.2015 on
increasing amount of the
city’s membership fee.
• No.395/22.09.2015 to
approve the contribution of
€20 million for the case the
city is awarded the ECoC title.
Timiș County Council’s
Decisions, adopted
unanimously:
• No.106/04.08.2011 on
becoming founder member
of the Timișoara - European
Capital of Culture Association
/ Candidate City and the
respective membership fee.
• No.134/28.08.2013 on
increasing the County
Council’s membership fee.
• 30.09.2015 to approve the
contribution of €5 million for
the case the city is awarded
the ECoC title.
This widespread appeal ensured
a broad, strong and long-lasting
political support, which also needs
to be seen in the context of the
relative nature of the political scene.
Between now and 2021, there will be
six elections: two locals in June 2016
and 2020, two nationals in December
2016 and 2020, the European in
May 2019, and the presidential in
December 2019.
The broad political support is
confirmed and evidenced, firstly
by nine policies supporting the
ECoC project which were adopted
unanimously by the local and regional
councils (six by Timișoara City
Council and three by the Timiș County
Council) and secondly, by two political
agreements signed by all political
leaders – first in March 2011, and
reinforced in January 2014, affirming
without reservations the support for
the ECoC project - both their own
and the support of the parties they
represent.
This backing is translated into the
provision of public financial resources
and other necessary means. It is also
driven by the determined commitment
and the diverse representation of the
local civic community involved in the
preparation.
If the 1989 Revolution was a civic
outburst, the ECoC initiative is a civic
movement which grows slowly but
steadily, turning politicians into its
followers, as proven so far.
We also aim to approach, as member,
the recently-established Timișoara
Economic Consultative Body which
includes more than 40 organisations,
such as business clubs, clusters,
development agencies, banks,
universities and diplomatic bodies.
At the regional level, the Association
signed a cooperation framework
agreement for the implementation of
the ‘Bega Canal Tourism Development
Strategy’ with all local public
authorities from the Bega Canal area,
including the Timiș County Council,
the Timișoara City Council, the Timiș
Agency for Economic and Social
Development, the Banat Regional
Development Agency, the Zrenjanin
Regional Chamber of Economy (in
Serbia) and 18 other partners.
Within the regional context, Timișoara
has also established cultural
cooperation agreements with three
cities in Serbia, namely Zrenjanin,
Pancevo and Novi Sad.
Whithin a national context, the
Romanian National Opera and the
'Mihai Eminescu' National Theatre of
Timișoara are supported directly by
the Ministry of Culture and are active
members of our asociation.
timisoara2021.ro
47
Explain briefly how the European Capital of Culture will make use of and
develop the city’s cultural infrastructure.
T
he cultural infrastructure of the city is both material and
immaterial, both people and objects, both communities
and buildings. While our strategy when it comes to
material infrastructure is opening-up, our focus is on people as
an inherent part of the immaterial infrastructure.
48
We will employ a dual approach:
on one hand make better use of the
current infrastructure and on the other
develop new ones.
When it comes to immaterial culture
we are planning to work on two levels
in partnership with the other cultural
institutions in the city: build and
train human resources and produce
skills, as well as change cultural
consumption pattern and behaviour.
We do have a good foundation to build
on. According to a study on the Cultural
Vitality of Cities, in 2010, by the Centre
for Research and Consultancy in
Culture (Bucharest), the cultural life of
our city is ranked fourth in Romania
due to the balance between cultural
infrastructure and creative industries,
participation and human resources,
and the budget allocated for culture.
Moreover, according to the Cultural
Strategy of Timișoara for 2014-2024,
when it comes to consumption, the
audiences and cultural consumers
of Timișoara attend museums (38%),
libraries (39%), theatres and opera
(36%), cinemas (29%) art galleries
(29%), philharmonic concerts (50%).
Building on this asset, the TM2021
programme adopts a participatory
approach, we want to open events in
the neighbourhoods - not just in the
city centre where most of the cultural
infrastructure is. So, 80% of our events,
including the opening and closing
ceremonies, the Mega Bega Festival,
will take place in public spaces such as
parks, squares, on the street, interior
gardens, the Bega Canal banks. These
aims are all in line with our ‘Light up
your city!’ communication strategy.
When it comes to material cultural
infrastructure, our strategy is to open
up spaces. With programmes like
Baroque Reloaded we want the current
cultural organisations to change their
ethos of fortresses of high-culture and
open their doors to the community. At
the same time we want to turn temples
of consumerism, like shopping malls,
into new sets for participative artistic
actions.
Material cultural infrastructures is
very diverse in Timișoara: 40 cultural
institutions including 9 theatres,
7 museums, 13 libraries, 15 art
galleries, 3 cinemas and an open air
amphitheatre. Timișoara ranks second
in Romania, after Bucharest, for the
number of seats in auditoriums, with
2.900 seats. Timișoara has the largest
heritage of historical monuments in
Romania: 14.500 historical buildings
of various styles (Baroque, Secession,
Art Nouveau, Romanian Brâncovenesc
and inter-war styles) from which
an extremely small percentage, less
than 10%, are rehabilitated, partially
or entirely. This aspect is significant
as most of the cultural institutions
are located in historical buildings
within the historical centre of the city.
Timișoara’s master plan is to restore
the heritage buildings, both publicly
and privately owned, and the ECoC title
would give a much needed boost for
this process.
Parks are also a real cultural asset,
giving Timișoara one of its nicknames
'The city of parks'. Known as the
city of parks, at one time you could
cross Timișoara just through the
parks. Therefore, parks have become
important open spaces for cultural
interventions. In 2013, green areas
of Timișoara were 477.51 ha with
37,57 sq m/citizen, much more
than the European Commission
recommendation (26 sq m/citizen).
Timișoara already has good examples
of public and independent cultural
initiatives of reconversion of heritage
spaces. The Maria Theresia Bastion
is part of the old city fortress wall
which has become a cultural space,
temporarily hosting the Banat
Museum of Timișoara, the Timiș
County Public Library, the office of the
Timișoara-European Capital of Culture
Association, the Timișoara Society, a
jazz club and an art gallery alongside
other entertainment spaces. From the
independent sector, we have Ambasada
Plai, a cultural hub which offers a
cafe and free spaces for interaction,
workshops and presentations for
young independent artists, Scârț
that hosts both the Museum of the
Communist Consumer and Auăleu the
only independent theatre in Timișoara.
More such restoration and repurposing
projects prove the great potential of
the city’s infrastructure: the restoration
of the Huniade Castle which hosts
the Banat Museum of Timișoara (still
in progress); the TIMCO industrial
halls which have been transformed
into an exhibition venue mostly for
contemporary local and international
artists (recently an exhibition in
partnership with Lille 3000 called
Futurotextiles); a derelict 18th-century
army barrack - Cazarma U - which
has been appropriated for the first
edition of Art Encounters, a biennale
of Romanian contemporary art; the
19th-century Synagogue in the Cetate
[Fortress] neighbourhood, which hosts
concerts, film screenings and other
artistic initiatives, such as the Simultan
annual festival for video, media arts
and experimental electronic music;
a former imperial circus and later
sports hall, located in the city centre,
as well the former Synagogue in the
Fabric neighbourhood have both been
transformed into theatre halls, making
Timișoara the only city in Romania
outside Bucharest, which has an
alternative performing space for the
Romanian National theatre.
We would also like to continue
using unconventional places
for performances and artistic
interventions, such as concerts of
Banatul Philharmonic in stadium,
the airport, on the Bega Canal, on
building and derelict sites; street art
works in abandoned industrial sites
and buildings’ walls with support from
the already well known International
Street Art Festival, which gathers
annually graphers from our country,
Europe and America.
30
0K
M
In line with one of the city’s
urgencies, we want to reclaim for
cultural interventions existing public
infrastructure in various parts of the
city, such as the synagogues in the
Cetate and Fabric neighbourhoods,
churches, schools, social centres,
former cinemas, derelict sites,
stadiums, sport grounds. The
programme Dare to Shine is to bring
culture to people, so we make it
accessible to all and use culture as
a means for social inclusion. Our
message is that culture is for all.
600KM
What are the city’s assets in terms of accessibility (regional, national and
international transport)?
T
imișoara is an easily-accessible city by any means of
transport, especially by car, from many European cities,
due to its geographical location and the infrastructure
investments made since Romania joined the European Union in
2007.
By car
One of the greatest advantages of
Timișoara is its geographical location
near the western border of Romania,
being the closest major Romanian
city to Western Europe. Timiș county
has two international borders with
Hungary and Serbia, with which it
shares three border crossings: Cenad
(DN 6) to Hungary and by Stamora
Moravița (DN 59) and Jimbolia (DN
59A) to Serbia. However, it is connected
by highway only to Hungary via A1,
the only cross-border highway in
Romania, part of European Corridor
4 - TENT core. Nevertheless, this
makes Timișoara very easily accessible
by road from Central Europe. This
highway will continue to Bucharest,
thus making the connection between
the western part of the country with
the capital.
The road infrastructure needs serious
improvements and great investment,
as traffic has been growing by five
percent annually since Romania joined
the European Union in 2007. With only
one highway crossing the county, even
though it is not yet completed, Timiș
County is among those with the highest
density of roads, an extensive network
with 533 km of national and 2.368 km
of county and communal roads. By
2021, we hope that the highway will
have been finished, and more roads
upgraded, so that the mobility of the
people within the Banat region grows.
Visual references to the ECoC
history will be placed along the
main international roads connecting
Timișoara with the airport and the
four borders in the region: Nădlac,
Moravița, Jimbolia și Cenad.
By airplane
Timișoara has the only international
airport in the west of the country
which links it to both the Romanian
capital, Bucharest and to other
European capitals and major cities,
including Paris, Dortmund, Munich,
Frankfurt, Brussels, Milan, Bologna,
Rome, Treviso, Bari, London,
Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia.
In total, it offers 23 direct flights
to Europe, four national and 19
international, providing connections
to eight European countries. The most
travelled route is Timișoara-Munich.
Due to this easy access route, many
Romanians commute across Europe,
and many Western Europeans do
business in Timișoara. However, the
number of passengers has dropped
over the last four years due to the
economic crisis. As the third largest
airport in Romania, the passenger
traffic is 800 per hour for international
flights and 500 on national routes.
It is hoped that given the economic
potential of the city and the region, by
2020 that traffic will peak at 1.6 million
a year.
timisoara2021.ro
49
The airport is located 12 km northwest of Timișoara with access via the
European Road E70. The easiest way
to get to the airport is by car, taxi or
airport bus. The local authorities plan
to build an underground train which
will link the airport to the train station
in order to increase mobility.
50
By bus
There are several bus stations in
Timișoara, located in different parts
of the city, which provide regular
connections to cities throughout the
Banat region, as well as Transylvania.
These will serve well the population
from the surrounding areas who we
want to attract to Timișoara during the
2021 celebrations.
There are also direct bus routes from
Timișoara to a many European cities,
especially in Germany, Italy and Spain.
By train
Timișoara is well connected by railway
both nationally and internationally. It
has six rail stations, the main one being
located in the northern part of the city,
just ten minutes walk from the city
centre.
Timiș county has the oldest and
densest rail network in Romania,
covering more than 91 km per 1000 m².
Timișoara is also the most important
railway node from the western part
of Romania, but the railway station
building is in a dire condition.
The National Railway Agency (CFR)
plans to connect the main station
of Timișoara and the main station
of Arad to the Trans-European
Transport Network (TEN-T), through a
modernisation project. Currently, the
TEN-T overlaps with the main railway
route 200 Curtici-Arad-Simeria and
the 900 Timișoara-Băile Herculane;
it also overlaps with the secondary
railway routes 217 Timișoara-Arad and
922 Timișoara-Moravița. There are
already 12 county railways connected
to the Trans European Transport
Networks (TEN-T). Thus, Timișoara has
good connections with three capitals:
Budapest, Belgrade and Bucharest.
Visitors coming to Timișoara by train
will have their first experience with the
city by walking the cultural kilometre
from the ECoC Boulevard.
By bicycle
Cycling is rapidly becoming a very
popular means of transport, through
the efforts of local NGOs like ‘Verde
pentru bicilete’ (Green light for
bicycles). This tendency is also
supported by Timișoara’s municipality
by constantly introducing new cycle
paths. Now every road infrastructure
project also includes a cycle path.
A free bike-renting service was also
introduced by the local authorities
‘Velo TM’ .
Timiș county has recently opened the
longest paved cycle route in Romania.
It is 37 km long and connects the city
of Timișoara to the Serbian city of
Zrenjanin. Similar to this route, there
are plans for a route that connects
Romania to Hungary.
Although cycling is being embraced
as a pastime and a number of cycling
routes are being developed within
the region as part of the eco-tourism
strategy, there is no EuroVelo route
crossing Timișoara yet. There are three
routes not far away from the city which
passes through Szeged, Belgrade and
Novi Sad.
By water
Bega Canal is located in the western
part of Timiș County and is one of the
few artificial waterways in Romania.
It is 44 km long in Romania's teritory
and was the first navigable canal
built in the country. The navigable
part of the Bega Canal starts in
Timișoara, then flows to south-west,
crosses the Romanian Serbian border,
and continues 72 km in south-west
direction, to the river Tisza. In
an effort to make the Bega Canal
navigable again, the municipality has
invested more than €20 million in the
appropriation of the banks, some of
the funds being provided by the EU.
Currently, within Timișoara city limits,
with the exception of several small and
leisure boats, only the dredges of Banat
River Administration are moving on
the Canal, with the purpose of cleaning
it. Consideration has been given to the
idea of connecting Timișoara to the
navigation system Rhine-Main-Danube,
which connects the North Sea with the
Black Sea.
A smart, efficient and
ecological way to travel
Given the recent high rise in the use
of personal cars, we want to change
the general perception that this is the
most efficient way to get around the
city. In order to achieve this change
in behaviour, we need to start with
making the authorities aware so every
new urban redevelopment does not
plan the city for cars, but for people
and public transport. This will make
the public transport more efficient
which will convince people about
the advantages. This will build on
Timișoara’s well-known association
with promoting public transport, as
it was the first city to have an electric
tram. Even now, the tram network
is the biggest in the country after
Bucharest. 49% of passengers use the
tram. The Solar City Centre will host
an international exhibition of solarpowered vehicles.
Disabled access
Frequent consultations with
local associations advocating for
accessibility, the creation of a
dedicated working group and the
jointly drafted report Access and
participation to culture of disabled
people in Timișoara, lead to careful
assessment and preparation of the
city’s cultural, touristic and mobility
infrastructure to be free of any barrier.
Consideration will be given equally to
wheelchair users, people with limited
walking abilities, sightless and partially
sighted, hearing impaired and mentally
disabled people. Actions related to
infrastructure will be complemented
with measures to make accessible the
cultural content, where possible, and
the publication of a guide dedicated to
disabled visitors of the ECoC.
What is the city’s absorption capacity in terms of tourists’
accommodation?
T
If you want to visit Romania, Timișoara
might not spring to mind as ‘the first
place to see’ on your list. But it is about
‘old novelty’ and that is what the city
as a whole is offering. The Victory
Square, in the city centre, shielded
by the Romanian National Opera of
Timișoara and the ‘Mihai Eminescu’
National Theatre of Timișoara at one
end and the Orthodox Cathedral with
its eleven towers at the other, was the
most visited urban place in Romania
in the summer of 2015. This is just an
appetiser of the city’s great potential
for tourism, and this is before the
restoration of the historic city centre
Cetate (The Fortress) is finished, in
2016.
Nevertheless, due to the lack of tourism
strategy for the city and the region,
so far Timișoara has proved to have
limited success in attracting Romanian
and foreign tourists, with an average of
only 27% of its capacity currently used.
Despite this modest occupancy, the
number of visitors has significantly
grown in the last ten years both in
Timișoara and Timiș County, most of
the visitors coming from Romania. The
offer for foreign tourists needs to be
developed so that more Europeans, and
others, consider this region and city as
tourist attractions.
imișoara’s accomodation capacity has nearly doubled
within the last ten years, while the number of visitors
has significantly increased too.
In terms of accommodation, the
number of visitors grows every year
seeing a 25% rise in the last five years
while Timișoara’s capacity has also
nearly doubled within the last ten
years. The number of beds in the Timiș
County has grown by 63 % reaching
151 accommodation facilities.
Considering the relevance of tourism
as a driver for economic growth and
social innovation, we will mobilise
not only the local authorities and the
stakeholders in the tourism industry,
but also the entire local community,
in order to facilitate real interaction,
on the one hand between tourists
and residents and on the other hand
between the city and its surroundings.
We will encourage a more experiential
link with the place and the people
through smart hospitality, a new
concept in the Romanian context, like
in the programme ‘Heritage in the
spotlight’. The ECoC will add value
to the current policies by promoting
new forms of urban thematic tourisms
with memory and religious tours
through our recent history, and
for the Banat region, experiential
services such as eco- and agro-tourism,
health and adventure tourism, and
enogastronomic tourism promoted
by a specific Mega Bega flagship
programme. We will also exploit
the potential of the IT&C tools and
platforms we are currently developing
within our cultural programme to
make these facilities more visible to the
tourists.
The city has 23.875 beds
for visitors.
New accommodation facilities, from
hostels to four or five star hotels, have
been built, catering to a wide range
of tourists, from budget travellers
to well-off visitors. The American
publication, The Huffington Post, has
listed Timișoara - the only Romanian
city - alongside other cities in Spain,
Portugal or Bulgaria in their top ten
high-value affordable destinations,
with 18 four-star hotels, three of them
part of international hotel chains, for a
total of 3.860 beds.
In addition, the existing number of
accommodation facilities include a
camp site, with 260 spaces including
small cabins, zones for tents and
caravans, the seven hostels offering a
total of 348 beds, the 39 guesthouses
offering 857 beds, 5.450 beds in
boarding schools, and the 13.100
beds in student halls owned by the
four public universities, which can be
Total number of visitors to Timiș County:
Foreigners
used during the summer by youth and
budget travellers. New accommodation
facilities will be tested in cuttingedgeprogrammes such as Solar City.
Total number of Romanian and foreign visitors:
Romanians
Timișoara
300.000
Timiș county
300.000
35%
34%
33%
31%
32%
31%
29%
19%
28%
20%
20%
19%
22%
32%
150.000
19%
20%
18%
18%
150.000
67%
65%
66%
68%
68%
69%
69%
71%
72%
80%
81%
80%
78%
82%
81%
81%
80%
82%
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
timisoara2021.ro
51
In terms of cultural, urban and tourism infrastructure what are the
projects (including renovation projects) that your city plan to carry out in
connection with the European Capital of Culture action between now and
the year of the title? What is the planned timetable for this work?
O
ur plan in connection with the ECoC action is to turn
Timișoara into a place where people are the core of the
infrastructure. What really matters in our programme
is to have a city which is intensely lived and experienced, in
cultural, urban, touristic terms, by both its inhabitants and
visitors. In this sense, the city’s infrastructure is to be open,
inclusive and friendly in order to transfer people’s energy into
the community, thus facilitating an inclusive and fresh sense of
citizenship.
52
Infrastructure intervention
The amount
(EUR)
Notes
Description
CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Art-Technology-Experiment
Centre
12.000.000 Main objective of the City of
Timișoara Cultural Strategy.
Financing: City Budget, and
EU funds (Guaranteed in the
Cultural Strategy)
A centre open to experiment and innovation through
art and technology both as methodologies and artistic
expressions. A place for artistic production with
integrated educational and artistic research facilities.
The new German State
Theatre Hall
1.500.000 Financing: City Budget. Design
in progress. Completion: 2017
Celebrate the multicultural ethos of the city, this is
a conversion of an industrial building into a cultural
centre.
Mărășești Culture Centre
5.000.000 Design in progress.
Prepared for ERDF funding
The Oldest Public Hospital (1745) in Eastern Europe will
become the largest cultural facility in the city, hosting
the Intercultural Institute from Timișoara , the Timișoara
German Culture Centre, the Timișoara French Cultural
Institute, the new Fortress Museum and many other
small cultural initiatives.
The Synagogue Culture
Centre (in Cetate/ Fortress
neighbourhood)
Prepared for ERDF funding
With a capacity of 3.000, the 19th-century synagogue
will be transformed into a concert hall and culture
facility.
Rehabilitation of the Palace
of Culture
15.500.000 Re-design in progress.
Work partially completed.
Funding secured through
national and EU funds
A complete restoration of this iconic building which
currently hosts the Romanian National Opera of
Timișoara, the National ‘Mihai Eminescu' Theatre, the
German State Theatre of Timișoara and the 'Csiky
Gergely' Hungarian State Theatre of Timișoara.
The Museum of the
Romanian Revolution
Funding secured by the
Ministry of Culture
A new building for the Museum of the Romanian
Revolution is planned, where the story of the Romanian
Revolution will be told in a modern, creative and
innovative manner. It includes a centre for education
and research.
Creative conversion of old
cinemas into cultural/art
centres
Funding secured from the
Municipality budget
Nine former cinemas which will become part of the
municipal patrimony in 2015, will be converted into
cultural centres such as theatre studios, art cinemas,
art galleries etc.
The restoration and
repurposing of the Huniade
Castle, the home of the
Banat Museum Timișoara
The rehabilitation of the
Banat Village Museum of
Timișoara
Subtotal culture
infrastructure
Funding: City Budget, County
budget and ERDF
3.000.000 Financing: City Budget
55.500.000
Situated in the heart of the city, the restoration is
an important investment in the cultural heritage of
Timișoara with great tourist potential.
Investment which will transform the museum into one
of the biggest attractions in the region.
URBAN REVITALISATION
public spaces in the Fortress
neighbourhood - phase one
12.000.000 Financing: EU funds. In
completion
Covering 9 ha, the area consists of 4 squares and 9
streets which will become exclusively for pedestrians’
use.
public spaces in the Fortress
neighbourhood - phase two
11.000.000 Design in progress. Prepared
for ERDF funding
Phase two extends phase 1 by adding an additional 11
streets covering an area of 8 ha. The pavement will be
completed and will become exclusively walking areas.
Rehabilitation of the urban
public infrastructure for
Bega Canal Waterfront
12.000.000 Financing: EU funds. In
completion
Using the great potential of the riverfront for becoming
a central green axis in a new and articulated public
space, with 18 new km of bicycle and pedestrian paths,
10 ha of new green areas and parks, new cultural event
spaces, as well as the first water public transport
service in Romania.
Rehabilitation of the Urban
Ensemble 'Corso', part of the
national heritage
10.000.000 Design in progress. Prepared
for ERDF funding
Local financial support
programme for private
owners of historic buildings
9.000.000 Mixed financing: City budget,
Private funds
Open Ville - urban
regeneration project
220.000.000 Private funding, secured
Subtotal urban revitalisation
274.000.000
The heart of the city and the setting for many major
cultural outdoor events, the ensemble includes some
of the most important cultural edifices of the city. The
intervention will include new pavement and green areas.
Increase the architectural quality of the 14.500 historic
buildings by restoration.
One of the biggest urban regeneration projects in
Romania (594.000 m2), completely privately funded,
converts a central industrial area into a 'lifestyle'
space. It will also include a Centre for Technological
Innovation, the second one to be opened in Romania by
Ness.
ACCESSIBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE
Development and extension
of the Timișoara Airport
Timișoara-Moravita (ET
Banatica) - Euro-trans - the
European road to Belgrade
Bike sharing system in the
City of Timișoara
138.350.000 Feasibility study: 2015.
Execution: 2016-2018.
Funding secured: National
Transport Masterplan
A new passenger terminal, a new cargo terminal and a
multi-modal connection to a new Bus Terminal, as well
as to a Railway Terminal.
59.000.000 Execution:2017-2018
Funding Secured: National
This road, part of E70 European Route, is the
southern connection from Timișoara to Belgrade. The
Romanian sector Timișoara-Moravița is proposed to be
modernised, with completion by 2018.
1.600.000 Completed 2015 - extension
until 2020 through EU funds
ERDF-funded, the project was completed in 2015
and created the first public free bike sharing system
in Romania with 300 bicycles at 22 public transport
stations, along with 25km of cycle lanes.
Timișoara Detour (City Belt) Southern sector
59.520.000 Execution:2017-2018
Funding Secured: National
The Detour will create an alternative for heavy traffic in
the direction to Serbia, decreasing the traffic through
the city and allowing better mobility in Timișoara.
Timișoara-Arad railroad
speed increasing project
28.270.000 Execution:2016-2017
Funding secured: National
Part of TENT Core railway corridors, this project will
more than double the speed of rail transport. It includes
railroad interventions, new trains and other measures.
Infrastructure projects
for completing Timișoara
transport rings 1, 2, 4
(bridges, roads, bicycle
lanes, pedestrian,
underground passages)
50.000.000 Execution 2015-2020
Funding: ERDF funds, National
Budget, City Budget
The 5-year infrastructure programme will complete
Timișoara transport rings by building 4 new bridges, 2
underground passages for cars and public transport.
The programme is part of the Sustainable Urban
Mobility Plan to be approved in October 2015.
Subtotal accessibility
336.740.000
TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE
school camps infrastructure
In calculation 2014 - 2020
The project is part of the city’s Strategy for the Youth.
Water Universe – theme
park
18.000.000 2014-2020
The initiative is part of the strategy for attracting more
tourists in the region.
Science and Technology
Museum
In calculation 2014-2020
Subtotal tourism
infrastructure
TOTAL
A place where local and regional technological and IT
innovation is showcased
18.000.000
€684.240.000
timisoara2021.ro
53
5. OUTREACH
Explain how the local population and your civil society have been
involved in the preparation of the application and will participate in the
implementation of the year?
I
ntensified contacts during the last five years have led to a
deep civic engagement which is the stepping stone for the
next five years of our work in and with the community.
54
In numbers:
• 13 local civic initiators*.
• 63 founders, including:
• 16 cultural operators,
• 28 personalities, opinion
leaders and citizens,
• 7 businesses,
• 2 local authorities.
• 112 current Association members.
• 160 volunteers, since 2012, out of
which: 63% are pupils, students
and postgraduate students, 35%
are employees from 15 different
fields, 73% women.
• 1.100 contributors to the concept
and cultural programme.
• 1.300 - 1.500 visitors per month
on our website.
• over 30.000 likes on Facebook.
• 114 twitter followers and
• 53 instagram followers.
• 36.000 stickers, 25.000 flyers
in 5 languages, 7.000 citizen
brochures, 1.000 business
brochures, 1.400 pens, 840
posters, 1.300 T-shirts, 2.000
bracelets, 500 cups.
• 727 articles in the local media.
• 18 articles in international media.
• Exchange of experiences with 9
ECoCs.
• 153 institutions and more than
5.000 citizens took part.
Cultural Academic Foundation of Timișoara,
‘Mihai Eminescu’ National Theatre of Timișoara,
Bega Foundation, ‘ProPhilarmonia’ Association,
Timișoara ’89 Foundation, Timisiensis
Association, four Lions Clubs, three Rotary Clubs
*
Citizen participation 2010-2015
Citizen participation 2016-2020
Throughout our five-year history,
we have gone through waves of
enthusiasm and fierce criticism, high
and low energy, high hopes and bitter
scepticism.
In the run-up to TM2021, we will
ensure that the citizens of Timișoara
stay informed and get involved in the
planning of the neighbourhood cultural
infrastructure for 2021 foreseen in
Dare to Shine. We provide tools for
collaborative projects such as Flash
of Memory, learning opportunities
with local and international artists
preparing Blossoms or Chiaroscuro and
a voice in the selection of open projects
and activities to be added in the final
programme.
The population of the city has been
continuously informed about the
initiative and the bidding process,
which translated into the engagement
on a scale not known before in our city:
online networks, mass-media, seminars
and especially many face-to-face street
events.
In the shaping process of our concept
we have emphasised the meaning of
the ECoC and the transforming role of
culture for the city, thus correlating
the candidacy with the city’s current
urgencies.
We set up a call of workshops to find
out the unique traits of the city and we
established the city’s key urgencies that
shaped our candidacy concept.
We have also run workshops for
project ideas with stakeholders to
debate the artistic programme strands
and projects. Because of our purposeful
approach, the ECoC community has
grown each year.
During 2021
The entire programme is built as an
audience-development tool, with
various levels of engagement: as new
public, as contributors to collaborative
projects, as amateur artists or as
involved volunteers.
After 2021
After TM2021, the ECoC year citizens
of Timișoara will be the main voice in
the evaluation of the ECoC process. In
the long-term the city will have new
mechanisms for cultural management
that involve the local population in
decisions and co-creation of cultural
content.
5. OUTREACH
Our timeline showing the civic involvement
2010
•
Civic engagement led to the first
declaration of the then city’s mayor
on the ECoC;
•
Community clubs organised the
first debate with creative industries
and young people.
•
Signing the ‘civic engagement
agreement’ by local NGOs, cultural
operators, artists, public figures,
business and mass media;
•
City and County Councils’
unanimous support, in less than 21
days from the ‘civic engagement
agreement’;
•
Founding the civic Timișoara
- European Capital of Culture
Association, Candidate City
with financing based on private
sponsorships and the membership
fees.
•
Strengthening the funding and the
logistics support from the local
public authorities and private
sector;
•
Running a large awareness raising
and information campaign about
the ECoC programme and its
benefits;
•
Running a pilot project to promote
Timișoara’s major festivals in the
country and abroad;
•
Reinforcing the political support
of all political parties, all public
and private universities, all public
cultural institutions and all the
city’s ethnic minority groups
and associations through signed
declarations;
Learning best practices from other
ECoCs: Liverpool 2008, Stavanger
2008, Linz 2009, Marseille 2013,
Paphos 2017.
•
•
•
Launching the TM2021
Volunteering programme and
continuing the Ambassadors
programme;
Conducting sociological studies on
the citizens’ support and what best
represents Timișoara.
•
Launching SWOT analysis, debates
on the ’REVOLutionary’ concept;
•
Pilot audience development project
The memory of my neighbourhood –
professional visual and performing
artists working together with
citizens in the 6 historical
neighbourhoods of Timișoara;
•
Learning from other ECoCs: Lille
2004, Sibiu 2007, Pécs 2010.
2014
2013
•
2012
2011
•
Continuing in-depth debates on the
'Channel of Cultures' concept, and
participating to focus groups within
the Timișoara’s Cultural Strategy
development process, for 2014 –
2024;
Initiating debates and workshops
on accessibility and participation to
culture of disabled citizens.
2015
•
Continuation of debates and
workshops on accessibility to
culture with other vulnerable
groups, especially refugees and
migrants, and people suffering
poverty;
•
Running consultation campaigns
and workshops with the artistic,
cultural and social sectors;
•
Shine your light - Light up your
city! final concept launched and
programmes defined;
•
Running participation campaigns in
the community, being present with
info points at various public events,
and applying open-doors policy in
the TM2021 candidacy office;
•
Mapping international contacts
of the local population and civil
society.
timisoara2021.ro
55
5. OUTREACH
How will the title create in your city new and sustainable opportunities for
a wide range of citizens to attend or participate in cultural activities, in
particular young people, volunteers, the marginalised and disadvantaged,
including minorities? Please also elaborate on the accessibility of these
activities to persons with disabilities and the elderly. Specify the relevant
parts of the programme planned for these various groups.
T
hrough our Shine your light – Light up your city! cultural
programme, we create the path that turns disconnected
individuals into engaged citizens of Europe. This applies
especially to the young in search of a vision, the volunteers
willing to offer their energy to the community, the elders
preserving values and heritage, the vulnerable groups holding
important perspectives on our society.
56
The overall strategy can be summed
up by the following seven verbs, which
also apply to the social transformation
process we set in motion.
… accelerate slow processes such
as accessibility of public cultural
infrastructure;
… expose the inner light of everyone
joining in, including the marginalised
and disadvantaged;
… reflect the kindness and
togetherness beyond people’s abilities,
religion, race or culture;
… penetrate rigid mentality that
excludes, segregates and pushes
vulnerable people on the brink;
… network and globalise as
opportunities for personal growth and
fulfilment for young and senior alike;
… re-start as empowered individuals
in a transformed community, keep on
shining and lighting up the city, and
beyond.
We believe that building trust is a key
element to ensure that the citizens
of Timișoara will attend and, ideally,
participate in cultural activities, by:
Offering a wide range of locations,
we build trust by ensuring that the
ECoC programme is not just another
party in the city centre, but an
opportunity for each and everyone,
whether they live in concrete blocks
of flats, in crumbling old buildings, in
villas from the new residential areas
unreachable by public transport, or in
night shelters run by social services.
With the project Inspired View, together
with teams of young architects, we are
planning a detailed mapping of the city,
seen not as districts divided by streets,
but as neighbourhoods naturally
formed around points of interaction
with small-scale infrastructure and
events;
Proposing a vast array of artistic
forms and languages which will
address audiences of all ages,
education, geographical origin,
language, social background, digital
literacy;
Addressing accessibility as one of
the most important topics on the
ECoC agenda for Timișoara. This is
understood in all forms: physical,
visual, auditory, use of simple language
and signs;
Preparing our programmes carefully
and strategically with the support
of social and artistic animators who
will be able to inspire trust through
their own passion and talents, and to
encourage everyone to join in.
We specifically take into account
vulnerable groups. An unacceptable
large number of people with
disabilities live very isolated lives,
both because the city fails to provide
an accessible infrastructure and
because of overprotective families.
Elderly parents of young people
who migrated abroad live alone and
isolated, disconnected from technology,
mediated communication and social
interaction, fearing they might die
and not be noticed for days. As in
many European cities, families with
very young children hardly get out of
their homes as childcare has become
an expensive service instead of a gift
among extended family. Vulnerable
children and the elderly are sent
around the cafés in the central areas
to beg from tourists. Benches in public
spaces disappear at the request of
residents disturbed by homeless people
sleeping on them.
The team preparing the ECoC has
paid special attention to understand
these complex issues. We have asked
ourselves “How can we prepare a
programme which will not be a mere
attraction to be watched by many, but
which actually engages the widest
possible audience and leaves a legacy
beyond the year 2021?” We have heard
many voices during the concept-testing
phase and we let them tell us how they
understand the opportunities created
by ECoC.
5. OUTREACH
Raluca is a
young activist for
accessibility. Since
attending her local
nursery, and all the
way to university
graduation, Raluca, together with her
family have fought constantly for her
right to be part of the community as
any other person. She sees ECoC as an
opportunity for improving accessibility
throughout the city, for changing
the general negative perceptions of
disabled people, as well as changing
perceptions about her own abilities
and about the participation of disabled
people. Therefore we will create
facilities which will enable her to
attend each and every activity of 2021,
and not just basic ramps but also with
small podiums where she and other
wheelchair users can enjoy the same
view. She speaks excellent English
and if she wishes, she will train as a
city guide, and will take international
tourists to those places which she
could not access before. She also has
a wonderful voice and will be more
than happy to attend open-microphone
events around neighbourhood stages in
the Dare to Shine programme.
Ana is a young
single mother full
of energy. She cares
for the environment
and is concerned
particularly about
oil polluting the water resources. She
organised a bike pick-up service for
jars of used oil, while campaigning
for a more serious involvement of
the public administration on this
issue. Before 2021 she will have the
opportunity to choose from many
training programmes for event
organisers, local guides, story tellers
and social animators. During the
ECoC year she will collaborate with
international artists and activists,
joining the wide European movement
for sustainable cities featured in
Lightscapes.
Rodica joined the
TM2021 volunteer
team with the hope
of creating a more
attractive city for her
emigrated son, so he
can return home. She takes pleasure in
learning new things but technology is
still somehow scary for her. Addictive
Lights is one of the programmes that
will give her the opportunity to join the
growing European network of online
senior users.
Edith is one of
the volunteer
guides trained by
the Timișoara Art
Museum. Her age and
Parkinson condition
did not prevent her from learning new
skills and enthusiastically present the
art works in several languages. Elders
like her will add the special touch to
programmes such as Heritage in the
Spotlights, Flash of Memory, Baroque
Reloaded or Words of Light.
Eleonora grew up
in an orphanage
and is labelled as
having an ‘intellectual
disability’. She taught
us that accessibility
to public space refers, not only to
the physical space, but also to use
of simple language and orientation
signs. She is currently working with
a cartoonist on a visual book of her
life story, and in the next years we
will give her and many other young
people the opportunity to explore other
artistic languages, such as film and
forum theatre. Her experience of being
frequently checked by security guards
who suspect her of stealing because she
is Roma is one of those many examples
of every-day labelling and exclusion
that we keep in mind for the Invisible/
Visible and Chiaroscuro programmes.
Andrei is a young
drummer. He taught
us what needs
to be done for a
city to be friendly
and accessible
to blind people. We will follow
his recommendations for any
infrastructure to be set up, for the
way we will design our website and
online presence and for inviting local
and international artists to explore
and create multisensory works. We
will make sure he has access to a
community cultural space where he
can practice with his bands. In 2021
we hope he will play in our concerts
and share the stage with his favourite
international musicians.
Chris came to
Timișoara from
Nigeria and is very
much looking forward
to 2021. The African
continent is little
known in Central and Eastern Europe
and he is ready to become an organiser
for multicultural events. He is also
interested in the topic of so-called
‘Fortress Europe’ as migrants from
other corners of the world are not as
welcome on this continent as they once
were. Lights over Borders is the strand
through which we will invite artists
and activists to cover highly-debated
international themes such as refugees,
migration and human rights.
Valentin is an activist
for Roma minority
rights. He thinks
the discussions
should be about the
relationship among
different groups and the mechanisms
that create conflict, stereotypes, social
stigma, exclusion, or trans-generational
poverty. Besides Invisible/Visible and
Chiaroscuro, we will make sure that
the Roma culture and language are
present in all programmes on diversity
and community relations: Heritage in
the Spotlights, Mega Bega, Words of
Light. His very dear dream for TM2021
is to attend a theatre play or a film,
in Romani language with subtitles in
Romanian and English.
There are a
considerable number
of individuals who
stay anonymous
online, but who
are very vocal with
extremist messages such as ‘Timișoara
- capital of rich and shameless ‘gypsies’,
or ‘No to Islamisation of Romania’
when referring to refugees. We are
concerned as well but for a different
reason. These voices bring Timișoara
into the shameful top of European
cities with extremist voices. Light and
Dark Spaces is one of the strands which
tackle such attitudes. We hope that
with the support of international artists
our city will become a place where
people learn to deconstruct labels and
prejudices.
timisoara2021.ro
57
5. OUTREACH
Explain your overall strategy for audience development, and in particular
the link with education and the participation of schools.
T
he audience development strategy is summed up
by the Shine your light call and is built on principles of
Culture 3.0. TM2021 will inspire and engage the public
in meaningful artistic works and projects that enlarge the view,
awaken potential, transform individual culture and memories,
from disconnected individual flashes to a radiating glowing
community of engaged citizens.
58
Following the third line of the 2024
Cultural strategy of the city, ‘Involved
Timișoara’ and the European practices
for audience development, the ECoC
programme will contribute to the
audience development through the
following approaches:
‘Bring culture to where people are’
We envisage cultural activities to take
place in a wide network of locations
close to where people live: schools,
churches, social centres, shopping
areas, parks and squares.
‘One event - many types of audience’
The cultural experiences in the ECoC
programme will be selected based on
their potential to attract a variety of
groups and segments of the population.
‘Focus on public engagement’
Each programme will have to address
one or several levels of audience
development: inspire self-expression;
welcome user-generated cultural
content, foster co-creation by engaging
volunteers.
With this approach, we aim to
change the cultural demand
and create a new culture of cocreation where the artists and
activists facilitate collective
journeys. The long-term benefits
will be the strengthening of our city’s
neighbourhoods and communities,
full of self-expressing citizens who
communicate and create together a
city-wide European laboratory for
peaceful social transformation through
culture.
The educational institutions will
be both the main partners and
beneficiaries of this approach. More
specifically, starting in 2017, each
educational establishment (all ages and
levels) will be supported in terms of
logistics and capacity building in three
directions:
Build capacity for quality
partnership with cultural operators
(local and international) that will
lead to the complex activities of 2021,
especially those under the strands
Inner Light, with the project Smartness
Revealed, under Shared Sight with the
project Invisible/Visible and under
Lightscapes, with Solar City.
Extend the diversity and approach of
extra-curricular activities. Currently
many schools, in both Timișoara and
across Europe, focus on a limited
array of topics that are perceived as
important for ‘success’. The ECoC 2021,
with programmes like Dare to Shine
and Words of Light will be a laboratory
to experiment with new approaches
to redefine education as attractive for
children, and relevant to the present
challenges of our society. Children of
all ages will be given the opportunity
to express their extraordinary capacity
for innovation and creativity, and thus
go beyond the pressure to achieve,
boredom and the negative labelling,
which have devastating long-term
effects.
Extend the quality, the audience
and participation in educational
facilities.
Although the ‘community activities’
are part of the strategies of many local
schools, very few actually manage
to truly attract an audience larger
than their own pupils and immediate
families. ECoC will offer them the
motivation and the means to dissolve
these borders and make schools
the heart of their neighbourhoods,
open to everyone, part of the larger
communities in the city.
In the long-term we aim to decline
education drop-outs by redefining
learning through cultural selfexpression.
6A. MANAGEMENT / FINANCE
City budget for culture
What has been the annual budget for culture in the city over the last 5
years (excluding expenditure for the present European Capital of Culture
application)?
The city budget for culture has almost doubled over the last five years. This budget
is one of the most stable budgets in Romania and was raised as a consequence
of the city master plan where the cultural strategy has a crucial role. The extra
funds are used to extend cultural activities to the surrounding areas for audience
development, especially in local culture and tourism, and to strengthen creative
and cultural agents. Expenditure for the preparation of the ECoC application (not
in the table below) slowly increased up to the current 2% of this budget.
Year
annual budget
for culture in the city
(in euros)
annual budget for culture in the
city (in % of the total annual
budget for the city)
2011
4.048.400
1,4%
2012
4.393.400
1,6%
2013
6.084.100
2,2%
2014
6.969.800
2,5%
2015
7.395.000
2,6%
In case the city is planning to use funds from its annual budget for culture
to finance the European Capital of Culture project, please indicate this
amount starting from the year of submission of the bid until the European
Capital of Culture year.
For the ECoC project the city has created a special budget line that is provided via
the central budget. Via a contract with the Association and following the approval
in the Timișoara City Council of September 2015, arrangements are made how
this amount is transferred to the independent Timișoara - European Capital of
Culture Association which prepares the bid and implements the programme in
case the title is awarded. Therefore, the ECoC project has no effect on the annual
budget for culture. Of course, during the ECoC years, the municipality can choose
to allocate some funds from the cultural budget for their own activities which are
ECoC related. These activities would be aligned with the indicators of the cultural
programme. The city’s contribution to the ECoC amounts to almost half the total
cultural income from the public sector over the next 6 years.
Which amount of the overall annual budget does the city intend to spend
for culture after the European Capital of Culture year (in euros and in % of
the overall annual budget)?
Along the lines of the cultural strategy, it is planned that the city will spend 4,1%
(€11.661.346) annually on culture in the years following the ECoC year. This is an
established policy and is needed to maintain the events delivered by the ECoC,
such as a stronger international profile (including a major event each year), artists
with strengthened competences and international contacts, and a cultural and
creative scene that is vibrant and internationally connected.
timisoara2021.ro
59
Operating budget for the title year
Income to cover operating expenditure:
Please explain the overall operating budget (i.e. funds that are specifically
set aside to cover operational expenditure). The budget shall cover the
preparation phase, the year of the title, the evaluation and provisions for
the legacy activities.
60
The municipality can bear the largest
part of the costs since Timișoara
is among the top three stable local
authorities in the country. We are
experienced in successfully building
and executing projects of the size and
scope of an ECoC, and understand the
importance of financial stability. For
this reason, as of 2011 the municipality
has set up a budget line so that
money is earmarked each year for
the preparation of the candidature.
Unfortunately it is not possible to
treat the budgeting as an investment
according to Romanian law but our
arrangement concerning the budgeting
2017-2022 is as close as possible to
treatment as a would-be investment via
a contract with the Association in legal
terms. This means a multi-annual plan,
with key organisational, governance
and staffing issues arranged, and
financial commitments fixed until
2022. Clauses are in place so that it is
not possible to change either the scope
or the purpose of the budget. In a
possible second round the municipality
and the county will ratify their
respective contracts.
We work specifically with a model
where there is high expected income
from the private sector. This sets the
interest to make the ECoC a success in
the regional context, and places the
Association on a national platform.
Total income
to cover
operating
expenditure
(in euros)
From the
public sector
(in euros)
From the
public sector
(in%)
From the
private sector
(in euros)
From the
private sector
(in%)
48.500.000
44.000.000
91%
4.500.000
9%
Income from the public sector:
What is the breakdown of the income to be received from the public sector
to cover operating expenditure?
The municipality and the county
(region) have both secured their
funding contributions. Funding from
the national government will be
arranged with contracts for specific
activities, thematic projects and
events. Others are public institutions
who are members of the Association
which already pay annual fees, and
municipalities from the region and
cities in the Danube region.
Income from the public sector
to cover operating expenditure
in euros
%
National government
12.000.000
27%
City
20.000.000
46%
County
5.000.000
11%
EU (with exception of the Melina Mercouri Prize)
3.000.000
7%
Others
4.000.000
9%
44.000.000
100%
Have the public finance authorities (City, Region, State) already voted on
or made financial commitments to cover operating expenditure? If not,
when will they do so?
Negotiation with the government on this funding has started and the amount
will be announced in Q2 2016. The Timișoara Municipality and the Timiș County
Council (region) have already voted to the financial commitments to cover the
above-mentioned operating expenditure through the Local Council Decision
No. 395/22.09.2015 and, respectively the County Council Decision of 30.09.2015.
The outcome of these decisions will be laid down into legal contracts with the
Association, valid until 2022. These contracts are the strongest possible guarantee
under Romanian law.
What is your fund raising strategy to seek financial support from Union
programmes/funds to cover operating expenditure?
Our team includes experts who have
experience totalling more than 50
years working with projects funded
by European institutions. They are the
foundation of our strategy.
Furthermore, we have already carried
out a first scan of the programme to
confirm that we include activities
eligible for funding, such as stimulation
of traditional and cultural tourism,
participation and development of
transnational cultural networks,
people-to-people projects in relation
to the Bega Canal, capacity building
and exchanges of citizens, artists and
students, and cooperation between
Serbia-Romania (IPA) and HungaryRomania (INTERREG).
EU funding for regional development
which will jointly be applied for by
the Municipality of Timișoara, the
Timiș County Council and the other
municipalities in the Banat Region
is taken into account during the
preparation for a possible ECoC in
Timișoara in 2021. The budgets will
include funding for cultural and public
space projects, amounting to between
€15-20 million.
in the last four years of the Creative
Europe programme, mainly concerning
film and European platforms and
networks. Partners in the region
have been trained and stimulated to
join in European applications. This
has led to four applications. Also
funding opportunities are followed
from PROGRESS concerning support
for the social dialogue programme,
Horizon 2020 concerning the Open
Innovation 2.0 programme, the Smart
Cities programme and the Erasmus +
for the Youth Partnerships programme
(especially for capacity building).
Concerning EU funding directly from
Brussels, monitoring has been done
According to what timetable should the income to cover operating
expenditure be received by the city and/or the body responsible for
preparing and implementing the ECoC project if the city receives the title
of European Capital of Culture?
Source of income for
operating expenditure
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
ECoC year
2021
2022
EU
0
450.000
450.000
450.000
570.000
900.000
180.000
National government
0
0
480.000
2.520.000
3.600.000
4.800.000
600.000
City
0
1.600.000
1.800.000
3.600.000
5.400.000
6.000.000
1.600.000
County
0
400.000
750.000
1.050.000
1.250.000
1.250.000
300.000
Sponsors
0
0
225.000
585.000
1.575.000
2.025.000
90.000
Other
0
200.000
480.000
680.000
1.040.000
1.440.000
160.000
0
2.650.000
4.185.000
8.885.000
13.435.000
16.415.000
2.930.000
The rationale behind this table is done on the basis of studying information on
funding of ECoCs of the last five years. In this study we have found that many
ECoCs depend heavily on pre-finance provided by the municipality and to a lesser
extent by the county. EU funding in the first years of the preparation is to be
arranged via EU applications directly from Brussels. We factor in funding from the
National Government only in a later stage due to its project-based funding.
timisoara2021.ro
61
Income from the private sector:
What is the fund raising strategy to seek support from private sponsors?
What is the plan for involving sponsors in the event?
62
The sponsorship strategy has a
multilevel structure: we will work
with media partners, key partner
sponsorship, sponsorship of specific
events (from individuals to national
companies, the lottery and with
international companies - with offices
located in the region), royalties from
productions generated by programmed
events, copyrights on products of
the ECoC, and other traded income
generated by events and in-kind
support. This will also include projects
stimulating creativity in companies
(in product design and development,
reorganisations and internal problem
solving, marketing and sales).
Eastern Europe. For example, at our
airport, important companies have
already arranged visibility for the
candidature throughout the bid book
preparation phase. This strategy
emphasises the opportunities in
Timișoara and the Banat region, in
terms of highly-educated people
combined with conditions for a highquality lifestyle.
Association members have contacts at
national level which have also been
approached. We have already received,
or have been offered, financial support
from international companies with a
local office, and from local companies,
such as Continental, Bega Group,
Timișoreana, Staropramen, Hella,
Elba, Kathrein Romania, Green Forest
furniture and Refurbished Computers.
We will put out a call for cooperation
with companies to involve their clients,
customers and suppliers, to develop
together events and exhibitions that
strengthen the experience of Timișoara
as a tourist and business destination.
The key element in the sponsor
participation is the on-going extensive
marketing campaign which positions
Timișoara as the tourist and technology
place to be in Central and South-
For the ECoC a group of entrepreneurs
has been approached and they have
already registered as members of the
Association. The president of the board
is an entrepreneur. The board and the
First initiation contracts are expected
to be signed in a possible second
round. For the moment a collaboration
is already taking place on the
development of ‘Addictive Light’ on the
use of digital devices with Samsung
Romania, of ‘Brilliant’ on development
of solar energy for street lightning
with ELBA lightning company and of
‘Circulating Skyscapes’ on awareness of
pollution with Continental tyre factory.
The private funding follows the following structure:
Funding
Type of cooperation
Potential sponsors
€350.000
Main partner
5-7 International and national operating companies with large presence throughout
the region and Europe-wide.
€80.000
Partner
20 small and midsized businesses.
in kind
Depending on volume
Contribution via European and national co-branding and shared campaigns, hosting
in terms of nights and beverages, materials, IT solutions, expertise and time. This is
especially important from the qualitative perspective.
€50-20.000
Supporter
Crowd funding by organisations or people interested in specific events, especially
important for the Timișoreni’s living abroad with families from the region.
Operating expenditure: Please provide a breakdown of the operating
expenditure.
The bulk of expenditure is allocated
to the programme budget. 15%
is allocated to promotion and
marketing. The breakdown of
expenditure for communication
is at the high end since it contains
cultural projects that are mainly
focused on awareness, (international)
engagement and communication. The
‘other’ represents 6% reserve to be
allocated for contingencies, and to
have flexibility, so that when at the
last moment a young completely
unexpected person walks in with an
idea that has to take place, there is
space in the budget to manoeuvre.
The allocation of €33,95 million for
the programme budget allows for a
significant spend on the key cultural
activities.
Programme
expenditure
(in euros)
Programme
expenditure
(in %)
Promotion
and
marketing
(in euros)
Promotion
and
marketing
(in %)
Wages,
overheads and
administration
(in euros)
Wages,
overheads and
administration
(in %)
Other
(in euros)
Other
(in %)
Total of the
operating
expenditure
33.950.000
70%
7.275.000
15%
4.365.000
9%
2.910.000
6%
48.500.000
Budget for capital expenditure
What is the breakdown of the income to be received from the public sector
to cover capital expenditure in connection with the title year?
Those parts of the cultural
infrastructure and the urban
revitalisation that are relevant to
the ECoC’s cultural programme,
and in need of modernisation, are
in the planning stage and most
of the funding is guaranteed. The
mentioned expenditure consists
of the public-funded parts of the
cultural infrastructure (from Q3
and 4 of 2016 and later) and urban
revitalisation only. Projects that are
only in the ideas phase, for example
the privately funded beer experience
centre connected to the Timișoareana
brewery, which will be important for
tourism, are not yet taken into account.
Income from the public sector to cover capital
expenditure
in euros
%
National Government
87.000.000
20,8%
City
82.350.000
19,7%
2.000.000
0,5%
210.000.000
50,2%
Other
37.000.000
8,8%
Total
418.350.000
100%
County
EU
The connections with major European corridors via air, rail, water, highway,
national roads and ring roads are undergoing modernisation and construction.
These major projects will be completed from the end of this year onwards and
will all be finished in 2020. This makes Timișoara and its surroundings the best
connected part of Romania by road and places them in the country’s top 3 bestconnected regions by air.
Have the public finance authorities (city, region, State) already voted on
or made financial commitments to cover capital expenditure? If not, when
will they do so?
In the table at page 52 on city’s investments plan, the capital expenditures and the
status of the funding are notified per infrastructure intervention. According to
this, 90% of funds on cultural, urban and accessibility infrastructures (which are
by far the largest part) are approved and fixed.
What is your fund raising strategy to seek financial support from Union
programmes/funds to cover capital expenditure?
The main capital projects are in the National Transport Plan, in line with TEN-T,
which have EU funding via the national authorities.
Our fundraising strategy is to use the ECoC programme that is complementary
with ERDF and cross-border Romania-Serbia and Romania-Hungary funding 20142020 EU.
Concerning EU regional development funding, since 2010 the regional and local
authorities have been aware of the planning, and have demonstrated how the
ECoC programme is complementary to the ERDF regional priorities, and have
identified the ECoC’s ability to support strategic investment in the regional
development.
timisoara2021.ro
63
6B. MANAGEMENT / ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
What kind of governance and delivery structure is envisaged for the
implementation of the European Capital of Culture year?
T
he governance envisaged for the implementation of
the ECoC year builds on the ‘community-led’ spirit of
Timișoara’s candidacy, not explained since the ’89
Revolution.
64
The delivery structure is rooted in the members’ civic
energy and power, the ECoC Association being completely
independent from local public authorities and political or
private interests.
The delivery structure stands on
four pillars: General Assembly –
the highest decision making body,
Steering Committee – the governing
body, Honorary President – the
ambassador and key mediator,
Audit, Monitoring and Evaluation
Committee – the guardian of values
and good governance.
The founders’ composition is:
Our guiding principles on governance
are: openness and participation,
representation and legitimacy,
and artistic and cultural free
expression. Through them, we aim
to build trust, engagement and a
free exchange of ideas, within the
Association’s members and within
other communities, from near
neighbours through to local, regional,
national, European and even global
communities.
25%
public and private
(1) Through the principle of openness
and participation we aim to develop
and consolidate the grassroots
establishment of the Association,
formally set up in September 2011.
We maintain the spirit of openness to
the community, in its broadest sense.
Every person interested, whether
representing an organisation or
as an individual, public or private,
irrespective of citizenship or
nationality, public authorities and
politicians, all are welcomed as new
members.
3%
the 2 local authorities:
the Municipality of
Timișoara and the
Timiș County Council;
cultural operators;
2%
Universities;
14%
NGOs;
11%
companies;
45%
personalities, opinion
leaders, journalists
and citizens.
The membership has increased each
year, at the moment comprising 112
members.
Special attention will be given to
extending the membership in Serbia
and Hungary and among ‘Timișoreni’
diasporas, serving the Candidacy’s
aim to reach audiences and develop
communities within the historic Banat
region and beyond.
Participation means that each member
can and will be stimulated to be
involved in the Association’s life.
Informal leaders will initiate informal
meetings among members, not
only on specific concerns, problems,
initiatives in arts and cultural sectors,
but also on topics regarding the
social and economic agenda. All such
proposals are analysed and debated
by the Steering Committee and,
afterwards, proposed for approval to
the General Assembly. Another layer of
members and community involvement
and participation are the Art Markets,
organised by the Association, twice
a year, in spring and autumn.
Their scope is to spark ideas, bind
partnerships and share experiences.
Within six weeks after the Art Market,
the General Assembly meets for its
ordinary sessions, approving strategic
objectives and directions, activity plans
and budgets, public affairs and public
relations frames, monitoring and
evaluation reports, membership flows
and election results and also debating
and deciding on the results of the
informal members meetings and the
Art Markets.
The General Assembly represents the
civic energy put on the ECoC promise
and will be the main driver in the
journey to it. We have already begun
to raise attention and to debate issues
such as new meanings of the ECoC’s
outreach, in terms of cultural cocreation and co-production. Special
attention in our workshop discussions
was given to the understanding of
the European and local identities.
Last, but not least in our concerns and
debates was and is the ECoC’s legacy
issue, emphasised in almost all our
meetings with other host cities.
(2) By the principal of representation
and legitimacy we aim to set in place
an even more stable and powerful
governing body, rooted in our diverse
organisational membership and their
authentic involvement within the
community.
Therefore, the elections for the
Steering Committee positions will
be made in accordance with a welldefined composition, in order to
reflect the Association’s member
structure, as well as the stakeholders
around an ECoC. The new defined
composition includes representatives
for the following seven seats:
•
two for the two local public
authorities – the Municipality and
the County Council;
•
one for the representative of the
local academic field;
•
local business with international
perspective;
•
local civil society;
•
one cultural expert that has deep
understanding of international
artistic excellence;
•
one for an ECoC international
expert with day-to-day management
expertise, and experience in at least
3 cities that hosted the title.
The Steering Committee cannot contain
more than two non-members, nor can
it contain more than two politicians.
There will be no more than three
public sector representatives. The
Steering Committee members are
elected by the General Assembly, but
with their legitimacy strengthened
through criteria of eligibility, as
detailed in the internal regulations
of the Association. They elect among
them the President of the Steering
Committee. The possition is currently
held by Mr. Emil Cristescu, a business
person with international outlook and
experience, involved in many social
and cultural initiatives in the city of
Timișoara.
Assembly, at the moment he has only
a mandate of representation. This role
will be supplemented by the mediation
role, having the right to chair each of
the governing bodies of the Association
and to break or create a tie.
For monitoring, controlling and
evaluating the Association’s activity
and the ECoC programme, the General
Assembly elects an Audit, Monitoring
and Evaluation Committee.
The Steering Committee implements
the General Assembly’s decisions.
Now it has eleven seats, for a three
year mandate. In the first General
Assembly after the final selection of
the ECoC competition, we will reduce
the number of positions to seven, in
alignment with the above. The scope
is to gain efficiency and effectiveness
in the decision making process and,
also to expand the trust, expertise,
connections and decision power within
the ECoC project.
(3) By the principal of artistic and
cultural free expression and
mutual enlightenment we look for
the content’s independence, quality,
diversity and balance between
areas such as professional, amateur
and community projects, high
versus popular, traditional versus
contemporary, established institutions
and independent groups, internationals
and locals, usual and new activities.
The Honorary President is the key
mediator between various interests
and potentially opposed views, creating
and facilitating institutional relations,
raising awareness on sensitive issues.
The position is currently held by Mr.
Ioan Holender, born in Timișoara,
former General Director of the
Vienna State Opera for 19 years, and
Artistic Director of the George Enescu
Festival, an outstanding personality,
internationally recognised for his life
work in culture, with an impressive
network of artists, imposing the
utmost respect in all areas of life and
community. Elected by the General
timisoara2021.ro
65
How will this structure be organised at management level? Please make
clear who will be the person(s) having the final responsibility for global
leadership of the project?
T
he management structure has a well-thought-through
framework set in place, with clear responsibilities
on everything that supports the creativity outcomes,
but also flexible channels for stimulating creativity and
involvement. As the gravity centre of the ECoC project,
the General Director has the final responsibility for global
leadership.
66
The management structure has to
respond to challenging expectations,
from different perspectives:
a. a diverse, non-hierarchical
membership, such as the
governance structure itself, with
their specific expectations and with
whom it needs to work for building
the trust and cooperation attitude;
b. the immediate outputs expected
from the ECoC year by the main
stakeholders, including cultural
excellence, enlarged outreach
and participation, national and
international attention and
visibility, high economic impacts,
efficiency and cost-effective
expenditures;
c. the long-term outcomes and legacy
of the ECoC year, namely the
longevity and the sustainability of
the projects pursued during the
ECoC journey.
Therefore, the management structure
will have strong reference points
shared with the governance structure
and the communities beyond it,
in order to favour, motivate and
encourage emerging views, feelings
and thoughts, which will then lead to
cohesion and its own organisational
culture.
The General Director is appointed
by the Steering Committee, on a clear
set of criteria. He/she is responsible
for the overall coordination of the
ECoC year. The Chief Treasurer is
appointed by the General Director.
His/her responsibilities are budgeting,
executing and overseeing operations,
from a financial opportunity and
cost-effectiveness points of view, being
under the supervision of the Audit
Committee. The Artistic Chiefs are
experienced curators, experts and/or
cultural advisors with international
track records. They need to combine
competences relative to: the
international expertise and experience,
solid expertise and experiences on
local particularities, fresh and new
ways of experimenting arts and
culture, and rigorous, structural way of
thinking and working.
Cultural Coordinator is responsible
for delivering the concept and the
artistic vision, as developed by the
Artistic Chiefs. He/she works closely
with the General Director, on an
operational level, and with the Artistic
Chiefs, on the cultural programme’s
objectives, indicators, contents,
partnerships, capacity building
needs and targeted outreach and
participation. He/she collaborates
directly with the Networks Coordinator
and Operations Coordinator. The
Cultural Division teams consists
of strands clusters, which include
concept developers, artistic producers,
project managers, independent artists
and creative entrepreneurs working
with their relative stakeholders and
communities.
Networks Coordinator is responsible
for reaching people, as audiences,
participants, tourists, visitors,
volunteers, sponsors, within the scope
of building networks and communities.
He/she works closely with the General
Director, on an operational level,
and with the President, Steering
Committee and the Association’s
members for local, national and
international potential connections
and collaboration, including public
authorities and other institutions
and bodies. He/she collaborates
directly with the Cultural Coordinator
and Operations Coordinator. The
Network Division teams consist of a
marketing and communication team,
including online specialists and TV and
social media experts, outreach and
participation team, artistic and public
relations team, including protocol,
hospitality and exchange programmes,
and the tourism and sponsoring team.
Operations Coordinator is responsible
for legal compliance in all forms,
organisational cohesion and resources’
efficiency allocation. He/she works
closely with the General Director, on
an operational level, and with the
Chief Treasurer and Audit Committee
on strategic integration and overview.
He/she collaborates directly with the
Cultural Coordinator and Networks
Coordinator. The Operations Division
teams consist of an accounting and
finance team, including acquisitions
and controlling team, legal and fundraising team, and human resources and
big data team.
The management organisation chart
is solid and robust in structure, but
dynamic and flexible. In order to be
able to quickly adapt and respond to
dynamic changes it is analysed and reevaluated every six months.
Behind our management structures
are status quo challengers, self-critical
thinkers and changing believers.
We will grow these values in all our
people. Our philosophy is to grow the
technical expertise and good practice
experiences, therefore each high
professional or coordinator has his/
her ‘twin junior’ and his/her volunteer
crew.
Tourism and sponsoring team (4)
Marketing and communication team (12)
Cultural
Coordinator
Strategic projects and PR team (4)
Chief Treasurer
Outreach and participation team (10)
Committee (3)
GOVERNANCE
General Assembly
Networks
Coordinator
MANAGEMENT
Cultural Programme
baseline team (60)
Art Markers team (3)
Honorary President
Opening and
Closing team
Lightscapes team
Operations
Coordinator
Light over Borders team
Light and Dark Spaces team
Shared Sight team
Inner Light team
HR and big data team (5)
Public fund-raising team (6)
Accounting and financial team (8)
112 members
Steering Committee (7)
GENERAL DIRECTOR
Artistic Chiefs (3)
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How will you ensure that this structure has the staff with the appropriate
skills and experience to plan, manage and deliver the cultural programme
for the year of the title?
W
e believe that the human resource is the most
valuable one. Therefore, we acknowledge the
importance of having the right people, at the right
place, at the right moment, especially as the gap between
a larger talent demand and a rigid labour offer is very wide.
Bearing that in mind and the fact that through our ECoC project
we will create a talent demand, our human resources strategy
will strive on attracting, maintaining and growing talents.
68
For the top and middle management
level we will target talents with
international proven track records
in similar positions. For baseline
management positions we will search
for talents with proven track records at
local level.
In order to generate qualitative pools
for selection of such talents, we will
apply complementary recruitment
methods, such as open international
and national calls for applications, as
well as specific head-hunting tools.
The selection process will have three
different phases. For the first selection
phase, out of a minimum pool of at
least 100 candidates, an outsourced
specialist HR agency will filter the
best 40 candidates for the job. This
phase is based on the evaluation of the
candidates’ portfolios corresponding
to prior established profiles for the
job. In the second selection phase, two
international experts in the field will
interview and assess candidates and
select the best three for the job. The
final selection is made by the Selection
Committee, which includes: the General
Director, one Steering Committee
member, one representative of the
General Assembly, one external expert
and the HR agency representative. The
General Director has the final decision.
This selection procedure is applied to
all key decision positions as presented
in the table below, except the General
Director and the Artistic Chiefs, which
follows a particular selection process.
For all the other positions we will
keep the three steps procedure, with a
selection committee established within
each specific department.
We will develop, for each job welldefined roles and responsibilities,
with its relative indicators for
overseeing, monitoring and evaluation.
By growing talents we intend to
encourage career development in
almost all areas, from volunteers
to the artistic chiefs. We will put
emphasis on real life situations and
challenges and on culturally-mixed
teams. The real life situation builds
real skills, in conceptual and critical
thinking, planning steps, dealing
with uncertainty, solving problems
and mistakes, and dealing with team
conflicts. It is about learning by doing,
including making mistakes and solving
them. The culturally-mixed team
changes perspectives and paradigms of
each member’s team through culture,
opening windows for new, innovative,
creative ideas and solutions. Special
projects for attracting volunteers
are prepared, based on mobility and
experience exchange.
After the ECoC year, the core team will
remain for at least another 6 month to
assume and implement the project’s
legacy strategy and facilitate the knowhow transfer and sharing.
The structure of the Association is envisaged with the following levels of
management, responsibility and accountability:
Position
Selection procedure
General Director Selected by the Steering Committee through an
international open call for applications
The leader of
the Association
Skills
Experience
Excellent interdisciplinary skills
in leadership, communication,
public relations, diplomacy,
management and networking,
team player, and coach
A proven international track
record in leading large impact
international projects and/or
organisations
Artistic Chiefs
The Artistic
leaders of the
Association
Selected on the three steps procedure, through
international open-call for applications
Excellent artistic and/or
technical knowledge and
skills in artistic and cultural
fields, in new creative
emerging fields and in specific
sciences, conceptual thinkers,
international networkers,
inspirational leaders
A proven international track
record in the respective field,
(arts managers, curators,
founders of festivals and
large scale events)
Coordinators
The middle
management
level
international open-call for applications
Excellent interdisciplinary skills
in leadership, communication,
management and networking,
team player, and coach
Relevant experience in
developing large scale
programmes, at least at the
national level
Directors
The baseline
management
level
national open-calls for applications
• Theme Directors
• Opening and Closing Director
• Art Markets Director
• Team Directors in the Operational Division (3)
• Team Directors in the Networks Division (4)
Excellent leadership,
communication, team player,
coaching and management
skills
Relevant experience in the
respective field
Project
Managers
Selected on the three steps procedure, simplified
and reduced to the department level
• Flagship Managers (5)
• Event Managers (around 30)
• Specialised managers within the other
divisions
Project management skills, in
resource allocation, budgeting,
planning, information
correlation, quality outputs,
leadership and communication
skills
Relevant experience in
working with and leading
different teams
How will you make sure that there is an appropriate cooperation between
the local authorities and this structure including the artistic team?
T
he cooperation with the local authorities will be framed
within a Memorandum of Understanding on clear roles,
objectives, tasks, indicators, reporting procedures, plans,
budgets and responsible persons, on a multiannual basis.
A similar framework will be enforced in the relation with the
national authorities, respectively with the Government, through
the Ministry of Culture.
The ECoC Association ensures a
correct and suitable cooperation with
the local authorities, through three
complementary channels:
1. strategically, by reserved seats for
each of the two local authorities in
the Steering Committee;
2. at management level, through
regular reporting and evaluation
meetings of the General Director
with the Mayor, Timiș County
Council President, the counsellors
and County and Local Councils;
3. at operational level, on a daily basis,
through a specifically appointed
public servant, charged exclusively
for the relation with ECoC project.
timisoara2021.ro
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70
The Municipality of Timișoara and the
Timiș County Council, as two of the
founders of the Association, with
relative rights and obligations, are also
Steering Committee members. After
the final selection round, a well-defined
composition of the Steering Committee,
as detailed in the governance details
on the ECoC structure, will be proposed
to the General Assembly for approval.
Based on this, local authorities will
have their reserved seats, 2 out of
7, and therefore will be part of all
strategic decisions regarding the ECoC
project, as they have been since the
establishment of the Association.
At the management level, the General
Director reports on a regular basis,
through dedicated meetings, to the
Steering Committee, to the Mayor and
the Timiș County Council President, as
well as to the Timișoara City Council
and Timiș County Council. This kind
of customary meeting for keeping the
local authorities connected with the
ECoC project’s steps, accomplishments
and future actions have been in place
since 2011.
At an operational level, both the
Municipality of Timișoara and the
Timiș County Council will appoint a
public servant within their Cultural
Departments specifically for the
relation with the ECoC Association.
There is already in place such a public
servant, but until now it was not seen
as exclusively dedicated as they had
other assignments at their respective
institutions. The scope of such a direct
and continuous connection with
the local authorities is to facilitate a
smooth cooperation during all phases
of the ECoC project. These two public
servants will start their tasks at the
beginning of the preparation period, in
2017.
The Memorandum of Understanding
with local and national authorities
clarifies common objectives and
expectations and, also, protects the
project from political debates.
We will sign a separate Memorandum
of Understanding with the Ministry of
Culture, on clear roles, responsibilities,
budgets and targets, including details
on concrete funding and relative
projects, with their expected results.
According to which criteria and under which arrangements have the
general director and the artistic director been chosen – or will be chosen?
What are – or will be – their respective profiles? When will they take up the
appointment? What will be their respective fields of action?
W
e build teams and communities on values such as
integrity, professional attitude, highest standards
and sustainable efficiency. Therefore, in our strategy
to attract and maintain talents we target and search for the
quality in people, from this perspective.
People who strive for quality empower
through their passion, leaving their
values as a timeless legacy. You
recognise them through their work
transformed into benchmarks, through
their relations transformed into
networks and communities, through
their legacies transformed into social
and paradigm changes.
The arrangements under which the
three Artistic Chiefs (and, if the case
may be, the General Director) are to
be chosen include an international
outsource agency, experienced in
working with ECoC projects, or similar
tasks, with the final selection to be
conducted by the Steering Committee
and an international expert.
Our top level talents are to be these
people, confirmed by their works,
relations and legacies. These are
our criteria in choosing the General
Director and the three Artistic Chiefs.
The Artistic Chiefs will take up their
appointments gradually, upon the
specific necessities of the ECoC phases.
They will be responsible for the
development of the project concept and
its translation into practice.
The General Director has already been
chosen, since 2013, under the values
and criteria described above. She is
responsible for the global leadership of
the ECoC project.
We believe that a good-work
experience equates with well-trained
skills and practiced knowledge and,
ultimately, with a pro-active and
growing attitude. Therefore, our
criteria for selecting staff reflect the
worth we put on professionalism and
high-quality work. Work experience in
relevant fields is also essential, as are
the legacies and relations left behind
at past working places, in terms of
recommendations and good reputation.
For the General Director and the
three Artistic Chiefs we look for
proven international track records
in relevant, but also various other
significant fields.
Simona Neumann was selected by
the Steering Committee as Executive
Director (later to be General Director)
in January 2013, following a headhunting procedure.
She was selected for her excellent
interdisciplinary skills in leadership,
communication, public relations and
diplomacy, as well as for qualities
of being a good team player, coach,
manager and networker.
The appropriate experience for the
job was considered to be a proven
international track record in leading
large-impact international projects,
within various cultural contexts.
Simona Neumann has sixteen years
work experience in international
affairs and relations, in executing,
coordinating and managing different
Romanian and international
organisations. In 2009 – 2012, she
worked at the European Commission,
Directorate General for Enlargement
and Neighbourhood, in Brussels,
managing a complex programme
of reconciliation, building trust and
developing civil society, cultural and
academic exchanges and information
about EU public policies, within the
highly sensitive Cyprus’ political
context. In 2004 – 2009, she worked
for the United Nations Development
Programme, in Bucharest,
managing a project of Romanian
public administration reform. Her
international work experience includes
an assignment in the well-known
public diplomacy programme of the
USA Department State, namely the
Fulbright Program, at Council for
International Exchange of Scholars,
in Washington DC, USA (2001). She
holds a PhD in Public Diplomacy,
at Babeș-Bolyai University in ClujNapoca (2011), a Master degree in
European Studies at West University
of Timișoara (2000). She attended an
Executive Education Programme in the
Strategic Management of Non-Profit
Organisations at Harvard Kennedy
School of Government, specialisations
in International Relations at Romanian
Diplomatic Institute of the Romanian
Foreign Affairs Ministry (20082009) and in European Security and
Diplomacy at the Centre for Security
Studies and Diplomacy, University of
Birmingham (2005). Other fields of
specialisation include: international
public law, human rights, EU laws.
The three Artistic Chiefs need to have
excellent artistic and/or technical
knowledge and skills in artistic and
cultural domains, in new creative
emerging domains and in specific
sciences, with proven international
track records in their responsible field,
being proved as high performers,
managers, curators, experts, founders
of festivals and/or large scale events.
They also have to be great conceptual
thinkers, inspirational leaders and
international networkers.
The optimum combination of the
three would be: a strong, young local
profile, an outstanding international
profile and an art manager profile,
all experienced and known
internationally.
First to take up his/her appointment
would be the Artistic Chief with
strong local profile, who will start
part-time at the beginning of the
preparations period, until 2 years
before the ECoC year, when he/she will
be fully engaged. We look for a young
profile in arts and culture to connect
the ECoC project with new, innovative
and experimenting ideas in all fields.
The strong local profile means a
very good understanding of local
particularities in arts and culture, of
specificities of the city, of the cultural
operators sector and the cultural
independent sector.
The Artistic Chief with art managing
profile will start two years before the
ECoC year, on a part-time basis, and
then with full engagement within the
last year before the ECoC starts. He/
she will bring rigorous planning and
monitoring methods to support the
cultural programme implementation.
His/her main field of action will be the
technical phase, overseeing all details
needed to get the events and actions
planned, developed and produced.
The selection process of the Artistic
Chiefs will assume the three phases
of evaluation. The HR agency which
coordinates the selection process will
be required to have international
experience. The final selection is made
by an international expert who has
been involved in ECoCs, together with
the Steering Committee.
Throughout our arrangements in
choosing staff members we emphasise
our commitment to attract and
link talents, best professionals and
committed people, in order to build
creative and efficient teams.
His/her main field of action will be
in the development phase, putting
the concept into practice, with more
concrete detail on each project of the
baseline cultural programme, including
building administrative and funding
frameworks.
The Artistic Chief with the strong
international profile will start at the
beginning of the preparations period,
but for 2 or 3 days per month, until the
year before the ECoC starts, when he/
she will be fully engaged. He/she will
make use of his/her wide international
exposure, openness to extended
networks, and potential key sponsors.
Also he/she will support and develop
the capacity building projects and
exchange programmes.
His/her main field of action will be
in the production phase, getting all
strategic partnerships signed in order
to start producing the contents.
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71
6C. MANAGEMENT / CONTINGENCY PLANNING
Have you carried out/planned a risk assessment exercise?
W
e had specific working sessions with local,
regional, national and transnational policymakers
and representatives of the city and region in EU
organisations in Brussels, to mitigate risks and to prioritise the
regional development of activities and investments which align
with the potential of an ECoC project.
72
In order to acquire a realistic overview
of the ECoC process and to assess
judicious risks related to it, we applied
a holistic approach, starting with a
participatory SWOT analysis, as
an integrated part of the strategic
planning process.
To sharpen the concept, the
stakeholders were assisted technically
by 7 renowned European cultural
and ECoC experts, including
exchanges and workshops with 9
other ECoCs, over a four year period.
We identified three particular risk
categories:
• Risks related to the civic nature of
our project might surface because of
the limited knowledge of the EU, and
because principles like transparency,
accountability and citizen’s rights
are very little understood and barely
practiced (Romania scores 90, on a
scale of 100, on the power distance
dimension of Hofstede’s model). Civic
risks are mitigated through the very
core of our concept.
• Risks related to the decisionmaking and overseeing process
throughout our project.
Organisational risks are minimised
by clear terms of reference of
everyone involved. The General
Assembly, composed of Association
members, oversees, through the
Committee, the decisions of the
Steering Committee, which, in turn,
monitors the General Director’s
decisions. Moreover, the presence
of the local authorities in the
governance structures of the
Association is limited.
• Risks related to cash-flow, mainly
from the Municipality as the main
financier. Cash-flow risks are
mitigated by allocating funds as
if it were an investment and by
putting in place a contract between
the Municipality and the ECoC
Association.
We have also taken into consideration
the following general risk categories,
specific to ECoCs.
• The political risks, the possible lack
of support, are mitigated by already
signed commitments by all political
parties. Political interference in the
decision making process is mitigated
by the independent nature of the
Association (97% of the founding
members are non-political entities).
Therefore, the project does not
depend on any political entity in
particular, but enjoys cross party
support.
• Public procurement and legal risks
are mitigated by working closely
with public servants on all levels, a
practice that has been in place since
the establishment of the Association.
In order to avoid contingencies
when producing public events, we
will involve public servants working
in the communication, culture and
tourism departments, and other
authorised entities. Partnership
risks are controlled through legal
agreements and also through
developing back-up lists of partners.
• Changes in the city’s priorities and
investment plans over the next five
years might be possible, especially
given that the local administration
might change twice. In order to
mitigate this we will have a back-up
plan for all in-progress investments
that might affect the ECoC project
and we will advocate this to our
community members in order to
ensure legacy and future investment
commitments related to it.
• Staffing risks due to a lack of the
appropriate specialised competences
and skills, at both decision-making
and executive level, can be very
serious for the organisational
cohesion and for the team's stability.
By being aware of it, we will develop
open international calls for all our
key positions, supplemented by
capacity development and training
programmes.
• Legacy and outreach risks are
mitigated by a series of pilot projects
throughout the preparation period,
in order to feel and test people’s
energy and find appropriate ways of
reaching them. Strong focus will be
put on exchange of artists, activists,
artefacts and citizens programmes.
• As for EU funding and bureaucratic
risks, we already have staff who,
collectively, have more than 50 years
of experience with EU funds.
The risk assessment exercise will be
reviewed and strengthened yearly.
What are the main strengths and weaknesses of your project?
W
e are facing empowering strengths which give us
a solid foundation for our artistic programme, as
well as challenging weaknesses which raise the
opportunity to address the real sensitive issues of our city
throughout TM2021.
73
1. The community-led spirit of the project: the Association has
63 founding bodies and members, together with the two local
authorities of the city and the county; 25% of our members are
public and private cultural operators, and 45% academics, media
representatives and opinion and business leaders;
2. The community’s confidence in and commitment to the
project: by the end of 2013, before launching the awareness and
information campaign,78.2% of Timișoara’s population was aware
of the city’s candidacy and 93.8% perceived cultural activities
as being important for the welfare of the city, according to
sociological research done by the West University of Timișoara;
3. The ownership, distinctiveness and coherence of the concept
within the city’s spirit and the citizens’ aspirations: more than
5.000 citizens and 153 institutions have been directly involved in
raising awareness, mobilisation and participation campaigns, as
well as in the elaboration of the concept and cultural programme.
Our candidacy concept was developed progressively between 2011
and 2015 and went through three phases: from 'REVOLutionary',
through 'Channel' of Cultures, finally reaching Shine your light Light up your city!;
4. The participatory dimension of the 2021 cultural programme:
it had benefitted from over 1.100 direct contributors: artists,
academics, NGOs, neighbourhood representatives, organisations
dealing with disabled persons, the social sector, minorities,
migrants, seniors, students, pupils, volunteers, sports and business
people;
5. The full support of the local and county administrations, which
ultimately led to cross-party political support taken as a whole;
6. The sustainable and long-lasting legacy which is based on
the transformative power of individuals’ culture within their
respective communities, and which, as a result, will become
cultural neighbourhoods; the candidacy is already leaving a
lasting legacy on the cultural fabric of Timișoara and its partners.
1. Disengagement of a few public
cultural operators at institutional
and top management level, due
to their concern that the public
funding for their institutions would
decrease in the event of this award;
this is on top of their expectant
attitude towards the ECoC and their
wish to preserve the status quo,
convenient to them;
2. Opposition of a few private
cultural operators, who feel that
the project is competing with them
on the same share of market and
public resources; for this reason we
intensified our cooperation with the
creative industries;
3. Disparaging comments and
trivialisation from some of
the local mass-media locked
in political interests during
election time, making it open to
different inputs and messages,
from politicians and the project’s
opponents, influencing the
vulnerable general public;
4. The European dimension of the
project and the diverse range of
partnerships envisaged, still leave
room for dialogue and reflection, as
Europe and its values are not well
known by large numbers of people
at the grass-root level.
timisoara2021.ro
How are you planning to overcome weaknesses, including with the use of
risk mitigation and planning tools, contingency planning etc.
T
he association has strong independence and
transparency systems in place from the beginning.
Continuous monitoring and evaluation allows us to
adapt the activities and the planning to the changing situations
in the field.
74
Following the SWOT analysis we
conducted with stakeholders in the
community, we reached the conclusion
that we are not facing easy challenges,
but neither are they insurmountable.
One of the challenges is disengagement
on behalf of a few cultural institutions.
The public cultural operators are the
most difficult to motivate to become
more involved, because for them it is
about a change in the way they think.
To overcome this, we have built our
project on sharing and collaboration
principles, thus motivating these
stakeholders to bring to light their
true assets and potential. We continue
to build trust by having face-to-face
discussions, explaining the ECoC
programme and what their role can
be, and by encouraging grass-root
level support. We have experienced
that by repeatedly explaining the
ECoC selection criteria and then the
title’s benefits for the city, and by
giving concrete examples of successful
ECoCs, we have increasingly gained
the support of key people in the
community. Moreover, emphasis on
the long-term impact will convince the
project stakeholders about the title’s
opportunity for the city, rather than
its potential competitive nature with
their respective organisations. Our
strategy is to wait for our citizens till
‘the project wave’ will be big enough
to encourage them to ride it, and to
leave behind the status quo. We use
the same strategy with mass-media, but
in a more personalised communication
manner.
The project’s independence and
neutrality is well balanced since the
concept and artistic vision might seem
too different from the current cultural
life of the city and the Municipality’s
cultural policy. Hence, there is a risk of
interference from the local authorities
and some of the public cultural
operators. Nevertheless, by foreseeing
these risks, we already mitigate them
through:
1. co-creating the cultural
programme with the emphasis
on individuals’ own personal
contributions,
2. structuring the cultural
programme on multiple
complementary layers and
3. establishing the evaluation
criteria for the cultural project
overall.
In terms of material cultural
infrastructure, although we lack large
indoor facilities, we plan to compensate
this by maximum usage of outdoor
public spaces such as parks, square,
streets, or unconventional spaces such
as derelict industrial estates.
We use the Project Management
Cycle, which enables us to manage
multiple projects and offers flexibility
and learning opportunities. Equally
important is the standardised
approach with standardised tools,
combining flexibility with rigour,
used for improvement of the
management process and quality of the
implementation.
Moreover, the envisaged organisational
structure will contribute to overcoming
challenges by strong staffing at both
governance and management level and
by strong and sustainable partnerships.
Considering our local context, we will
focus on good reputation, international
recognition and career perspectives
that come with working in an ECoC
project.
6D. MANAGEMENT / MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION
Could your artistic programme be summed up by a slogan?
SHINE YOUR LIGHT –
LIGHT UP YOUR CITY!
Light played a key role in the history of
Timișoara. In 1884 it became the first
city in continental Europe with street
lighting. So there is no surprise that
light will also play a key role in our
TM2021 programme.
Shine your light – Light up your city!
is the slogan that reflects the journey
from an individual to a European
citizen who is guided by cultural
interventions. It consists of two calls to
action which are connected in a causeeffect relation.
Firstly, Shine your light encourages
individuals to find their inner energy
with the aim of sharing it with their
close circles of family and friends
before this light propagates further.
Each individual’s light reflects his or
her social background, knowledge,
experiences, memory, relation to the
city, and attitude which he or she will
share with the community.
The second part of our slogan Light
up your city! expresses the capacity
to shine, to turn the darkness into
light and to make a difference, a
civic process fuelled by culture. This
takes place only when the individual
connects with the community. Through
cultural interventions, this interaction
will expand knowledge, open minds,
generate tolerance, and produce
harmony.
The logo of our candidacy with its
chosen colours – yellow and black - is
75
a matching messenger of our slogan.
We have developed it drawing on
the most primary representation of
light which is a yellow sun as energytransformer, light-provider and
life-giver. The difference is that our
sun has 21 unequal rays that form
various angles. Like the rays of the sun,
every individual’s capacity to shine is
different, yet important to the overall
power of radiation. As the rays radiate
away from the centre, they symbolise
sharing. The angles are the meeting
points and fields of exchange between
two individuals where learning,
transformation and interaction take
place. The logo was developed by
a local talented young artist Ștefan
Lucuț.
What is the city’s intended marketing and communication strategy for the
European Capital of Culture year? (In particular with regard to the media
strategy and the mobilisation of large audiences).
L
ight up your city! is our communication strategy.
Reflection is the principle that works as an echo that
makes the messages repetitive and more intense, from
Europe to Timișoara and back.
Concept
As people in our city tend to pay
more attention to the diaspora and
their international media and social
channels, we will send out messages
that bounce back via the European
network of our citizens, with a higher
intensity for the local audience.
The communication strategy for
TM2021 is to actively promote the
values underpinning our five strands
of the cultural programme, based on
the city's urgencies: civic involvement,
social harmony, claiming public space,
cross-border understanding and
balanced lifestyle. These are values
which resonate with all Europeans,
so we want them to identify with us
during 2021.
Strategy
Our communication strategy is to
start from general to more targeted
campaigns, from big-scale to smallscale. More specifically, in the run-up
to TM2021 we will start building a
positive international profile in the
European media. The reason for this
approach is that the Romanians are
very receptive and conscious about
their reputation in Europe. Therefore,
timisoara2021.ro
76
we react promptly to whatever the
European media says about us. Since
joining the European Union in 2007,
Romania has received a lot of negative
coverage in the international media.
These reports have always prompted
further coverage in the Romanian
media but also on social media
channels, thus creating a transnational
media coverage flow and a lot of
emotion-driven online debates. The
mechanism works the other way
around too. Issues taken up by the
diaspora mobilised people at home to
act and bring about change, such as the
Presidential Campaign in 2014, the gold
exploration of Roșia Montană in 2012,
or more locally, the redevelopment of
the Liberty square.
We will use this already-established
process of story exchange, reaction
generation and information flow
for two purposes. Firstly, we want
to spread our feel-good stories, and
secondly, we want to raise awareness
of the issues we will tackle in our
programme. So we will run a media
campaign in tandem with an online
campaign. Our aim is to clear the slate
of any negative perception in the next
five years, so we can draw and build a
new value-shaped image of Romanians
with TM2021. This positive shaping of
the international profile will also boost
the confidence at the local level.
At the small-scale local level we
will build on what we have already
achieved and the awareness we
have already raised. Through our
participatory approach, we have
already built bridges with local
stakeholders, i.e. cultural institutions
and organisations, economic agents
and local authority. We will make
use of the already created cultural
communications channels which will
facilitate the sharing between the
individual and the community, and
further will help change the cultural
consumption behaviour and establish
in the public consciousness the values
we want to promote.
Objectives
The core objective of our
communication strategy is to use
shared human values to connect
people from different generations,
backgrounds, social status and
locations, through our programmes.
More specifically, the objectives are:
• to change the general negative
perception of Romanians at the
European level;
• to restore our multi- and
intercultural international profile in
a contemporary context;
• to push onto the European agenda
the issues we address with our
concept: civic energy for engagement
and art;
• to communicate effectively the
TM2021 programme at local,
regional, national and international
level;
• last but not least, to promote the
values of the European Union.
Communication Approach
Our approach is to identify the
value-based stories within various
groups and generate media-worthy
content. We will actively identify
specific groups and involve them in
our communications, such as active
diasporic groups, young and old,
minority groups, professionals.
In our communications, we will
be using the traditional methods
(marketing and media campaigns) and
the more cutting-edge, technologydriven ones. We consider this approach
crucial in order to reach out to as many
individuals as possible, from the ones
who will be of retiring-age by 2021 and
for whom technology is a later addition
to their lifestyle, to the child who is
born this year and will be 6 years old
by 2021, for whom technology will be a
way of life.
Audience Target
We have identified three main
audience groups which require
different levels of engagement. Each
group comprises specific target groups:
(1) The citizens of Europe and their
specific groups:
• tourists: this group are those
who have never considered
Timișoara as a destination for
their holiday, cultural citybreak, or business expansion.
•
•
For this purpose we will
specifically target cities in
Europe with more than 100.000
population which begin with
letter T (26 cities) or M (23
cities). We will create a map
of Europe covered with the
symbols of Timișoara TM. In this
way we build connections with
all European countries.
Romanians who live abroad
but still call Timișoara home:
we want to find the city in
Europe. We want to encourage
these people to rediscover their
connection with Timișoara and
become our ambassadors in the
places they now live and work
special interest groups: business
persons, scientists, sports
persons, professionals, etc.
(2) The citizens of the Central European
regions:
• the citizens of the seven
European capitals within
Timișoara’s proximity:
Budapest, Vienna, Bratislava,
Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo and
Bucharest
• the citizens of the cross-border
region of Banat: the Romanians,
the Hungarians and the
Serbians who share a common
history. This includes all the
potential visitors to Romania
and their direct networks
interested in our topics.
(3) The Timișoreni (the population
of the Timișoara and the wider
metropolitan area). This group will be
the most engaged in our programme
and will benefit the most from the longterm implementation and the legacy
of TM2021. We will also give special
attention to networking with local
economic agents in order to establish
partnerships and sponsorships which
will support our TM2021 programme.
We also include citizens of the other
historical regions of Romania, such as
Transylvania, Crișana, Oltenia.
Timeline until 2021
2017 -2019:
• Arrange journalists’ visits to
Timișoara and place articles in
various European publications by
themes: business, education, arts;
• Invite all communication managers
of ECoCs in the last 5 years to a
conference in the city or organise
Skype calls and ask for their
databases;
• Develop packages for entrepreneurs
that travel to explain what TM2021
is about;
• Build partnerships with Romanian
diasporic media (diaspora fashion
shows, cooperation with transport
and travel companies to organise
events where there are Romanian
clusters, sell merchandising in
Romanian shops abroad, interactive
screens in railway stations in
Belgrade, Budapest, Bucharest where
one can get free tickets to Timișoara);
• Create online forums and platforms
which will support the media
coverage;
• Create partnership with tripadvisor.
com, booking.com, airbnb.com,
blablacar.ro;
• Strenghten the partnership between
the TM2021 team and the Tourism
Deptartment of the Municipality.
2019 -2021: • Negotiate partnerships with selective
European media outlets and
Eurovision;
• Establish partnerships with
European cultural centres;
• Negotiate with tourism operators and
attend the ITB (The Europe's Leading
Travel Trade Show) in Berlin with
info-packages and carrying bags;
• Launch of merchandise - every object
has a story connected to light;
• Formation of businesses for cobranding;
• Launch of the game ‘The Lion and
Tarzan 2021’ as Johnny Weissmuller,
the actor who played Tarzan, was
born in Timișoara in 1904;
• Participating to the Venice Biennale;
• Set-up partnerships with the
Romanian Cultural Institutes around
Europe;
• Set-up in the respective contracts
that every project is communicated
via TM2021;
• Motivate artists to use their own
networks to communicate the
TM2021 brand and their project(s)
inside;
• Prepare the advertising campaign
and the big bang;
• Create synergies and alignment
between our communication strategy
and the communication teams of
other cultural organisations, as well
as the ones from the local authorities;
• Organise press conferences and
install viral content producers;
• Set the timetable of the openingclosing events and key projects in a
communication-friendly calendar;
formulate and communicate
messages accordingly;
• Organise interviews and articles
with hot shots to promote the topic,
organise debates on TV and radio
broadcasts about passivity and light;
• Build partnerships with national
tourism organizations;
• Release the cultural programme
in three stages: launch a light
teaser in 2019, publish the cultural
programme in November 2020,
and as of January 2021 update the
website daily.
Deliverables
We aim to produce the following
deliverables of our communication
campaign:
(1) Media coverage. We aim to build
long-term partnerships with the
media to communicate the values of
our programme. A detailed media
campaign planner 2016 to 2021 will
include dates for press conferences,
press releases, media debriefings,
journalists’ visits, subjects for various
types of media. We will identify
stories relevant to various types of
media, from business to tourism, from
education to culture.
(2) Online reach. The online campaign
will include the production of an
interactive, user-friendly website,
a social media campaign and the
production of supporting apps for
mobile devices. The aim of the
online campaign is to create a virtual
community, a virtual Timișoara, larger
than the physical city. A Timișoara
around Europe.
(3) The promotional campaign will
include well-produced, well-thought
out materials, from street banners
to posters, flyers and merchandise.
Each travel entry to the city (railway
station, airport, roads, river) will be
marked with TM2021 and Shine your
light – Light up your city! slogan.
We will partner with neighbouring
districts and countries to promote the
programme. Each customs entry from
Serbia into Romania and from the
Timiș and Arad Counties will be also
marked. The aim of the promotional
campaign is to provide a coherent
visual dimension of the TM2021
programme and to raise awareness
and communicate effectively with
increased segments of the audience.
timisoara2021.ro
77
How will you mobilise your own citizens as communicators of the year to
the outside world?
O
ur citizen mobilisation strategy is built on a general
communication campaign supported by meaningful
actions proposed to anyone assuming the identity of
the city and an indirect movement interlinked with the audience
development strategy. Together they target several distinctive
groups: the outside visitors who physically come to the city,
potential visitors that find out about TM2021 in contexts
outside the city and potential visitors from personal networks
of the communicators.
78
The general campaign will make use
of a mix of mediums and tools made
available to those who voluntarily
choose to disseminate the messages.
The mobilisation factor is linked to
meaningfulness and relevance for
the communicator. For this reason,
the final list will be decided through
consultation workshops and street
events, similar to those that have
constructed the cultural programme.
Possible examples include, but are
not limited to, multimedia elements
co-created with the public for online
dissemination; promotional items
that have a practical use for traveling
communicators (solar powered lamps,
bags, tents); highly-creative visuals that
motivate mobile communicators to
display them.
The indirect movement is linked
to the various levels of audience
engagement to be reached through the
cultural programme.
The opening and the closing events
and programmes like Mega Bega or
Baroque Reloaded attract new audiences
motivated to share in their personal
networks the intensity of their
experience.
Contributors participating in
programmes such as Addictive
Lights, Vision, Flash of Memory
will have additional motivation to
communicate cultural content that
includes personal inputs or details,
not only in the personal networks
but also in unfamiliar contexts such
as collaborative platforms or the
projection of a selfie with a hashtag on
the walls of a building.
Co-creators involving themselves
in experiences such as those
spawn by Dare to Shine, Blossoms,
Smartness Revealed, Chiaroscuro
or Circulating Skyscapes will be in
the situation to transform personal
stories and experiences into cultural
content. These people will be both
stirred emotionally but also in a
state of vulnerability. Their acts of
communication will be restrained
to closer circles but their capacity to
inspire will increase vigorously.
The deepest level of engagement
will be through volunteering. Several
programmes are designed to include
volunteers willing to devote time
and energy to interact systematically
with the public, whether local,
from Romania or abroad. They will
participate in general communication
training, especially designed for
TM2021. The simplest way to get
involved will be through wearing
a solar powered visual that will be
literally shining and indicating that
the wearer is open to interact with
strangers and offer basic information
about the city.
More examples of learning
opportunities motivating volunteering:
Heritage in the Spotlights - local guides
blending local cultural content with
personal stories and augmented reality
or other types of multimedia content
displayed on smart devices;
Dare to Shine - cultural animators
linking outside visitors with
amateur artistic activities in local
neighbourhoods;
ECoC Boulevard and Solar City –
guides and animators communicating
specialised information such as
concepts of cities previously awarded
the title or sun-related artistic and
technology content.
How does the city plan to highlight that the European Capital of Culture is
an action of the European Union?
T
he programme for TM2021 encapsulates what the
European Union stands for - democracy, human rights,
initiative, diversity, participation, unity. We, therefore,
as organisers, will endeavour to transmit these values so that
every citizen who attends our activities or visits the city will
assume some of them.
Through our campaign we will
inform the citizens about the positive
contribution the European Union
makes at a local level through such
initiatives as the European Capital of
Culture.
values of the European Union. We
will inform them about the European
Union’s initiatives for their sector, as
well as show them how the European
Union aims to be a union of people
celebrating diversity through unity.
The cross-border network-building
initiatives encouraged by the European
Union will also be incorporated in our
programme. We will involve the twin
cities of Timișoara, the network of
enlightened cities (as listed in ’common
aspects of European cultures’ section),
and other European Cultural Capitals
in our programme.
Our communications will also
incorporate the visual elements and
branding identity, such as the logo of
the European Union, on all our printed
materials, in our online campaign, and
in our communication with the press.
Whenever TM2021 is promoted or
communicated, the European Union
will also be featured. Every media
picture will have the European Union
flag in it.
The TM2021 programme has three
levels of engagement: at grass-roots
level, at institutional level and at
political level. Whenever any actors
from these sectors are involved in our
programme, we will also develop, with
the support of the West University
in Timișoara, training programmes
targeting both adults and children to
educate and inform them about what
the European Union has particularly
done for them.
Representatives of the European Union
will be invited every year in the run-up
to 2021. Needless to say they will also
be the guests of honour at many events
throughout the year.
Representatives of Timișoara will
also travel to Brussels to showcase
our TM2021 programme and what we
stand for.
Our aim is that by the end of 2021,
people who will have participated in
our programme, will have had more
than a mere cultural experience,
they will have instilled in them the
timisoara2021.ro
79
7. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In a few lines explain what makes your application so special
compared to others?
Within a 300 km radius from
Timișoara, there are six countries
(Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia)
which are now on the migrants’
route from Asia and the Middle East
through Europe. An hour’s drive from
Timișoara, Hungary is building a fence
to exclude the refugees. Our concept
and artistic programme goes against
this attitude of rejection and closedown. We propose a bid which draws
on the values of multi-confessionalism
and multiculturality, civil society, and
entrepreneurship in the context of the
21st century. This is the transforming
mindset which Europeans need
nowadays.
80
Our ECoC journey started early in
2010. In the process of the bid book
preparation, we have also undergone
a transformation. We came a long
way from self-sufficient local pride to
an honest look at the city. Sometimes
it has hurt. We had to go deep into
pessimism and to face the urgencies
hidden below the shiny surface of local
patriotism. Courage was generated
with the help of many citizens,
activists, artists and experts. We have
spent more than four years, testing
three concepts, meeting in bigger or
smaller groups, talking to people in the
streets, conducting information and
participation campaigns, in the quest
for a concept that would truly make it
possible: that culture transforms a
city, a country and a continent.
This is what makes our project special
compared with others.
Add any further comments which you deem necessary in relation with
your application.
The bid book team and helping volunteers are ready to light up the city!
81
timisoara2021.ro
82

timisoara2021.ro

Transcription

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