If you want to become European Capital of Culture: avoid a hornet’s nest

In 2033, the Netherlands may again designate a European Capital of Culture. Who the book The miracle of 2018, a retrospective of the year that Leeuwarden-Friesland was European Capital of Culture, realizes that ten years is not long for the preparation to win that title. Historian and journalist Geart de Vries interviewed more than 120 people involved in Leeuwarden-Fryslân 2018 (LF2018) on behalf of the municipality of Leeuwarden and the Historical Center Leeuwarden for the book. Seven tips can be distilled from the book for cities that are now considering candidacy: what you should and should not do.

1. Set the bar high, but be realistic

In Fryslân, Cultural Capital was not only seen as a cultural festival, but also as an opportunity for economic impulses and even to combat poverty. An idea to nominate the Frisian Eleven Cities as candidates was proposed The miracle of 2018 first suggested in 2006, during a debate about the future of Fryslân. Capital of Culture could have “beneficial side effects across a wide area”. However, the social projects gradually faded into the background. During the biggest event of LF2018, the performance The Giants by the French theater company Royal de Luxe, giant puppets walked throughout Leeuwarden, including through poorer neighborhoods. But cultural initiatives had previously been discontinued there, social worker Iqbal Aslam says in the book: “Our international annual festival in the Freedom District had to be stopped in 2015. That was very sad. […] For neighborhoods such as the Vrijheidswijk and Heechterp-Schieringen, 2018 did not yield much in the longer term […] Even after that year, they remained in the Top 10 of the poorest neighborhoods in the Netherlands.”

De Duiker during the street theater ‘De Reuzen’ by theater company Royal de Luxe.

2. Provide clarity and support quickly

A problem with a nomination from the Eleven Cities: the European Union jury wants one city. But because the representative of Culture in Fryslân, Jannewietske de Vries, took up the idea of ​​winning the title of Cultural Capital in 2007, the initiative lay with the province and not with the city of Leeuwarden. When asked how Fryslân would put itself forward, the Provincial Council and the Leeuwarden municipal council bounced the ball back at each other for a long time. And the issue of where the money should come from in times of cutbacks also caused delays.

3. Choose the right people, Cultural Capital is a long-term project

Geart de Vries’ book could just as easily have had ‘wasp’s nest’ in the title instead of ‘miracle’, that word appears several times. In addition to the political ping-pong, input from Frisians outside cultural circles was requested, but after a while they felt they were not taken seriously or formed clubs that operated at odds with each other, people were quickly hired and sometimes quickly put aside.

Also problematic: the foundation that was put in charge of the project was given too many tasks and much of the criticism, often unjustly. The first director left with a burnout. There were seven directors from 2010 to 2018, who had their own ideas and tastes, which led to uncertainty among cultural producers.

In addition, the informal circuit played a role, which did not improve the clarity of who had what responsibility. A group of insiders circled around Deputy De Vries who had a major influence on the decision-making in the early stages, the so-called ‘Beraad van Raerd’ – named after De Vries’ place of residence. She herself says about it in the book: “As a deputy, I of course also had my responsibilities, but in an informal way I could think along about what we needed in the entire operation, for example. It had to be that way at that stage.” Remarkable: Mayor of Leeuwarden Ferd Crone and King’s Commissioner John Jorritsma did not know about the secret consultation. The current commissioner, Arno Brok, says: “That’s how it sometimes works here in Friesland. […] If you want to call it negative, then it might sound a bit Sicilian every now and then.”

The logo of Leeuwarden-Fryslân 2018 as a mural.

4. Bee European Capital, international projects are required…

When Leeuwarden-Fryslân reached the finals of the candidacy at the end of 2012, together with Eindhoven and Maastricht, the jury’s proposed projects had to have “a stronger international and especially European dimension”. After which the organization focused more on large components such as the French Giants and… 11Fountains. That was successful, in 2013 Leeuwarden won the title of Cultural Capital 2018.

But the fountains in particular initially provoked resistance from residents of the Eleven Cities. Each of those cities would receive one by an international artist, which raised the question why there was no Frisian among them. Curator of the project Anna Tilroe was tasked with “coming up with something that had international allure. You may find it an unpleasant truth, but that does not alter the fact that there is no living Frisian sculptor of whom this can be said.” All the requested artists came from abroad, except for the Dutch sculptor Birthe Leemeijer, who made the IJsfontein for Dokkum.

In the Frisian Workum, the finishing touches are being put to the so-called piemel fountain

5. …but keep an eye on the budget

The many projects were so expensive together (the giants were the most expensive theatrical performance ever in Fryslân with a budget of 4.5 million euros) that serious concerns arose about the budget of LF2018.

In March 2016, painful decisions had to be made, five main projects and a number of smaller ones were canceled. Other productions received little or no money from LF2018, such as The Storm Ridera theater performance with more than a hundred Frisian horses.

Ultimately, according to the Leeuwarden Bureau for Policy Research, LF2018 cost 104 million euros, against revenues of between 230 and 320 million.

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Also view an In Pictures with the 11 fountains

6. No matter what happens, always keep smiling

The fountains received playful criticism from the Workumer music theater company De Paupers. That created the Pauperfontein, a mobile fountain that could be set up anywhere in Friesland. The colossus, with more than 230 water-squirting penises, was immediately nicknamed ‘Piemelfontein’. The twelfth fountain received a subsidy of 10,000 euros and was included in the main program by LF2018.

7. Think about the ‘legacy’

Advisor Robert Palmer, involved in LF2018 from the start, is disappointed: “The most important thing with all Capitals of Culture is […] what remains of it. But what a missed opportunity with LF2018: it failed to make anything meaningful out of this.” Immie Jonkman, director of the triennial hundred-day cultural event Arcadia/LF2028, one of the legacies of LF2018, thinks differently: “Culture has become hotter […] What has also been very positive is that people, especially younger ones, have returned to Fryslân, because it is much more vibrant here.” Jonkman was in charge of the hundred-day cultural event Arcadia in Fryslân in 2022, and is scheduled for 2025 another Arcadia in the pipeline.