Chemnitz applies to become "European Capital of Culture 2025"

Chemnitz wants to become European Capital of Culture: At its meeting today, Chemnitz City Council instructed Mayor Barbara Ludwig to prepare Chemnitz's application for the title of "European Capital of Culture 2025". The project will be led by Ferenc Csák, Head of Cultural Operations for the City of Chemnitz. With its decision, the City Council confirmed budget funds totalling 1.2 million euros for the years 2017 to 2020 for the preparation of the bid as well as the necessary material costs.

The strategic ideas for the city's development associated with the bid extend far beyond 2025. This will primarily benefit the people of Chemnitz and Chemnitz companies, but also future visitors.

With the bid and the thoughts about the future of Chemnitz, the city wants to send a clear signal to the young and youngest generations throughout Europe. It is now the responsibility of the older generation to develop strategies and ideas for the future of the young. The application is a strategic urban development process that will create space for experimentation and innovation in all areas of society and the economy.

Broad support

Before an application can convince the jury, the people of Chemnitz have to be passionate about the idea themselves. The project has already infected the protagonists of Chemnitz's subculture. That is why 54 scene initiatives as well as art and cultural associations are supporting Chemnitz's bid for the title of "European Capital of Culture 2025". Behind them are almost 1,400 committed people who have been making Chemnitz an interesting, lively and exciting place for years with a lot of creativity, passion and great - often voluntary - commitment. As insiders, they know best about the cultural diversity of the city. They are all convinced: Chemnitz wants to and can win.

Chemnitz should be discovered!

The history of the city of Chemnitz is worthy of being recognised by the whole of Europe - from the "Saxon Manchester" to the socialist model city, the structural change of the reunification and post-reunification years to the latest strategic plans for the future, which most recently emerged from the Morgenstadt initiative. The Fraunhofer Institute for Human Factors and Organisation carried out the so-called City Lab analysis and, as a result, made recommendations to Chemnitz that support an application for the title of "European Capital of Culture". These include the long-term, strategic development of the city, a plan for strategic cultural development and the strengthening of the city's international profile as well as the expansion of programmes to keep the city attractive for young people in the future. The Capital of Culture bid gives Chemnitz broad scope to take on and tackle these challenges.

Application procedure

The cities' applications will be assessed according to defined criteria. These include the contribution of the application to the city's long-term strategy, the European dimension of the programme, a clear and coherent artistic vision for the cultural programme, a broad social and political consensus on the feasibility of implementation, a realistic budget, robust organisational structures, a communication concept and a fundraising plan, as well as the comprehensive involvement and participation of the population.

The application for the Capital of Culture Year 2025 is expected to be submitted in the national application process towards the end of 2019. In 2020, the jury will make a pre-selection and make recommendations to the selected applicants. In 2021, four years before the event year, the jury will make a final selection and inform the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Committee of the Regions. Finally, the Commission appoints a city to hold the title based on the jury's selection.

Organisation of the application process

A steering group will be appointed by the city council on 8 February 2017 to strategically manage the application process. It will set priorities in terms of content, define framework conditions and prepare further necessary city council resolutions.

A programme council will be formed to develop ideas and concepts. It integrates international expertise and carries out the creative work for the bid. Following a decision by the city council, five honorary cultural ambassadors will also be involved in the programme council. The cultural ambassadors are citizens of all age groups in the city of Chemnitz who have agreed to support the application process in terms of content and concept. Interested parties can apply to the Capital of Culture Secretariat in future.

Under the direction of Ferenc Csák, project management is responsible for programme development and planning, budget management, organisational and personnel management and overall marketing. A Capital of Culture Secretariat will be set up. This is responsible for administrative and controlling tasks and cultural policy work. It also develops concepts for citizen participation, e.g. by installing an online platform commissioned by the City Council. The Capital of Culture Secretariat is to be staffed with two positions from 1 February 2017 until 31 December 2020.

Financial requirements

The European contribution to financing the budget for the Capital of Culture year amounts to 1.5 million euros and is awarded in the form of the prize in honour of Melina Mercouri. In addition, major investments in infrastructure have been made in many previous Capitals of Culture. Other European Community policy instruments such as the Structural Funds, in particular the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), can be utilised for this purpose.

A detailed cost framework for the realisation of the Capital of Culture year in Chemnitz is premature at the present time. Experience shows that the local authorities bear around a third of the costs for the European Capital of Culture themselves, around a third is financed from federal and state funds and a third from EU funds, ticket sales and sponsorship. For the years 2020 to 2026, the city estimates its own costs for the preparation and realisation of the European Capital of Culture year at 20 million euros. The budget depends on the specific cultural programme and will have to be reflected in the budget.