The ECOC Office has recently presented a plan to the Steering Group to steer the application for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025: This plan sets milestones for the participation of the population of Chemnitz, the communication of the project and the preparation of the application document. The steering group has approved the project plan with additions.

Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig: “With the milestones decided upon, the steering group has paved the way for the application. Now it’s getting concrete and now we’re going to go down this road, confidently. I am particularly looking forward to the talks we want to have with the people of Chemnitz and the ideas, visions and proposals that will emerge from them”.

A first measure is the opening of a Capital of Culture office in order to be accessible and responsive to the people of Chemnitz. To this end, the current Capital of Culture Secretariat is expected to move into a retail space in the Rosenhof from 1 June 2017. There will be a large consultation room, which the Capital of Culture Office will set up together with the Chemnitz Municipal Theatres. The room will provide a creative ambience for discussions, workshops and events.

Living room tour planned

In order to involve the citizens, the Capital of Culture Office is planning a “living room tour” through the districts of Chemnitz starting in the summer. “We would like to create a travelling living room in which we can chat with the people of Chemnitz about the Capital of Culture in a cosy atmosphere and on site in the respective districts. Intensive discussions over the past days and weeks have shown that the people of Chemnitz have an incredible amount of ideas.

We want to use our living room to pick up these ideas directly from the people,” Ferenc Csák explains the project.

Microprojects as a test balloon

The application lives through projects. For this reason, the Capital of Culture Secretariat would like to support associations, initiatives and actors and work with them to implement micro-projects.

The micro-projects can become the first small test balloons for the Capital of Culture year and are intended to show the potential of the future Capital of Culture Chemnitz. The content of the application is prepared by the Programme Council, which does the creative work. Small working groups will compile and work out the contents of the application according to the different fields.

Working groups are planned for the visual and performing arts, museums, music, media/film, literature, urban history, architecture, business/trade/industry/crafts, creative industries, festivals, mobility, innovation culture, industrial culture, churches, sports and allotment gardening. The topics of cultural education, culinary arts, youth and socio-culture, administrative culture, migration, inclusion and sustainability will also be included in the application.

To determine the milestones, the Capital of Culture Secretariat consulted representatives from the independent cultural scene, Chemnitz Economic Development and the 875-year Chemnitz team, the Cultural Advisory Board, the Contact Point for Cultural Education, the Adult Education Centre and University, the Morgenstadt Initiative and the administration in a workshop lasting several days.

The workshop primarily served to gather ideas and provide an overview of the Capital of Culture project. Together, the actors set priorities on the way to the application.