Bergen a City of Culture

1
Bergen a City of Culture
2
Bergen a Capital of Culture

• Norway 4,7 mill people in a large geography on
  the northern edge of Europe. Not an EU member.
• Bergen Norway's second city urban area 350
  000 people
• Marine and maritime clusters, oil and gas,
  research and education, tourism, public and
  private services.
• UNESCO World Heritage site and Memory of The
  World.
• Strong and broad professional cultural and
  artistic life
• In all genres, of national and european
  relevance.
• Successful European Capital of Culture in the
  year 2000 with Eurocities Bologna, Helsinki,
  Brussel, Praha, Reykjavik, Krakow.
• Current city culture budget of ca 27 mill. euro/
  2,9 of total budget.

3
International plan the whys

• A need for a structured approach
• Using local resources well bigger bang for the
  buck
• Coordinating partners locally a platform for
  national financing.
• Political visibility and viability on a local
  level.
• A need for internationalisation
• Strenghtening our professional cultural life with
  new challenges on a European level.
• Ensuring quality and the new for local
  audiences.
• Visibility for Bergen in Europe, bypassing the
  national level.
• A need for long term quality partnerships
• Best results, in the right partnerships, in the
  right places.

4
The plan

• A first essay for us a starting point for
  future policy.
• An opportunity for us to learn from Europe.
• A short strategic document with a 4 year plan.
• Based on 5 strategic areas 33 actions.
• The 5 areas New contemporary arts, network and
  process focus, participation in international
  organisations, better coordination and
  collaboration locally, broad intercultural will.
• Ca. 400 000 euro in extra city financing per
  year.
• As support for projects run by professionals in
  the arts and culture