Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies
___________________________________________________________________________________________ Recommended actions For ECoC organisers: Place a cultural ambition at the heart of the ECoC vision, and arrange other (economic, social or wider) objectives as subsidiaries. Link the main underlying cultural objective with existing local cultural strategy plans. In the absence of a previous cultural strategy, use this cultural objective(s) as a springboard or platform for a new culture-driven strategy. Ensure that the core vision for the ECoC emerges out of broad consultation with key stakeholders across sectors, but that the primacy of a cultural objective is understood and agreed as the leading reference. Greater clarity in the definition of respective creative industry sectors One way of protecting the event’s cultural dimension, while also connecting with the economic agenda, is to encourage cities to be more focused and explicit in their definition of their creative industries (if they are presented as key to the ECoC) and the way in which they differ (or not) from the rest of the arts and cultural sector. Campbell (2011: 517) points to research that suggests that whilst an engagement with developing creative businesses is often mentioned by bidding cities, this seldom manifests itself in tangible programmes or meaningful intervention. Whilst the benefits of the increased attention to creative and cultural practice within a city that the ECoC often brings will likely have many short-term benefits in this area, a much deeper, sustained engagement is required if a sustainable legacy with respect to the creative industries is truly a goal of ECoC cities. Fundamentally, cities must also be clear about what they mean when they refer to ‘creative industries’. Clearly some cities conceive of these primarily as arts institutions and practices, or businesses that are mainly part of the tourism offer of the city. Others are referring to, for instance, design agencies or web development companies. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is thus not appropriate to such a wide range of activity, and so cities must consider not only the extent to which they see the ECoC playing a role in promoting ‘creative’ activity, but also what specific activities they seek to focus their attentions on. Recommended actions For ECoC organisers: Reflect on and make explicit what is meant by the ‘creative industries’ in respective host environments. If this is an area still underdeveloped in a particular host city or country, use the ECoC planning and hosting experience as an opportunity to better define this area and to explore meaningful links between cultural and economic objectives.
7.2.3.
Maximising public engagement
A major challenge to public engagement has been noted as the potential local alienation created as a result of excessive emphasis on flagship or iconic activity promotion in order to attract external audiences and tourists. In this context, the most important areas of recommendation involve paying continuous attention to local sensitivities and avoiding the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. Priority tools for engagement highlighted by this study are:
Active participation: As noted in the Post-2019 Online consultation, “Citizens should be involved in the projects as their creators not audience only” (ECORYS, 2011b: 13). This approach is increasingly common within the ECoC hosting process and should be praised and further encouraged.
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