“Lions and bears and tigers, oh my!” By 2020 62 cities will have held the title of European Capital of Culture (ECOC). It is often called the flagship cultural initiative of the European Union, since cities receive greater international understanding and profile, and develop new cultural offers and opportunities for artists and cultural organisations. ECOC acts as a catalyst for a big change in the city... and changes are never easy. Depending on the change sought by the project, the amount of difficult situations and unexpected problems might be considerable, and sooner or later crisis will occur. Every institution is vulnerable to crises; particularly a recently-created foundation that deals with internal organisation, programme development or sponsoring. Hoping the problem goes away and letting time go by are not an option. This lecture will explore the main challenges of communication within the framework of ECOC. It will consist of three main sections: the basics of ECOC communication, the particular case of San Sebastian 2016, and a series of questions, tips and dilemmas connected to ECOC.