Skripta: Kako komunicirati EPK?

Xabier Paya: ECOC Development - Hope for the best but prepare for the worst

“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.

Neil Peterson: Communicating for the Legacy

A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step, as the old Chinese proverb tells us. The more successfully European Capitals of Culture manage the early steps of their task, the stronger and more successful becomes the subsequent legacy. A European Capital of Culture is effectively 4 projects: a) The transition from Bidding to Delivery organisation; b) The development of the Artistic programme for the year; c) The delivery of “The Year”; d) The long term legacy – though which the City; should, ideally, feel and work differently. The transition is often the most difficult and problematic time. And if things start to go wrong or are badly managed in those early couple of years, inevitably the team spends much of the buildup period in firefighting mode. The result is that much of the focus is on recovery, and even if the year itself is eventually a success, the longer-term impacts are less so. In Peterson’s experience – which he will share during his lecture and the seminar – if the right focus is given to communication and planning processes in that transitional period, there is a much better chance of the longer term impact of the city. Developing a clear and shared City narrative, managing the expectations of the public and key stakeholders, and an honest recognition that not everything will work perfectly during the buildup years form part of an approach to communication which will get people on your side. It is also important both to set out and deliver against some clear milestones so that people can sense positive change, even though there will also be some setbacks. This lecture will share examples of how some ECoCs have been able to deliver this and demonstrate some avoidable pitfalls. It will also cover the ability to develop shared objectives with key stakeholders at the national and regional level in order to deliver improvements to areas such as tourism. Finally, we will also be examining the importance of linking the evaluation and monitoring framework to communication so that the sense of positive change taking place can be measured and shared.

Karin Arvidsson: From the border of Siberia to the centre of Manhattan – a journey to make a small town famous

Among the more visible projects executed during Umeå2014, the tour Caught by Umeå was one of the most successful. The tour encompassed events in seven big cities in Europe, which attracted thousands of visitors and had a huge media impact. During the tour, Umeå presented films, videos, food, sami culture and music in an ice-coverage with roots in the Nordic window of the European house as northern Sweden present-ed itself to Europe and the rest of the world. It all ended up in a PR-value worth around 400 000 EUR connected to international media coverage.Karin Arvidson will present the strategy of International marketing for Umeå2014 and also describe the communications process the in years before and after 2014 – the years during which Umeå was in the spotlight as Europe-an Capital of Culture. What was the purpose of launching Umeå as a culture capital, and what were the methods of communication and choice of channels? And what was the result in terms of media coverage and impact on the local and national level regarding politics?