12 weekends spaces for beauty

Spaces for Beauty: In Action

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Investments in Infrastructure at the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016

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Special Weekends and Events

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m happy to announce that we’ve made it! We’ve finished the preparations for Wrocław as the European Capital of Culture. A few years ago, when we were wondering what kind of capital we would be, we didn’t know much. The initial euphoria was followed by reflection and questions. Will more residents participate actively in our city’s cultural life after 2016? Will we read more, visit theatres and concert halls more often?

We still don’t have answers to those questions and we will probably have to wait a long time to get them. But we know one thing — today Wrocław is already a different city.

Not thanks to a beautiful, modern concert hall or interesting new seat of the ECoC office in Barbara, renovated Nadodrze district, and not only because of considerable funds

12 weekends of culture, prepared especially for residents and tourists 12 unforgettable occasions to celebrate and experience culture and art 12 pretexts to apress diagnoses anew the cultural identity of Europe, Poland and Wrocław 12 diverse possibilities to create and experience art Each of the 12 programmes was created for entire families and groups of friends – everyone will find something for themselves.

we spend and will spend on culture. Why then? Because the preparations for 2016 involved thousands of people. Mainly those young and ambitious just like Wrocław itself, but also those more mature, and previously not participating in cultural life.

They transform houses and backyards, participate in workshops, apply for microgrants to implement their ideas. They see participation as an opportunity, and they join in the life of the city. And this is our shared victory. Achieved today, even before the celebrations have begun. I can’t say if in January 2016 Wrocław will be different than before, I can’t say if the European Capital of Culture can change the mentality and habits of the residents. But I can say that citizens of Wrocław needed such a challenge, they tackled it with enthusiasm and are more and more openly happy about it. And in a year’s time — I hope — they will be able to say they are proud of their Cultural Capital.

Rafał Dutkiewicz, Mayor of Wrocław

INVESTMENTS IN Reclaiming beauty New spaces for beauty INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE WROCŁAW 2016 Centennial Hall and Szczytnicki Park — the building has undergone general renovation, and the Wrocław Congress Centre was built next to it. www.halastulecia.pl

The National Forum of Music and Wolności Square — four concert halls, including the main hall with 1800 seats. Outside the building, on the modernized Wolności Square, open air cultural events will be organized.

Four Dome Pavilion — a new exhibition space for the National Museum in Wrocław.

www.nfm.wroclaw.pl

www.pawilonczterechkopul.pl

Krzywy Komin Centre for Professional Development — is located in a renovated post-industrial building from 1888 in the Nadodrze district. It is a place devoted to aiding in developing professional and cultural competencies through workshops with professionals from many areas.

The Capitol Music Theatre — extensive modernisation of the building erected in 1929 was completed in 2014. www.teatr-capitol.pl

Depot Centre — renovation of the former tram depot, which will be transformed into a space for innovative historical exhibitions, educational projects and events related to the history of the city and region after 1945.

www.krzywykomin.pl

www.pamieciprzyszlosc.pl/pl/zajezdnia

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Art House New Horizons — with nine screening rooms, it is a place where many unique cultural events are organized.

The Pan Tadeusz Museum — the first museum of literature in Poland situated on the Market Square. Activities organized within the

SPECIAL WEEKENDS AND EVENTS of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016

Museum will focus on cultural education and promotion of readership. www.wroclaw.pl/muzeum-panatadeusza-czas-zaczac

WUWA 2 — over a dozen of architectural teams work, using the method of open consultations, in order to design a new district in Wrocław with recreational space, market, and a cultural centre. As part of the project, the first housing cooperative in Poland was established. www.nowezerniki.pl

Revitalisation of districts Psie Pole — completed restoration of a historic building; renovation in progress of the old cinema, which will become a centre for the development of the local community.

Four Temples District — a unique phenomenon, a small area in the centre of the city with a synagogue, an Orthodox church, a Catholic church, and a Lutheran church.

The framework of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in Wrocław are three big projects: one of them, Bridge Builders, was organized in June 2015, and the next three will measure time in 2016: Spirits of Wrocław (the opening ceremony of the European Capital of Culture) on the 17 of January, Flow (halfway point) on 11 June and Sky Web (the closing ceremony) on the 17 of December.

The rhythm of the year will be set by a dozen weekends and periods focused on key events of the programme.

15.01—17.01.2016

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Awakening — winter fiesta for the opening of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 The winter opening fiesta will last for three days in the middle of winter. Exhibition openings, concerts and official celebrations side by side with the lively Market Square and “fiery” Słodowa Island (special installations with fire will be organized there) will warm up all the residents of the city and invited guests. The carnival fun will begin inside clubs, cafes and art galleries around Wrocław. The programme includes openings of two exhibitions: a presentation of works of Eduardo Chillida, artist

They will provide an opportunity to see, touch and get involved in the most interesting current cultural activities. Each weekend is a selection of interdisciplinary events prepared for a wide audience. Accumulation of events provides an opportunity to spend a whole day with art and culture, starting, for example, with visiting a gallery, then going to a concert or performance, then having fun during workshops. Everyone can create their own unique route, taking advantage of the rich cultural offer.

from the Basque Country, which is a tribute to the European Capital of Culture San Sebastián and 25 Years of the Mies van der Rohe Award presenting the best examples of European architecture. During the gala concert Mercouri/ Xenakis at the National Forum of Music, one of the best concert halls in Europe, Wrocław will pay homage to Melina Mercouri, the originator of European capitals of culture and legendary Iannis Xenakis, Greek composer of contemporary music. The culminating point of the weekend will be Sunday afternoon, when the outstanding show Awakening will take place in public space in Wrocław. Four processions will march on the streets of the city, telling its story. The project is realized by Chris Baldwin in cooperation with Philippe Geffroy, French visual artist and creator of spectacular machines. Four Spirits of the city: Many Faiths,

Innovation, Rebuilding and Flood, will wake up in four distant districts and march to the Market Square. Their march and the following meeting in the centre is a poetic metaphor of the emerging of Wrocław — the microcosm of Europe. Hundreds of performers from around Poland will participate in the event.

23.02.2016

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Concert of Ennio Morricone Two important events will take place on a Tuesday in February. Wrocław will host Ennio Morricone, Italian composer and creator of soundtracks for six hundred films, including The Best Offer, The Mission and Cinema Paradiso. He will be on a tour commemorating 60 years of

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Special Weekends and Events

Special Weekends and Events

music stars will perform during the biggest Wrocław rock festival on the 3rd of May. At the end of April and the beginning of May, the International Clarinet Festival Clarimania 2016 will also be organized, an event devoted to woodwind instruments. It comprises of concerts, masterclasses, lectures and exhibitions.

During the performative festival Circulations: Stories of the Body, eminent dance teachers and performers will teach how the body can tell stories.

10.06—12.06.2016

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Halfway point and Flow.

A huge performance on the Odra river and its banks

his work. This unique concert will take place in Centennial Hall, and the famous composer will be accompanied by a group of two hundred choir singers and musicians. On the same day, a film survey Czechoslovakian New Wave will begin, devoted to one of the most creative phenomena in post-war history of European cinema and an integral part of the Prague Spring cultural revolution in the 1960s. Over thirty movies will be presented, including works by Štefan Uher, Věra Chytilova, Miloš Forman, Evald Schorm, Jan Nemec, Hynek Bočan, Ivan Passer, Jiři Menzel, Juraj Jakubisko.

22.04—24.04.2016

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Wrocław as the Capital of Literature On 23 April 2016, literature will rule all around Poland, but especially in Wrocław, which on that day will begin its term as UNESCO World Book Capital City. In a carefully adapted house on the Market Square, the Ossoliński Institute will open an innovative educational institution — the Pan Tadeusz Museum, where we will see the famous manuscript of the epic poem Pan Tadeusz written by Adam Mickiewicz.

In the evening, we will go for a walk following contemporary world literature, read by celebrities in churches and temples during the European Literature Night. The Lviv Month will unveil secrets of Ukrainian Literature and many meetings will provide opportunities to listen to eminent writers, translators and literary critics.

On Wolności Square, a glass container of Goethe-Institut Pop Up Pavillon will open with a series of concerts, exhibitions and lectures, and the MIASTOmovie:wro film survey will focus on the challenges of contemporary cities.

On the same day, Wrocław will also begin its

transformation into Bibliopolis, a city-library, in which reading happens everywhere.

30.04—3.05.2016

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Wrocław and the European Capital of Jazz and Guitar International Jazz Day celebrated on the April 30th and the annual guitar celebration organized on the Market Square in Wrocław are the main events of this weekend devoted to music.

One of the oldest festivals in the world, Jazz on the Odra, and the final edition of Melting Pot Made in Wrocław will prepare us for these intensive days. On the occasion of the International Jazz Day, the whole city will become a huge jazz scene: concerts will take place in the National Forum of Music, Impart, on boats and barges, there will be a jazz parade, a picnic on Pergola with big band duels, nightly jam sessions in clubs and pubs and much more. The final concert of Thanks Jimi Festival in Centennial Hall will culminate in the Guitar Guinness World Record, which Wrocław has been holding for many years. Thanks to the European Capital of Culture title we will be present in several places around Europe at the same time, and we will surely exceed the number of 10,000 guitarists playing Hey Joe together.

Also in Centennial Hall and Pergola, Polish

The halfway point of the European Capital of Culture will be celebrated with the spectacular outdoor event Flow, presenting the story of building, destruction and rebuilding of Wrocław. The central point of many performative events will be Odra and surrounding parks, buildings and bridges. Over the day, dozens of performances, happenings and cultural encounters will take place along the riverbanks, between the Cathedral Island, University Library and the main University

building. On Słodowa Island, we will build a rocket sculpture, where residents will place pages with their wishes written out — these will later be screened during the closing ceremony in December. In the evening, we will hear a concert by an orchestra of musicians from the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Israel, performing a symphony commissioned from four young composers from those countries. The event will be accompanied by videomapping and hundreds of activities in the city centre. During that time, we will also host the European Partner School Convention and three festivals. The first is a small Art of Improvisation Creative Festival, presenting the most valuable phenomena and trends in the art of improvisation. The second is the Festival of Vilnius Culture, during which a medieval hamlet will be built on the Market Square, a place for presentations of craft traditions and unique handicraft products, and tastings of Lithuanian cuisine. The third, Beyond Borders: A Festival of Iranian Cinema will be accom-

panied by a presentation of works created during art workshops. During that weekend, there will also be an opening of the exhibition Wacław Szpakowski 1883—1973. Rhythmical Lines, presenting works of one of the pioneers of abstract art, not very well-known in Poland, who lived and worked in Wrocław.

17.06—19.06.2016

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Culture and Sport — Wrocław’s good traditions In June 2015, we have for the first time combined an important cultural event with the Night Half Marathon. On the occasion of the presentation of the European Capital of Culture programme, we organized a performance transmitted by Polish National TV and a concert of Andrea Bocelli, and on the bridges included in the route of the run, the performance Bridge Builders. The success of this event inspired us to combine an opera performance and Night Half-Marathon as key events for a weekend in May. The most spectacular will be The Spanish Night with Carmen — Zarzuela Show, based on excerpts from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. It will be performed on a huge stage at Wrocław Stadium, where a group of 500 artists will appear: the orchestra, ballet, choir and soloists from the Wrocław Opera, as well as vocal and dance ensembles from Wrocław and Lower Silesia. At the same time, during Wrocław Underwater Festival, we will see performances, video art presentations, exhibitions and concerts. During Bike Days: Bicycle Film Festival, lovers of cyclist culture will watch films on bicycle riding, discuss life without cars and ride through the city together. There will also be a grand finale of activities children’s artistic groups from across the world, Brave Kids, and City Coalition: Szczecin, an action promoting the right to creativity and interrelations between the city, region and ideas. During the summary of the Gallery Building project, we will see a presentation of modernisation of degraded monument of Wrocław post-war modernism, and thanks to Eklektik Session 2016 we will experience music on the border of various styles. The programme includes a concert of the Eklektik Orchestra.

24.06—26.06.2016

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by an amazing concert of rock guitar player David Gilmour, former Pink Floyd member and world-famous Polish composer and jazz pianist Leszek Możdżer. This unusual meeting of musicians of two generations, two genres and two kinds of musical expressions will be accompanied by three festivals. During the White Festival, everything will be turned into impeccable white. Costumes, props, vehicles, and the participants will be covered in a thin layer of clay, which will dry to make them white. The 20th Chamber Music Festival ‘Arsenal Nights’, organized since 1997, is addressed to lovers of broadly understood chamber music. It will also be the second weekend of the Wrocław Underwater Festival and the opening of the 14th edition of SURVIVAL Art Review, an artistic event presenting contemporary art in public space. And on stairwells of art-nouveau houses, historic backyards and often dilapidated squares, there will be a series of unconventional chamber concerts with elements of happenings, called Forgotten City.

The weekend will also be an opportunity to see

two exhibitions: Marc Chagall and European Avant-garde Painters, presenting works from Chagall Museum in Vitebsk, Belarus, where the painter was born, and the Permanent Exhibition of Polish Contemporary Art from the National Museum in Wrocław, Four Dome Pavilion, including works by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Jerzy Bereś, Władysław Hasior, Tadeusz Kantor and Alina Szapocznikow.

Wrocław Day and its stars: David Gilmour and Leszek Możdżer

Film and music

St. John’s Day is a unique moment in Wrocław calendar, an annual celebration of the city and its residents. In 2016, it will be accompanied

Events during those two weekends will focus mostly on film and music. A special edition of T–Mobile New Horizons, the biggest film

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22.07—24.07.2016 29.07—31.07.2016

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festival, will be expanded to include Masters of European Cinema, a series of film reviews presenting the history and diversity of cinematography on the Old Continent. We will show film works which have shaped the history of European cinema, the New Wave of the 1960s and 1970s and their followers, as well as Basque cinema. During Singing Europe we will participate in a meeting of several dozen choirs from across Europe and the final concert at Wrocław Stadium will be an opportunity for everyone to join them. Film and music can coexist in a variety of ways, one of them being film operas.

We will present two of them: Lost Highway with the libretto by Nobel Prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek and music by outstanding contemporary composer Olga Neuwirth, based on the cult film by David Lynch, and River of Fundament, the latest project by multidisciplinary artist Matthew Barney. He was inspired by Ancient Evenings, a controversial novel by Norman Mailer, describing a man’s journey from death to rebirth. During the first weekend, a premiere of the performance Story of a soldier: Stravinsky with Zbigniew Zamachowski will take place.

The performance will be part of the project Excluded Voice, a cooperation between socially excluded groups and professional artists. There will also be an event for booklovers: The National Rally of Book Club Members in Poland on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the

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Special Weekends and Events

movement, during which numerous workshops and concerts will be accompanied by meetings with authors. For the first time we will hear the world book anthem, the lyrics of which are the poem Poet’s Hair by the most famous Wrocław poet, Tadeusz Różewicz.

2.09—4.09.2016

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International Cooperation

of Lower Silesian Theatre Platform will be presented — a festival of theatres from Wrocław and Lower Silesia; and in the Puppet Theatre, we will see an exhibition of works by Jadwiga Mydlarska-Kowal, eminent stage designer working together with Wiesław Hejno created his most famous performances. The weekend will also be the beginning of The Geppert Contest, a cyclical event devoted to young painting;

A weekend with photography A weekend with photography in September will include one of the most important photography festivals in Poland and two exhibitions.

TIFF Festival organized under the motto Rivers and Roads will be devoted to travel, migration and mobility. We will see an exhibition of works by Łukasz Rusznica and by Jon Cazevane, curated by Mikiko Kikuta, a result of his residency in Japan as part of the European Eyes on Japan programme. An exhibition of works by Catherine Balet Looking for Masters, presenting the evolution of the medium, will show a new way of looking at photographs of masters: from the self-portrait from 1839 to the latest Instagram trends. A similar view of the history of the medium will be presented in the exhibition Photography Never Dies: The Story of the Past and the Future of the Medium, where we will see works by famous artists and curators such as Erik Kassels and Loretta Lux, as well as archival daguerreotypes juxtaposed with contemporary amateur photographs from Instagram and Flickr. Yet another event during that weekend will be Po.rozumienie / Über. einkommen / Under.standing, part of the international project OpenHUB Europe: active participation of the audience, shared activities and inclusion of art brut and outsider art artists. September is also the traditional date of the International Festival Wratislavia Cantans, one of the most important and prestigious music events in Poland. During the 51st edition of the festival, we will hear important European works performed by eminent artists.

14.10—16.10.2016

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International Theatre Olympics This weekend in October is a variety of theatre, visual arts, film, literary and music events. During the international theatre festival presenting achievements of the greatest creators from across the world, we will host eminent guests such as: Eugenio Barba, Peter Brook, Tadashi Suzuki, Theodoros Terzopoulos, Robert Wilson, Krystian Lupa, Valeri Fokin and Jan Fabre. An accompanying programme, Shakespeare Lives in Film, will present adaptations of Shakespeare’s works, from big productions with stars to independent films. At the same time on all stages in Wrocław, performances

and Play with Glass — European Glass Festival, a professionally prepared presentation of the European art of glass, organized in Poland for the first time. Literature in October is present in the form of Bruno Schulz. Festival, linking urban games, slams, happenings and concerts with meeting with authors and discussions about literature, culture and art. We will also present the most important award for Polish literature and for works translated into Polish: Angelus Central European Literature Award.

During the event Festive Music. Weihemusik, music lovers will hear the first post-war performance of Weihemusik (Festive Music)

by Hermann Matzke, a result of cooperation between young creators from Poland and Germany. Musicians will prepare symphony pieces by Johannes Brahms, Karol Lipiński and Weihemusik.

9.12—11.12.2016

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European Film Awards December will be focused on cinema. We will organize a gala of the European Film Awards, the most eminent film distinctions awarded on the Continent. The idea behind the awards is to promote European cinema and European filmmakers. Members of the European Film Academy (currently numbering around 3000) select the best European film and award European film creators in over a dozen categories. The first Polish winner of the year was Krzysztof Kieślowski for A Short Film About Killing, and in 2014 Paweł Pawlikowski was honoured for his film Ida. Every second year the gala is organized in Berlin and on even-numbered years — in other big European cities. The 29th gala will take place in Wrocław.

Also in December, during WROsound, an event presenting the most interesting Lower Silesian music, we will hear debuts, album premieres, and retrospectives of distinguished groups.

16.12—18.12.2016

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Sky Web — the closing ceremony of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 The last weekend of events finishing the celebration of European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 will also be the last performance of The Flow Quartet, summing up and closing the year, but at the same time being a symbolic opening. The only indoor performance of the Quartet will take place in Centennial Hall and will have an audience of thousands. Sky Web will merge the thematic and performative threads of the three previous performances into a concluding gesture which will be a commentary for the whole celebration in Wrocław, an evaluation and a perspective for future development of the city. An orchestra of musicians from Germany, Israel, the Czech

Republic and Poland together with a mass choir will create the frame for a performance illustrating the main theme of the year’s events: Wroclaw is a European city and belongs to all those who have lived here and left their marks. International participants will include artists from Germany, France, Israel and the Czech Republic. A slightly different look on Wrocław will be presented in the exhibition 20th Century Wrocław Architecture, a comprehensive presentation of Wrocław architecture from the 20th century. The city will be presented as a dynamic palimpsest yielding to multidimensional analysis and interpretation, without making distinctions between German Breslau and Polish Wrocław.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION The European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 is a result of cooperation with foreign partners – cultural institutions, artists, independent artistic circles, and departments of culture, academies of fine arts and academies of music from our partner cities. Together in Wrocław, we will create a shared space for artists and creators of culture, and we will show the city’s residents its variety and richness by presenting the most interesting phenomena, at the same time promoting the multidimensionality and uniqueness of Polish culture on the international stage.

Wrocław — Lviv: a unique relationship The relationship between Wrocław and Lviv is linked to the dramatic history of the 20th century — when in 1945, just after the war, Polish borders were moved. Among many strangers who settled in Wrocław then, there were professors and artists from Lviv.

In 2016, we will tighten relations between the two cities through culture and art: in Wrocław, we’ll be able to watch Ukrainian films, attend concerts each weekend in April, get acquainted with contemporary Ukrainian art, and on a specially arranged Lviv Street — feel the atmosphere, tastes and aromas of our partner city.

Partner cities — partnership initiatives In 2016, we will also present the richness of other Partner Cities of Wrocław. Dresden is particularly active, together with the whole of Saxony it is involved in the music and visual arts programme. Lille, a partner for many years and also a European Capital of Culture, invites us to promote in France, and to work on joint projects to be presented in Wrocław.

In June, young people from partner cities will participate in the school exchange project Camp Together, aiming at raising cultural competence of schoolchildren from various countries.

Wrocław — Berlin: good neighbours In 2016, the international audience will also observe the neighbourly relationship between Wrocław and Berlin. Our main partner there is

the Zukunft Berlin foundation, which supports the programme of artistic, scientific, sports and prosocial events. The most important joint projects are: Luneta 2016 (an artistic installation placed simultaneously in Wrocław and Berlin and linking the two cities), In Between Festivals (a year-long festival of dance, theatre and performance built on cooperation between Wrocław and Berlin), a world famous event Berlin Clubnacht — special edition in Wrocław, and an exhibition Wrocław. Faces of the City. The Zukunft Berlin Foundation is also an important partner in the organization of the exhibition Forgiveness and Reconciliation. Cardinal Kominek, the Unknown Father of Europe and the European Film Awards.

Faces of Wrocław The Flow Quartet will tell the story of Wrocław through stories of people building this city, and that is why important partners in this project are Czech and Israeli institutions, as we work together on a dance and music story about the fate of Wrocław. Specially commissioned Symphony for Wrocław will include sounds of various nationalities mixing in our city throughout history. Thanks to the Embassy of Israel in Poland, we are established interesting artistic connections with partners from Israel and together with them, we will prepare the biggest outdoor events in 2016.

Japan in Europe EU-Japan Fest Committee is an ambassador and philanthropist for Japanese art in Wrocław. A strong Japanese element will be visible already at the beginning of the year, during the Two Sticks exhibition devoted to Japanese contemporary art. There will be

opportunities to see the traditional chess shogi and the original theatrical form rakugo.

We will also hear avant-garde Japanese sounds during the Avant Art Festival, feel the atmosphere of jazz during Jazztopad, and Japanese theatre masters will present during the Theatre Olympics.

Artists’ residencies — a personal dimension to the international cooperation A project devoted to developing permanent international exchange and translating contacts between institutions into personal contacts is the artists’ residency programme (Artist-in-residence Wrocław — A-i-R Wro).

To the programme we invite artists from Wrocław’s partner cities as well as former and future European Capitals of Culture.

International networks International cooperation is not a one-time project — once established, the relationships should be sustained, for example by exchanging contacts facilitating synergy between organizations functioning in similar dimensions. The ECoC Wrocław 2016 office is creating informal networks for the exchange of European cultural competencies, through projects such as Cyber Academy or Reading the City. The city is also actively participating in the informal network of former and future European Capitals of Culture which gives it constant access to trusted partners around Europe and a platform for promoting its activities. Wrocław has also joined ICORN — the prestigious International Cities of Refuge Network.

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UNESCO WORLD BOOK CAPITAL WROCŁAW 2016 We are often faced with the question of what will remain after 2016. As the literature team of the European Capital of Culture, we have set some very ambitious goals and for almost three years now we have been creating and supporting solutions which would help to consolidate the literary and readership community of book activists, artists and residents. To achieve that, we have realized or cooperated with the Department of Culture at the Wrocław Municipal level on such projects as Wrocław entering ICORN, the International Cities of Refuge Network, establishing the Wrocław Publication Programme or Wrocław Literature House. Another endeavour, perceived as a way to significantly revise the image of the city in the area of books, was the application for the title of UNESCO World Book Capital City.

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e won, defeating the capital of Brazil for example.

Contrary to what one might think, the ECoC title received much earlier was more of an obstacle than encouragement for UNESCO and three associations (of publishers, booksellers and librarians) deciding which city would become the next book centre of the world. They were apprehensive that — for example in the promotions division — the ECoC programme would dominate the celebrations for World Book Capital. But we managed to dispel those doubts and win the title, and consequently to complement — without losing the autonomy of the two programmes — the literary programme for ECoC, which was already well under way, with strong international elements extending far beyond Europe, activities related to non-literary books, work with librarians and the youngest readers, and finally projects dedicated to the Capital, which support creative book industries and innovative technologies in this area.

By winning this very prestigious title, Wrocław joined such cities as Madrid, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and Toronto. On April 23rd 2016, Wrocław will begin its term as the UNESCO World Book Capital. This distinction will allow us to broaden the international scope of our activities, add variety, enrich the conversation on diversity and identity, and prolong the celebration of the book in Wrocław until April 2017.

Within this programme, the idea of a meeting, so crucial for literature and readership, will be pronounced in all languages of the world simultaneously.

One of the notable advantages of being a World Book Capital City, undoubtedly will be the establishment of strong and long-term international relations with cities around the world which pay similar attention to thinking about literature not only as a promotional tool, but as a real driving force behind development. Equally important is the fact that the title will

allow us to introduce solutions in the city system favouring books, literature and readership, which without the context of the ECoC and World Book Capital would have to, if only for financial reasons, wait very long for implementation.

On April 23rd 2016, several outstanding events will mark the opening ceremony for the World Book Capital. On Wrocław Main Square, the Pan Tadeusz Museum will be opened. On the same day, we will organize a special edition of the European Literature Night, an event traditionally drawing an audience of over 10,000 Wrocław residents. This year it will be uniquely celebratory and international — not only because the readings will take place in various temples. We will take our guests to the Street of Crocodiles in a Galician town, into which — as part of the Lviv month taking place at the same time — Przejście Garncarskie will be transformed. Another event will be the publication of Gazeta Pisarzy (Writers’ Paper), an incredible action realized by ECoC in cooperation with the biggest Polish national daily Gazeta Wyborcza. On this day, the whole paper — from national news to sport, culture and business section — will be created by writers. The entire nation will learn about Wrocław as the UNESCO World Book Capital.

The project has already raised the interest of many journalists from abroad, appreciating its uniqueness and grand scale.

We will end our term on April 22nd 2017. Once again we will do it originally. On that day, at the same hour, in dozens of cities across the world, the Book Anthem will be sung. This project from Wrocław’s application is an attempt to unite people of the book from the whole world. The lyrics for the anthem, translated into many languages, will be the poem Poet’s Hair by Tadeusz Różewicz. A demonically universal work, profoundly describing the role of the poet, poetry and literature in general in the noisy world where — one would assume — poets’ voices are hardly audible.