Coalition of the Cities - Summary of the project

Coalition of the Cities

Summary of the project

European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016

Coalition of the Cities

Summary of the project

European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016

ISBN: 978-83-946602-0-8

The Coalition of Cities is a programme of cooperation for Wrocław, European Capital of Culture. 2016 and six cities: Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań and Szczecin.

Coalition of Cities Team at the offiice of European Capital of Culture. Wrocław 2016 Paulina Dufrat, Dominika Kawalerowicz, Rafał “Koza” Koziński, Roman Roszak Content-related collaboration: Paweł Romaszkan, Artur Celiński Co-production: Maria Artemiuk, Barbara Perczyńska Communication: Agencja Komunikacja Plus Social media: Beata Ratuszniak Promotion and marketing: Cięty Język Publishing: Dominika Kawalerowicz, Paulina Dufrat Copywriters: Andrzej Jóźwik, Artur Celiński, Dominika Kawalerowicz, dr Paweł Kubicki, dr Bożena Gierat-Bieroń, and teams of coalition cities.

Interviews were conducted by editor: Małgorzata Matuszewska.

Editing and proofreading: Marta Mizuro Graphic design for visual identification of the project: Punkt Widzenia Photographers: Beata Ratuszniak, Marcin Oliva Soto, materials owned by Biuro Festiwalowe IMPART 2016, All rights reserved © Biuro Festiwalowe Impart 2016 Organizer of European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 ul. Komuny Paryskiej 39-41,50-451 Wrocław www.wrocław2016.pl Publication co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for the implementation of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016.

1. Coalition of Cities from the perspective of Presidents 2. Coalition of Cities – what is it?

3. The process of establishing coalition in 2010-2016 4. Coalition of Cities in numbers 5. Lublin – City of Inspiration 6. Szczecin – Creative dialogue space 7. Poznań – Next stop 8. Łódź – Woven from scratch 9. Gdańsk – Friends by the sea 10. Katowice – City of Music 11. Wrocław – European Capital of Culture 2016 12. Coalition of Cities from the perspective of Wrocław residents 13. ECOC effect – Research report 14. Not only values. About the practical aspect of cultural change 15. Cultural policy of local governments. Dilemmas from the Coalition of Cities Forum for Culture 16. The future of the Coalition of Cities 17. Coalition of Cities formed by. Thank you!

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Rafał Dutkiewicz President of Wrocław

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Coalition of Cities seen with the eyes of Presidents Ladies and Gentlemen, Coalition of Cities for Culture is an idea which emerged in Wrocław.

It is here where a year ago we signed the declaration of seven cities – Polish metropolises. For the first time in history of the European Capital of Culture project, former competitors in obtaining the title joined their forces in the name of joint collaboration. I am proud to see Wrocław again as the place of birth of yet another innovative idea.

This time, it is the idea of a new approach to culture. The awareness that together we can create new opportunities for cultural projects, for instance by mutual exchange of experiences in the management of cultural actions, is a whole new experience. The cultural presentations of the cities of Lublin, Poznań, Szczecin, Katowice, Gdańsk and Łódź have shown their entirely new faces which we will not find in travel guides. They are by all means far from their stereotypical descriptions. Project of Coalition of Cities confirms the thesis that it is the large cities which build the true image of a country and not the politicians. And it is the cities where everyday culture is brought to life as well as culture which is a celebration. The biggest cultural project in Poland – the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016-will carry on. For it has begun processes that are unstoppable. Their target is to increase comfort of living for the inhabitants and build shared responsibility for the place we live in. Coalition of Cities for Culture, our joint effort, described in the hereby work will become one of them.

The exchange of experiences, the debate on the cultural future, must be continued for the purpose of development of the cities which we manage on behalf of our residents.

Enjoy the reading.

Rafał Dutkiewicz President of Wrocław

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3 1 Krzysztof Ĺťuk President of the City of Lublin 2 Piotr Krzystek President of the City of Szczecin 3 Olgierd Geblewicz Marshal of the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship

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The deeper we sank into the process of preparation for European Capital of Culture, the more convinced we were that the strength of it lies not in the title itself but rather in an enormous potential and creativity of people forming part of Lublin culture. It is them who set in motion the city and its residents, starting from imagination and ambition, ending with investments and the daily living standards.

The growing interest in the city, finding beauty and potential in it, links between people getting stronger day by day were all accompanied by all the more deeper awareness that we truly need our new, ambitious celebration leaning towards the future. Lublin is preparing a unique and imaginative program of the Great Jubilee of the city in 2017. We treat it as a symbolic, “second” location of the city. The celebration will not only honour the 700-year period of Lublin rooting into the circle of European civilization, but it will also be a new opening, a holiday for the community which actively changes its city through cultural and social actions.

We want Lublin to contribute to the development of Polish culture, showing that in this particular time and place in Europe, in these specific social, economic and political conditions, such a culture can make a real change and open developmental perspective, which is limited due to many other reasons. This is the Lublin we are dreaming of after the year 2017.

The presentation of Lublin in Wrocław – as the city of inspiration, in the spirit of a dialogue between the multicultural heritage and the future challenges - was an invitation for the upcoming events of 2017.

I have received a lot of positive feedback from the entire Poland from people thrilled with our presence in Wrocław. During the weekend in May, we showed only a glimpse of what Lublin takes pride in on a daily basis. I assure you that the 700-years anniversary programme will ensure a complete discovery of the city’s unique climate.

Krzysztof Żuk President of the City of Lublin

As the President of Szczecin, I am very happy to join the Coalition of Cities, supporting Wrocław in the implementation of an extremely diverse programme of the European Capital of Culture 2016. I am so glad that we also could represent the cultural potential of the capital of West Pomerania and our whole region, at the same time hoping that the prepared events have not only made the already rich ECOC program more attractive, but also have remained ever since in the memory of their recipients.

It is significant to note that the participation of our city in such a prestigious event - both for Wrocław and for Poland - was mostly an effect of the engagement of many institutions and people who perceived this challenge as a chance for strengthening of local cultural and social capital. The collaboration of these subjects, supported by the Municipality of the City of Szczecin and the West Pomerania local government, coordinated by the Szczecin Association MiastoHolizm, has allowed us – successfully, I believe - to mark our presence in the European, as well as Szczecin, world of culture.

I would like to thank the authorities of Wrocław for inviting us to join the Coalition of Cities and allowing Szczecin to make its own presentation. At the same time, I would like to congratulate the organizers for their implementation of the programme of the European Capital of Culture, while truly believing that thanks to the joint experience we will develop even more dynamically and enthusiastically the Polish culture.

Piotr Krzystek President of the City of Szczecin

West Pomerania is a region abound with excellent, creative artists, and bold ideas. Such was our message, which we shared in Wrocław in June, while presenting the West Pomeranian culture during the events of the European Capital of Culture. We wanted to express it unconventionally. Hence the idea to place in a sea container a specific dose of our culture and send it through to Lower Silesia. In this way, the container turned into an unusual music stage, projection room, and a meeting place.

We focused on the joint potentials. We presented ourselves in Wrocław together as West Pomerania and the City of Szczecin. We engaged in the project our cultural institutions as well as our independent artists. We invited people engaged in different art circles.

The reception of events which took place in our artistic container, and the positive feedback which we received after the lights went out and the microphones were off, make me believe that it was the right idea.

Culture has an exceptional power of a unique association and integration. It is the ground on which we are welcome to meet, regardless of all differences between us. I have no doubt whatsoever that thanks to the Wrocław events we could feel this precise concept altogether.

Olgierd Geblewicz Marshal of the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship

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1 Jacek Jaśkowiak President of the City of Poznań 2 Paweł Adamowicz President of the City of Gdańsk

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Poznań co-creates the Coalition of Cities because we treat culture as a common space, in which collaboration – also at the metropolis level – is much more worthy than competition. During the Wrocław presentation, we wanted to show metaphorically the new direction of Poznań’s artistic development, based not only on big and expensive events, but also on creating and inspiring more of smaller activities in collaboration with residents. While participating in the events purposely scattered around the city, I felt the friendliness of the people of Wrocław not only towards our artistic projects, but also towards our city – for which I am very grateful.

I believe that culture should come out to people, engage them, and make the urban space more friendly. All of the actions included in the presentation of Poznań were designed keeping that in mind. Its greatest symbol is the mural on the gate of a tenement house in the Wrocław’s Nadodrze district. The residents of Rydygier street were no passive observers but rather our guests and participants of the entire creative process. By sharing their memories and thoughts, they have become the co-creators of the work that accompanies them every day.

We focused on the coherent programme of small but creative events. The residents of Wrocław and the visitors of the European Capital of Culture had the opportunity to meet artists from Poznań in such places as trams, at the railway station, in underpasses, or in the backyard of Nadodrze district. In this way, we wanted to express the idea that in times where so many things tear us apart, culture should be a common interest, available to everyone, and clearly highlighting its meaning in the city life.

Jacek Jaśkowiak President of the City of Poznań

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Now, in October 2016, when the year of the Wrocław European Capital of Culture comes to an end, I feel as though the whole era has passed between the years of 2007-2011, when the Polish cities competed with each other to gain this title, and the present time. Many things changed, especially for the worse: the political climate, the mood and the empowerment of our nation, the situation of Poland on the European arena…

Nonetheless, there were also changes giving hope. In particular, the increase of importance of the cities which once participated in the contest for the title of ECOC, and which now together cooperate by creating the Coalition of Cities. I do not refer only to the presentation of cultural stages of the coalition members during the ECOC 2016 in Wrocław, or to the Wrocław trips to Szczecin, Poznań, Lublin, Katowice, Łódź, and Gdańsk. I am thinking about the change in understanding culture itself, its expansion and empowerment in terms of its creation amongst the majority of artists engaged in social life. I believe that thanks to the Coalition of Cities, this change will not be stopped or reversed. It might be indicated by the recently called Civic Culture Congress 2016 and its proposals.

In Gdańsk, we remain faithful to the values on which we based our programme of the European Capital of Culture, programme which is constantly implemented and developed – Freedom for Culture: Culture of Freedom. Solidarity and Freedom are the main values of modern Europe, no matter how often they are undermined. In Gdańsk, it takes on a special meaning. Both as a motto, the foundation of life, and, perhaps above all, as a collaboration. Thank you so much for Coalition of Cities!

Paweł Adamowicz President of the City of Gdańsk

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4 Krzysztof Piątkowski Vice-President of Łódź 3 Marcin Krupa President of the City of Katowice

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Łódź was born due to the creative encounter of elements of different nations, cultures and social groups, and its trademark is eclecticism: from architectural to the social one. Proud of the unique cultural component of our city, we assign to our identity the openness for everything that is new and avant-garde. For this reason, we willingly joined the project of the Coalition of Cities for Culture in the framework of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 event. The initiative created a valuable forum for the presentation of the cultural context of Polish cities, the exchange of experiences, and for sharing the best practices in terms of culture management.

Krzysztof Piątkowski Vice-President of Łódź

Collaboration instead of competition. The slogan has become the main motif and one of the most important conclusions of presentation in the frames of the Coalition of Cities for Culture. “Agreement above divisions”, which concerns programme and organizational issues, as well as formal ones, is a postulate that we absolutely supported. The collaboration showed that the projects focused on creating an engaging and productive atmosphere in activities aimed for the cultural development of cities all over Poland constitute a very important area for discussion and dialogue between institutions and other formal groups, as well as the informal ones, artists, collectives, non-governmental organizations, and cultural managers.

The Coalition of Cities has become a living proof for the energy fusion of particular cultural centres in the country, at the same time enabling a discussion about its current state and prospects for the future. Certainly, such initiatives are essential and desirable in terms of both current and future perspective.

Marcin Krupa President of the City of Katowice

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Signing of Declaration of Coalition of Cities on 21.10.2015 in Wrocław

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Coalition of Cities for Culture – what is it?

Wrocław invited partners from all over the country to collaborate and create the programme of the European Capital of Culture 2016 events. It is the first project in the history of ECOC in which cities competing to gain this title decided to collaborate. The following cities participated in the project: Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań and Szczecin.

The collaboration is targeted mostly at cultural presentations of Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań and Szczecin and focuses on their most characteristic urban narratives and on everything that constitutes their genius loci. Wrocław as the European Capital of Culture 2016, became a stage on which ideas and practices from each city met. This initiative created new opportunities in terms of cultural exchange, promotion of local artists and creation of joint projects.

Wrocław visited the six partner cities with its artistic presentation of the Ad Spectatores Theatre spectacle and an outdoor exhibition about Wrocław local identity in the poems by Tadeusz Różewicz and works of the Luxus Group.

The second fruit of the Coalition of Cities is the research project conducted by the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, which focused on the so-called “ECOC effect”, namely the analysis of long-term economic and socio-cultural results and changes caused in cities by the process of efforts for the title of the European Capital of Culture 2016 in Poland.

The third aim of the project is the discussion about the local government’s responsibility for the Polish culture. The founders of the coalition established a Think Tank which gathered in years between 2012 and 20l6 in order to exchange views and good practices, thanks to which it could work better on the cultural development in local governments. As a result, the Coalition of Cities became a real platform for exchange of experience, which connects Polish local governments and institutions, and through this contributes to raising the competencies of cultural employees.

The Coalition of Cities was implemented in every city by joining the forces of local governments and cultural creators. Every city designated a local cultural operator – a leading content manager (often the institution previously responsible for the process of obtaining the ECOC title), who was delegated to cooperate with Wrocław. The work coordinator was the team of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 Office.

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Civil Partnership for Culture 2016 Szczecin 10.2010 Łódź 01.2011

The Civil Partnership for Culture 2016 is an initiative uniting people and groups responsible for developing applications and building projects in all eleven cities which participated in the contest for the title of European Capital of Culture 2016 in Poland.

The initial meeting was held in Szczecin in October of 2010, and then it was continued in Łódź in January of 2011.

The idea of the “Civil Partnership for Culture 2016”long before the results of Polish edition of the ECOC contest - was a declaration of support for the city which won the contest in Poland.

The meeting of people who worked on the projects in all Polish candidate cities for the ECOC title allowed to compare the experiences and exchange observations referring not only to the building of particular projects. It should not be only a “point in application”, but rather it should make real changes in the engaged cities and continue the processes and the discussions which commenced earlier.

One of the important points of discussion was: the development of a support system for the candidate cities on a national level, so that all of the cities – regardless of the results – received the opportunity to continue the process started during the preparation of application, especially in terms of building cultural policy, e.g. by implementing special long-term operational programmes.

The preparation period of Wrocław for the implementation of the ECOC 2016 programme Lublin 03—04.02.2012 Polish Capitals of Culture – how to use their potential

Debates, meetings, workshops Katowice: 28—30.03.2012; Conference: “DREAM, IT WORKS” Wrocław: 23—24.04.2012; Conference: “Excluded from culture” Gdańsk: 12.07.2012; Workshops: “Creative Partnerships” Łódź: 12—14.10.2012; 2nd Congress of Urban Movements

The objective of the meeting in Lublin was the diagnosis of local impact of the ECOC project, and the question of: the real “ECOC effect” - both in terms of its positive and negative impact. The meeting was participated by the persons engaged in the candidate preparation process in all eleven cities.

The most important result of the meeting was the decision to support Wrocław as the “capital”, for it represents Polish culture on the European arena, and after competition came the time for collaboration.

The important decision about establishing a permanent collaboration was also made during the seminar regarding discontinuation of the ambitious competition among the cities, having agreed that one of the greatest threats for the development of urban culture in Poland is the unhealthy competition between cities, which more often triggers negative emotions than contributes to creative actions.

One of the results of these meetings was the letter to Mr. Bogdan Zdrojewski, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, signed by the representatives of 11 candidate cities, which said: On behalf of the representatives of the eleven cities which are candidates for the title of the European Capital of Culture 2016, we are writing to the Minister with a postulate for initiating a project of evaluation of the several years of efforts to obtain the ECOC 2016 title in Poland, and of the monitor project of processes initiated by the participation in the contest.

We believe that in terms of the postulated research projects, a team of independent experts - in collaboration with local culture observers and in partnership with centres continuing programmes initiated in application - should analyse the results of actions performed by all eleven cities while observing their implementation after the contest completion and drawing conclusions and recommendations.

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The duration of the ECOC contest in Poland

The implementation process of the idea of Coalition of Cities Warszawa 28.11.2013

“City’s DNA: Urban Cultural Policies” During the conference “City’s DNA: Urban Cultural Policies”, organized by the National Centre of Culture and the “Res Publica Nowa” magazine, a meeting of four representatives of the cities invited by Wrocław to co-create the Coalition of Cities for the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 was held.

The concept of the program (as above) was presented during the meeting, and it was agreed that all present parties are interested in the implementation of joint actions related to the celebration of the year 2016. The representatives will prepare proposals of collaboration based on the narrative developed during competition for the ECOC title.

Wrocław 01.2014 Working meetings, Poland

The Coalition of Cities’ invasion 2016 Wrocław, 07.06.2015

Creation of the concept “Coalition of Cities. Collaboration project under the ECOC Wrocław 2016 by Dominika Kawalerowicz and Rafał “Koza” Koziński

First display of collaboration of the cities takes place: Gdańsk, Lublin, Katowice and Łódź with Wrocław ECOC 2016. In line with the motto “Towards Cultural Capital” artists and animators from Polish cities will set off on a journey in special caravans. All travellers will meet in Wrocław at the University Bridge, where they will artistically present their cities. From Lublin flows the Boat of Culture (sailing 1000 km along Polish largest rivers), whilst antique bicycles begin a three-day journey from Katowice; Fine Art Artists from Gdańsk travel individually with special artistic installations; and from Łódź travels a Łódź Truck, with artists and animators on board.

Objectives of the Coalition of Cities The project of Coalition of Cities consists of presenting specificity of individual cities, focusing on most important and most characteristic features of Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin and Łódź as well as their flagship projects and something which constitutes their genius loci.

The important meta-dimension of the program is the discussion about local governments’ responsibility for Polish culture. It is worth remembering that the participation in the ECOC contest was enabled by decision of local governments which took up this challenge with full responsibility. While joining the implementation of the idea of Coalition of Cities, we discussed the rules of collaboration and co-creation of the program.

Strategy of implementation Every city designated a local cultural operator – a leading content manager, institution previously responsible for the process of efforts to obtain the ECOC title – who became delegated to collaborate with Wrocław. Local leader: 1. Develops the scope of collaboration on the basis of narratives, which emerged during the process of taking actions in order to obtain the ECOC title, and which might become the keynote of collaboration with Wrocław.

2. Gains support from local cultural environment, institutional and non-governmental organizations, individual artists, and cultural life creators; 3. Gains organizational, legal, and financial support from local governments.

4. Inspects the collaboration inside the city and collaboration with the representatives of Wrocław and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

5. Develops the “European level” of proposed projects by collaboration with European partners.

Working meetings, Poland, 2014 Working meetings of representatives of the coalition of cities (Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź Wrocław) during different conferences and seminars across Poland, and during the meetings of the Union of Polish Metropolises.

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Wrocław 10.2015 Local Government Culture 25+ - “A cultural revolution or a reform? Towards innovative cultural development policies”.

The conference co-organized by the National Centre for Culture summarized the development of local governments and turned out to be the right moment to sum up the successes in the field of culture and sharing of ideas for implementing wise cultural policy.

The success of the conference was signing of the “Declaration of collaboration on the implementation of the Coalition of Cities project” by presidents of coalition cities: Paweł Adamowicz, President of the City of Gdańsk; Marcin Krupa, President of the City of Katowice; Krzysztof Żuk, President of the City of Lublin; Hanna Zdanowska, President of the City of Łódź; Rafał Dutkiewicz, President of the City of Wrocław.

Coalition of Cities unites the cities which competed for the title of the European Capital of Culture. The collaboration aims for presenting Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź and Wrocław, while focusing on their characteristics and the uniqueness supported by their genius loci. Wrocław as the European Capital of Culture 2016 will become a stage on which the best ideas and cultural actions of all coalition cities will meet.

The partnership of five Polish metropolises is designated to activate the local governments, artistic and non-governmental environments, and creates new opportunities in terms of cultural exchange, promotion of local artists, animators and cultural institutions, creation of joint projects and wider debates about the development of culture in local governments. Coalition of Cities remains open to subsequent Polish cities wishing to joint it.

We declare willingness to collaborate in the development and implementation of the Coalition of Cities project, which will begin with the year of the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016. It will be based on the implementation of joint artistic projects, mutual promotion of cities, and co-creation of new quality of city cultural development policy.

Expansion of the Coalition of Cities 2016

During the meetings of the Union of Polish Metropolises, the representatives of the cities of Szczecin and Poznań declared their willingness to collaborate in the implementation of the Coalition of Cities 2016. Wrocław happily welcomed the declaration of collaboration from two new cities, which was approved by other coalition members. The new members entered the Coalition of Cities on equal and democratic terms.

The year of European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016

Wrocław, 24.05.2016.

The first Forum of Coalition of Cities for Culture —official launch of the project in 2016 05—08.2016 Presentation of Wrocław as the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 in the coalition cities.

25—29.05.2016 Cultural presentations of particular cities on the stage of European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 17—19.06.2016 Lublin — City of Inspiration 01—03.07.2016 Szczecin — Creative dialogue space 14—17.07.2016 Next stop — Poznań 30.07—06.08.2016 Łódź — Creative industries 15—21.08.2016 Gdańsk — City of Freedom 07—09.2016 Katowice — City of Music 11.2016 Problem-focused forums concerning culture in the cities of Gdańsk, Łódź, Katowice, Szczecin, Poznań, Lublin, and Wrocław.

Seminar summarizing the project and the new-opening

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Coalition of Cities in numbers

8 4 7 112 6 6 820 126830 465

years of dreaming of collaboration of people engaged in the ECOC contest in Poland

years of the process of preparation

coalition members

hours of debate about culture in the cities under the 7th edition of the Coalition of Cities’ Forum

unique presentations of cultural potential of the cities on stage of Wrocław, European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016

micro-presentations of Wrocław as the European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016 in the coalition cities

artists and cultural creators from all over Poland engaged in the implementation in 2016

recipients of coalition cultural events in 2016

media publications

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Lublin — City of Inspiration

(25—29.05) ul. Szajnochy, Wrocław

(25—29.05)

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Lublin — City of Inspiration Karol Szajnocha Street, located in the centre of Wrocław, turned for a week into a stage on which we presented the most valuable items from the culture of Lublin. The greatest and most well-known artists from our city built there an impression of Lublin – creating an image of the City of Inspiration, where modernity is intertwined with rich history. Several day-long event, covering a variety of interactive actions, reflected the dialogue of tradition and modernity. They included theatre plays, movies, music presentations and performances of prestidigitators. The whole spectacle merged monumental, colourful scenery by Jaroslaw Koziara and poetry of Józef Czechowicz, who has become a kind of guide to the reconstructed by us world. We showed theatrical poem as if it was dangled in the sky, which only became possible thanks to the commitment of circus art artists to our project. We wanted to present an attractive and spectacular history of Lublin, its heritage and cultural values.

We placed our presentation on the street, so as to show the art of the highest quality working in the open space. We strived for culture created by prominent artists from Lublin to be available to the general public - as it happens in Lublin. The show in Wrocław allowed us to carry out and materialize the balance of our best works, especially great festivals - including Theatre Confrontations, Carnival of Magicians or such events as the Night of Culture, during which we leave the galleries, theatres and concert halls and instead, enter the streets, squares, courtyards, to present there the most valuable art. Our goal was to show the culture of Lublin as a community, its continuous dialogue, which should at its core include speeches from various fields. Our strength is a continuous exchange of experience.

Janusz Opryński Artistic and Programming Deputy Director in the Culture Centre in Lublin

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(25—29.05) ul. Szajnochy, Wrocław

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Infect with artistic courage Interview with Janusz Opryński, Artistic and Programming Deputy Director in the Culture Centre in Lublin Culture Centre in Lublin, director of the Provisorium Theatre – Was it difficult to find genius loci of Lublin?

– We are still looking for genius loci, in fact, it is „work in progress”.

Genius loci is slipping away, and the more I talk about something, the more I feel the endless toil of it all. But as long as I live in Lublin, I am constantly looking for the essence of this place that seems very friendly to culture. I have ambivalent attitude towards it: it is both a delight, and rebellion. Before the presentation in Wrocław, and even before it, when we were preparing for the competition for the title of European Capital of Culture, we tried to balance the city. I know it well, for 21 years I have been organizing the International Theatre Confrontations Festival, and preparing performances. We, the Lubliners, are the people of the East, and the place that is considered to be a province, is our pride, but of course the term „province” has also pejorative connotations. East means cordiality, openness. We are the descendants of the multiple culture that over the years of Communism became somewhat erased, but it was never destroyed. We always face up with various motifs of the city - Orthodox, Jewish. And we are the inheritors of this unique place: we have Jewish Lublin with a terrible wound where there are no Jews any more, and we live next to Majdanek. On the other hand, we are the city of peasant origins. This kind of tradition can be important, great, but also it can be a great ballast.

– Who discovered the genius loci of the city: the curators or officials?

Or perhaps the decision was joint?

– It was a joint work. A team with vast experience of working in the culture came to Wrocław: Rafal Koziński is the creator of the Night of Culture, I arrived with a crew I had been working for years with. We brought along prof. Andrzej Kokowski, an eminent archaeologist, who talked about how we uplifted.

– Was the invented presentation consistent with the line of promotion of the city, complementing it or maybe it was in contrast to it?

– The dialogue contains us – the people of culture and the authorities, who believed in culture. It is by all means not a perfect dialogue. I hope that this is a coherent vision, although it is sometimes a dispute. We tried to bring to Wrocław “a packed piece of culture of the city” and to show Lublin.

– Did the presentation inspire the officials to refresh the way the city was promoted?

– Of course. “Dream of the City”, a performance presented in Wrocław, will be shown as part of the 750th anniversary of Lublin, slightly expanded. I also hope that it will be presented in Lublin in the “rhythm of tourism”, performed in the evenings.

– What kind of city did you want to show to the people in Wrocław?

– It might sound like a cliché, but we wanted to show our true face: the city occupied by many artists and a lot of music. We tried to show the traditions of Leszek Mądzik and the works of NN Theatre. Of course, we could not show everything, but we wanted to present the city to which the culture is an essential element of development. We truly believe that culture can become the flywheel of the economy. It is inspiring for all of us to expand the area of our imagination. The artist is a

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person who possesses unbridled, sometimes wild imagination.

For someone who works in another field, this type of courage can be contagious. How does it work? A builder of bridges, inspired by artistic imagination, can begin to build “crazy bridges.” We live in the culture relationships, we want to share our imagination, but also our fears about the world.

– What was the selection process of cultural representation?

– It was the most difficult. There was a contest and a lot of events became selected by means of a competition. The choice was democratic. Only those who won could come to Wrocław. There is always a kind of selection, also for financial reasons, we could not afford everything.

As a coordinator of the whole thing, I was not criticized much by the people who lost the contest.

– Did you learn anything during the presentation?

Will anything be useful for further work?

– It was a very important meeting for us because somewhere along the lines we created a greater community between ourselves. We spent a week on the Szajnochy street in Wrocław, helping each other.

However, our team was quite diverse, made up of musicians, visual arts artists, circus performers, as well as managers. We believed and became convinced even more that our choices were correct, because the performances were seen by approx. 14,000 people. This means that people wanted to see us. Now we know for sure that we show something important. We avoided pomposity, we did not show ourselves as “an important city”. We wanted to say sincerely “listen to us,” and we succeeded. On the Internet forums lots of entries appeared saying “I want to go to Lublin.” PR companies set huge bills for the effect we have achieved, and yet we did it at a lower cost and - speaking immodestly - gracefully.

– Did the relations between coalition members deepen?

Do you have easier access to each other now?

– Yes. We are planning to perform “Dream of the City” in all the cities of the Coalition of Cities for Culture. This is a real benefit and a consequence of the visit to Wrocław.

– Was there anything that failed?

– There is always a belief that you could have done something better.

We are not complacent people at all. But I have a rule not to look back at what’s been done.

– Your presentations on Szajnochy street were really appreciated, you presented posters, photographs and documentary films of Lublin in a tenement house in the market square, there were reading performances. But the “Graduation Tower of Art” on the Freedom Square met with a very different reception and did not spark such enthusiasm as other events.

– “Graduation Tower of Art” is an installation of Robert Kusmirowski, an outstanding artist. It is presented around the world and each viewer has the right to his own reception. The art of this type does not only impress, but it also provokes, arouses reflection. The viewers should reflect on what exactly is that dead thing in a beautiful space in front of the National Forum of Music. This is one of the best works of Robert Kuśmirowski. I know it can irritate, but it means that it works.

Szczecin—the space of creative dialogue

(17—19.06) Wzgórze Polskie, Wrocław

(17—19.06)

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6.

Szczecin—the space of creative dialogue ZS project turned out to be not only a presentation of its creators or the series of artistic actions designed to draw attention to Szczecin and Western Pomerania. In fact, as a part of ZS, looking for specific genius loci, we created the concept of multifunctional cultural container where magical and beautiful things happened, focused on the contact with another person. The overriding idea of ​​the object was a reference to the port traditions of the region and making it the leitmotiv of that event. The container - the result of work of artists, craftsmen and also designers - here in Wrocław it began its ride through creative projects. Today you will meet it on the Baltic seashore, in Insk, where it „tells the story” about the movies, over the Oder River in Szczecin, but also in Brussels, where it praises Polish design. Next year it will be presented more often, to show the power of culture in many places in Europe. This means for us – for the MiastoHolizm Association - a lot and, at the same time, it resembles that it all started right here in Wrocław -the European Capital of Culture.

Monika Petryczko MiastoHolizm Association

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(17—19.06) Łokietka 5, Wzgórze Polskie, Wrocław

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music played by DJs, there were more sounds of Berlin. Already on the sole poster advertising the event one could see a breeze from the west of Europe. We wanted to show ourselves as a European, western city.

The identity, location, uniqueness.

Conversation with Monika Petryczko, the President of the MiastoHolizm Association – Was it hard to find the genius loci of Szczecin? You presented yourself together with the region, so it was definitely harder than the presentation of the city itself.

– We have tried to keep the balance between Szczecin and the region.

The task was a bit harder, but through the events connected with water we found genius loci quite easily. The key to unlocking the identity, location and uniqueness is the Oder river that flows through Szczecin. The Oder river guided us to the harbour tradition of the city. Both Szczecin and the region, have a lot in common with “harbour nature.” It would be difficult to find the element connecting us more than the Oder. Recently Szczecin has returned back to the Oder river, to its post-industrial history through various activities. When during the final part of the Tall Ships Races great sailing ships arrive to us, Szczecin is so proud. Residents identify themselves with the three cranes located in Łasztownia in the post-industrial space of Szczecin. The process of identification of the residents with Szczecin has started and it makes me really happy. The cranes, called in Szczecin cranosaurs, gave us some hints, just like the Oder. Szczecin definitely needed to discover its genius loci. We found it in a natural way, thanks to the former actions.

– Who discovered genius loci of the city: the curators or officials?

Or perhaps the decision was joint?

– Rather the curators; the project was proposed by the MiastoHolizm Association, and the search process began from the statement that Wrocław has got everything. Thus, how can we intrigue the residents of Wrocław? The black monolith from “Space Odyssey” came to my mind, thrown in the urban space to do “something.” It provoked other ideas. We decided that something could happen inside the monolith: it could be a mysterious box carrying artists, a container coming out of the harbour and coming into it. A Black lump, which after opening it shows artistic interior, the identity of the city and the region.

– Was the invented presentation consistent with the line of promotion of the city, complementing it or maybe it was in contrast to it?

– It seems to me that it was consistent, because the actions of the city are focused on water, even the concept of floating gardens - “Szczecin Floating Garden 2050”. Western Pomerania exposes the fact that we are close to the Oder and the sea. It was naturally completed.

– Has the presentation become an inspiration for the officials to refresh the way of promoting the city?

– The container is already now in line with the promotion of the region, it travels to all the big festivals in the region. Shortly after the presentation in Wrocław it started to perform a new role – it is an island/ a box, that carries something from Pomerania to Pomerania. The city uses the metaphor of Szczecin and wants to use the container during the big events next year. In August it will be the final of the Tall Ships connected to the regatta - The Tall Ships Races.

– What kind of city did you want to show to the people in Wrocław?

– A slightly off-city. Rather the one that escapes the top score viewing records and the rigours of the cultural institutions, while cooperating with them at the same time. Alternative and modern city, in terms of technology and the information contained therein. We had a lot of

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– What was the selection process of cultural representation?

– We chose it on the basis of the submitted tenders by means of the contest. They were assessed by the MiastoHolizm Association and the people connected with the Academy of Arts: Dr. Margaret Kopczyńska and prof. Kamil Kuskowski, PhD. We asked the artists themselves and the artistic environment about their opinion. There has always been criticism, because the question “why them, and not me?” arises always. I was rather upset when a group, that did not fit the concept, applied.

– The representation had to match the created vision?

– Yes, although someone may find it unfair.

– Did you learn anything during the presentation?

Will anything be useful for further work?

– For me, the President of Association, the presentation changed a lot.

I learned who wanted to “conquer” other cities who wanted to complain, and who wanted to take actions. We managed to develop a very strong culture team.

– Did the relations between coalition members deepen?

Do you have easier access to each other now?

– We are ready to cooperate. We have a common platform and a team that is ready to cooperate. We know now who will find themselves easily in unusual activities inside culture. Wonderful relationships have been created, we know which towns from the coalition are particularly close to us. We are close to Łódź in a stylistic sense, because the residents of Łódź, like us, like the design and alternative. We created some tools, one of which is a container, which will be used in the future.

– Was there anything that failed? You had a weak date ...

– It coincided with a full day performance “Flow” in Wrocław, the half-marathon, it was raining. We were in six locations, among others: on Wzgórze Polskie on Łokietek 5 street, on Nadodrze, on Oławska street, on the Solny square. Today, knowing the habits of Wrocław’s residents, we would replace Wzgórze Polskie with a more popular place. We would prefer a place situated on the more popular walking route, though not necessarily in the old town.

– I’ve never been to Szczecin Music Hall, I would like to see it very much. The building was awarded the Mies van der Rohe Award, which surely arouses curiosity. But on the Oławska street, through spectacles, you could see the musicians, not the building.

– Indeed, there was only a glance at the spiral staircase. And it was a pity that so little could be seen.

Poznań—Next stop

(01—03.07)

(01—03.07) Poznań tram , line “0” Wrocław Wrocław (01—03.07) Downtown Wrocław

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7.

Poznań—Next stop

„Couldn’t you come over more often?” - said a music lover leaving and coming out of the Marianum Oratory hall, where a moment before an extraordinary, full of mastery (and humour!) performance had taken place of Poznań Chamber Orchestra Amadeus.That’s what we wanted - we did not expect effusive acknowledgements, fulsome words and pathetic enthusiasm. After all, we went on a journey through the European Capital of Culture by tram ... „We are interested in looking in from a micro system perspective, in which you can see the details, the prose of life, everyday life hidden in the shadow of the great strategy and goals. Through these activities we wanted to reveal the creative and productive potential of the recipients, able to influence the shaping of the culture and identity of each city” – among others we used these words to define the objective of the project „Poznań – next stop.” We wanted to achieve it through a series of events, most of which were to be held at Wrocław’s streets, squares, parks or underground passages.

Certainly we were tempted by unpredictability of the reaction of bystanders to art - whether opera duet might attract the travellers hurrying to the station? How will pedestrians react to ridiculing the tyranny of self-development practised by Coaches of Everyday Life? What will happen when in the underground passage a complete stranger pulls to us his open arms? A presentation of dance by Poznań seniors was also of a happening character - here, in turn, we wanted to draw attention not so much to the interaction but to more and more visible presence of the 60+ generation in the cultural life of not only our city. However, we really breathed a sigh of relief after the opening ceremony, which took place on yard of one of the tenement houses in Rydygiera street..

A silent hero of our presentation, head of events in the Poznań Cultural Centre „Zamek” (he watched over all scattered along the route line „0” Poznań stops) repeated like a mantra: „It is important that no one perceives us as conquistadors who brought the beads for the natives”. This well-turned metaphor carries respect for our hosts, which excludes actions encroaching on a dangerous ground of “urban PR „- littering leaflets, placarding every inch of free space or marking with Poznań logos the mural, which was created several months earlier at Rydygier’s gate.

We left its hosts an impression on the motifs of the history of this place (connected with a former factory of rum), but only a very astute observer will immediately notice Poznań origins within that seemingly Wrocław drawing.

Did everything work out for us? No way! The rain cast out the audience out of the park five minutes before the performance (for a wonderful concert by Amadeus the audience also arrived „wet”), the theatre tram Usta Usta Republika was not always full (although never empty), the periods of interest in the trainers or singers also intertwined with moments of stillness. But this is the way the city exists, full of giant events - where sometimes the secondary ones go to the background.

Returning to the question in the first sentence of this text: yes, we’d like to drop in more often, not only to Wrocław. But, first of all, we want to thank Mr Meloman for “dropping in” - because this verb itself is assigned to spontaneous meetings with people who like to get a break from the routine of their everyday life.

This is the exact way we wanted to be remembered.

Marcin Kostaszuk Deputy Director of the Department of Culture Office for the City of Poznań

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Let’s trip over culture!

Interview with Marcin Kostaszuk, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture at the City Hall in Poznań – Was it difficult to find genius loci of Poznań?

– The key thing for us was to connect the artistic value with…

– ... A social one?

– I hope it was not only you to notice that. The mission is to get culture closer to people in a way so that they can almost stumble with it. So that they do not have to take any journeys to meet with it but rather they find it on their everyday way. Only then there is a chance to meet people who do not visit concert halls, theatres and other places assigned to the artistic experience. Broadening the group of people who avail of culture is very important, because our projects were financed by a joint budget of each resident of Poznań or Wrocław and not just by one exclusive group.

– Who discovered genius loci of the city: the curators or officials?

Or perhaps the decision was joint?

– “Poznań – next stop” is a project that results from our many conversations, and actually, from brainstorming. The plans changed frequently, sometimes decision depended on technical possibilities to do something or not. I would give the primacy to the Cultural Centre Zamek and particularly to Anna Hryniewiecka, Andrzej Maszewski and Wojciech Luchowski who contributed to the effect the most.

– Were they the curators?

– We can call them like that. As officials we were participating in shaping this idea from the first visions until the presentation itself and its promotion. Common aim and respect caused that such division of the roles was not artificial and it allowed for a flexible approach to mutual expectations.

– Was the invented presentation consistent with the line of promotion of the city, complementing it or maybe it was in contrast to it?

– We never did and we never will create culture with the aim of entering into a „promotional line”. President of Poznań Jacek Jaśkowiak often says that „either one has peace, or a theatre,” implying that artistic freedom is a paramount and you can not interfere with it. We decided, however, that in Poznań as well as in Wrocław one should go to places where culture is not present on a daily basis. This assumption oriented our way to act: we did not focus on one space, everything was happening in constant motion and rather beyond the main places associated with culture. Among purely promotional actions „a ticket to Poznań” is worth mentioning - discount card for hotels and other services. We distributed it on the streets, along with the program of events happening in Wrocław.

– Hasthe presentation become an inspiration for the officials to refresh the way of promoting the city?

– I’m not involved in the promotion of the city, so I’m not the right person to answer it, but I can say that in our presentation in Wrocław the heads of the Department of City Promotion under the Cabinet of the President actively participated. They were with us all the time; they brought a lot of valuable ideas and experiences. They like the culture and are familiar with it, so they can add their own narration to the artistic part. Will it impact future actions? Promotion of the city works

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better today, if you avoid ostentatiousness, i.e. cutting the ribbon at the opening of the roundabout, which should have been open a long time ago. The presentation in Wrocław was a kind of experiment: how to exist in the space of the city, in the places where the culture is not expected – in front of the station or on squares. These actions took place simultaneously in Wrocław and soon afterwards in Poznań, at the Free Courtyard of the City Council, where the people responsible for the promotion were mostly involved in creating a space for Krystyna Janda’s theatre. It happened a month after the presentation under ECOC - I think that the experience of Wrocław confirmed that it is worth to „annex” the place which is not intended for culture by definition. I would also emphasize the role of happenings - they were the best reflection of what was happening in Poznań. They tend to be the form of working through the social problems of the city, they are effective in attracting attention to them, remaining more creative than any procession with banners.

– What kind of city did you want to show to the people in Wrocław?

Because you showed the city that organizes fun and orders space. I’m talking about the mural on the Rydgiera street.

– The mural at Rydygiera street was one of the most important things we did. I ‘m thinking not so much about its appearance, but about the process of its creation, accompanied by the ordering of space. We did not want to organize the reality of people without their consent, because there is nothing worse than relying on the premise: “We have bought this wall, so we’ll do what we want.” We wanted to avoid it, thus we started from studying the history of the street and its residents, only then the idea appeared of how to enter into this story so as the final form of the mural could be approved. The relationship between the work and its viewers was very important to us.

– What was the selection process for cultural representation?

– We were the last city invited to the Coalition of Cities for Culture, at the turn of 2015 and 2016, and then we had two - three months to come up with an idea for a way to engage ourselves in the project. Culture Centre Zamek announced an open call for tenders, everyone - regardless of affiliation to the organization - could report the idea of different degree of development. The effect was not very satisfying, so Culture Centre repeated the recruitment, this time turning to specific organizations and artists. The most important was our principle of maintaining the autonomy of artists as far as form of presentation is concerned, but by then it was necessary to act very quickly.

– Did you learn anything during the presentation?

Will anything will be useful for further work?

– Yes. We saw how much a fresh look at untamed space gives. The artists of Poznań know all the corners of their city, they know where and in what conditions one can present him or herself. In Wrocław, you had to look almost from scratch.

– Are you going to look for such places in your city?

– Of course. A contact with people who normally would not be their audience gave our artists a lot. It was a good lesson of openness to experiments, of observing how people react to unusual situations in which they were placed by, e.g., our performers. For example, I have never seen the Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio Amadeus in such a ... joyful release. The musicians were unusually open to the impulses, at some point Agnieszka Duczmal and Anna Mróz were directing ... simultaneously. It was evident that the new location (Oratorio Marianum) and a new audience, that

might have a long time ago or never heard these musicians, release different energy. It was the same during the concert of opera singers and a quartet of wind instruments Trombquartet in front of the central station. We went beyond the framework of conventional cultural presentation.

– Did the relations between coalition members deepen?

Do you have easier access to each other now?

– As for the residents of Wrocław and people from the Office of ECOC-definitely. But the presentations of the cities in coalition were separated from each other in time, we did not see one another. Thus, there was no possibility to observe each other’s actions - it proved impossible, all cities would have to appear at one time. The deepening of relations between the cities also takes place during the meetings in Wrocław, but also in the Union of Polish Metropolises, Association of Polish Cities. We have a better contact with each other, we help each other in solving specific problems. It’s also a value to the creation of which the Coalition contributed.

– Was there anything that failed?

– A resident of Poznań is a person who always feels that it could have been done better. If we did it again, we would change something to make an action even more attractive. The happening for the seniors took place during bad weather – it did not work because there were not many viewers in the Staszica Park. The tram show was nice but you could not get in accidentally and travel part of the route with the actors.

In the future we could decide whether people could be allowed to get in and ride just a part of the route. We also feel that the promotion of the city presentations was not very exposed and, therefore, they could perish in the flood of other, more promoted events. Most important thing for us, however, was the fact that our actions had their recipients – we were not disappointed by the residents of Wrocław. The most of openness was required in the happening in the underground passage, during which the actors just ... opened their arms, inviting everyone for a hug. This happening was not complicated, but it showed the depth of what hurts us in the life of a large city - anonymity and lack of intimacy.

And yet, the culture’s aim is to bring people together.

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Łódź—Woven renewal

(14—17.07) Browar Mieszczański, ul. Hubska 44, Wrocław

(14—17.07)

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8.

Łódź—Woven renewal „Bad city” – it is the term that is associated with Łódź since the beginning of XX century. Łódź is difficult to love. It is different. It requires the effort of being discovered. To see its beauty, the stereotypical thinking must be rejected, one has to step in it, experience it. In the cell of Łódź marks of severed motifs may be found in the form of four cultures that were once associated, also threads of human destiny that were cut unexpectedly and dramatically, memories about industrial power of the city, charmed in buildings and layouts of the streets, legendary invisible rivers or roots of European avant-garde that may be spotted in the least expected places. On those foundations, people from Łódź have been wovening their city from the beginning. Revitalization of Łódź is announcing the new rise of this city.

Artists, who craft for Łódź, are starting from the scratch, because they know that the renewal starts with heart, and the heart of the city is always people. By collecting single themes, they woven the modern history of the city, probably the most important one. Activating the residents, they come out of the gates and yards, from institutions and artistic workshops, to change the reality around themselves.

In July of 2016 they could be met in Browar Mieszczański. In the post-industrial space of Wrocław various alternative, hidden in industrial corners artistic and educational events were held. They included subjects of theatre, visual arts, creative industry, video-art, film, music, performance, photography, animation, which almost as threads of fabrics, interlocked into L.STO-RY – the final concert with video comics, showing dreams and perception of people from Łódź about their city. For a couple of days, Browar Mieszczański turned into Łódź – with all its modernity, authenticity, frankness, and charming melancholy.

Konrad Dworakowski Director of the Pinokio Theatre in Łódź

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(14—17.07) Browar Mieszczański, ul. Hubska 44, Wrocław

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a living organism, which is indeed connected to the textile manufacture, avant-garde, multiculturalism, but still constantly developing.

Łódź: human metaphor with his genius and vices.

Interview with Konrad Dworakowski, director of Pinokio Theatre – Was it difficult to find the genius loci of Łódź?

– The term genius loci was not difficult. All it takes is to come to Łódź to find out. Imagining, how to present it, was much harder. We have a feeling that genius loci of Łódź is distinguishing this city from others, because of its historical and social context. On the basis of this otherness we should build its image and its value. We had to imagine, how to build the message about the city, because we wanted it to realistically mirror its character. The case was easier because of the part of project, which is connected with micro funds, when special artists appeared. They were cultivating the activity close to city character. We wanted genius loci to be expressed not only by artists, who today are responsible for how this city looks like in the cultural context, but also in a way that evokes traditions of this city. The hardest thing was to connect all of these.

– Who discovered genius loci of the city: the curators or officials?

Or perhaps the decision was joint?

– We worked it out together. Artists brought along individual quality and ideas for art. It was art that connected us – creating metaphor and specific social actions. Artists who came to Wrocław are not only known from the title pages of magazines, but they all are unique and they prove that city is still developing.

– Was the invented presentation consistent with the line of promotion of the city, complementing it or maybe it was in contrast to it?

– I have no idea, we did not create this program to promote the city. We had a sense of autonomy and a free hand, and that was important for the project. For sure we were not against anything. We filled in and expanded the urban context, by showing certain artists, at the same time not ordering them to promote the city, but rather showing, how it is made on the level of art. Beside all possible image solutions, for which the city has its tools, and we are supporting them in artistic way.

– Has the presentation become an inspiration for the officials to refresh the way of promoting the city?

– It is how I imagine the ECOC project, and that it changes views in general, and the capital city should radiate towards other cities. I believe, that what we did, will be a great support for the promotion office, because it shows tools to use, having the knowledge on what artists have to show and having them nearby. It is difficult to talk about effects today, since we are still in the course of the project, because after presentations in Wrocław it has not been finished yet. I hope that this project connects officials with artists.

– What kind of city did you want to show to the people in Wrocław?

– Vibrant. One which has the strength of a metaphor. At the beginning we said to each other that this city is different, but it also shows the human characteristics. It is a metaphor of a man with his genius and vices. We wanted to show the true city, which is real, where genius loci lies in the truth about ourselves and the world that is around us.

– Łódź is not only the „promised land”.

– In the common context it is not at all a „promised land”. Besides, the more interesting question today is what the „promised land” really is, rather than to ask, where it is. Łódź is not an open-air museum, but

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– And it is not only a city from books of Reymont and Wajda’s movies.

– Łódź is sometimes labelled as a dying city. It was important to all of us, to tell that there is a pulsing blood here, that the city is developing. This, what on the level of office is called revitalization, to us is a direct communicate that Łódź is a city of experimentation, in which there is a wealth of alternative culture, and its strong tradition. Meeting artists from this stream is very important, because it expresses the diversity of the cell.

We wanted to say that it is the city, in which there are certain processes being created, not only artistic events. Works, related to examination of the city’s cell, connected with launching actions that are lasting not only within the work, but also within the memory of society, are created. It was very important.

– What was the selection process of cultural representation?

– We were sure about the value of the chosen artists. The possible critique may have been associated with the fact that the choice of artists could be surprising, because they were not common artists, who we see in television every day. Some of them were chosen during the process of microgrants, meaning the contest. The main idea of the event was to show the city via the metaphor of fabric. There is a main weave, which connects artists from diverse fields, but each of them has an individual strand. Those artists presented themselves individually, and simultaneously we have been creating a project which closed a presentation and which was based on cooperation. It was created through the video comic pattern, combining literature, comics, music, visual arts, film, and theatre.

– Did you learn anything during the presentation?

Will anything be useful for further work?

– Pinokio theatre is rather a small theatre, staging plays, which are mostly for children, so it was not really obvious that we would be handling a project of this scale and with such a wide scope. We have learned a lot in terms of organization matters, we have gained valuable experience.

Although, for us the most important thing is that surrounding integration was reached, we met in an unusual situation and we launched many actions, which we did not consider as events, though they gave rise to some long-range actions. Creators got to know each other better, and now they are planning joint projects. Soon, a concert of L.Stadt will appear in media, which is a summary of the presentation held in Wrocław. Some of the projects are and will be continued. We wanted to launch something that will last, and considered making one-off fireworks not so important in this particular case.

– Did the relations between coalition members deepen?

Do you have easier access to each other now?

– It is a sense of Cities Coalition for Culture, to bring cities together and make them share views with each other – not only on the artistic level, but also the official one. The very presence of various cities is giving us a clue, it is inspiring and creatively pushing for more. A lot depends on officials in terms of financing, and from the artists we expect new ideas.

– Was there anything that failed?

– We have a feeling, that the most important goals were reached. There were a lot of people from Łódź, who wanted to see us in a different location. It was truly amazing. There were as many of them as people from Wrocław. Things that may have failed are not considered as situations, which can affect the project’s values.

Gdańsk—City of Freedom

(30.7—05.8) Townhouse Rynek 25, Wrocław

(30.7—05.8)

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9.

Gdańsk—City of Freedom How to show the cultural potential of Gdańsk, its atmosphere, genius loci? How, in just couple of days, to present things, that were once named by Paweł Huelle in one of his interviews a “complete microcosm”?

We were looking for space, which would give us a possibility to create a consistent narration with accents from Gdańsk. That is why we have chosen a town house, which invokes a middle-class ethic and the history of Gdańsk, allowing to show a few narrations at the same time.

We focused on the contest, on the initiative of artists. From among the proposed works we rewarded the idea titled „Friends from the sea”, a spontaneously created curatorial collective All Inclusive. We were convinced that the culture of freedom and supportive operating are not only the slogans of the application of Gdańsk for ECOC title but also values, which are especially valid. We decided for the presentation of project that stands for cooperation, collective actions on the basis of different models and disciplines, frankness and otherness of artists – from Gdańsk, from Tricity, and also from Wrocław. Thanks to “Friends from the sea” project, the five-storey town house near Rynek 25 changed into a place of exhibitions, concerts, author meetings, film screenings, and discussions. In the specially arranged concert hall, every evening presentations were hosted as well as musical meetings with musicians from Gdańsk and Wrocław, as part of the cycle titled “This is not that melody” and “The new is coming from the sea”. We have presented also three exhibitions: „We should hang artists everyday”, „Cabinet of Curiosities”, where one could find the echoes of middle-class collections, wunderkamer, narrations of borderline with art and scientific researches, but also magic and “From the sea” – the exhibition referring to the subject of immigrants, which is so important for modern Europe.

Our „town house” has met with great reception. So, we believe that we succeeded in creating an area for meeting of: artists, residents, people curious about each other, and cities that we live in.

Aleksandra Szymańska The Institute of Urban Culture in Gdańsk

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(30.7—05.8) Townhouse Rynek 25, Wrocław

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Freedom, frankness, solidarity.

Interview with Aleksandra Szymańska, Director of the Institute of Urban Culture in Gdańsk – Was it difficult to find the genius loci of Gdańsk?

Who discovered it: conservators or officials?

Or perhaps the decision was joint?

Genius loci and invented presentation were adherent to the city promotion, they completed it, or maybe they were completely contrastive?

– Genius loci is part of a unique intangible heritage, not an effect of decision of only one man, official, or artist. In the case of Gdańsk, genius loci is created as well by its history, in the context of various nationalities and statehoods, as by its latest history, e.g. connected with “Solidarity”. It is created also by the characteristics of city, which derives from its coastal location, being a harbour city. Genius loci is Gdańsk that we know from books of Gunter Grass, Paweł Huelle or Stefan Chwina, but also a modern everyday version of Gdańsk, co-authored by residents. When discussing the application of Gdańsk, we reached the conclusion, that the important and characteristic things for the identity of Gdańsk are undoubtedly values, that we are so proud of such as freedom, frankness, and solidarity. We were wondering, what kind of vision of the city is resulting from it for the future. The natural case was to refer to those values, also when announcing the contest.

We wanted to connect the characteristics, which are contributing to the uniqueness of the city, but also to reveal the idea, which will present the current artistic actions, and also something that is important on the cultural stage of Gdańsk, in many fields. It allows to present the alternative side of Gdańsk, because both, experimental and alternative actions were and still are present in Gdańsk.

– And what was the process of choosing the cultural representation?

– We chose the contest formula. We wanted to make reference to collective and joint process of creating the application of Gdańsk.

On the other side, while planning several-day presentation, a decision has to be made about its scope – to create consistent story with full awareness that we cannot include everything, what is important for the city. It is similar with the selection of artists: it will never be comprehensive or even representative – it is always about a decision being made – a decision that is included in the joint curatorial vision of the collective, the concept of which we have chosen. The sole group of curators that is in the case of presentation of Gdańsk the spontaneously lined group of four artists and animators of cultural life in Gdańsk, who specialize in different artistic disciplines. Their decision was to place a bet on artists of young generation, to show those, who are less known, but very unique. Our team presented mostly what is going on in the music and visual arts world of Gdańsk.

However, we could not show the scene of modern dance, or the literary and music output of Gdańsk. I mean those are conscious actions, but it does not mean that they are the only right ones.

– Did the relations between coalition members deepen?

Do you have easier access to each other now?

– Coalition is undoubtedly of importance mostly at the level of realization of urban politics. Especially, that today the self-governments support the culture to the greatest extent. We have a possibility to consult, watch the solutions, which are applied by us in different cities, support one another; Coalition strengthened our belief that our greatest

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potential remains in cooperation and not in rivalry. Our joint decision about continuing of our cooperation becomes all the more precious, we want to work out a way of exploring and seeing the processes that are visible in the cultures of certain cities, thereby in Poland.

– Was there anything that failed?

– I will go back to what I said at the beginning, because it is not possible to show everything, to present artists, creators and potentials that deserve greater promotion. And always, both on the side of creators, and receivers there will still be a dearth – but also a space for further exploring of our cities.

Katowice—The City of Music

(15—21.08)

(15—21.08) Townhouse Rynek 25, Wrocław (15—21.08) City Arsenal, ul. Cieszyńskiego 9, Wrocław

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10.

Katowice—The City of Music Not without reason did Katowice receive the title of Creative City UNESCO. We brought to Wrocław especially the thing that mirrors the character of our city in the best possible way: music. But not only that.

It was a diversity of actions that helped us to present the specific nature of Katowice city and cultural narrations, which are typical for it only.

As part of “Genius Loci” contest in the City Arsenal in Wrocław the following presented themselves: Bloki and Familoki, Larmo in Bogucice and Medulla & AUKSO. To say something about the artists, it is worth to mention a couple of words about each of them. For example, “Bloki and Familoki” is a realization of borderline of music installation, electro event, and social work. In terms of subject it strongly refers to the genius loci of the city. On the other hand, the Medulla & AUKSO concert was a connection between two worlds – of classical music and of vivid industrial music. And there is also a project called “Larmo in Bogucice”, directed by Rafał Urbacki. It is a unique experiment of borderline of music and participatory art. It was co-created by people, who normally live in Bogucice and, at the same time, they create informal choir of musicians, linked to the district, there is also the Concert Band from Katowice and the punk rock musician called Bajzel from the group Pogodno.

The fourth one of music propositions from Katowice is the premiere of original material of the group Brzoska & Gawroński, which was accompanied by animations, connected with Katowice city, and created by Dorota and Monika Proba. All of them comprised a calling card of the city, denoting its cultural potential and energy of artistic environments connected to it.

Piotr Zaczkowski Director of Cultural Institution Katowice-The City of Gardens

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Music is the most beautiful.

Interview with Tamara Kamińska, the manager of Organizational Department of Culture Institution „Katowice – The City of Gardens” – Was it difficult to find the genius loci of Katowice?

– No, especially that since last year’s December we have been in possession of the title of Creative City UNESCO in the field of music. Music in Katowice is pervasive, so we did not think a lot about what our genius loci looks like. It does not mean that we depreciate other fields of culture, as in Katowice there are a lot of projects, however, music is the most beautiful.

– Who discovered genius loci of the city: the curators or officials?

Or perhaps the decision was joint?

– Of course it was joint, and it is our value added. I admit, that all of project’s authors for the genius loci contest have submitted their musical projects. There was no obligation, projects did not have to be of this certain type, although majority of them was connected with music. Even visually “Live-writing” by Marian Oslislo is connected with the music of Maciej Obara’s quartet in the project devoted to John Coltrane and his “CallTrane”. By contrast, “Bloki and Familoki” is a social cabaret, also in music form. It has developed naturally.

– Piotr Damasiewicz, musician from Wrocław, performed also in the City Arsenal. And this means, that coalition musicians are cooperating.

– Piotr Damasiewicz played with Maciej Obara several times, and he joined this team spontaneously.

– Was the presentation adherent to the city promotion?

– Yes. We are trying to present music as often as possible and as much as we can. Next year, we will be the host of WOMEX – the World Music Expo, the prestigious Fair of Music of the World. But the presence of visual arts is as well strongly accentuated.

– Has the presentation become an inspiration for the officials to refresh the way of promoting the city?

– Yes. Wrocław had a chance to see all the projects, that we wanted to have by our side, but due to the fact that it was impossible or because there was not enough time and money for that, we decided, with a slight heart ache, that we had to send them to Wrocław and to show ourselves from the best side. It turned out, that the reception was perfect and it was worth to follow that direction. We are becoming more and more recognizable, and this means, that the direction of promotion is good.

– Some of the projects are unique?

– Majority of them is original. “Silesia Plays Savory” from National Jazz Museum in New-York Harlem is a one-time project. Loren Schoenberg, the director of National Jazz Museum and a saxophonist, is not going to visit Poland again to play this concert with RGG Trio. Maybe other projects will start to live their lives, but we do not plan to show them together, like we did in Wrocław. Of course they are constantly developing. Like for instance Medulla & AUKSO – the project prepared by Piotr Steczko, the musician from Sinfonietta from Tychy AUKSO, in Wrocław was led by Marek Moś, but the musicians perform in different configurations.

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– What kind of city did you want to show to the people in Wrocław?

Friends from Katowice are sometimes laughing at the name “Katowice – The City of Gardens”.

– It is quite interesting, because people from Katowice should know, what the historical meaning of garden in such places as Giszowiec or Nikiszowiec is. Because it was a place, in which one could grow vegetables, and gardens were a common location for meetings.

– You have shown the gardens of music...

– Because music is also a form and a place of meetings. We wanted to show the musical side of Katowice, highlight that Katowice deserved the title of Creative City UNESCO. During the first verification by the selection panel in ECOC, the experts paid clear attention to the fact, that music in Katowice is the strongest power. It is linked to our history. Regardless of who the invader or occupant was, or to whom the Silesia belonged at the time, music has always been a universal language. It is the easiest way to communicate by means of music, because often it does not need words, and it is hard to censor it. The tradition of disseminating music in Silesia was always very powerful and we want to go back to this music. That is why we are presenting the musical side of Katowice – to bring back tradition and to make an independent place for it.

– And what was the process of choosing the cultural representation?

– Part of the project was a contest, within the frames of Genius Loci, which we announced along with the Festival Office Impart. The contest was supplemented by a local aspect, because in terms of music Katowice exists on two levels: international and local. Our musicians since forever have been on tours with concerts and since always we have been hosting musicians from all around the world. Maciej Obara is not only a local artist, he plays with musicians from the top shelf.

In the international aspect we have shown the meeting of Europe with Silesia. The second part is the Genius Loci contest – supplemented by local aspect. Transkaukazja: VOŁOSI and 33A is a project, which will probably also not be repeated, because it is time-consuming and difficult. It showed that our musicians meet and cooperate with others. Part of it was curatorial, and the other part was supplemented by contest choice.

– Did you learn anything during the presentation?

Will anything will be useful for further work?

– We could test ourselves in completely new situations, because it was a whole week of production apart from Katowice, and it is always a little bit more difficult. But we took a look at the whole project from aside, in a new environment. VOŁOSI are eagerly listened to, in „Bloki i Familoki” there is a bustle spoken and that is also likeable. It means that Silesia is still in fashion.

– Did the places of presentations work out? People from Wrocław are accustomed to the City Arsenal as a place for concerts.

But the town house in the market square is yet not so popular.

– Our presentation was prepared for those two locations, and we were addressing it to various types of public. In the Arsenal the attendance was great, people were coming even when they did not know if something was being held at that moment. Even the descriptions of events were enigmatic and it was hard to find out, what to expect. In the town house a Sound Office was hosted, the experimental project, which made a great furore. Earlier, in the town house Gdańsk and Lublin had been hosted, so residents of Wrocław already knew that they could come there. Completely different type of people visited the Sound

Office and the Arsenal, but it was our idea. We wanted to show the broadest possible musical aspect of Katowice.

– Did the relations between coalition members deepen?

Do you have easier access to each other now?

– We could not allow ourselves to let all creators stay in Wrocław for a week and to give them a chance to see others, because we could not afford that. But for sure there were a lot of friendships made. I do not think that the relation with other coalition members will deepen thanks to the presentation held in Wrocław. We did not cooperate with Gdańsk or Lublin, we did not watch each other’s presentations. To see them, we must have gone to Wrocław at a different time, and it was not possible. There was no „cherry on the cake” for me in the form of joint project – coalition project, that would involve cooperation of us all. Maybe we should make this kind of a project in the future: not only “Gdańsk in Wrocław”, “Lublin in Wrocław”, but “Gdańsk, Lublin, and others”.

– “Poland in Wrocław”?

– Not necessarily in Wrocław, but maybe somewhere else. For Gdańsk the visual arts were obvious, for Lublin it was the performers, and for us the music. For me, there was a joint project that was missing, but I know that it would be very difficult. Although it is possible, as long as the project could assume common presence in one city for a longer time, because in times of electronic exchange, there are remote possibilities of creating a project.

– Was there anything that failed?

– Probably the integration of the environment which was presenting failed a little bit. Almost every musician works somewhere professionally, because he still cannot allow himself to be only a musician in life.

And we did not have time for additional meetings.

– Miuosh x Jimek x NOSPR performed on the Wolności Square, a little bit „additionally”, after the ending of official presentation. I really like this project, because it connects different types of music, seemingly opposed. The première was held in NOSPR, the main office of Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio. Someone would have thought that it is a profanation of building: to let there in a hip-hop performer and a fellow, who was making remixes for Beyonce. And it is not like that at all! A lot of people came to the concert.

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Wrocław European Capital of Culture 2016

(25.05—21.08)

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11.

Wrocław, European Capital of Culture 2016

Along with Gdańsk, Łódź, Szczecin, Lublin, Katowice, and Poznań, we were able to make the dream of many people, who were engaged in the contest for the title of European Capital of Culture in 2016, come true. They were the ones who after a long time of competition believed, that there is a possibility of running away from competing to cooperate during the creating of completely new quality of cultural functioning in Poland. As a result Coalition of Cities for Culture was created, and it undoubtedly enriched the programme of cultural events in 2016, which improved this programme through new contexts, ideas, and critical themes. Because of that, in the international field, we proved that culture in Poland is diverse, open, and willing to experiment. Presentations of modern cultural side of cities of Coalition filled up the calendar of summer events in Wrocław. We remind the readers of them in this publication, at the same time highlighting that it was not only about presenting artistic programmes. We wish also to reveal, that we have been engaged in the hard process of creating the joint project. At the beginning, each presentation was created by a certain city, with the help of local artists, culture creators, and managers. Later, all presentations were brought to Wrocław and confronted with the audience consisting of residents of the city and tourists. In my opinion, this confrontation was surprisingly positive. By creating artistic visions of each city, we did not however forget about the self-governmental responsibility for culture. We devoted our long-night talks to this very concept. We did not always agree with each of the participants, but for the whole time I had a feeling, that it was a special kind of energy and will for cooperation that joined us together.

To all our friends… Thank you and see you soon!

Krzysztof Maj General Director of ECOC Wrocław 2016

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tre which can take a city subsidy and double it with a great deal of hard work.

Let us show distance, auto-irony and joy we find in culture Interview with Dominika Kawalerowicz, Manager of Programme Department of ECOC Wrocław 2016 – Was it difficult to find a genius locus of Wrocław?

– I think that the whole programme of ECOC Wrocław 2016 is an attempt to reflect the spirit of the city. Our task was different – we wanted to inform partner cities about the project. We spent a lot of time sitting and debating with the team thinking how we could invite inhabitants of cities with their own presentations to visit Wrocław. We present their potential in culture, which they know very well. However, we wanted them to come here and to see how ECOC looks like. And we also wanted them to celebrate the time of freedom of creating and experiencing art as well as to feel the atmosphere of unity.

– That was achieved successfully in particular by Łódź, because they came with their artists.

– And we thought that in each city, approximately week before its presentation in Wrocław, we would show an outdoor exhibition about Wrocław. The exhibition is a compilation of poems by Tadeusz Różewicz and works by LUXUS Group. We thought that through these works we could show distance, auto-irony and the cool side of Wrocław. This composition was highly successful – in all cities people were peeking and reading. We chose poems which weren’t really mainstream-like, nor obvious. Most people connected with art know LUXUS, but the Group was present so commonly in cities for the first time. A fulfilment for presentation of Wrocław was spectacle “The Great Water”

by Ad Spectatores Theatre telling the story of the flood in 1997, which symbolically ended the process of taming the city by inhabitants, considering the city as something that belongs to them. We showed the spectacle once in every city.

– Who discovered genius loci of the city: the curators or officials?

Or perhaps the decision was joint?

– It was a joint operation. We knew that we wanted to show art that is genuinely engaged, and one that stimulates reflection. Ad Spectatores was involved, because they are good with experimental forms and would aptly show the process of creating the “identity of Wrocław”.

– Did the process of choosing the cultural representation have the form of competition?

– There was no competition, since our micro-presentation had different goals than that, and it was far more modest, so we invited Ad Spectatores into cooperation and the exhibition was created by Paweł Romaszkan – an inhabitant of Wrocław, and the city lover, former Chief of City Promotion Office.

– Tadeusz Różewicz is very famous, LUXUS is well-known, Ad Spectatores, on the contrary, not so much.

Why did you invite them for cooperation?

– The Theatre is a complement of very well-known cultural brands of Wrocław. It is off, ready for crazy ideas and composed by young people. It sets an example for other cities, because it shows how we can uniquely exist in culture in the city. Ad Spectatores Theatre is a non-governmental organization, which cut its teeth on creating the theatre group, firstly, searching for its place and – when they finally managed to find premises – ever since then it wonderfully works to develop funds, which all adds a lot to the city grant. While talking with partners we often make an example of Ad Spectatores as a thea-

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– Did the invented presentation comply with the idea of promoting the city, fulfil it or rather contrast the idea?

– The presentation complied with the idea of promoting the city because it naturally, without necessary subordination to some norms, showed Wrocław as a city of encounters which creates a friendly space for meeting the desire for culture, and year 2016 as a year of conversations about culture and it metamorphosis.

– Did the presentation create a space for officials to somehow refresh the way of promoting the city?

– I reckon that culture is the best way to promote a city. As ECOC Wrocław 2016 we have been doing so with the city officials successfully for years now. We choose various forms of promoting culture of the city. We went to book fairs in Paris, we went also to Biennale in Venice with our pavilion. Our small coalition form, namely the spectacle and the exhibition is also a way of promotion, a good promotion, I would say.

– What kind of Wrocław did you want to present to the inhabitants of other cities?

– We wanted pretty much to present Wrocław as city where, after the war, everybody who came here had to start over their lives. Now it is mostly the city of students and we constantly have new inhabitants.

We wanted to show our openness, that we have a lot of distance as well as auto-irony, which lets us sometimes mock, experiment but nevertheless profit from great joy of artistic creation. The choice of LUXUS and Ad Spectatores was the consequence of an experiment.

– Did you learn anything during the presentation?

Will anything be useful for further work?

– Indeed, our presentation fulfilled six other city presentations, mutually complementary to one another. Wrocław was the place of partner meetings, but there was no need for us to present with such impetus as they did here, because the assumption of the project was different; to show the richness of Polish culture on the scene in Wrocław. We found a formula for micro presentation of Wrocław – valuable for mass addressee.

– Did the relations between coalition members deepen?

Do you have easier access to each other now?

– Partnership was born out of friendship and is based on it. I mean the friendship which emerged during the competition for the title of ECOC, that has amazed Brussels – people who created applications did not meet as enemies, but they were meeting one another and exchanging concepts. That’s why just in 2010 in Szczecin, the idea emerged that whoever wins, others will support that city. Later on, my conversations with Rafał Koziński from Lublin and our friendship spread on others. It is easier to contact when we learned to trust each other.

– Maybe it will be easier to talk about other things?

– We want it to be the legacy of Coalition of Cities. We create an informal network, it is a fashionable action on European scale and a very effective one. Polish organizations very willingly join different inter-cultural organizations. Such networks are created by, for example, ICORN, Creative Cities, UNESCO. We create the first ever network of cultural cities of Poland. It is a cultural think tank, we may be approached, talked to, consulted with. We have a common goal: to care about cities and culture.

– Can your experience be useful in other fields?

– We are fulfilling the already existing city associations, eg. Polish Metropolis Union which meets in sessions during which it exchanges ideas/experiences. What marks us out is that friends talk to one another at our meetings – we made friends with creators, authors and officials.

We had some internal meetings when we were talking about obstacles and aids in creating culture from formal-administrative perspective. At that time directors met their workers, these meetings were really good.

– Was there anything that failed?

– It cannot be evaluated in simple terms, because Coalition of Cities for Culture within ECOC programme was created for the first time, experimenting, risking a lot and aiming high. Many challenges are ahead of us because coalition starts to be famous thus expectations are to be seen. I have a lot of hope that we are just getting started.

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Coalition of Cities from the perspective of Wrocław residents For a few weeks a capital of Lower Silesia and this year’s European Capital of Culture was hosting six Polish cities: Lublin, Łódź, Gdańsk, Katowice, Szczecin and Poznań. Not only have they shown to citizens of Wrocław what characterizes them but also – for a moment or forever – they have changed Wrocław. I was a witness to these exceptional changes.

Lublin (25—29.05) I associate the small Szajnochy street with short cut route I usually take to pass by the crowded and busy marketplace in summer. I also associate it with neo-gothic University Library and its dominant clock tower. The tower serves as a landmark, especially for city visitors, who think it is a church or town hall tower anyway. In the tower’s shade there is a place where school trips don’t crowd. There are no street musicians, nor restaurant gardens, not even many young people who occupy them. And suddenly, this so well-known view to me has changed because of Lublin, which annexed a street for themselves.

And so the Sun appeared between tenement houses, rising interest among passers-by, provoking them to stop and to wait together. To wait for, as it turned out, a show entitled “Dream of a city” played within a space, which had not been artistically useful till now. Raising my head up towards the roofs, I observed acrobats, jugglers, conjurers, who were telling the story about the history of Lublin in an unconventional way. They were accompanied by poetry, sound, light and fire. Thanks to the new light I then discovered new shortcut leading not through Szajnochy street but rather right to it. It leads from Solny square through small, overgrown with ivy yard, where little winery may be found, until you reach spatial pub arranged in place of former storage house. Going towards the light which falls through windows – on hot days they are open wide – we traverse the street, quit and stand in front of the Library edifice. For several summer evenings the place was crowded, but today Szajnochy street is empty. However, for me, the street will never be the same. Łódź (14—17.07) The City Brewery, located on Hubska street, is not situated on the tourist trail, nor does it embrace the commonplace route of everyday walks. To the rather remote, old industrial object, adopted nowadays for cultural and recreational purposes people come usually just for a few hours; to see concerts, exhibitions, fashion shows or food truck festivals. In summer instead, we could come to... Łódź, which has taken some time to fill the post-industrial space not only with things which I associate with Łódź, but with cultural movement in general.

That is a composition of exhibitions, movies, concerts, theatre spectacles, lectures, workshops and meetings with authors under the slogan “Łódź – woven renovation”, which was transferred into a set of intriguing topics to be discussed or presented.

It was possible to discuss miscellaneous restoring actions or modern cultural education.

At the time of reign of Łódź over the brewery, I

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was there for a few times. For example, I went to the concert of Jude.

This musical project by Wiktor Skok seems emblematic for Łódź, encompassing underground ethos and post-industrial atmosphere and, at the same time, enclosed livelihood and energy. These characteristic features belonged also to the show performed by great formation, 19 Wiosen, but in this edition they were more lyrical and reflective in their nature. My friends were also magnified by visually crafted concert of L.Stadt, presented in the end, thus I regretted of not having seen it. Only partly was I compensated by staged on the courtyard spectacle “Derby. Białoczerwoni” performed by a team of more that thirty people. Browar Mieszczański seemed to me then as a labyrinth with corridors full of surprises. The whole presentation of Łódź was insanely inspiring, giving many reasons for contemplation and amazement. I certainly wouldn’t mind handing the brewery again into the hands of the city of Łódź in order to experience it once again.

Gdańsk (30.7—05.8) Gdańsk took over the tenement house, which for several dozens of years had been associated with Moda Polska store by citizens of Wrocław. After liquidation of its shop, the premises located under Rynek 25 address stayed closed and empty. Hovewer, this year it revived and hosted many events presented on ECOC. And it served very well as the building is located in the heart of the city, as close to the tourists as possible. Despite the choice of slogan of Gdańsk, “Friends from the sea”, which sounds a lot like an invitation for summer tea, the show prepared by this city did not emanate with holiday easiness at all. It was a spectacular show, which was connected not only with freedom issues, stressed in presentation’s agenda. Curator’s collective All Inclusive prepared for the citizens of Wrocław three exhibitions: “Cabinet of peculiarities”, “We hang artists every day” and “From over the sea”. The last one made the most powerful impression on me, telling the story of refugees’ drama, problems concerning migration and issues related to social tensions in Europe. Extraordinary, because of rousing associations also with underground legacy of Wrocław, was the story about TOTART. It included both film projections and poetical presentations and also elements provoking the audience to join artistic actions. Finally, numerous concerts went great including formations such as: PRAWATT, Syny, Szelest Spadających Papierków, Kobiety, Oto Walicki. Although the concert hall was located only on one floor, the whole tenement house changed into festival object. For a play-off one could go to the nearby “Proza” club, which also came into being this year.

Katowice (15—21.08) The address Rynek 25 was taken over also by representatives of Katowice, and only after their show this building seems even more destined to serve art constantly. The capital of Upper Silesia is associated mostly with music, so the music filled out the few tenement house floors, and it was all thanks to both intimate concerts and sets prepared by several DJs. And that was not all. Also some big concerts, taking place in the courtyard of Arsenal were on the agenda. It was no surprise, because the museum has for a long time been used for this type of purposes and it serves them very well. It is there, where one evening a musical-poetic duo Brzoska and Gawroński has presented

itself, and another evening, a concert of Volosi and Gruzini from 33A was hosted there. And since there were two different experiences, both of them juggled with genres, went beyond the schemata and were open to experiments. Both were good for my senses. The main part of actions, however, took place in a tenement house, according to a particularly detailed agenda. This precision was also felt at the level of simple emotions, like, for example, prepared by the Sound Office Katowice project, Centre of Sound Experiments. It was a specially arranged space, which changed into quadraphonic place of listening, and, at the same time, it became the centre of encounters and cooperation with creators of a few cities. I dream of this particular event being grasped into institutional frames and widespread. To became an inspiration for something permanent.

Szczecin (17—19.06) Following my friends’ advice I came to Szczecin… by bike. It was not so far away, because for the purposes of their presentation our guests used the spot at the foot of Wzgórze Polskie, near the edifice of Academy of Fine Arts and as Szczecin itself, it was by the Odra river. That’s where an artistic container was placed, which I immediately related to openness, spontaneity and artistic invention. And also with relaxation, because we were watching actions of artists of Szczecin while lying on the grass and sun beds. Only after some time for reflection, which came also as a consequence of other partners’ presentations, I thought how much we may learn about our city, its undisclosed spatial potential thanks to outside creators. Szczecin in its own way joined together places that I considered as distant. On one side of the Oder, but for the hill, there was Solny square, not very frequently and willingly used by artists and on the other side Łokietka street, recently perceived as symbolic centre of reviving interventions in Wrocław.

That is why the bicycle was very useful, as well as sun beds, to rest between expeditions.

Poznań (01—03.07) Poznań scattered over the city and forced us to constantly move.

By what means? By an attribute of motion in a huge centre – by city tram, pausing on stops, which became symbolic scenes. Why? To experience differently, more deeply, being “here and now” we need an impulse, which will cause a change to the routine or disturb the rhythm of our pace. “Stop, stare and feel, reflect for a moment”. Evoking precisely that reaction was an intention of creators in dialogue with the city and, at the same time, interfering in our habits. Programme of Poznań seemed to me to be addressed to a passer-by, thus to a random addressee, who was supposed to be dragged into dialogue or a play. Still, the whole project was standing out with its ambition and momentum. Staszica park, squares, backyards, Oratorium Marianum hall – these are the places in which we could spot artists from Poznań.

They risked a lot, because cycle of scattered actions, requiring constant move from the addressees might not have been in favour of any deeper reflection on the city. We can be sure that the diversity of art could be experienced and many artistic traces could be followed this way, but in order to learn more about creators and context of their actions, we should pause for a little longer. On the other hand, I find this

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show to be a forecast for change in thinking about city culture. City culture needs more energy, movement and interaction.

I then wait for more. Like many citizens of Wrocław, I wait for other guests in order for this unique stream of animating the city space and holding a dialogue with “people losing themselves in constant move” not to cease..

Andrzej Jóżwik journalist and publicist, connected with TVP3 Wrocław

13.

ECOC effect Long-term consequences of applying for the title of European Capital of Culture 2016. Research report. 1 Bożena Gierat-Bieroń Paweł Kubicki Joanna Orzechowska-Wacławska Faculty of European Studies, Jagiellonian University I.

Research assumptions and methodology

The aim of research project was the analysis of long-term changes emerged from ECOC competition in Poland in years 2007-2011 both in socio-cultural and institutional sphere. Research assumptions were based on the hypothesis that in case of Poland, the process of applying for ECOC title was carried out in extraordinarily comfortable context stimulating crucial changes in many spheres of city reality. In this particular case, three variables boosting the changes were distinguished.

First variable referred to transforming economic basis for cities.

Polish cities, in which economy was determined according to relationships shaped in industrial era, in the post-industrial age were forced to search for new possibilities of development. In case of many cities, the process of changing looked like a painful passage ritual. Cities like these find themselves in a specific emptiness between two eras. Industry, determining previous economic bases and specifying identity has fallen and workers‘ legacy was perceived as unnecessary ballast in post-transformational reality. Due to peripheral location of Poland, fields of economy of post-ford characteristics could not have been fully developed. Only after the accession to EU, and in particular, the ECOC competition created new possibilities for the formation of new industry of widely understood creative industries, services, tourism, etc., that might potentially constitute new flywheels of cities‘ development.

Second variable pertained to the issue of accession into EU. ECOC competition started in times of exceptional optimist resulting from integration with western structures. To make it simple, it may be said that the end of history was sensed, in a sense given to this term

by Francis Fukuyama 2. Moreover, new, previously unavailable possibilities of development have opened for Polish cities. They concerned financial resources for development of culture and creative industries, both the so called “hard” ones, which permitted creating necessary infrastructure and “soft” ones, which contributed to building social and cultural assets. Participating in EU, leaning on freedom of flow caused Polish cities to be included in European network of exchange and thanks to that they could become innovative spaces.

Third variable concerned socio-cultural change. Polish society, shaped by the impact of rustic and noble values is nowadays becoming an urban society. Every cultural change calls for new narrations, legitimising new identities. Efforts made for the title of ECOC in great part contributed to finding urbanity and started the process of auto reflection, providing new urban narrations. Due to the set research aim respondents were recruited according to two criteria: Institutional social actors responsible for shaping and implementing cultural policies in cities.

In that case, interviews were conducted with

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people directly engaged in preparing ECOC applications, creating competition teams and with people responsible for cultural policies in particular cities (local government officials, workers in local government cultural units).

Opinion leaders, i.e. people shaping dominant interpretative discourse. There were people and institutions creating new city narrations, which become point of reference for actions taken by other social actors. City movement leaders, local media journalists, bloggers were selected for the purpose of research for such understood category of opinion leaders.

Presented division is to be treated only in Weber‘s category of ideal types permitting for analytical classification of phenomena.

For project purposes, research quality method was adopted, using the deepened narration interviews, participants‘ observation and analysis of existing materials, in this case mostly competition applications.

Seven in eleven cities competing for ECOC title were selected for the research: Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin and Wrocław. The choice of that amount of cities has allowed for multidimensional application of a comparative method, giving the possibility of grasping and explaining important regularities. Terrain research lasted from February until August 2016. Sixty deepened interviews were conducted. Interview questionnaire was prepared in a way so as to catch changes in two crucial dimensions: institutional and socio-cultural. In case of institutional dimension questions referred to local cultural policies in particular cities. Their purpose was to analyse the influence of the process of applying for ECOC title on shaping local cultural policies, rationalisation of decision making process, increasing participation practices. The questionnaire was also supposed to present an opinion on the functioning of newly created cultural institutions as well as to analyse the role of these institutions in creating the city creation process. Problem of changes in socio-cultural sphere is visible in many dimensions, thus more space was dedicated to these issues in the questionnaire. In this case questions pertained, above all, to the wide concept of city identity. While taking into account the specificity of Polish context, questions were pertaining mostly to the issues of: reconstruction of city social memory, strengthening social assets and creating new city narrations, influencing the change in city image both among inhabitants and in the outside world. Separate set of questions concerned city networks and the idea of Coalition of Cities.

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Presented research report is a synthetic summary of main thesis included in prepared scientific monograph in which research results are discussed in detail.

1

2

Fukuyama Francis, 1996, Koniec historii, Wydawnictwo Zysk i Spółka, Poznań.

II.

Conclusions from field studies

The course of ECOC competition and its long-term consequences in particular were conditioned by specificity of particular cities. The aim of research project was, above all, grasping general regularities and not the reconstruction of historical process. That is why presented conclusions, coherent with requirements of comparative method, will focus on observed regularities in particular, which pertain to institutional and socio-cultural sphere.

1. Urbanity

ECOC competition played an important and, in case of some cities, key role in the process of shaping local identities and strengthening social assets. Pertaining to this sphere, it may be said that permanent change significantly contributed to strengthening urbanity.

Social change is a difference between state of social system in one moment and state of the same social system in other moment of 3 time . While analysing socio-cultural changes pertaining to urban reality induced by the competition for ECOC title the attention should be drawn to deep civilisation backwardness of Polish cities, both in connection with material aspect of a city and urban sphere. This problem was conditioned by complex factors resulting from long-term processes 4. Establishing then, that in case of Polish cities one of characteristic features was the urbanity deficit, ECOC competition became a mechanism that launched the process of creating urbanity among Polish cities.

Precedent role in case of such understood change was played by teams preparing ECOC competition applications. The way of organising these teams and placing them in specific location in urban institutional system was in great way determined by ECOC effect. The characteristic feature of all researched cities was the fact that teams appointed to preparing ECOC competition applications were functioning out of official structures such as City Halls or local governmental cultural institutions. Most frequently, task teams were appointed from scratch and their aim was to prepare competition application. Poznań was an exception, where preparing the competition application was commissioned to an external PR company. This structural location of ECOC teams had a multitude of advantages permitting for significant changes in socio-cultural city sphere, but also some serious drawbacks, resulting in processes induced by the competition not lasting to create permanent, institutional change. Taking ECOC teams out of official administrative structures made them be perceived, as described

by Victor Turner, as communitas, thus specific gaps in the system in which experiments concerning norms and values are admissible and pressure of fundamental structures is weaker. Thanks to that, communitas create a space where cultural change is being prepared 5.

In case of Polish cities, deep cultural change was taking place throughout ECOC competition. Number of processes such as: EU accession, transformation of economic basis in post-ford economy, shaping new urbanity, development of urban movement, local governmental reform, etc. induced essential changes in socio-cultural space of Polish cities. The problem being, due to historical past, there was no narration legitimising this change. ECOC competition started to fill this emptiness.

One of the most important long-term consequences of applying for ECOC title is a change in perception of citiy by its inhabitants.

Polish cities lacked city narrations, attractive stories, thanks to which emotional relationships of inhabitants with their city would be strengthened. Following the guidelines in application form, cities aspiring to

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ECOC title had to reflect on their own identity. This process took the deep, group introspective character of a search for local genius locus, bringing memory to the cities. ECOC competition enabled the cities to discover their own resources, often hidden behind years of thinking stereotypically.

Conducted research allowed to observe certain regularities considering the process of creating city narrations.

1. The most crutical process of discovering own resources and redefining identity took place in the cities where until the ECOC contest complexes of peripherality had been fought against and/or the stigma of a city was affected by the results of transformation. In Lublin, Łódź and Katowice which went through a painful period of system transformation, the issue of changing the city image witnessed by its inhabitants was one of the most frequently brought up themes during interviews.

2. ECOC contest was becoming a mechanism which creates new narrations, provided however that it was related to the official promotional strategies of a given city. This allowed for institutionalization of ideas and concepts created in the frames of ECOC actions thanks to which the reception increased and, at the same time, the impact on public discourse became greater. In cities where the elaborated narrations did not form part of official promotional strategies they did not gain any institutional frames and thus they did not exist in public discourse. An example of this was Poznań, not to mention Szczecin.

3. Building an image (brand) of a city is one of the more important aspects of the entire ECOC programme. Even if there are justified critical concerns about many of actions of this sort, in Polish case a number of positive features have been observed here. Since the time of Poland’s accession to EU which opened the country to investors and tourists a significant issue for self-governments was local marketing. Cities and towns started to spend large amounts of funds on PR actions and on building brands. Lack of experience in this scope caused, however, that the majority of marketing campaigns was based on hardly innovative forms, detached in most cases from local specificity. Experiences of ECOC contest led to breaking the way of thinking. Energy freed during the efforts to win the contest contributed to discovering local assets. It turned out that the best advertisement of the city was its inhabitants who, by co-creating the city public area create through this a unique and one of its kind city atmosphere. Not the billboard actors but rather ordinary people co-creating culture of the city in their everyday interactions became the best advertisements of their cities. Change of image of the city after ECOC contest was stressed by almost all respondents from all participating cities. However, the most spectacular process of this type took place in cities which so far were perceived as peripheral ones.

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Sztompka Piotr, 2006, Socjologia zmian społecznych, Znak, Kraków.

3

More on this topic: Kubicki Paweł, 2016, Wynajdywanie miejskości.

4

Polska kwestia miejska z perspektywy długiego trwania, Wydawnictwo Nomos, Kraków.

Turner Victor, 2005, Gry społeczne, pola i metafory.

5

Symboliczne działanie w społeczeństwie, Wydawnictwo UJ, Kraków.

4. One of the main threads, observed during research, was the triggering of social relationships which are characteristic for the generation’s experience during the competition of ECOC. Such common generation‘s experience for the majority of respondents was the process of discovering and developing the urbanity of their cities 6. Characteristically, the generational ties were the strongest in those cities which until the ECOC competition had suffered from the urbanity deficit. Generational ties, caused by generational experiences and their effects, have the characteristic of being able to connect such kinds of people, who in other conditions would not have an opportunity to cooperate. In the tested cites different environments, which were dealing with broadly understood culture: clerical, institutional, activist, alternative and off, operated hand in hand next to each other. For a very long time there had been no plane which could connect them and the lack of contacts facilitated creating and strengthening stereotypes. The competition concerning ECOC, by triggering the generational ties has contributed to blurring of symbolical borders and stereotypes, as well as to the “elimination of the entrance thresholds”. An important problem concerning the innovation and creativity in the sphere of institutionalized culture are the so called gatekeepers-they block the influx of new, often non-conformist (creative) individuals. The specificity of locating the teams of ECOC in the sphere of communities and the character of generation‘s ties have caused that the traditional role of gatekeepers has significantly diminished. As a result, ECOC teams were able to attract creative individuals from the environments which so far had been outside the institutional circulation of the urban culture. Thanks to that, such teams turned out to be very efficient institutions, which were creating new urban narrations.

5. One of the ECOC‘S effects was the “reflectiveness” of the traditional institution of self-government culture, which in certain respects can be compared to the auto-pojetive systems 7. One of the characteristic features of such systems was the separation from the outside world and the lack of need for auto-reflection. Such institutions are rather oriented towards the creation and reproduction of the symbolic borders which separate their urban life from the profane of the everyday experiences and interactions from the world of “real”, “high” culture.

The stereotypical division into so called high culture (exclusive, festive) and low culture (plebeian, ordinary) was firmly rooted in the traditional discourse, in terms of which the culture was perceived as peculiar purification ritual. It is well described by the Polish colloquial phrasing “to go and get less boorish” which in casual meaning refers to the participation in culture. Studies on the cultural competences of Poles and their participation in culture, which have been so far conducted, confirm the exclusiveness and alienation of culture from the ordinary life of citizens 8. Such thinking concerning culture had wide-ranging consequences. It stimulated the process of separation of the culture sphere from the urban surroundings, which resulted, among others, in the different choice of variables used in the research concerning cultural practices. The variables often did not capture the actual cultural practices, as the respondents often do not have the awareness that they participate in culture. Referring to Molier’s metaphoric Mr Jourdain, who was not aware that he was speaking in prose, the respondents who fulfil different questionnaires often do not know that they are involved in culture. For example, cites such as Gdańsk, Łódź or Katowice, are famous for outstanding murals which are created on the elevations of common blocks and tenements. The inhabitants of cities coexist with them in their everyday life, but traditionally understood participation in culture would require in such case formal visit in the institutionalized gallery.

A number of processes connected with the

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competition concerning ECOC allowed to change that discourse. On the one hand, the efforts for ECOC were accompanied by the intensive process of auto-diagnosis and auto-reflection in relation to the condition and the role of urban culture. On the other hand, the efforts for ECOC to a large extent – thanks to including into teams artists and managers of alternative and off culture, which seem to escape traditional techniques of measurement- allowed to break the current discourse of thinking about culture as a festive sacrum. As a result, culture started to be perceived also in city-genic categories, the areas of high and everyday cultures started to blend, creating an amalgam of urban culture.

6. One of the features characteristic for strong local identities is the quality and character of the social capital, which allows to mobilize the assets towards the realization of common good. In order to talk about such a phenomenon, first of all, the city itself has to be perceived as a common good. Historically, in Poland there was a problem with that. It was described, among others, in Stefan Nowak‘s 9 classical concept of “social vacuum”, which points out the serious deficit of the social capital and trust. The efforts for ECOC significantly contributed to the breaking of that discourse by stimulating the process of creating the social capital. However, it has to be underlined that the scale of that mobilization in individual cities was different. The biggest social mobilization occurred in those cities which were not at the forefront of various popular rankings and juxtapositions which were supposed to point out the level of development and the quality of life. There, the competition concerning ECOC allowed to discover and raise the status of local assets, breaking the current peripheral discourse.

In most cities running for the project the social capital, created during the competition of ECOC, has been preserved, both in the institutional dimension, as well as outside institutional dimension. On the one hand, in Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin and, understandably, in Wrocław teams and institutions which had been preparing the ECOC‘s competing applications survived in different forms. The model example turned out to be Gdańsk, where the team preparing an application has been renamed The Institute of Urban Culture (IKM). The activity of IKM, mainly directed at strengthening of the local identity, has been universally accepted by the respondents from Gdańsk.

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6

The term generation is understood here in a way given to it by, among others,

Piotr Sztompka, that is as a group of people who have experienced the same, important historical events, have gone through the same situations, reacted to the same events: Sztompka, Piotr, 2005, Socjologia. Analiza społeczeństwa, Znak, Kraków.

7

Por.: Luhmann Niklas, 1996, Social Systems, Stanford University Press.

8

Por.: Praktyki kulturalne Polaków, (red.) Rafał Drozdowski, Barbara Fatyga, Mirosław

Filiciak, Marek Krajewski, Tomasz Szlendak, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK, Toruń 9

Nowak Stefan, 1979, System wartości społeczeństwa polskiego,

(w:) Studia Socjologiczne, nr 4,

The institutionalization of the social capital, such as in case of IKM in Gdańsk, was rather an exception, which does not mean that it has been wasted. Usually it has been manifested through the outside institutional forms, characteristic for the informal actions of social movements. The inhabitants of cities, who thanks to ECOC efforts started to perceive their places of residence in a different way, started to feel as subjects of the processes taking place in the city. The increase of the social activity, which occurred in cities after the year 2011, according to the respondents was significantly connected with the results of the competition concerning ECOC. III. City network

From Competition of Cities to Coalition of Cities

The decisions of taking part in the competition concerning ECOC were accepted during a peculiar time, when different kinds of rankings, serving as a way of helping to measure the development of cities have been especially popular. Such were the beginnings of the Polish competition concerning ECOC, which in memory of many respondents has been inscribed as a metaphorical „cities‘ tournament‖ and rivalry.

In reality, however, the process of applying for ECOC had an opposite effect. Instead of rivalry it brought cooperation. It happened due to the fact that the competition which at the beginning was set on ambitious rivalry, with the passage of time has become the mechanism of netting the cities. The united cooperation and the creation of urban coalition, turns out to be one of the most important, permanent effects of the competition concerning ECOC. The effect of such thinking has become the Coalition of Cities, the framework of which has been already shaped during the competition.

Among the respondents the idea of creating the Coalition of Cities itself met with the common acceptance. However, the issue which remains disputable is the way of its functioning. In that case, the respondents were paying attention to two key issues: the way of funding which would provide the autonomy of actions and the representativeness which would give the legitimization to the individual subjects or individuals to represent the concrete urban centre in the Cities‘ Coalition.

The Coalition of Cities, functioning in the urban dimension of co-operation network, potentially creates series of opportunities, thanks to which the sphere of culture may benefit. The network stimulates the social and cultural diffusion. The relationships in the sphere of ruling are also changing, which is crucial in case of cultural politics in cities. Intense mutual relations in terms of network of cities in a special way contribute to the strengthening of local identities. The process of shaping the identity always requires the relations with partners, who can play the role of metaphorical mirror. In order to discover oneself, appreciate one‘s own assets, there is a need for “the other one” through whose eyes oneself can look at oneself. Such a role is played by the networks, in the frames of which cities “look at one another.” The Coalition has also a chance to become the organization supporting the cities in building the local cultural politics and implementing innovative practices of development.

IV. European dimension

Analysing the European dimension of the competition concerning ECOC two different discourses have to be mentioned. The first of them is a discourse shaped at the time of applying for the name of ECOC (2007-2011). The second one is the one from the period of field studies (February-August 2016).

During applying for ECOC the European thread

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relating to common values and heritage, despite the fact of being one of the key elements for the programme, was pushed into background, which is underlined by s significant number of respondents. This state of affairs has been influenced by three issues.

First of all, the evolution of the competition concerning ECOC itself. Presently ECOC programme is more focused on so called festivalization and promotion of cities than strengthening the European and local identities.

Secondly, in the context of ―the end of history‖- the competition concerning ECOC took place at a time when the Europeanism of Poland in common reception was confirmed once and for all (access to the EU, the dominance of pro-European elites, etc.). The Europeanism as a sphere of values has stopped being interesting, pragmatical skills connected with attracting European funds and promotions have started to be more desirable.

Thirdly, in Poland, after the accession, the language, which is spoken in Europe, has not been shaped as a common social and cultural space but only as the administrative and economic one. As a matter of fact, in the first decade after the accession, the issue of Europe was actually brought almost exclusively to the problem of European funds.

Minerva‘s owl flies out at twilight, the identity becomes „visible‖ (discussed and interpreted), when it turns into a problem. The context, in which the research was conducted (February-August 2016), to a large extent influenced the perception of European dimension of Polish cities.

First of all, it turned out, that the history of Poland was not finished, quite the opposite, it significantly accelerated.

Secondly, in the time when EU, as well as the individual countries which are EU members are tormented by serious interior conflicts, the European funds are pushed into the background and the key place is taken by questions concerning ideas, which can again hold Europe together.

Thirdly, mainly because of the growing in strength urban movements, a new language of debate about European dimension of Polish cities started to enter into public discourse.

In that new context, the respondents often paid attention to the important role of urbanity in the process of Europeanisation. Making some simplification, it can be said that the urbanity has been perceived as a metaphorical anchor, thanks to which Poland, despite different interior processes, is still rooted in the West civilization.

V. The carnival

The competition concerning ECOC, despite contributing to essential changes in the social and cultural sphere of Polish cities, has not become a revolution. It wasn‘t achieved due to the lack of long-term changes in the institutional sphere. In that dimension, the competition concerning ECOC, with a couple of exceptions, rather took the form of a carnival, that is the situation when during a short, festive time the relations in terms of ruling are changed and after a certain amount of time everything comes back o the old, set order. The actions taken up during the competition concerning ECOC often received a special priority and respondents many times underlined that during the competition a distinct quality change in the functioning of offices could be observed.

However, introduced during the competition mechanisms of institutional change, started to crumble after its ending. It turned out, that such changes are more of a task than system nature. In that case, however, we deal with systematic problem and it should be connected not only with ECOC competition. To simplify the problem slightly, three main system causes, which restricted the scope of institutional changes, can be pointed out.

Firstly, the lack of long-term institutional thinking. In the modern era, when the bureaucratic institutions were developing, as a result of not possessing own country and then sovereignty, Polish society did not possess such institutions or/and perceived them as foreign and treated with distrust. As a result, the society was not able to manage the building social capital at grass-roots level in an institutional way of social capital. Short-lasting moments of social mobilization obtained in most cases the features of a carnival the best example of which is a concept which functions in official discourse of “carnival of Solidarity”which describes the largest social movement in the history of Poland which dates back to the beginning of the 80’s of the XXth century.

Secondly, antinomies which are written in the procedures of the competition concerning ECOC. For example, one of its requirements is the social participation, the strengthening of the local social capital.

It assumes the inclusion of as many local environments as possible in the process of creating the application. On the other hand, the competition‘s logic requires for the application to be written according to grant rules, governed by specific rules in case of which broad participation is not recommended. Two extreme examples illustrate that antimony: Wrocław and Łódź. The strength of Łódź‘s candidature was huge social mobilization and participial procedures taken up for the need of writing an application. On the other hand, it turned out to be a serious disadvantage. By setting on the participial practices Łódź application had many authors but no editor in chief, which in a great matter contributed to the fact that Łódź was treated as a “black horse” of the competition and was eliminated after the first stage of it. In Wrocław the process of writing an application proceeded in a different way. After short, required consultation procedures, well-integrated team began the professional work. Wrocław set as a goal an expert work and thanks to that won the competition of ECOC. However, that fact did not mobilize the citizens as strongly as in other cities. Professional works do not evoke social emotions. Łódź, on the other hand, in case of which the application was written in a participial way made many mistakes. However, it evoked much bigger social capital.

Thirdly, at last, the effect of lack of cohesive urban politics in the country dimension10. When Polish cities after the accession to EU were filled with capital and their development was governed mainly by chaos, its effect was uncontrolled suburbanization, that is urban which caused privatization of public spaces, depopulation of city centres, etc. In an obvious way it was not in favour of the development of urban culture, because urban culture does not function as an isolated island, but is strictly connected with an urban system.

The process of applying for ECOC was taking place at a time when Polish cities were investing significant amounts of money in the development of infrastructure which was meant for the cultural institution. On the one hand, big social mobilization which is an effect of efforts under ECOC evoked interest in culture causing that new-built institutions were gaining audience (often the new one). It is illustrated by Central Statistical Office data from the research concerning participation in culture.

The data points out on the distinct change in attendance of people declaring visiting the artistic institutions (theatre, opera, operetta, concert hall) between the research in year 2009 and year 2014 11. As a result of the processes happening in terms of ECOC, the way of running cultural institutions has also been changed into more participial one, opening these institutions “towards the city”. On the other hand, new-built institutions have rarely contributed to the balanced development of the urban tissue. The example of Katowice seems to be the most meaningful here. The city thanks to the competition concerning ECOC is presently going through the real cultural revival, which is noted by all the

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respondents. The problem, however, is the fact that in case of the localization of Katowice cultural sphere, all possible mistakes of the modernism era were made: division into zones (mono-functional districts), car primacy, the extension of multi-lane roads for cars which slit the urban tissue etc. That is why, according to the respondents, newly-built cultural buildings are not becoming the flywheel for the development of the city and are not contributing to the creation of urbanity. Similar situation can be observed in most of the examined cities, however, the key role there is played by the local context.

Except the above mentioned factors resulting from the systemic problems, the conducted research also reveals the dysfunctions of the organization of the competition concerning ECOC 2016 itself.

The most important of them was the fact, that ECOC teams in individual cities functioned outside the official structures of public offices and cultural institutions. That, which has been a chief asset in case of shaping new narrations and social capital, in case of permanent institutional reforms turned out to be a serious flaw. Exceptions apart, the structures of city administration to a small extent took part in the work concerning ECOC; they were not the ones which had been becoming the “learning” institutions. During the competition concerning ECOC mostly the people who were members of ECOC team were learning and building individual social capital. After the dissolution of most ECOC teams the social capital remained with the individuals, not with the institutions.

Despite the above described dysfunctions, the competition concerning ECOC has brought a certain quality change concerning the urban policies in the cultural sphere. In some cities, especially in Lublin, where ECOC teams worked in close cooperation with the City Hall, the changes in the institutional sphere turned out to be more permanent.

It happened to a large extent due to the fact that persons who were involved in works concerning ECOC applications, with time started to become the employees of such structures, which allowed for institutionalized use of energy and creativity, which was triggered during the competition.

What is more, thanks to the competition the local authorities had an opportunity of empirical verification of dependence between culture and the development of the cities. As a result, the culture started to play more and more important role in the official documents outlining the strategy of the development of cities.

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10

Find more on this in: Gądecki Jacek, Kubicki Paweł, Polityki miejskie, (w:) Politeja.

Pismo Wydziału Studiów Międzynarodowych i Politycznych UJ, 27/2014, oraz; Kubicki Paweł, 2016, Wynajdywanie miejskości. Polska kwestia miejska z perspektywy długiego trwania, Wydawnictwo Nomos Kraków.

11

GUS, 2016, Uczestnictwo ludności w kulturze w 2014 roku, http://www.nck.pl/media/

attachments/317440/Uczestnictwo%20ludno%C5%9Bci%20w%20kulturze%20w%20 2014%20r..pdf

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14.

Not only values.

About the practical aspect of cultural change.

The cultural policy continues to cause problems. It is hardly surprising. For many it is an oxymoron- the combination of something pretty and honest with something mean and repellent. Especially when we think about policy written with a small “p” and culture written with a capital “K”. A consequence is a 0 conversation about cultural policy as an agenda- the program of actions, the aim of which is the specific support of culture, and which is often pushed into the background.

How can we constructively talk about concerning us legal limits, formal or financial ones, when we are outraged at the instrumental treatment of culture? How can we implement small changes, when we call for revolution? Partially, the Coalition of Cities- the network of politicians, office workers and supporting them experts, 1 who set their goals really high, try to answer on that confession. One of their aims is modernization of the urban cultural policy.

(Non)cultural policy

It goes without saying that that task is not so easy. And that is not only because it seems to be a utopian wish. It is also important that in the present reality every municipality independently tries to answer the questions concerning the culture itself, as well as the way of its supporting from the office‘s point of view. The exchange of experiences is usually restricted to the circle of office workers who were in contact with each other when they needed a consultation. Meanwhile, the Coalition seems to be prepared for the long process. Not only the challenges connected with the willingness to cooperate and the presence of political will which funds the sense of its existence await somewhere along the line. The list of potential barriers is much longer.

First of all, we are talking here about the culture- the sphere which definitely differs from other fields of urban politics. The uniqueness of that sphere of public life, its unpredictability, the internal wish for autonomy cause that it is rarely as simple as the mathematical equation two plus two is four. And even if it is, due to the persistent conviction that the effectiveness of actions around culture cannot be measured, we never know if a given aim has been reached consciously or accidentally.

Secondly, we still do not know what a good cultural policy really is. The obligation, which is placed on the municipalities by the act on local governments seemingly puts the issue clearly- their own task is “the fulfilment of the collective needs of the community”. The act on organizing and engaging in cultural activity only strengthens the information and claims that it is a “compulsory” task and individuals of the municipal authorities exercise “the patronage on the cultural actions which consists of supporting and promoting the artistic work, education and cultural education, the actions and cultural initiatives, and the protection of historical monuments”. The regulations tell us very little about the way in which that role of the authorities and the responsibility for culture should be realized. That is why, it is hard to realistically verify if the authorities “fulfil the collective needs of the community” in a good way and if the support of education and cultural education reaches the intended effects. The law says nothing about the results. It does not set any goals for the authorities- such as for example providing free access to culture to all persons below 18 years old or creating the system of supporting private book stores which are at the same time local centres of culture. It is so complicated because at the level of defining

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what the cultural policy is, the essential differences emerge. Thanks to DNA of the CITY test: Thanks to the research of DNA of the City: Urban Culture Policy 2015 we know that we have not two, not three, but four different perspectives of perceiving that issue. Most common understanding comprehends culture very administratively- we have assets, which we have to manage. The second way of understanding concentrates on the service and its receivers- the authorities simply have to take care of cultural needs of the inhabitants. Third definition treats culture as an element of building the social bond and shaping the attitudes. Fourth, last kind of thinking about cultural policy in the centres puts the creators of culture in the central spot.

Thirdly, the cultural policy operates on the basis of law- and in case of distribution of public finances we are not only speaking about law frameworks imposed by the act on organizing and engaging in cultural activity or the one addressing museums, but also about the responsibility which results from the discipline of public finances or labour law. We are talking here about very stiff regulations, which not only hinder the adjustment of possibilities to the actual needs of the special, for the standards of administration, culture, but also to enable its fast reaction to the changing ways of participation in culture.

The administration is accustomed to the fact that culture is managed by cultural institutions and non-governmental organizations. The individual creators and animators are noticed only when one wants to sign an agreement with them for a specific commission (here the law concerning public procurement takes its stand), grant a scholarship or award. Of course, other solutions appear- like a group of micro-grant programmes, which embrace also informal groups. But they operate on the verge of law and often thanks to the favourable interpretation of local legal advisor and a lot of effort and considerable financial outlays.

Fourthly, we get accustomed to the fact that culture is important and needed. However, we are often too fast to put the full stop after the word important. From the number of studies we know that Poles generally do not take part in the official culture- the one organized by officials. Due to that fact, the authorities have no ways of supporting the unofficial culture (however, they more and more often acknowledge its presence) and as a result, they cannot include it into their own cultural policies. It complicates the issues even more. How should the municipalities carry out their responsibilities named “the fulfilment of the collective needs of the community” in the field of culture, when the majority of members of community realize their cultural needs somewhere else? Of course, we can refer to additional studies and analyses (we even have to because the above picture of reality is too simplified) but unfortunately, the municipalities do not possess such diagnoses. It may be the reason for the frequent confusion of culture and entertainment.

Is change for the better even possible?

All of this causes conscious cultural policy not only to be questioned, but it also collides with an unbeatable barrier. A vicious circle is created - lack of money, lack of knowledge, lack of courage, lack of involvement or lack of political will. Paradoxically, according to the respondents from the “City DNA” programme, the general assessment of the cultural policy conducted by the largest Polish cities is positive and has improved in the last three years. What is more, it is becoming a standard that issues connected with cultural policy are the object of discussions between the representatives of cultural environments and city authorities, with mediation from both formal and informal institutions. It turns out that it despite objective difficulties we recognize progress in the field of creating cultural policy. Despite it only being

subjective, it seems to be the perfect moment for initiating the process, the effect of which will not only be making the necessary corrections in the most critical issues, but most importantly, determining a good standard in the field of cultural policy.

It is important not to forget the power of the title “European Capital of Culture 2016” and the context related to it. I was part of the group of people who watched the endeavours of eleven Polish cities for the “European Capital of Culture 2016” title. I have seen the birth of the “ECOC effect” and the great mobilization force it carries. That is why, very often I have repeated that the biggest asset of ECOC 2016 is the chance for modernization. Also because it attracted the attention of presidents and councillors, who did not always regard culture as an important aspect of functioning and development of the city and by whom the cultural policy was treated with equal attention with other areas of the city’s policy. It is very important, because as it turns out from our research, the presidents and the city mayors play the most important role in cultural policy. The role of people from outside of the City Office is decreased, e.g. artists and activists, which shows that in general it is the local government that creates the cultural policy and thus has the biggest influence on its modernization.

This is why the activities of the Coalition of Cities hold such significance. Although, for most observers this project is based on a number of presentations, which accentuate the most important and the most characteristic features for Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Łódź, Poznań and Szczecin cultural narrations, flag projects and that, which constitutes the genius loci of individual cities. At the same time, it is one of the most interesting modernizations of local cultural policy projects conducted on the level of local government. Moreover, also due to the fact that the officials and presidents have not been invited to it in the form of listeners, but they are the organizers and experts.

Simple goals have been appointed - reviewing those elements of cultural policy, which generate vagueness and limit the development of culture; selection of collected material and concentrating on issues, which offer hope for making a real and important change for the better; developing a good standard and introducing it in all Coalition cities. In the current year, the creators of the Coalition of Cities have decided that they want to search for good solutions in the four areas concerning new forms of measuring in culture, which allow for the comparison of the effectiveness of cultural activities in Poland; formal and legal issues and the assessment of consequences they bring; new techniques of conducting cultural activities and possible forms of supporting them; and the tools used for programming the cultural offer and researching the needs of the inhabitants.

Agenda of change

Everything that comes across as simple when writing about the Coalition of Cities is in fact a very difficult process. Not only due to the causes described at the beginning of this article, but also due to the presence of various, often opposing interests in culture or different definitions of the tasks of culture supported by public funding or thinking about culture in general. For example, the issue of charging for participating in cultural events organized by public culture institutions.

We have discussed it during one of the numerous draft seminars of “Coalition of Cities”.

As it turns out, there are at least a couple of right answers to the question whether they should be charged or not. We encounter here a number of issues. One of them is related to the economic barrier, which can arise after introducing a commonly charged access to culture.

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The second one arises due to particular strategies of the culture institutions. For some, the income from tickets has a deciding influence on the possibility of development of the institution, for others it has an effect of double financing, in the form of tax and fees during purchasing tickets. The third issue is related to the mentality of the inhabitants, who, being not used to common charging in public cultural institutions may further turn away from the institutions. Any decision regarding this topic will be controversial.

A less controversial, but nonetheless important issue are taxes, in particular related to VAT and the amendment of December 2015 regulations in this field, which takes away from cultural institutions the possibility of retrieving full VAT. This influences not only the decrease of the annual budget of a particular institution, but it also directly influences its offer. This causes an increase in uncertainty, as it induces doubts regarding the interpretation of annual tax reports by local tax chambers and tax offices. It is also a challenge for City Offices, for which stability and functioning of institutions organized by them is important.

In such cases, the Coalition may not only request mutual tax interpretations and create an information exchange system in this field, but also mutually lobby an improvement of unfavourable legal solutions.

A mutual action is also needed in the case of competitions for local directors of cultural institutions. A mutual experience of all of the cities is the appearance of trouble with choosing the best candidate.

The current form of competition does not provide certainty nor the essential clarity of choice. It also discourages some of the potential candidates, which causes a lack of adequately trained staff, especially for less prestigious but locally significant establishments. We have discussed possible changes in the Coalition circle for a long time. It turns out that there is a chance for introducing a new quality to the competitions, while keeping the existing legal regulations in place. There was an idea of the necessity of publicising a compressed conception prepared by each of the candidates, a public discussion concerning the future progress of the cultural institution and an obligatory publication of a detailed programme of the ideas of the winner. If all the members of the Coalition implemented similar solutions, certainly, this would become the source of a new standard in this field. At the same time, this would be one of the elements allowing to differentiate a positive cultural policy from one that is not.

Values versus tools

The choice of issues named above shows that members of the Coalition of Cities concentrate on very practical aspects of cultural policy. This way, they complete the discussion that has been going on for years on the point of contact between politics and culture, in which the loudest topics are the ones concerning obvious censorship or the lack of money. The cancellation of “Golgota Pienie” spectacle or the statement of Prime Minister Giliński, who called for proactive censorship before the première of “Śmierć i Dziewczyna”, demands reaction and discussion. However, these issues do not wear out the topic of cultural policy, which was proved by the last Culture Congress, where a big part of participants, including the one writing these words, avoided like a plague being labelled as anti-PiS party congress.

Rather than separating ourselves from the politicians with a clear, thick line, we need their participation in the form of a substantive discussion about the amendments we must make in the current practice of cultural policy. However, if the conclusions made during the working on “How things are. Map of culture in Poland” are true, then in the next couple of years it will be necessary to face challenges related to not only censorship, but also with e.g. emptying peripheries, exclusion

from the discussion practices other than classic culture practices or the expansion of the range of culture. Without a real debate on these topics and without a discussion about the limitations related to the usage of modern tools, without mutual research facilitating the evaluation of the effectiveness of these particular solutions and finally without the opportunity to apply them, which is guaranteed by the Coalition of Cities, it will be difficult to talk about not only modernization of cultural policies, but also about further development of culture and extending participation in its practice.

Artur Celiński

___________________________________________

Artur Celiński-a fantastic observer of cultural policy and the meaning of culture for development of cities. Promoter of innovations of the management of public policy and introduction of civil dialogue. Political scientist and public life commentator. He conducts training sessions for administration officials from large and medium cities. The originator and coordinator of the idea of City DNA research: Local Cultural Policies. Editor and co-editor of research reports concerning cultural policy of Radomsk, Słupsk, Elbląg, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Jelenia Góra, Katowice and Olsztyn. He collaborated on the making of cultural policy in Gdynia, Łódź, Bydgoszcz and Elbląg. He is the consultant for the Coalition of Cities for Culture programme. The coordinator during the creation process of development strategy of cultural policy in Olsztyn. Vice president of „Res Publica” management board, the director of „City DNA” project and deputy editor-in-chief of „Magazyn Miasta”. Receiver of City of Culture and National Heritage scholarship.

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Forum Koalicji Miast

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15.

Coalition of Cities for Culture Forum A long-term effect of the Coalition of Cities is supposed to be a new quality in cultural project management, hence an important part of the project is think tank, which operates during the whole year of 2016. Think tank is the responsibility of the local government for culture, which enables the exchange of knowledge about the organization of culture in Polish cities and, which searches for new, innovative solutions that will serve the development of culture in local governments.

The group connects (within one network) the creators of cultural life and local government officials from the coalition cities. During debates about problems, which have taken place in each of the coalition cities during the seven editions of Coalition of the Cities for Culture Forum, we have mutually worked out recommendations concerning the possibility of modernizing local cultural policies, the promotion of positive solutions and examples of creating and realizing cultural policy in local governments. Our meetings are just a beginning.

These are the selected and discussed issues and the thesis we have drawn from them, which concern the following areas: I. The effectiveness of actions • the necessity of creating a new standard for research about culture for Poland • introducing an obligation for conducting research as a criterion for building offers for inhabitants.

• the need for mutual establishing of quality and quantity criteria, developed during discussion including the co-creators of the events, recipients, organizations and commune offices • the necessity of supplying each of the cities with financial means for researching the development of culture.

• obligation of publicising results of research II. Needs of recipients • the necessity of creating cultural offer only after familiarizing oneself with its target place of realization and the territorial or ideological groups for which it is meant.

• being open and flexible to the recipients’ reactions and being open to their proposals or direct participation in creating the offers and their co-creation.

• ensuring multifaceted support for leaders of local communities III. Law • the necessity of formulating cultural activities undertaken by physical persons • creating conditions for improving competencies (training, exchange of personal experiences) of the staff taking care of culture in local governments (directors, culture managers and junior staff).

• the necessity of reflecting formal and legal postulates in particular laws

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Comments about the acts: The act on local government - defining the actual role of the organizer (local government) as the supervisor of the institution and what the limits of its autonomy are. The act on public benefit - the necessity of broadening the formal boundaries of administrative expenses, with a goal of extending social trust towards non-governmental organizations, which deal with culture.

The act on public demands - the necessity to change limitations and expansion of the definition of „exclusion”; giving more responsibility to those who commission conduct of cultural activity and also a clear definition of cultural institutions’ autonomy; introduction of work of standards between the director of the institution and the organizer.

The act on VAT- the necessity of altering the free of charge cultural events.

The act on taxing law - the necessity of formalizing the private sector status in the case of it being the donor and creating a possibility of financing cultural activities through business without obligatory marketing. passing laws regulating cultural coordination between an institution and a private person.

IV. Culture in cities • assuming that there is no distinction between high and low culture, but rather a distinction between daily and festive culture • the necessity of regular exchange of experiences, finding new ways of solving similar problems and sharing of knowledge as the best way for creating urban places of beauty • taking into account the strategies for developing local cultural context on every building stage and the diagnosis of existing creative skills in a given city.

• acceptance by cultural institutions of a modern shape, which requires creativity, cooperation and openness to new ideas, creators and recipients.

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16.

Future – cultural network The creation of the Coalition of Cities programme is based on dialogue and requires a long process being in place. It was only an experiment in 2014, when we started the project. We treated the year 2016 as a border, the year 2017 represented hard reality. We are certain that it is necessary to continue the project, because culture is the basis for the autonomy of Poland. We are aware that new techniques are necessary for the offer of culture for the inhabitants to be developing. Dialogue, cooperation, sharing experiences and permission for an experiment serve the creation of reality, which should be accepted by local communities. The members and organizations affiliated with the Coalition of Cities make up an informal network of activists which, thanks to meetings and sharing of experiences, will offer a new sphere of culture after the year 2016.

Secretariat of the Coalition of Cities is conducted by Festival Office Impart 2016.

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Coalition of Cities for Culture is formed by. Thank you sincerely!

Paweł Adamowicz

President of the City of Gdańsk

Gdańsk

Dominika Kawalerowicz

Programming Department Manager

Tomasz Alberski

Chairman, Agencja Komunikacja Plus

Wrocław

ECOC Wrocław 2016

Krzysztof Barczyk

Marshal Office Director

Jadwiga Kimber

Deputy Director in Cultural Department

Marshal Office in Szczecin

City Hall of Szczecin

Szczecin

Marta Bednarska

Promotion Specialist

Jakub Knera

Curator, All Inclusive Collective

Gdańsk

City Culture Institute

Magdalena Komarzeniec

Cultural Department in Łódź

Łódź

Dobrosław Bilski

Deputy Director of Cultural Department

Krzysztof Komorski

Deputy President on Culture, Sport

City Hall of Łódź

and External Relations

Jarosław Broda

Director of Cultural Department in Wrocław Wrocław

City Hall in Lublin

Krzysztof Candrowicz

Director, Łódź Art Center

Łódź

Jerzy Kosałka

Piotr Ceglarek

Sound Office in Katowice

Katowice

Marcin Kostaszuk

Deputy Director of Cultural Department

Artur Celiński

Res Publica, DNA Miasta Foundation

Warszawa

of the City Hall in Poznań

Kaja Cykalewicz

Curator

Szczecin

Rafał Koziński

Project Coordinator-Coalition of Cities

Szczecin Gdańsk Łódź

Wrocław

Lublin Wrocław Poznań

Anna Czekanowicz-Drążewska

City Hall in Gdańsk

Gdańsk

ECOC Wrocław 2016

Wrocław

Agata Dąbska

MiastoHolizm Association

Szczecin

Krzysztof Krot

DINKS Agency

Katowice

Patrycja de la Rosa Jimenez

Legal Advisor

Wrocław

Marcin Krupa

President of the City of Katowice

Katowice

Małgorzata Drozd

Cultural Centre in Lublin

Lublin

Piotr Krzystek

President of the City of Szczecin

Szczecin

Paulina Dufrat

Project Coordinator-Coalition of Cities

Paweł Kubicki

European Sciences Institute UJ

Kraków

ECOC Wrocław 2016

Wrocław

Mateusz Kubik

Publicon

Wrocław

Ksenia Duńska

Cultural Centre in Lublin

Lublin

Tomasz Lisiecki

Deputy Director, President’s Office

Joanna Durkalec

Producer, Institute of Culture

City Hall in Poznań

Poznań

Katowice — The City of Gardens

Katowice

Małgorzata Loeffler

Coordinator, Pinokio Theatre

Łódź

Rafał Dutkiewicz

President of Wrocław

Wrocław

Andrzej Lubiatowski

Polish Metropolies Union

Wrocław

Konrad Dworakowski

Director, Pinokio Theatre

Łódź

Wojciech Luchowski

Producer, Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

Jan Dybała

Sound Office in Katowice

Katowice

Magdalena Łońska

Komunikacja Plus

Wrocław

Agata Etmanowicz

Łódź

Katarzyna Łuczyńska

Specialist on Promotion, Cultural Institute

Maria Fenrych

Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

in Katowice- City of Gardens

Barbara Frydrych

Director of President Office on Culture,

Krzysztof Maj

General Director

City Hall in Gdańsk

Gdańsk

ECOC Wrocław 2016

Wrocław

Sylwester Gałuszka

Curator, All Inclusive Collective

Gdańsk

Kamila Majchrzycka

Deputy Director Pinokio Theatre

Łódź

Olgierd Geblewicz

Marshal of Zachodniopomorskie

Paweł F. Majka

Cięty Język

Wrocław

Voivodeship

Szczecin

Justyna Makowska

Cultural Department Director

Bożena Gierat-Bieroń

Jagiellonian University

Kraków

City Hall in Poznań

Poznań

Karol Gołaj

Cięty Język

Wrocław

Michał Maliszewski

Print and Fresc

Wrocław

Piotr Grzelak

Deputy President of Gdańsk

Andrzej Maszewski

Production Manager

City Hall in Gdańsk

Gdańsk

Cultural Centre Zamek

Grzegorz Hoja

SZTUK i SZUM SZiSZ Association

Wrocław

Maciej Masztalski

Chairman of Management Board

Anna Hryniewiecka

Director, Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

Ad Spectatores Theatre

Wrocław

Konrad Imiela

General Director, Musical Theatre

Magdalena Mendakiewicz

DINKS Agency

Katowice

CAPITOL in Wrocław

Wrocław

Małgorzata Michałowska

Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

Adrian Janisio

Cięty Język

Wrocław

Katarzyna Mieczkowska-Czerniak Director, Lublin Museum in Lublin

Lublin

Paweł Jarodzki

Wrocław

Patrycja Musiał

DINKS Agency

Katowice

Jacek Jaśkowiak

President of the City of Poznań

Poznań

Barbara Niewiadowska-Rubiś

Department Director for Promotion,

Łukasz Kałębasiak

Spokesman

Katowice — The City of Gardens

Tamara Kamińska

Deputy Director, Institute of Culture

Katowice — The City of Gardens

Michał Karapuda

Cultural Department Director

City Hall in Lublin

Lublin

Alicja Karwowska

Specialist on Promotion, Pinokio Theatre

Łódź

Katowice Katowice

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Katowice

Poznań

President’s Office, City Hall of Poznań

Janusz Opryński

Deputy Director

Poznań

Cultural Centre in Lublin

Lublin

Emilia Orzechowska

Curator, All Inclusive Collective

Gdańsk

Joanna Orzechowska-Wacławska Jagiellonian University

Kraków

Paweł Pawiński

Wrocław

Cięty Język

Hanna Zdanowska

President of the City of Łódź

Łódź

Anna Pawłowska

Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

Krzysztof Żuk

President of Lubin

Lublin

Andrzej Pazder

Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

Gabriela Żuk

Programming and Coordination

Monika Petryczko

MiastoHolizm Association

Szczecin

Department Cultural Centre in Lublin

Lublin

Krzysztof Piątkowski

Deputy President of Łódź

Olga Żukowicz

Producer, Pinokio Theatre

Łódź

City Hall of Łódź

Karol Piekarski

Cultural Institution

Katowice — The City of Gardens

Jan Rajpolt

Cultural Centre Zamek

Łódź Katowice Poznań

Beata Ratuszniak

Wrocław

Paweł Romaszkan

Wrocław

Romana Roszak

Project Coordinator-Coalition of Cities

ECOC Wrocław 2016

Wrocław

Julia Różewicz

Wrocław

Wiesława Różewicz

Wrocław

Monika Serafin

Promotion Specialist

City Culture Institute

Gdańsk

Marta Sicińska

Graphic Studio Punkt Widzenia

Łódź

Michał Siciński

Graphic Studio Punkt Widzenia

Łódź

Lidia Sobańska

Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

Jędrzej Solarski

Deputy President

of the City of Poznań

Krzysztof Soska

Deputy President of Szczecin

City Hall of Szczecin

Agata Stankiewicz

Cultural Department Director

City Hall of Szczecin

Zofia Starikiewicz

Deputy Director

Poznań Szczecin Szczecin

Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

Maria Starkowska

Polish Metropolies Union

Wrocław

Edyta Sytniewska

Cultural Department Director

City Hall Katowice

Katowice

Anna Szarycz

Deputy President of Wrocław

Wrocław

Bożena Szota

Cultural Centre Zamek

Poznań

Aleksander Szpecht

Director of Cultural Centre in Lublin

Lublin

Marzena Szuba

Deputy President of Katowice

City Hall Katowice

Katowice

Aleksandra Szymańska

Director of City Culture Institute

Gdańsk

Anna Szynwelska

Nasiono Records

Gdańsk

Dagmara Śmigielska

Director of Cultural Department in Łódź

Łódź

Zuzanna Waltoś

Sound Office in Katowice

Katowice

Joanna Weltrowska

Producer, City Culture Institute

Gdańsk

Graża Wielgus

SZTUKiSZUM SZiSZ Association

Wrocław

Bartosz Więcławski

Producer, Institute of City Culture

Gdańsk

Anna Witkowska

Curator, All Inclusive Collective

Gdańsk

Adam Witkowski

Curator, All Inclusive Collective

Gdańsk

Piotr Zaczkowski

Director of Cultural Institution

Katowice — The City of Gardens

Hubert Zasina

Financial Director, Musical Theatre

CAPITOL in Wrocław

Wrocław

Michał Zastawny

Komunikacja Plus

Wrocław

Katowice

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