Rijeka is one of the two European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) in 2020, and they want to boost the population of 27 neighbourhoods. But if we look at Aarhus, the ECoC in 2017, that may prove to be a difficult task.
By Johanne Jedig Wejse
27 cities, islands and municipalities surrounding Rijeka are the focus of the upcoming European Capital of Culture (ECoC) in Rijeka in 2020. The decreasing populations in many of the 27 ‘neighbourhoods’, as they’re called, is an issue that Rijeka is hoping to solve by being the ECoC in 2020.
In 2017, it was Aarhus that had a similar idea. The 2017 ECoC chose the brand ‘Welcome Future’ for their year of culture, and the plan was to boost the 19 municipalities of the Central Danish Region – 10 of which are considered small municipalities, with less than 50.000 inhabitants – by utilizing culture to boost the brand of the municipalities and hereby increasing the population.
But this wasn’t as easy as it may sound. Although most municipalities had several cultural arrangements, there is nothing that suggests that this helped in any other way than the cultural activities.
Roger Buch, a municipal researcher based at the Danish School of Media and Journalism, says:
“I don’t think the municipalities in the Central Danish Region has received any benefits besides the specific cultural activities. There is no research that suggests otherwise.”
He explains that culture isn’t high on the list when someone is choosing what municipality to settle down in:
“An increase in population is based around infrastructure, educational possibilities and the large companies’ headquarters. Cultural activities, however interesting and entertaining, can’t change this or boost population.”
While nothing suggests that Aarhus being the ECoC has helped boost the population in the municipalities besides Aarhus, Lene Øster, Chief Consultant of Culture in Aarhus Municipality, doesn’t agree that the only benefits were the specific cultural activities:
“We believe that all municipalities received great benefits, like great skill development, close partnership and tourism,” says Lene Øster, Chief Consultant of Culture in Aarhus.
Return of investment
All municipalities in the Central Danish Region contributed to a financial fund called Fonden Aarhus 2017, which also received funding from private funds, the European Union, private companies etc. In turn, Fonden Aarhus 2017 funded cultural activities all across the Central Danish Region. This flow of money has since been measured by COWI in a report on the return of investment for the municipalities; meaning, how much did the municipalities get in return for their contributions to the fund.
Struer Municipality, one of the 10 smallest municipalities in Central Denmark Region, was the one with the largest return of investment, receiving 333% back of their investment in the financial fund Fonden Aarhus 2017.
This pleases Lars Møller Pedersen, who is the President of the Committee on Culture in Struer:
“Our investment has proved itself extremely valuable, which I am very happy about, because we worked very hard. We used Struer being part of the ECoC as a lever for our brand as the city of sound, which proved to be successful,” says Lars Møller Pedersen.
However, Lars believes that the large return of investment was more a result of the hard work by everyone involved in the municipality, than the intermunicipal partnership.
“The vision for Aarhus2017 was a strong intermunicipal partnership, but at least in Struer, most of the activity was inside the municipal border, and we definitely needed a stronger partnership and cooperation,” says Lars Møller Pedersen, President of the Committee on Culture in Struer.
This is not something that Lene Øster, Chief Consultant of Culture in Aarhus, can recognize:
“We have chosen to continue working together on culture across the region, and I think that is a strong indicator that the partnership has been a success,” says Lene Øster.
In Favrskov Municipality, another of the 10 smallest municipalities in Central Danish Region, located north-east of Aarhus, the President of the Committee on Culture is also satisfied with the partnership:
“We had a great partnership, our representative in the secretariat of Fonden Aarhus 2017 was listened to and included, so I am pleased,” says Steen Thomasen, President of the Committee on Culture in Favrskov Municipality.
Know your size and place
A strong criticism of the partnership when Aarhus was the ECoC in 2017 has been that it was promised that all 19 municipalities would receive great benefits and improve the familiarity, both nationally and internationally – when in reality, Aarhus probably got most of the mention and benefits.
Roger Buch, municipal researcher at the Danish School of Media and Journalism, says:
“Even though this was meant as a partnership, Aarhus ended up with most of the benefits from being the European Capital of Culture in 2017.”
But according to Riber Hog Antonsen, the President of the Committee on Culture in Syddjurs Municipality, this is a truth with modifications:
“It can be difficult to be the small one in a partnership such as this, but we had to accept that Aarhus is the big one, and that Aarhus would have the most to say. But if you know your size and place in a partnership such as this, you can know how to set strategic, realistic goals,” says Riber Hog Antonsen, and adds: “We did, and we completed our goals, which is probably why we had such a great return of investment.”
The return of investment for Syddjurs Municipality was 212%.
