1. Leeuwarden-Friesland European Capital of Culture 2018
Do have experience of working in the arts in rural areas - Ireland & Romania
What is the iconic image of Firesland?

2. Where and what is Friesland?
Surface Area = km²
- Land = km²
78,2% agricultural
5,2% built-up
Population =
live in Leeuwarden
193 people per km²
Industry: agricultural,
dairy products, tourism
Almost 50% of Friesland is under sea-level.

3. Unemployment higher than the national average
Young people moving away
Businesses moving away
60% of children in Leeuwarden live below the Dutch poverty line.

4. Criss-Crossing Communities Iepen Mienskip
Lwd2018 connects different kinds of communities with each other.
Hence our slogan - Criss-Crossing Communities.
African visit to Friesland
Perceptions. We think we share common understandings. We don’t.
Iepen is the Frisian word for ‘open’.
Mienskip represents our sense of community.

5. Why City & Countryside?
Actively engage citizens
= revitalising interest in politics & urgent issues of today.
New ways of citizen participation.
Cultural, economic, social and ecological challenges.
Seek new solutions in the fields of ecology, diversity and the relationship between city and countryside.
Actively engage citizens.
Connection, interaction, dialogue.
Large-scale cultural intervention to fuel new approaches.

6. 25 churches, 25 villages, 25 communities
Under the Tower
25 churches, 25 villages, 25 communities

7. Under the Tower Ûnder de Toer The story of the church & the community.
Grote Kerk in Leeuwarden.
25 different churches throughout Friesland.
Visitor journey & community journey.
How do we work with & engage local communties?
Church & community - their story told through a local artist.
Potential involvement at many levels.

8. Feel the Night Celebrating - and campaigning for - the night sky.
Policy & culture

9. Feel the Night I Land: The island of Tryhûs
An island dedicated to the night sky;
Installation performance throughout the summer nights in 2018;
Long-term cultural & educational facility;
Night-sky & ecology tourism facility for the Alde Feanen National Park;
Night Gardens, Night Walks;
Policy influencer, awareness raiser.
How do we work with & engage local communities?
Extend National Park.
9 villages – already working with them.

10. Leeuwarden-Friesland European Capital of Culture 2018
Landscape as a fertile ground for culture.
International Oerol location theatre festival etc.,
Long- standing tradition in cultural landscape projects, environmental art and land art.
Chemistry between art and place.
Site specific.
The cities and their surrounding countryside are our theatre.
Transformation in the environment & within the landscape.
Influencer on social and urban agendas.
Show the arts & artists playing a central role in society.
Working together across diverse communities.
Future focused.

11. What are conditions for a sustainable programme?
The most difficult – and important – question asked.
What’s the point of projects such as Lwd2018 if there is no sustainability & legacy?

12. Legacy & Sustainability
5Es Europe, Entrepreneurship, Empowerment, Ecology, Experience
Cultural access and participation;
Economy & Tourism;
Cultural vibrancy & sustainability;
Image & Perception;
Medium & Long-term effects in governance & delivery.

13. The Sustainable Development Goals, otherwise known as the Global Goals, build on the Millennium Development Goals, 8 anti-poverty targets that the world committed to achieving by 2015.
Link to global policy, then already have a political and social mandate that has been endorsed and must have governmental (regional/national) support.
How do they work for us?

14. The Glocal Goals Link a global goal on a local level.
Legacy at the heart of each project.

15. Leeuwarden-Friesland European Capital of Culture 2018 Iepen Mienskip =
1) Working towards shared common understandings.
2) Cultural intervention fueling new approaches to the problems our rural communities face today.
3) New ways of citizen participation.
Innovation in context

16. Coming together is a BEGINNING
Keeping together is PROGRESS
Working together is SUCCESS
Henry Ford

17. Leeuwarden-Friesland European Capital of Culture 2018