Thirty years ago, Jack Lang and Mélina Mercouri, the first, French minister of culture, the second, Greek minister of culture, launched the idea of European capitals of culture. They saw it as an excellent way to bring the populations of the European Union closer together. This title is awarded for one year to two European cities, one representing the first associated countries in Europe, the other symbol of a country which subsequently joined it. This year this honor goes to Mons in Belgium and Plzen in the Czech Republic.
European Capital of Culture is a prestigious, highly sought-after title, awarded by a European jury based on rigorous and precise criteria. Once named European Capital of Culture on the basis of a cultural program, the city is responsible for implementing the event throughout the year.
Why not Mons?
Lille was European Capital of Culture in 2004, Marseille in 2013, large metropolises. Faced with Lille’s success, a fine example 75km from it, Mons in Belgium, former capital of Hainaut in Wallonia, said to itself: “Why not me? “. Certainly, then as today, it only had 90,000 inhabitants, but it belonged to an agglomeration of 250,000 inhabitants made up of friendly towns.
Elio Di Rupo, its socialist mayor, its mayor, they say in Belgium, has taken the plunge. “We wanted to demonstrate that a medium-sized city can host an event like this. Otherwise everything would happen in Brussels or Paris. It is also necessary that smaller cities be able to exist”he explained, on January 24, after presiding over the great inaugural celebration
Political will and a team
“I started from the principle that, whatever the position you occupy, you have to think ten years in advance. We applied and started to capitalize budgets. 250,000 euros per year, or 2.6 euros per year per Montois », he explains. In order to prepare his city and the file to be put together, he surrounded himself with a strong team who would work with him on this project for a decade. The crisis and depression push him to move forward. “ I knew that by giving us this goal, I was pulling everything up. We created a dynamic “, he said in retrospect, very satisfied.
Elio Di Rupo builds his approach on a guiding idea: that culture meets technologies and that they work together. Also, he entrusted the artistic direction of Mons 2015 to Yves Vasseur, a Montois, former journalist, former manager of the Manège in Maubeuge and talented comic book scriptwriter for the designer Claude Renard. He attributes digital technology to Pascal Keizer, also from Montois close to Olivier Py in Avignon, a computer scientist very involved in theater. This is the bearer of a digital project designed to develop cultural initiatives. “ We must go beyond the notion of culture as traditionally understood to reach pedagogy in secondary and professional education. For this, digital is fundamental. It opens up culture, particularly among 15-30 year olds », he keeps insisting.
Metamorphosis
The team thus formed sets up “Technocité” a structure which trains 5,000 people per year in digital technology at several levels and complements the Digital Innovation Valley, a brand new district outside the city which offers hundreds of jobs in digital sectors. Alerted Google, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and other high-tech companies have set up shop there. A city of universities, Mons now offers local opportunities to its young graduates. They settle down and think less about leaving to pursue a career in Brussels, 40 minutes by train. They return after stays abroad.
The city brings together partners, nearby towns and 780 sponsor companies around its project. It has a budget of 40 million euros. It obtains authorization from Europe to be European Capital of Culture 2015. Little by little it is equipped with new infrastructures commensurate with its size. Nothing pharaonic but a real quality metamorphosis. It has a Congress Center, the only one in Wallonia, whose architect is Daniel Libeskind, from whom the new World Trade Center was also commissioned in New York. It transforms and expands its station, which becomes a link between the well-preserved historic center and the new business district. The architect is Santiago Calatrava who built the Europe Bridge in Orléans.
Culture for all
It still remained to involve the population in this enterprise and make them proud of the adventure, its past and its heritage, its customs and its traditions. 300 cultural events are spread throughout the year, often corresponding to the major events which traditionally punctuate the local calendar. “ Over a year, you need breathing space. Two to three major exhibitions are needed at all times in Mons and the surrounding area. The subjects of interest must be distributed from month to month. We must occupy the city. This was the lesson of Lille 2004, which had not been done again since, especially not in Marseille. Our city is therefore a program actor », says Yves Vasseur, the project manager with his team
Van Gogh super star
It’s impossible to list everything as the spectrum is so wide and varied. However, we cannot ignore the Van Gogh retrospective. She is the star of the Museum of Fine Arts (BAM). It houses a unique exhibition dedicated to the immense artist’s stay in the Borinage, the mining countryside around Mons, from 1878 to 1880, a period when he established himself as a painter and produced his first works.
The inaugural festival, on January 24, completely free, took place from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. with around twenty artistic and festive interventions in the streets and squares. Lights, fires, music and dances. 100,000 people found themselves there without the slightest incident. 250 journalists from all over the world (Chinese, Californians, Canadians, Japanese and all of Europe) traveled there. Belgium only had eyes for the Walloon city.
2015 will be a fabulous year for Mons, for its tourism, for its entire economy. The effect of Mons 2015 should not end on December 31 but extend well beyond that. “ I am convinced of it”, said Elio Di Rupo, “I want Lille as an example. Twenty years ago, no one outside of Lille went to Lille. Today, there are 40,000 to 50,000 people in businesses. If we had done nothing we would have been forgotten.”
Would Bourges, Chartres, Orléans, Tours, Blois not want to follow the example of Mons? They are medium-sized towns which suffer from the proximity and attractiveness of Paris. Capital of culture, why not? One or other of these medium-sized cities could think about it. This idea could start to gain ground. There’s no rush. Countries can advance candidate cities in turn and following an already known schedule. French cities will be authorized to apply in 2028. However, Mons has been preparing its great success, which resembles a renaissance, for ten years….
Françoise Cariès*
*Françoise Cariès died on May 14, 2022
Also read: Bourges European Capital of Culture 2028: an evolution, no, a revolution!
