Cities of culture

In Chapter 5 I investigated the definition and critical evaluation of the cultural sector. In this chapter I turn to the specific case of European Cities of Culture to see how the sector is mediated by transnational political agendas and the interests of specific cities. I set out the European Commission’s policy for cultural cities, noting past and future cases and some of the issues raised. I then look at Glasgow (City of Culture in 1990) and Bergen (one of nine cities selected for 2000), noting issues of ownership and sustainability. Finally, I compare the programme’s aims with those of a UNESCO report, ‘Our Creative Diversity’ (1996), which sees cultural provision as a means to empowerment. Given the focus on institutional structures in the main text of this chapter, case studies are used to expand its scope. I quote from a narrative of cultural work within the struggle for national liberation in Eritrea in the 1980s by Amrit Wilson; and an account of the cultural milieu of Singapore by Serene Tan and Brenda S. A. Yeoh in which the authors observe the role of fictional narratives in culturally led aspirations to cosmopolitanism. Then, coming back to a European City of Culture but to a recent artist-initiated project, I illustrate a spoof street sign in Weimar by Portuguese-Brazilian artist Daniela Brasil, exhorting citizens to kiss.