ABSTRACT
The European City of Culture programme has become the highest profile European Union-sponsored cultural event and, more generally, an important part of the international artistic calendar. The original idea was that each of the member states of the European Community (as the grouping was known until 1992), would take it in turns to host an annual arts festival. It was then the responsibility of the state in question to nominate a city to stage the event. This chapter examines the origins and evolution of this idea from the first City of Culture festival in Athens in 1985 through to Weimar in 1999. We see how the festival has grown from a modest affair lasting a few months to a year-long event that is now embedded into the wider cultural schedule of the European Union. In doing so, we show how organising cities gradually began to recognise the festival’s wider potential, in particular finding it amenable for use as part of urban planning strategies.
