At the end of the most special year for Plovdiv, international cultural experts are visiting the city to discuss the criteria for success and assessment of the initiative European Capital of Culture at international level. The main topic of the international meeting, jointly organized by Plovdiv 2019 Foundation and Goethe Institute Bulgaria is “Looking Back & Thinking Forward”.

On 22nd and 23rd November in the event will participate Jiri Suchanek, member of the International Selection of the ECoCs Jury and former CEO of Pilsen 2015, Dr. Ulrich Fuchs, a member of the Monitoring Jury of the European Commission in charge of Plovdiv monitoring and Artistic Director of Marseille-Provence 2013, Neil Peterson of the Liverpool 2008 team, and representatives of Paphos 2017, Matera 2019, Eleusis 2021, Galway 2020, members of the EUNIC Cultural Network (British Council, Polish Institute, Romanian Institute, Goethe Institute).

A series of public meetings and presentations will be held in the conference room of the new 2019 Exhibition Hall, during which will be presented the expert position on the large-scale European project. The key topics are the criteria for assessing success, the challenges before the capitals of culture in South-East Europe, international interactions and projects, citizen involvement and project communication.

The international meeting is just the first step in the debate for the achievements and the legacy of the initiative European Capital of Culture – a topic that will be relevant not only today but will accumulate significance in the future years to come.

The Forum also has a closed working session, which results will be presented again to the broad public.

Representatives of the cultural sector and the media are invited to attend and ask their questions, as well as to participate in the discussion.

A detailed meeting programme can be found HERE.