Half of November David Felice and Josephine Vassallo visited Utrecht. David is chairman of inter ministerial commission for European Capital of Culture Malta 2018, Josephine Vassallo is personal assistant to the Prime Minister. They were invited by Frits Lintmeijer, alderman for Culture and International Affairs, and a strong supporter of the ambition of Utrecht to candidate for cultural capital.
Two days with a full programme gave the Maltese guests a good introduction to Utrecht. They met the lobby and bidbook team with representatives from the Foundation Treaty of Utrecht (commissioned to do the lobby), the city and the Province of Utrecht. Peter de Haan, Bram Buyze, Renée Heijnen, Thomas Nova en Quinten Peelen informed them about the organisation and process.
Bettina van Santen (Dep. City Development, Monuments and Archaeology) and Mirelle Kolnaar (City Development, Strategy) gave a clear view on the city development and ambitions, and how these are involved in the strategy papers. David and Josephine were surprised that several departments and policy fields are involved in the ECoC-ambition. It shows that Utrecht wants to do the process in an integrated, holistic way.
Visiting the Science Park De Uithof and admiring modern architecture with Han Schraders (city planner), new ideas for cooperation came along. Malta too is working on the development of a science park with university and hospital, and scientists seem to know each other. To be continued.
The same things goes for the redevelopment of the Dutch Water Line and the fortresses in Utrecht being developed as a camping place, information centre, et cetera. Martine Sluijter and Peter Ros already visited their colleagues from Paola in the REPAIR project on military heritage.
After this full programme, with too many meetings and visits to mention all, we were all inspired to work on our cooperation. As the guests stated: 'Visiting Utrecht was a revealing experience both in terms of the Capital of Culture and also to appreciate the quality of Utrecht, that was visible and tangible in so many different ways.'
As said: to be continued.
