At 12 December the Ministry of Culture sent out the official call for Dutch candidates with the ambition to become Cultural Capital of Europe in 2018. The perfect date for SICA (Dutch Centre for International Cultural Activities) to organise an EUROPE DAY on which Henk Heikamp announced the start of the competition on behalf of the Ministry. Delegations from various cities were present. The City of Utrecht was represented by Han Bakker, Bram Buijze, Thomas Nova and Gertrud van Dam.
On the programme were speeches by Neil Peterson and Beatriz García telling about the Liverpools' experiences as ECoC 2018. Liverpool is a good example of a bid that had a big support from the city. In the final programme many citizens were involved, for example in Creative Neighbourhoods and Volunteer Exchanges. Neil and Beatriz also gave a report on the impact on cultural capital, the theme of the day.
Off course Utrecht is already working hard on the bidbook. The first draft is expected 1 November 2012, so there's work to be down. As someone said: 'The heat is on'!
