Six Slovenian cities and towns applied to be one of the EU’s two Capitals of Culture for 2025, with Ljubljana, Lendava, Nova Gorica, Ptuj, Kranj and Piran all submitting bids at the end of 2019. Last week news came back that all bar Lendava and Kranj had moved forward to the next round.
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Ljubljana, which is in the race with the support of 25 nearby municipalities, has three measurable goals for its cultural programme should it win: raising citizens' satisfaction with the capital’s cultural offering to at least 90%, being listed among the top five cultural and creative cities in Europe by 2026, and building a new cultural identity for the region. However, while winning the title would be a boost to the city, even if it’s not named then Mayor Zoran Janković has said the various projects will still go ahead projects . You can see a PDF outlining details of the bid here.
Nova Gorica has entered a joint bud with its Italian neighbour, Gorizia, with the project seen as way for the twin cities – “divided by wars, but untied by friendship and intense cooperation” – to further strengthen cross-border collaboration (something the committee that chooses the Capital of Culture is known to favour). More details on this bid can be found here.
Another cross-border bid, and one with a cross-border name, Piran-Pirano 4 Istria 2025. This brings together Piran, Koper, Izola and Ankaran on the Slovenian side, Trieste and Muggia in Italy, as well as Croatia's Istria County and the coastal town of Opatija. A solid three-country entry, with more details here.
The fourth Slovenian town (or, as it turns out for all entries, region) to go through to the next round is Ptuj, with support from 20 municipalities. The oldest city in Slovenia is basing it’s bid on promoting its cultural heritage, and improving the presentation of its cultural offering and the reaping the benefits in developmental terms, for both urban and rural areas. Details can be found here.
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The Slovenian winner of the title European Capital of Culture 2025 will be announced in December and joined by one from Germany, with the shortlisted cities for that being Chemnitz, Hannover, Hildesheim, Magdeburg, and Nürnberg.
