Turku 2011 Background

Nomination

Turku was selected as the Finnish candidate for the European Capital of Culture during the summer of 2006. Other Finnish applicant cities were Tampere, Lahti, Mänttä, Jyväskylä, Oulu and Rovaniemi. In November 2007 in Brussels, the EU Cultural Ministry Council officially appointed Turku and Tallinn as the 2011 European Capitals of Culture. The nomination culminated the extensive application process that had started in 2001 already.

Open project application

In early 2008, Turku launched an extensively wide, open project application phase that resulted in 1,006 different project proposals. Every three out of four projects in the final Turku 2011 programme come from the open project application. This is a record number in the history of the Capitals of Culture and reflects the open foundation and wide participation of the Turku 2011 process.

Values and goals

The values for Turku Capital of Culture 2011 are cooperation, being European, open-mindedness, experiential participation, accessibility and responsibility. The main goals are internationality, creative economy and well-being. As a whole, the programme realises and fulfils these goals and values. All activities aim at creating long-term impacts. Turku 2011 is more than a year; it is a process.

Programme

The Capital of Culture year includes 5000 events and 155 projects realised by thousands of contributors and 200 volunteers. The Turku 2011 programme is encounters between various subjects, points of view, domains and individuals. The Capital of Culture will be built in cooperation and it will give rise to new kinds of methods of working together. The Turku 2011 programme is expected to reach an audience of nearly 2 million.

Contributors

Contributors include common Turku residents and local culture professionals and experts in other domains; the best talents Finland has to offer complemented with international expertise. Programme contributors come from over 50 different nations worldwide. Implementation of the Capital of Culture year is the responsibility of Turku 2011 Foundation commissioned by the City of Turku. The task of the Foundation is to coordinate and partially fund projects selected for the programme.

Legacy

The Turku Capital of Culture year will provide Europe with a legacy of, for example, models on how culture and science can increase well-being and how they can cooperate in new ways. Locally, the year 2011 will make the city more welcoming and strengthen the regional cultural life and expertise.

Budget

The budget for the Capital of Culture year is EUR 50 million. The budget consists of three main parts: City of Turku provides 18 million euros, the state of Finland 18 million euros and other funding sums up to 14 million euros. Other funding consists of the entire financials for the Turku 2011 programme including ticket sales, corporate cooperation, funding by other municipalities and the province and funding from EU programmes, foundations and funds. The entire final income financing for Turku 2011 will only be available after the Capital of Culture year, when the actual financial figures are available.