Candidate Cities in Romania for 2021

Ministry of Culture kicked off the competition for "European Capital of Culture" for 2021 in Romania

Ministry of Culture, 17 February 2015,Romania

The text announcing the information day for candidate cities in Rumania made a strong reference to Sibiu 2007 as having been a "wonderful experience." Consequently they look forward to writing another success story. The understanding of success is then described in non cultural terms. Explicitly Ionut Vulpescu, Minister of Culture, promised that the "city winner will receive... an entire world and have international exposure for cultural projects that will run with other EU Member States, the candidate countries, potential candidates to the EU and with third countries that are not part the European Union."

As this event runs parallel to Greece, it should be noted that the narrative of success will hardly allow candidate cities to learn out of previous mistakes which have been made. Likewise the European Commission seeks an evaluation according to non cultural benefits. They may be economic, social and even political, but they are not expressed in any way in cultural terms e.g. what will the city do in promoting avant garde theatre in Europe. The reason for this was explained by Sylvain Pasqua of the European Commission, for whenever budgetary talks are held in Brussels, the Commission for Culture finds itself in a weak position as it has not enough numbers to come up with a convincing argument why culture should be funde at all. Consequently most of the talk about European Capitals of Culture refers unfortunately solely to external criteria. Thus another recommendation would be to give at the start for the official candidate campaign to become European Capital of Culture for 2021 in Romania or in Greece a much more critical reflection of the so called 'success model'. Sibiu did achieve some things, but there were likewise many fault lines expressed mainly by an uneven distribution of money and certain infrastructural projects not completed on time. Especially out of the latter experience the European Commission now recommends not to invest too much in buildings lest they will not be finished on time, and even aftrerwards their use may be but very limited i.e. not sustainable.

There is one list made available, but not clear if it contains all the candidate cities:

Timişoara, Iaşi, Cluj Napoca, Craiova, Arad, Oradea, Alba Iulia sau Sfântu-Gheorghe.

Bucureştiul ar putea fi al nouălea, alături de Arad, Timişoara, Alba-Iulia, Cluj-Napoca, Iaşi, Craiova şi Sfântu-Gheorghe.

Clij Napoca

http://www.clujnapoca2021.ro/en/home.html

Timisoara

www.timisoara2021.ro/en

http://timisoara2021.wordpress.com/ for description by Urooj Qureshi an Adventurer & Social Entrepreneur. Born in Pakistan, Urooj has lived most of his life in Ottawa, Canada, a place he calls home. He has travelled to over 35 countries across 4 continents and the list continues to grow rapidly as he is now traveling to meet the people of the world, discover new places, and lend a hand wherever it’s needed.

Follow Urooj’s journey on
www.living-being.com.

Other cities found on the website (26 Oct. 2014)

Brail

http://www.braila2021.ro/

Jassy

Brasov

http://brasovromania.net/2014/07/brasovia-2021-brasovul-vrea-sa-fie-capitala-culturala-europeana-in-2021-crezi-ca-vom-reusi/

while a negative campaign has been started against