In recent weeks, the #Jerez2031 European Capital of Culture bid has intensified its strategy of contacts and exchanges with cultural institutions from different countries to further define the international dimension of its project. Within this context, the agenda of meetings recently held by Antonio Javier González, a cultural programming expert from the #Jerez2031 Technical Office and a researcher at the University of Cádiz, with various cultural, academic, and scientific entities in Norway, is framed. The aim is to study the legacy of Bergen 2000, Stavanger 2008, and Bodø 2024.
The work agenda began with a technical visit to Bergen and its University, which led to the inclusion of the prestigious Center for Digital Narrative at this university as a partner in the bid. On the second day, the work agenda in Norway also included a meeting with Jacob Christian Jessen, head of the Department at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
On the third day, González Rueda led a symposium to a group of social science professors from Nord University on the Levanger campus (Norway). At the meeting, he shared with the attendees the general guidelines of the #Jerez2031 candidacy, with a view to incorporating Nord University as a partner in the bid for programs related to the integration of marginalized and rural communities, where this campus is particularly innovative.
On the fourth day, a working session was held with the BODØ2024 management team in the Norwegian city that launched its program as European Capital of Culture last year. The meeting was also attended by Henrik Sand Dagfinrud (Program Director) and Jacob Normann (General Director), both from the Bodø Capital of Culture Office.
On the fifth and final day of the visit, a workshop was also held with the Nord University team, led by Professor Anatoli Bourmistrov, who led the evaluation and analysis process of the impacts of the 2024 European Capital of Culture award on the northern Norwegian city. This is a comprehensive team from the Faculty of Economics at Nord University that has undertaken this task through the innovative Monitor2024 project.
This work agenda, developed in Norway, is part of an Erasmus+ mobility program financed by European funds and the University of Cádiz’s own funds and the European University of the Seas (SEA-EU) alliance.