A program of residences for creatives and a new concert hall are among the projects that Timișoara is planning after the end of its European Capital of Culture program, mayor Dominic Fritz announced.

Timișoara will see additional projects that take the story of the European Capital of Culture further, and large-scale events will continue, he said.

“We will continue to make the story of Timișoara and Banat known in Europe and the world. For this, we will follow up with a legacy program funded by the Culture Ministry with RON 7 million. In the first phase, we will continue to fund certain events that take the story of the European Capital of Culture further. We will continue many of this year’s large-scale events; one idea is to involve the cultural actors in the city during one weekend at the city celebration.”

The European Capital of Culture program also highlighted the areas where further investment is needed, the mayor explained, pointing to the need for a new concert hall in the city. For this, the city will launch an international architecture competition early next year.

“It is clear that the European Capital of Culture year also showed us where we need to invest further; a minus in Timișoara currently is that we do not have a good concert hall. The philharmonic is actually a former cinema hall, and it is not necessarily good in the long term for large-scale concerts. We have seen this when the Orchestre National de France was here. This is why I strongly believe that Timișoara needs a new concert hall. We will launch an international architecture competition for a new concert hall in Piața 700 at the beginning of next year. Although it is not necessarily related to the Capital of Culture program, I am certain it will be an important legacy of the program,” Fritz said.

At the same time, another proposal is to have a program of residences for local and European creatives.

“We would like to continue something that worked really well, namely this idea to reach out to artists and creatives, and not only; this is why we will strengthen our residences program. I will propose to the Local Council to grant EUR 1 million yearly for this to attract creatives from Romania and Europe to Timișoara. With this, we can also set a counter-narrative, if you like, to this story that everyone leaves Romania. No, not everyone leaves Romania, and a city like Timișoara manages to attract creatives from the country and Europe,” he argued.

During the multi-annual program, more than EUR 20 million have been provided by the three funders of the European Capital of Culture program, including this year, the mayor said.

“Although probably the question on everyone’s mind is how much was invested in this capital, I would like to point out that the program was a multi-annual one, and more than EUR 20 million were invested by the three backers throughout the duration of the project, including this year. In what concerns the Timișoara City Hall, this year, the budget for all cultural institutions and the Center for Projects, without the separate investments, amounted to close to EUR 30 million, RON 145 million. Of this sum, half was for this year of Capital of Culture, but culture in Timișoara is funded consistently anyway,” he explained.

“More than 50 companies joined the cultural program and closed partnerships with the Timișoara European Capital of Culture Association in 2023. They contributed more than RON 20 million.”

The city is officially ending its European Capital of Culture program this weekend, with a series of events grouped under the headline Never-ending Timișoara. The weekend program includes concerts from Jessie J, Katie Melua, Roisin Murphy, and José González, exhibitions, and various other performances, among others. The complete program is available here.

(Photo courtesy of Timișoara 2023)

simona@romania-insider.com