The programme of Plovdiv European Capital of Culture
We firmly believe that the similarities between us – whether among the different groups in Plovdiv, or the different cultures in Europe – are more than the features that separate us. And all our differences are actually the spices in our cultural and social life, which make it so amazing to live… Together.
The programme of Plovdiv European Capital of Culture is structured in four thematic platforms, linked to the typical features of our city, its cultural heritage, history, the rhythm of life, as well as to the problems and the stereotypes which we would like to overcome. The basic meaning and key for understanding the whole programme, the ideas of the different platforms and their inner logic is the motto “Together”. Clear and universal this motto summarizes in one word both the pride and the greatest challenges of our project.
The unification has enormous historical and cultural meaning for Plovdiv as a city in which coexist wide variety of ethnic groups and communities and in which had taken place one of the most important events in the new history of the country – The Unification of Bulgaria /1885/.
The unification not as a given label but as a constant conscious choice is also one of the core aims of the programme of Plovdiv as European Capital of Culture. That is why its structure is also specific. The projects are organised in the programme, not according to their types or genres, but in thematic „clusters“ based on their themes and concepts. Each of the programme platforms comprises of three “clusters”. All projects, despite their cluster division, are connected and intermingled with each other also through their audiences, the locations where they take place, participants, partners etc. Thus they contribute to the implementation of the programme as a whole and to the meaning of the motto “Together” as a real cultural process.
Check our programme highlights HERE, as well as the public events in February, March, April; May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
Find also our LEGACY projects for 2020/2021 and 2021/2022.
Read the Legacy of Volunteers here.
Check all projects in 2019 – Book of Events– A year and more than 320 projects #together, selected in open calls in accordance with the Bid Book, have been sorted chronologically and thematically into four programme platforms – Fuse, Transform, Revive, and Relax.
The European Capital of Culture project mobilizes a lot of energy in Plovdiv, shifts the heavy cultural layers, breaks down the good and the bad, and brings to light the problems and the great cultural contributions.
Its realization as a responsibility and meaning is a turning point not only for the thousands of artists and representatives of the cultural scene who became involved but also for the social climate in the city as a whole, for the new concept of urban space built through the means of art and the vastly expanded horizon for the understanding of culture.
The project itself realizes as a kind of artistic census, a long and complex process, which reaches in different forms to each of the residents of Plovdiv, including to very remote points in the South Central region of Bulgaria and leaves considerable memories and new experiences for many.
Svetlana Kuyumdzhieva, PhD, Artistic Director, Plovdiv 2019 Foundation
