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Kiev aspires to get the prestigious title of the European cultural capital 2010. The Kiev City Administration prepared and sent the application to the European Institution at the end of 2005. The initiative was also supported by the Cabinet Council of Ukraine.
For those unfamiliar with the European Cultural Capital designation, it is an appellation given annually to a particular European Union city. The first Cultural Capital of Europe was Athens in 1985. It was the initiative of the late Greek Minister of Culture of Greece Melina Mercouri, which evolved into a leading cultural institution for Europe.
As the Cultural Capital of Europe a city hosts a continuous wealth of International artistic activities of all kinds (music, dance, theater, painting, photography, cinema, design, comics, multimedia, sculpture, street art, etc.). So if Kiev wins the title, it will enable the city to develop its cultural life, improve its collaboration with other European cities and attract a lot of tourists.
The capital of Ukraine has good experience in organization and realization of the international projects, notably 50th Song Competition “Eurovision” and annual organization of the “European city” in the center of Kiev in collaboration with all embassies of the EU member-states. In 2005 Kiev received the title of “European region of the year”, which was won in competition with 20 European cities. Presentation of the projects will take place in the beginning of March. The independent jury will make a report and send it to the European Parliament for discussion. As the final stage, the EU Council of Ministers will make a final decision which of the city(ies) get the title of “European Cultural Capital 2010”.
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