Rules and designation stages

The Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Bogdan Zdrojewski, has officially opened the European Capital of Culture 2016 competition. During a press conference, that took place November 9th 2009 in Warsaw, the minister not only answered questions asked by journalists but also presented the timetable for cities taking part in the competition.

All cities, including Toruń, need to present their applications by August 31st 2010. After that a committee made of thirteen experts will choose two, three our four most prepared candidates. This short list will be published at the beginning of 2011.

After that chosen cities have time to make adjustments to their applications. After experts check them again, at the end of 2011, one official candidate will be chosen.

Keep your fingers crossed for Toruń!

Designation stages

• 4th term of 2009 - The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage opens the European Capital of Culture competition
• 3rd term of 2010 – cities submit preliminary versions of application forms
• 4th term of 2010 – a committee of thirteen cultural experts from Poland and other European countries chooses the best applications and invites chosen cities to submit full versions of their application forms, visits those cities and evaluates the citizens’ participation in the project
• 3rd term of 2011 – the committee chooses one city and awards it with the official title of the European Capital of Culture
• 2nd term of 2012 – the committee’s decision is officially confirmed by the Council of the European Union