Culture & Tourism Group

North Sea Commission
Culture and Tourism Group
XXI Meeting, Middelburg (Province of Zeeland), 2-5 October 2003

The Culture and Tourism Group, one of the six thematic groups of the North Sea Commission (itself a geographical commission within the CPMR – the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe), held its XXI meeting in the city of Middelburg 2-5 October 2003. The Province of Zeeland hosted the meeting.

Some twenty members and observers attended the meeting. The main items on the Agenda were a discussion of a paper on sustainable tourism development around the North Sea, a discussion on the role of non-material heritage in spatial planning, and a discussion on the role and working of the group, including suggestions for an action plan for 2004. In addition, a number of projects and project proposals were discussed.

During the meeting days, the Province of Zeeland gave several presentations on their strategies in the fields of cultural heritage, museums and tourism. On Thursday 2 October, Ms Berit Sens gave a presentation on the cultural heritage strategies, followed by a presentation by Mr Valentijn Byvanck on the museum strategy of the province. On Friday 3 October, Ms Jolanda Verwegen presented the tourism strategy of Zeeland. This included the culinary tourism with typical Zeeland dishes (mussels, oysters, lobsters) and the “Taste of Zeeland Festival”.

On Saturday, the Group departed on a whole-day study tour of the Province of Zeeland.

A separate report on the study tour will be available. In short, the study tour included visits to bird watching locations, historical ship museums and shipbuilding yards and to museums, in addition to a broad presentation of the tourism assets of the province.

Minutes of the XXI Meeting, held in Middelburg 2-5 October 2003

Present
Chair Baroness Ros Scott, Suffolk County Council
Vice-Chair Ms Annelie Stark, Västra Götaland Region
Vice-Chair Mr Jacques Suurmond, Province of Zeeland
Co-ordinator Mr Geir Sør-Reime, Rogaland County Council
Members
Mr Giles Goyder, Suffolk County Council
Mr Keith Wade, Suffolk County Council
Mr Peter Gray, Eastlothian Council
Mr Tomas Olsson, Västra Götaland Region
Ms Marianne Jørgensen, Ringkjøbing County Council
Ms Karen-Sofie Therkildsen, Ringkjøbing County Council
Mr Michael Knights, Norfolk County Council
Mr Jan Lindh, Vestfold County Council
Mr Geir Berge Nordtveit, Telemark County Council
Mr Keith Newton, Aberdeenshire Council
Mr Trond Ueland, Sogn og Fjordane County Council
Ms Conny Boersma, Province of Zeeland
Ms Karen Greve Somerset, NSC Secretariat
Observers
Ms Gunilla Eliasson, Bohusläns Museum
Ms Kerstin Olson, Bohusläns Museum
Ms Lone Leth Larsen, Danish Cultural Institute

Apologies had been received from Ms Gyrite Andersen (Ribe County Council), Mr Erik Bach Andersen (Viborg County Council) and Mr Svein Schrøder-Amundsen (Hordaland County Council).

1. Welcome of the Province of Zeeland
Our new Vice-Chair, Mr Jacques Suurmond of the Province of Zeeland welcomed all to this part of the Netherlands.

Baroness Ros Scott responded on behalf of the group and thanked Mr Suurmond for hosting the group and for the generosity and hospitality shown. She also welcomed the two new Vice-Chairs, Annelie Stark and Jacques Suurmond to their first meeting with the group.

2. Presentation of attendees
All participants presented themselves.

3. Minutes of XX Meeting, Sogndal 8-11 May 2003
The minutes were approved as true records of the proceedings.

4. Information from the co-ordinator

a. North Sea fisheries conference
The Fisheries Group is currently planning the conference on ”The changing role of women in fisheries communities”. The other thematic groups have been asked to contribute to the thematic discussions to be part of the conference. The subject of rural community development should also be put high on the agenda of the North Sea Commission as such.

b. Culinary heritage
Geir and Vivien Collie (the co-ordinator of the Business Development Group) have discussed how the two groups could best develop closer co-operation. An idea that turned up during a recent meeting in Fife was the culinary heritage of the North Sea regions. A new focus on culinary heritage can stimulate rural development, creating new job opportunities both in production, marketing and in tourism and restaurant businesses.

Travel and food packages are one way of promoting culinary heritage and creating and/or sustaining jobs.

There already exist a number of local and regional initiatives to promote culinary heritage around the North Sea, but much could be gained if these could form networks. The existing initiatives could also hand over hands on experience to new initiatives in other regions.

It was therefore suggested that the two groups arrange a joint seminar on culinary heritage, inviting experts from existing initiatives, from research institutions and from the tourism sector. Experts in marketing should also be included.

The seminar must be well prepared, and all member regions should contribute making inventories of what they already have and suggesting speakers etc. for the seminar.

The seminar should result in tangible outputs, like a publication/report or similar.

All members should send their inventories of existing initiatives and projects to Geir as soon as possible, along with other ideas concerning this seminar.

It is suggested that the seminar is organised in the Wesermarsch region of Lower Saxony.

c. Annual General Assembly of the North Sea Commission 2004
The AGM 2004 will be held in Gothenburg. The co-ordinator invited comments from the group concerning the format of the study tours organised for the delegates of the AGM.

It was generally felt that study tours should try and demonstrate added value as result of North Sea co-operation.

d. Stavanger, candidate for European Capital of Culture 2008
Stavanger and Liverpool are the two candidates for being European Capital of Culture 2008. There is a partnership between these two cities, so they are not contenders, but parallel candidates.

There already have been three capitals of culture in the North Sea region: Bergen 2000, Rotterdam 2001 and Bruges 2002. Unfortunately, the opportunity of integrating North Sea components into their programmes was missed. Now, Stavanger 2008 could offer new opportunities for promoting North Sea cultural co-operation.

It was specifically mentioned that components from the Waves of Culture project proposal could form the basis for North Sea projects in Stavanger 2008.

5. North SEAscapes project
Michel and Conny presented this project idea (presented as “North Sea Heritage” at the Sogndal meeting). The application for Interreg IIIB North Sea funding has now been submitted.

The project has five main activity areas:

1. Defining the seascape concept
2. The seafaring heritage
3. The management of the North Sea seafaring heritage (including boats, objects etc.)
4. North Sea Seafaring Network (which will be open also to non-partners)
5. Management of the project

The total budget of the project amounts to Euro 5 million, and there are nine partners.

6. Sustainable Tourism Development in the North Sea Region, an Interreg IIIB North Sea Region secretariat paper
Giles had prepared a paper summarizing the report and suggesting some responses. The objective of the report was to look for a coherent strategy for sustainable tourism development in the North Sea Region.

It was felt however, that the real purpose of the paper was unclear, and in particular, the group would disagree with several of the conclusions of the papers, especially those concerning the cultural heritage and the attempts of explanation as to why all cultural heritage project proposals had been turned down.

It was also felt that it is of little interest to develop such a paper now, when in reality all funds of the North Sea programme which might have been available for cultural heritage have been allocated already. It is perhaps also surprising that the paper does not refer to similar papers produced in the Baltic Sea region, in particular by the VASAB and Baltic 21 projects, and by the BALDER Interreg IIC BSR project. It was recognised that their might be some issues in regard to the post-2007 situation that require to be addressed.

It was also felt that the paper prepared by the North Sea secretariat really only repeats what we already know.

It was decided that the group would ask the Executive Committee to respond to the paper and that Giles should prepare a draft letter for the executive. Here we should also attach Keith’s paper (presented under item 7) and the concluding chapter of the Duff House conference “On the Edge”.

It was suggested that the North Sea Secretariat be invited to a future meeting of our group to discuss the paper and the way forward.

7. The Role and Value of Non-material Culture in Spatial Development
In response to the negative assessment of the Waves of Culture project, Keith Newton had prepared a paper on this theme demonstrating the relationship of cultural heritage and, non-material cultural in particular, to spatial planning and the polycentric development model described in Norvision. He particularly underlined the impact of non-material culture on the perception/image of a region or place in addition to the standard economic measures of jobs and added value etc.

It was generally felt that there should have been a closer dialogue with the Interreg secretariat in Viborg (they were in fact invited to a previous meeting but did not come). It was felt that they should be invited to future meetings, including the seminar on culinary heritage.

8. The Group on the Agenda
Conny had prepared a paper in response to the discussion started at the Sogndal meeting.

She had identified the main tasks of the group, and the role of different participants in relation to these.

As a conclusion, it was felt that her identification of main fields of activity was correct and that all participants should be aware of their roles in the group.

It was further stated that the meetings should be more focused, selecting a specific topic for each meeting. It was also stressed that the diversity of the group’s membership is an enormous strength for the group. Finally, it was also agreed that the success of the group’s meetings would also depend on how much the members involved themselves, both in preparing papers etc. for the meetings, and their active participation in the meetings. In this regard, it was agreed that more should be made of the lessons learnt from the programme of site visits that accompany meetings. Keith Newton agreed to circulate his report and seek any feedback highlighting broad conclusions and good practise. It was agreed there should be a short feedback session prior to the end of each meeting on this subject.

9. Action plan
Geir presented some thoughts on an action plan for 2004. We have already decided on a themed meeting on culinary heritage for the first half of 2004, so really what is needed is a plan for the second half of the year.

Some members felt that previous meetings had too much focus on Interreg projects, and that may be the group could act as a “pool” for other types of projects as well. The establishment of a better functioning e-mail/intranet network was also a priority.

For the second half of 2004, several suggestions for thematic focus were suggested:

• a new “On the Edge” conference (2005?)
• how to measure results/impacts of projects
• Capital of Culture 2008
• Policies (from Vision to Action), future Interreg?
• Joint conference(s) with projects
• Libraries and archives, IT

Among other activities proposed was a kind of press tour/presentation based on traditional food around the North Sea.

It was more or less agreed that the autumn meeting 2004 should have libraries and archives as its theme, and that possible co-operation with the Education and Research Group should be sought.

10. Working with Cultural Institutes
Lone gave a presentation, detailing how cultural institutes could work together with regions and the group to promote cultural exchange.

11. Project updates

a. North Sea Cycle Route – Cycling On
Giles reported. The first partner meeting was held in Stavanger in September this year.

b. The Distributed Museum
Peter presented this project idea, and was asking advice concerning possible funding.

c. Waves of Culture
Kerstin reported that the project was not accepted for Interreg funding. She thanked for all support shown by group members for the project and said that she is now preparing a similar application for Culture 2000 funding.

d. Dark Ages AD 400-900
Keith Wade reported that they had abandoned their plans to apply for Interreg funding due to insufficient partner support. The small partnership already formed continued their network regardless of funding, though, and they are still open to new interested parties.

e. KNOT
Geir reported that the application for this project aiming at linking Interreg projects working with cultural or natural heritage and tourism sent its second and revised application for Interreg IIIC funding a few days ago.

f. norBAR
Geir reported. It is still the plan to apply for Interreg Baltic Sea funding for this Bronze Age route project in January 2004. The project is still open to new partners.

g. NAVE nortrail
Trond reported on the status of this project.

12. Christmas Cards 2003 for the North Sea Commission
Karen informed. This year, the Netherlands should come up with a Christmas card proposal. This will be circulated to all group members for comments.

Next year, England should contribute a Christmas card motif.

13. AOB
a. Next meeting
Spring 2004: In Germany, thematic seminar on culinary heritage combined with ordinary meeting of the group (seminar co-organised with Business Development group)

Autumn 2004: Focus on archives and libraries, Suffolk was suggested as a suitable location

Spring 2005: Possible theme on culture and rural development, to be held in Ringkjøbing