Culture & Tourism Group

North Sea Commission Culture and Tourism Group
XX Meeting, Sogndal (Sogn og Fjordane County), 8-11 May 2003

The Culture and Tourism Group, one of the six thematic groups of the North Sea Commission, held its 20th meeting in Sogndal between 8 and 11 May 2003. Sogn og Fjordane County Council hosted the meeting.

Some twenty members and observers attended the meeting. The main item on the agenda was a presentation of the Culture 2000 programme by Norwegian contact point person for the programme, Mr Jean-Yves Gallardo from the Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs.

In addition, a number of Interreg IIIB project ideas were presented and discussed. These presentations were followed by a debate on how cultural projects could best be financed.

The meeting started 8th May at Sogndal Hotel in Sogndal. This afternoon session included a number of presentations from Sogn og Fjordane County Council, chaired by Mr Lidvin Osland, Director of Culture.

His introduction was followed by a presentation of Førde International Folk Music Festival, by Ms Hilde Bjørkum, Director.

Then, Mr Trond Ueland presented the county council’s international involvement in cultural projects.

Mr Magne Skaar, Director of Regional Development of the County Council presented the tourism strategy of the county council, and Mr Leif Hauge, Professor at the Sogn og Fjordane University College, gave a presentation of the varied and unique cultural landscapes of the county.

After these presentations, the party went on to Sogn folkemuseum for a guided tour by Mr Åge Engesæther, Director, and a dinner in one of the museum’s old farmhouses, hosted by the Director of Culture, Mr Lidvin Osland.

The next day started with a presentation of the international strategy of the County Council, by Mr Lars Hustveit, and a demonstration of the GeoShare project, by Mr Gunnar Urtegård, Head of the County Archives.

Then followed by business meeting of the group, at Sogndal Hotel.

On Friday afternoon, Mr Nils R. Sandal, County Mayor of Sogn og Fjordane hosted a dinner for the group.

On Saturday, the whole group departed on a whole-day study trip. The first part of the day was spent in the Lærdal area, east of Sogndal.

Before going by the ferry to Lærdal, we first stopped at Sogn Fjordmuseum, where Mr Åge Engesæther, Director of Sogn Folkemuseum, again greeted us and showed us this fjord heritage museum. Here we also got a presentation of the North Sea Heritage project partner in Sogn og Fjordane, the Jensbua project, by Mr Magne Bjergene.

The first stop in Lærdal was the Borgund stave church. Here, a new visitor centre is being planned, and Mr Jan Olav Fretland presented these plans, before the party had a chance to experience the medieval stave church.

After a drive into the longest road tunnel in the world, the Lærdal Tunnel (24 kilometres long), we arrived at the Norwegian Wild Salmon Centre for lunch and a tour of the centre with Ms Helene Maristuen, Director, and Mr Marko Neven from Lærdal Guiding. Mr Neven also took us on a walk through the old urban settlement of Lærdalsøyri.

In the afternoon, we then turned westwards, and went to Balestrand. Arriving at Balestrand, we were met by Ms Hilde Mauritzen, Cultural Officer of Balestrand Municipality, who told us about culture and tourism in this part of Sogn.  We then attended a concert, part of the ongoing Balejazz Festival, before having lunch at Kviknes Hotel.

The study-trip continued on Saturday with a visit northwards of Sogndal, into the Fjærland valley. The first stop was the Glacier Museum, introduced by Mr Paulen, Director, followed by a visit to the Bøyabreen glacier. Then Mr Claus Kvamme introduced us to the Norwegian Book Village project in Fjærland, and guided us through a number of second-hand bookstores, before Ms Marit Orheim Mauritzen introduced us to Mundal Hotel and the history of tourism in Fjærland.

Main items

The main item at this particular meeting was Culture 2000, the EU framework programme for culture and how it could be used to further North Sea cultural co-operation. The project was presented by Mr Jean-Yves Gallardo from the Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs (the Norwegian Arts Council). His presentation included a brief history of the programme, its main objectives and elements, the annual priorities system and the priorities for 2004.

Minutes of the XX Meeting, held in Sogndal 8-11 May 2003

Present

Chair (acting), Baroness Ros Scott, Suffolk County Council
Co-ordinator Mr Geir Sør-Reime, Rogaland County Council
Mr Giles Goyder, Suffolk County Council
Mr Carsten Mogensen, Nordjyllands Amt
Ms Kerstin Olson,  Bohusläns Museum
Mr Knut Wik, Sør-Trøndelag County Council
Mr Jan Walburg, Fries Museum
Mr Erik Bach Andersen, Viborg Amt
Mr Svein Schrøder Amundsen,  Hordaland County Council
Ms Conny J. Boersma, Province of Zeeland
Ms Karen-Sofie Therkildsen, Ringkjøbing Amt
Mr Thomas Olsson, Västra Götaland Region
Mr Keith Newton, Aberdeenshire Council
Mr Lidvin Osland, Sogn og Fjordane County Council
Ms Ingebjørg Erikstad, Sogn og Fjordane County Council
Ms Berit Gjerland,  Sogn og Fjordane County Council
Ms Karen Greve Somerset, North Sea Commission Secretariat
Mr Jean-Yves Gallardo, Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs
Mr Alex Midlen, North Sea Heritage Project

Excuses had been received from Ms Gyrite Andersen, Ribe Amt, Ms Marianne Jørgensen, Ringkjøbing Amt and Mr Michael Knights, Norfolk County Council.

1. Welcome to Sogn og Fjordane
Mr Lidvin Osland, Director of Culture of Sogn og Fjordane County Council welcomed all to the part of Norway.

Baroness Scott responded on behalf of the group and thanked Mr Osland for hosting the group and for the generosity and hospitality shown.

2. Presentation of attendees
All participants presented themselves.

3. Approval of Minutes of XIX Meeting, Bruges 3-6 October 2002
The minutes were approved as true records of the proceedings, but it was agreed to incorporate the letter sent out jointly by Västra Götaland Region and Bohusläns Museum concerning item 6c. on the agenda, into the minutes of this meeting. The note reads as follows:

“ On October 29, 2002 a meeting was held at Bohusläns Museum with representatives from Västra Götalandsregionen and Bohusläns Museum. The purpose was to enlighten and clarify some uncertainties and misunderstandings that had come up concerning the project, and which were discussed at the NSC C&T meeting in Bruges.

The following needs to be stated:

1. The overall aim for Waves of Culture is to gather and mediate traits from the North Sea Culture, to create an increased awareness of our shared maritime history and traditions and focus on the regional identity of the North Sea area. The project will support branding the North Sea Region as an interesting cultural system, both to ourselves and to potential tourists. A creative management of the cultural heritage will engender conditions for more jobs and help to maintain necessary basic services in remote areas and small communities, thereby supporting a healthy spatial development.

2. The project is divided in two parts. The first part is a shared core of activities that all partners will undertake and the second part consists of the individual programmes that the participating partners will develop in their own regions.

a) The project core is the glue that holds all the regional programmes together and puts them into a powerful context. It includes project management, a common marketing of the North Sea Culture and a common marketing of the partner regions and communities – folders, website on activities, advertisement, fairs, a popular and richly illustrated pocket book and a major travelling exhibition with the North Sea itself as the leading character.

b) Through exchange of events, programmes and examples of best practise, small regions and communities will have the opportunity to take their place in a larger international context. This is a major step towards a transnational and polycentric spatial development.

3. Västra Götaland is lead partner of the project.

4. Bohusläns Museum is operational lead partner.

5. The project has partners in Great Britain, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. It is still open for new partners to join in.

6. Application date will be March 1, 2003.

Hans Manneby, Museum Director, Bohusläns Museum                        
Kerstin Quentzer, Director, cultural affairs, Västra Götalandsregionen“.

4. Approval of Agenda
The proposed Agenda was approved.

5. Culture 2000 Programme
Mr Jean-Yves Gallardo presented the programme.
His presentation was followed by a lively discussion. The short time span between calls for proposals and the actual application deadlines is one point of major concern. Fortunately, the priorities given for 2004 are not so detailed as previously, so that many cultural heritage project proposals may be eligible for funding.

It was also pointed out that the main objective of the programme was to promote European integration, and that this should be remembered when planning new projects. On the other hand, the programme may be useful for furthering North Sea co-operation also.

Initiatives to try and influence the future design of the culture programme could be raised by members with Members of the Committee for Culture of the European Parliament, and with the members of the Management Committee.

After the discussion, the Chair thanked Mr Gallardo for his excellent presentation.

6. Presentation of Interreg IIIB North Sea Region projects

a. Waves of Culture
Ms Kerstin Olson presented this project proposal. The Interreg secretariat in Viborg has given a negative assessment of the project, and the chance of a positive decision seems small. In fact, the Steering Committee the following days decided to reject the proposal.

b. NAVE nortrail
Mr Keith Newton reported. The project was approved this autumn and is now up running.

c. North Sea Cycle Route (II)
Mr Giles Goyder reported. There is a positive assessment from Viborg for this project. In fact, the proposal was approved by the Steering Committee.

The proposal is based on the Interreg IIC project and now has 66 partners. It also includes a southern extension, and includes broader partnerships and new elements.

d. Destination Viking Waterlinks
Mr Geir Sør-Reime reported that there is a negative assessment from Viborg. Despite serious efforts by the Dutch lead-partner, the proposal was rejected by the Steering Committee.

e. Roots of North Sea Identity¨
Mr Giles Goyder reported. This project still has problems in getting a sufficient number of partners, and the project will be taken to the Cuxhaven Directoria.

One problem is how to incorporate spatial elements into the proposal. An alternative could be to try and get Culture 2000 funding. This project could also be linked in with, or maybe incorporated with the North Sea Languages project, previously launched by Mr Svein Schrøder Amundsen.

f. North Sea Heritage
Alex Midlen presented this project proposal. After his presentation of the project, which focuses primarily on the boat heritage of the North Sea region, he asked for a statement of support, which was unanimously adopted:

That the Culture and Tourism group of the North Sea Commission commend the Project’s objectives and activities

That the group express a wish to work with the project team, where appropriate, if the project receives Interreg IIIB funding.

Note: The current name of the project is North SEAscapes.

g. North Sea Languages
Mr Svein Schrøder Amundsen reminded the group of this project and promised to come back at the next meeting with a project proposal. This project would maybe fit better into the Culture 2000 framework, but this has to be looked into in more detail as soon as the project proposal is more concrete.

Some of the problems encountered by projects like Waves of Culture and Waterlinks, like different opinions delivered in pre-assessments and in final assessments, lack of understanding for the role culture and cultural heritage can play in spatial development and what is felt as very biased assessments, was addressed during a subsequent discussion. It was agreed that the Chair would write a letter to relevant authorities addressing the following points:

1. Although cultural heritage, along with natural heritage, is one of the main priorities of the Interreg IIIB programme, there seems to be little understanding for this by those making assessments, where one can find statements clearly casting doubt on the relevancy of cultural heritage management projects within the framework of Interreg.

2. The problem of conflicting statements in pre-assessments and final assessments.

3. The problem of having no means of communication between applicant and assessment team during assessment process, resulting partly in obvious misunderstandings or misinterpretations being the basis for rejection recommendations.

4. The problem of appendices. It is obvious from some assessment forms that appendices have not been taken into account.

5. The problem of the assessments being technically secret. The assessments contain factual mistakes, and there should be an opportunity for applications to do a factual check before decisions are being made.

6. There is no appeal system, making applications vulnerable to rejections being based on obvious misunderstandings, misinterpretations or dislikes of individual assessors.

We would like to see a transparent process, and we would like to know that assessments are factual accurate. It is quite obvious that the North Sea application form does not give applicants a chance to present their projects properly, and when appendices are not taken into (proper) consideration, good project proposals are currently being rejected.

There is also a separate, but very important problem concerning intangible heritage, which seems to be ruled out as relevant to spatial development by the assessment team. As the management of intangible heritage currently is a major priority with the Council of Europe, supported by the EU, our group finds this failure of accepting projects focusing on the intangible heritage unacceptable and in contradiction with the general objectives of the Interreg IIIB programme.

It was agreed to contact the Steering Committee on this issue, and also to contact the other co-ordinators to check if their groups have similar or related problems in relation to the Interreg IIIC programme.

In addition, Keith Newton offered to prepare a paper on the economic benefits of intangible or non-material culture, and how it relates to spatial development for our next meeting.

7. Possible joint projects with other thematic groups

a. The planned conference on women in fishing communities in September 2003
The Culture and Tourism group would like to get actively involved in the planning of this conference.

b. Joint meetings?
The group could, at the present at least, see no benefits in having joint meetings with other thematic groups. It was suggested however, that information is shared among the groups, for instance via e-mail. It was also suggested that group members should consult the North Sea Commission web-site for cross-group information.

c. Information on other groups?
It was also suggested that co-ordinators from other groups could give presentations at upcoming meetings of our group.

d. The working of the Culture and Tourism group
A continuous theme is how our own group should work and function. This is partly a problem of continuity, making previous decisions and papers known to new members (and keeping “old” members aware of previous decisions and debates) and partly a question of what the group should really be.

It was agreed that Conny should try and prepare a discussion paper for the next meeting, but members should also look at the minutes of the XIX meeting for recent decisions on actions, etc.

8. North Sea Commission, Annual General Assembly, Cuxhaven
Ms Karen Greve Somerset presented an update.

9. Next meeting of the Culture and Tourism Group
Ms Conny J. Boersma invited the group to the Province of Zeeland, and it was decided to hold the XXI Meeting in Middelburg 2-5 October 2003.

10. Any Other Business
It was informed that Nord-Trøndelag County Council in Norway has become a member of the North Sea Commission, and that Troms County Council has applied for membership. In addition, the Faroe Islands have shown interest in joining.

It was further suggested that representatives of the Council of Europe be invited to the XXI meeting in Middelburg.