Culture & Tourism Group

North Sea Commission Culture and Tourism Group XIX Meeting, Bruges (Province of West Flanders), 3-6 October 2002 

The Culture and Tourism Group, one of the six thematic groups of the North Sea Commission held its 19th meeting in Bruges, European Capital of Culture 2002 between 3 and 6 October 2002. The Euregio Scheldemond, the co-operation body between the provinces of East Flanders, West Flanders and Zeeland, hosted the meeting.

Twenty members and observers attended the meeting. The main items discussed included a paper on political initiatives to contribute to the development of a North Sea regional identity, and the future of Community initiatives like Interreg and Culture 2000.

In addition, updates on current and planned projects were delivered.

The meeting started 4th October in the Provincial Hall in the centre of Bruges. The morning session included a number of presentations of the Euregio Scheldemond, the Province of East Flanders, the Capital of Culture programme etc. The following presentations were given:

- Euregio Scheldemond and Interreg IIIA and IIIB, by André Van Trigt, Secretary-General of Euregio Scheldemond

- Working Group Tourism of Euregio Scheldemond, by Kaatje Gevaert, project co-ordinator

- Centre for Folk Music Dranouter, by Bavo Van den Broeck, project co-ordinator

- Brugge 2002, by Steven Slos, cultural attaché of City of Brugge

- Working Group Culture of Euregio Scheldemond, by Jacques van Aspert, Director of Culture of Province of Zeeland

During the lunch break there was also a guided city walk led by Reinoud Van Acker, project co-ordinator of Musea.

After lunch and city walk, the party departed for Damme to look into various Interreg-funded projects in the Damme, the ancient port of Bruges.

The first day was concluded with an official dinner at Restaurant 't Presidentje.

The Saturday business meeting of the group took place in the Provincial House outside Bruges centre.

After the meeting, the group went to the City of Gent to visit museums etc.

In the evening, there was a dinner at Bistro Du Phare.

The business meeting continues on Sunday morning at the hotel, Scandic Hotel Bruges.

Main items

The main items discussed during the meeting included a paper on how the North Sea Commission could follow up its recent Vision Document with concrete actions in the fields of culture, cultural heritage and tourism. Another important topic was the future of the Community Initiative Interreg. The group also discussed how the Culture 2000 cultural framework programme could be made more tailored to contribute to community development.

At the meeting the Group discussed and decided on an action plan relating to the North Sea Commission's Vision document. The new document points out fields where political initiatives are needed to sponsor a further re-cohesion process in the North Sea region.

More specifically, the document identifies three areas where such initiatives are needed:

1. The role of culture in community development and the need for extended Interreg and Culture 2000 funding for trans-regional co-operation initiatives

2. The importance of using the common North Sea heritage as an instrument in strengthening North Sea identity and co-operation in the region

3. The need to achieve increased tourism within the North Sea region, and its importance for economic development and community sustainability.

The document lists a number of concrete actions for each of these fields. The document is attached to these minutes.

At the recent meeting of the Culture and Tourism Group in Bruges, the Group prepared a statement concerning the profile of a new Community Initiative for trans-regional co-operation. The statement asks the NSC Executive Committee and the CPMR to actively participate in the process leading up to a Council decision on Interreg IV to ensure that the new initiative will be a more efficient instrument in funding trans-regional co-operation. The current Interreg IIIB programme for the North Sea has spatial development as its main focus.

The focus of these programmes on spatial planning and spatial development respectively, to a large extent acts as a limit in relation to the role that cultural development and shared activity can play in the wider re-cohesion process that is needed before the North Sea area can be considered a consolidated political, economic and social region of Europe.

We would like to shift the focus into regional development.

Minutes of the XIX Meeting, held in Bruges 3-6 October 2002

Present:

Chair	Mr Laus Coppoolse	Euregio Scheldemond
Vice-Chair	Baroness Ros Scott	Suffolk County Council
Co-ordinator	Mr Geir Sør-Reime	Rogaland County Council
Members	Ms Marianne Jørgensen	Ringkjøbing County Council
	Mr Giles Goyder	Suffolk County Council
	Mr Michael Knights	Norfolk County Council
	Ms Gyrite Andersen	Ribe County Council
	Ms Karen-S. Therkildsen	Ringkjøbing County Council
	Mr.Knut Møller	Sør-Trøndelag County Council
	Ms. Conny Boersma	Euregio Scheldemond
	Mr. Jan Lindh	Vestfold County Council
	Mr Lars Lundgren	Västra Götaland Region
	Mr Keith Newton	Aberdeenshire Council
	Ms. Ingebjørg Erikstad	Sogn og Fjordane County Council
Observers	Mr. Keith Wade	Suffolk County Council
	Mr Jan Walburg	Bureau Walburg
	Ms Karen Greve Somerset	North Sea Commission Secretariat
	Mr Wim Stubbe	Euregio Scheldemond
	Mr. Jacques van Aspert	Euregio Scheldemond
	Mr André van Trigt	Euregio Scheldemond

Apologies had been received from Mr Svein Schrøder Amundsen, Hordaland County Council, and consequently, the agenda item concerning North Sea languages was withdrawn.

1st session was held at Hotel Dagmar on 15 March at 9AM-13PM.

1. Presentation of members and observers attending
All members and observers presented themselves.

2. Culture in Ribe County
Gyrite Andersen gave a brief introduction to the cultural activities and responsibilities of Ribe County Council.

3. Approval of Agenda
The proposed Agenda was approved.

4. Minutes of XVII Meeting, Bengtsfors
The minutes were approved as true records of the proceedings.

It was noted that the North Sea Commission Strategy Document was discussed in Fife in December by the Executive Committee and was approved at the Executive Committee meeting in Groningen in March.

The Executive Committee circulated the draft concerning our group's contribution to all members prior to the approval.

5. North Sea Festival of Youth
Gyrite Andersen presented the framework programme as discussed at a recent meeting in Kristianssand. Unfortunately, she was the only national co-ordinator that could attend this meeting.

It was stressed that the establishment of networks was important if we were going to have future festivals, and it was recommended that a seminar for the leaders should be incorporated into the festival programme.

It was also underlined that information about the festival now must be disseminated quickly and effectively, and that the national co-ordinators should play a key role here.

Finally, it was strongly underlined that the festival must retain a North Sea Commission dimension, and that media publicity should be sought in all NSC member regions.

Responsibility: Vest-Agder County Council and national co-ordinators.

6. Waves of Culture Interreg IIIB proposal
Kerstin Olsson presented the current state of the project proposal.

She said that the seminar in Uddevalla, following immediately after our Bengtsfors meeting really was the start of the process of defining and refining the project ideas into a project proper. There has been expressed great enthusiasm for the project all around the North Sea. The partner search phase is now over, and partners have begun to sign up for the project. There are still problems in some parts of the North Sea, though.

During the subsequent discussion, several aspects of the project were discussed. There is a general feeling that this is a very good project, but some members felt the project still could be less complex and the spatial development aspect should probably be more prominent in the project description.

On the other hand, several members complimented the project and encouraged other members to go back and market the project in their own authorities and seek participation in the project.

7. Seminar on Cultural Heritage and Business Development in Norwich 18 June
The co-ordinator presented the programme, which now has been printed in the NSC General Assembly programme booklet.

Members should encourage participation at the seminar from their own regions.

Responsibility: Co-ordinator

8. Dark Ages/Kings' Route project
Giles Goyder presented an Interreg IIIB North Sea project proposal for a project focusing on the period 400-850AD. The project idea was met with acclaim and it was suggested that Suffolk, in co-operation with Rogaland, could develop this idea into a project application for next year. It is hoped to convene a partner meeting in conjunction with the Directoria in Norwich in June.

2nd Session was held at Hotel Dagmar on 16 March 9AM-11AM

9. NAVE - norTRAIL project
Tor Titlestad presented this INTERREG IIIB North Sea project proposal. The submission of the project application has now been delayed until September. Aberdeenshire has now taken on the role of lead-partner of the project. The project application has recently been sent to the Interreg office in Viborg for a pre-assessment.

10. North Sea Viking Legacy/Destination Viking
Geir Sør-Reime reported that the approval of the NSVL final report has again been delayed due to deficiences in some of the partner reports.

Concerning the Destination Viking, the following-up project of NSVL, an application for the Interreg IIIB Baltic Sea Region will be sent in for the 2nd application round there, on 28th March. In the North Sea region, a similar application will be prepared for the 2nd round there, in September. A similar project is currently under preparation in the Northern Periphery also.

11. On the Edge
The book containing papers and reports from the conference is not yet ready. It has been suggested that a second On the Edge conference could be incorporated into the Waves of Culture project. The focus of the On the Edge conference was however very different from that of the Waves of Culture project, but it is probably wise to include a conference into the Waves project in any case.

12. North Sea (Sports) Challenge
The co-ordinator reported no progress here, and the group was in agreement that this item should not be given priority.

13. Next meeting(s)
The XIX meeting will be held in Bruges 3-6 October 2002. Planning for this meeting is now progressing. As Bruges is one of the European Cities of Culture this year, hotel rooms are in great demand, and it is recommended that we all register early for this meeting. Otherwise we may risk that no hotel beds are available.

Responsibility: Euregio Scheldemond

The venue of the XX meeting during spring next year was also discussed. Our preferred venue would really be in Germany or alternatively in North Holland. As these areas currently are not active in the work of the group, the co-ordinator will make initial contacts with them to see if it would be possible to have the meeting in Germany (Slesvig-Holstein, Bremen or Lower Saxony) or North-Holland.

Responsibility: Co-ordinator

3rd Session held at Hotel Dagmar on 17 March 9AM-11AM

14. Tourism for disabled
Karen Sofie Therkildsen reported and said that the application for Interreg IIIB funding will be ready for the September call.

There could still be room for additional partners.

15. Interreg and participation
Several members have expressed concern that the application forms, proceedures and not the least the complicated rules and regulations for the Interreg programmes may prevent peripheral regions and areas in participating due to this complexity. If things become too complicated, only certain partners and types of project will join.

There was also expressed some concern that national authorities interferes with these regional development initiatives and sponsor some projects where national authorities are strong stakeholders, seemingly at the expense of more bottom-up projects developed by local and regional actors.

More information material, especially concerning the implications of participating in a project should be made. An "Interreg for beginners" handbook should be produced. Information on procedures, financial and other consequences should also be more prominent at Directorias.

Responsibility: Co-ordinator for direct contact with Interreg secretariat, all members in general

16. Evaluation of the NSC Culture and Tourism Group
A self-evaluation should probably be a regular feature on our agenda. This time a number of issues were discussed.

A closer co-operation with the business development group on cultural tourism should be sought, and probably combined meetings (or parts of meetings) could be a good way to proceed with this idea.

It was also discussed if the more general type excursion in conjunction with the group meetings could be replaced by visits to projects that have been sponsored/supported by the group.

Parts of the meetings could possibly also be more open to a larger group of interested persons.

It was also pointed out that the elements of the vision document relating to our group should be incorporated into an action plan that could be presented at the next meeting for initial discussion.

It was stressed that the group should be open, it should be based on networking and it should function as a platform for further network building and development of more concrete co-operation projects. Members should try and get information on the group out, promote it wherever possibly and encourage more active involvement from further regions. Co-operation with other thematic groups should also be considered for specific issues and actions.

At the next meeting (in Bruges) we should try and have presentations of concrete co-operation projects.

Responsibility: Co-ordinator (action plan draft), all members