Category: Culture

Milan – Funding culture after corona

The city’s Deputy Mayor for Culture signed a petition addressed to the Italian Ministry of Culture to guarantee special support to the local creative sector. This includes measures such as: direct funding injections, specific allowances and benefits for workers from the cultural, entertainment, film, audiovisual and tourism sectors, welfare benefits for seasonal workers, insurance premiums for cultural enterprises and access to the 130 million euro emergency fund allocated by the national government. Read more here and here (in Italian)

Contact: Olimpia Vaccarino Aureli

Bologna – Social tv promotes ‘The Flying Hummingbird’

Bologna has launched a social tv programme with stories of citizens in Bologna who are reacting to the COVID-19 emergency with resilience and courage. The aim of the project is to promote solidarity fundraising in favour of the most fragile people in Bologna and of three city public hospitals. You can read more here and follow the streaming on the dedicated Facebook page

Contact: Francesca Martinese

Genova – Overview of measures

The Italian city of Genova has compiled a summary of the city’s measures in response to the corona pandemic. The presentation describes a stepwise approach to care for people, jobs and services first, while preparing for reboot and resilient and sustainable growth after the crisis. You can download the document here

Contact: Corrado Ragucci

Kartal / Istanbul – Marching band for the morale

With music in the streets, the municipality of Kartal, a district of Istanbul, entertains and supports people at home during the corona crisis. A marching band played a series of concerts in ten neighbourhoods and was greeted with flags and applause. The municipality also developed a video programme for kindergarten kids. You can read more and find an overview of measures here (in Turkish and English)

Kadikoy – Healthy meals from famous chefs

Dilara Koçak @ Instagram

In the Turkish city of Kadikoy, people in need get morale support and healthy food during the corona crisis through the initiative ‘You stay safe’. Meals are prepared by the popular nutrition expert Dilara Koçak and cooked by famous chefs, with ingredients sponsored by restaurants and companies. The municipality delivers the meals. “Balanced nutrition, drinking enough water, good sleep are important for the immune system”, says Dilara Koçak. “In our menus, seasonal vegetables, fruits, balanced protein, enough fiber and cooking methods suitable for health were our priority. I wish it to be healing.” You can read more here (in Turkish) and download an overview of Kadikoy’s measures here

Contact: Duygu Tanrikulu

Nice – Cultivate yourself

Films, concerts, ballets, tours, exhibition visits and lectures – the online programme of the municipal channel ‘Cultivez-vous’ (cultivate yorself) in Nice is updated every week with events to enjoy at home during the corona confinement. The new section ‘Pépites sonores’ (sound nuggets) offers rare recordings from the discography of the Nice Municipal Library, as well as literary texts read by actors. Here you get to the site

Contact: Jérôme Sieurin

Zagreb – Ask librarians

Members of the Zagreb City Library can read more than 600 e-book titles on different devices, and they can access a list of free e-books. They can also get help in searching for content thanks to the Ask Librarians service. The Library also collected on their YouTube channel interesting online events like forums and workshops, and is giving access to an online collection not only showcasing books, but also materials like photos and music scores. Read more here (in Croatian)

Contact: international.relations@zagreb.hr

Bordeaux – One artefact a day

The city’s cultural services have been showcasing one work per day from Bordeaux’s museums, libraries or botanical gardens, or from one of the region’s cultural attractions. In addition, a large proportion of the collections held in the city’s public museums are available online. Read more here (in French)

Contact: Marie-Elisabeth Sapin

Dusseldorf – Live from the zoo

Several of Düsseldorf’s cultural institutions offer tours and events online. The Aquazoo (a renowned zoo for mainly aquatic animals) streams online shark feedings. The local theatre Schauspielhaus offers behind-the-scene tours and the Maritime Museum (Schifffahrtsmuseum) can be visited virtually. Read more here (in German)

Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld

Barcelona – Listen to the kids

‘Hospital’ by Clara, published on Estimat Diari: Barcelona through the eyes of young children

The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, is inviting children to send in questions about their experiences during the confinement period. The mayor will reply to the messages in a weekly programme which will be broadcasted online first this Saturday, 11 April. The goal is to give children a louder voice, listen to their concerns and make their perspective visible to all. Read more here and visit a special site dedicated to artistic expressions of kids: ‘Barcelona through the eyes of young children‘.

Contact: Marta Puchal

Cardiff – Gallery goes online

Cardiff based fotogallery has launched several initiatives to encourage creativity during the Covid-19 crisis: an online photo competition, a new weekly digest with creative activities to do at home, online resources, including a virtual tour of their current exhibition, and an platform for European artists. Read more here.

Contact: Ian Catlow

Pesaro – Information desk for artists

Artists and cultural workers in the Italian region of Marche can get support via a temporary information desk that has been set up by the regional association Consorzio Marche Spettacolo. The city of Pesaro with deputy mayor Daniele Vimini, also president of the consortium, points out that local artists are experiencing tough days in the corona crisis, with culture being one of the most fragile sectors. The information desk, which can per reached by email, shall help cultural workers to get the support and assistance that the government is providing.

Contact: Filippo Galeazzi

Madrid – Thousand books for corona patients

The municipal libraries of Madrid donate 1,000 copies of literary works, including novels, poetry and plays, to the IFEMA hospital for patients admitted for coronavirus. The books will be available in the library of the hospital, which will manage the distribution to reach all patients after the appropriate health security measures. These copies will not have to be returned by the people admitted. You can read more here (in Spanish)

Contact: Ana Buñuel

Madrid – Sports for the elderly

The City Council launches #SiempreContigo, a service that provides recommendations to the older population to carry out controlled physical activity and check their condition during home confinement. The service is carried out by coaches who call the person to track their emotional and physical condition. Read more (in Spanish) here

Contact: Ana Buñuel

Zaragoza – Photo festival

Zaragoza is encouraging residents’ creativity during by inviting them to use their balconies and windows as artistic inspiration using photography as a tool to express what they are feeling.
The selected photos will be part of a large collective exhibition that will take place during the summer hanging from different emblematic balconies in the participating cities.
The invitation is opened until May 17th using Instagram with the hashtags: #PHEdesdemibalcón y #PHE20
Read more (in Spanish) here.

Contact: Lorena Calvo

Stuttgart – Art for hope

Stuttgart is helping to keep its youth entertained and hopeful through art. An Easter painting competition for three age brackets below 14, and one over, is being held by the city. Read more (in German) here.

The city is also collecting rainbow pictures drawn by children, following the trend of children drawing rainbows and putting them up in their family windows by asking children to also draw rainbows for the windows of the Town Hall. Read more (in German) here.

Contact: Claudia Schulcz

Nice – Dance and music

Nice is supporting its Conservatory in giving effective lessons. The dance department offers courses in fitness, ballet history and anatomy, the creation of a chamber ballet, and the exchange of videos of international ballets. The Music department has created a youtube channel for students on the alert. It also offers video exchanges, daily tutorials and skype lessons. Finally, the Theater department has set up a discussion forum. It also offers remote debates on shows, or even video exchanges. Read more (in French) in the attached press release.

Nice-conservatoireDownload

Contact: Jérôme Sieurin

Pau – Interactive tv show to keep a good mood

In times of social distancing, the city of Pau in the French Pyrenees has launched a tv programme to keep an interactive link so that the people of the area can stay in touch with each other. The show “Bonsoir le Béarn” runs from 5-7pm every day and can be followed on YouTube or the city’s internet site. In the second hour, people are invited to participate via phone and share their experiences in confinement. Host Eric Dournès presents the programme with a good amount of humour and says: “Let’s try to stay positive in this period of crisis and to find ourselves even at a distance.” You can follow the live broadcasting and find the previous shows here

Contact: Valérie Demangel

Dusseldorf – Poems over the phone

The municipal Heinrich-Heine-Institute in Dusseldorf, a museum dedicated to the German poet Heinrich Heine, offers the reading of poems and other texts over the phone during the time it is closed due to the corona regulations. The museum also publishes educational videos, readings and quizzes on Instagram and Facebookto to keep eager Heine fans busy. Read more here (in German).

The municipal Clara Schumann music school offers digital music classes for its students. The lessons are conducted online or via video messages, students receive their music sheets online and send their rehearsed recordings to the teacher. Read more here (in German)

Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld

Budapest – A message 4U

Foto: Tamás Lénárd

Lights from empty hotel rooms which form the message “4U!” – with this, the city of Budapest every night sends a sign of solidarity to other cities that are similarly affected by the corona crisis. The campaign from the Municipality of Budapest and the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association aims to draw attention to the fact that cities and residents can only survive and overcome this crisis together and by looking out for each other and acting in a tolerant and empathetic way. The light and the attention people give each other gives hope and strength to many in this difficult time. Read more here

Contact: Adrienn Magyar

Dresden – Art and culture at home

The City of Dresden launched an Open Call #stayathomeandbecreative addressing professional freelance artists in Dresden to become creative from home. Artists are asked to send their recorded songs, readings, plays, DJ sessions or studio tours to the city, Whether GoPro, cell phone camera or Cinecamcorder – everything is allowed. Only the digital format is important. The selected clips will then be remunerated by the Office of Culture and Monument Preservation of the City of Dresden and will be presented online. The closing date for entries is 03 April 2020. See more here

Contact: Regine Kramer

Edinburgh – Funding for the arts

The City of Edinburgh Council has approved the immediate release of £4.69m (€5.32m) of cultural grant funding to support the cultural and creative sector in the city. The Cultural Grant Funding the Council provides annually is to be repurposed to support cultural organisations during Covid-19. Among others, this will support the Edinburgh Festivals, five of which have recently announced cancellation, as well as offer support to the wider cultural community. Grant funding has been specifically allocated to support the Council’s work on Diversity and Inclusion, providing support to BAME artists and cultural organisations in Edinburgh during COVID-19. read more here

Contact: Karen Lloyd

Vienna – Overview of measures

Vienna has compiled a summary of measures the city has taken in the coronavirus crisis. They include the areas health and social care, public services, help for the economy, housing and homelessness, arts and culture, communication and citizen engagement as well as a part on ‘life after the crisis’. You can download the document here

Madrid – Fun from home

Madrid has launched an online platform ‘Conecta Juventud 2.0’ which now has almost 80,000 participants. The project has more than 40 activities available for young people to carry out from their homes under themes such as art, health, sports, personal care, solidarity, legal advice, science and new technologies. Read more (in Spanish) here.

Madrid has also joined the # PHEdesdemibalcón campaign. The PHotoESPAÑA International Photography Festival encourages citizens to send snapshots they take during these weeks from their balcony. Read more (in Spanish) here.

Contact: Ana Buñuel

Nice – Culture online

Nice is keeping culture open online. Through it’s platform oncultivate-you.nice.fr, the city has launched twenty online programmes including films, concerts, ballets, visits to heritage places, exhibition, and conferences! There is even a free moment when artists and musicians have a carte blanch to perform as they want. Read more (in French) here.

Contact: Jérôme Sieurin

Bamberg – Online education

Bamberg – educational resources on the internet

While schools are temporarily closed, Bamberg has established an online platform that contains exercises and working materials for students. These materials serve a dual function, as they also relate to Bamberg’s cultural heritage. Read more (in German) here.

Contact: Patricia Alberth

Berlin – Support for local businesses and culture

Small businesses and freelancers in Berlin can get grants of up to €5,000 as emergency aid. The package consists a total of €100 million and is aimed at small and micro enterprises with a maximum of five employees, which have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus crisis. This includes creative industries and culture. Since culture also needs publicity, the city has initiated ‘Berlin (a)live‘ for online events.

Continue reading “Berlin – Support for local businesses and culture” →

Bratislava – Artists call for corona discipline

Actors and artists in the city of Bratislava, Slovakia, have produced a video to motivate people to stay at home and help slowing down the spread of the corona virus. The main message of the film, which had been initiated by the city’s mayor: “Our most effective medicine is discipline.”

Continue reading “Bratislava – Artists call for corona discipline” →

Bologna – Culture doesn’t stop

Following the spontaneous balcony concerts of Italians, the city of Bologna makes live music available even with concert halls closed under the corona measures. The city’s web portal Bologna Agenda Cultura offers videos from musicians who played behind closed doors and gives free access to a wide range of online events.

Continue reading “Bologna – Culture doesn’t stop” →

Stuttgart – Digital art tours

The museum StadtPalais in Stuttgart is going fully digital. Under the title ‘Online for you’, a varied programme of interactive live tours, digital visits and media guides for home are offered, as well as online workshops for children and families, speed runs and live guests. The whole programme is for free.

Continue reading “Stuttgart – Digital art tours” →

Zaragoza – Photos from the balcony competition

The municipality has launched a photography competition for shots taken out of the balcony or window. The competition #DesdeMiVentana (or out of my window) is open to people aged between 12 and 30. Zaragoza is especially targeting young people who find it the hardest to stay indoors. All photos have to respect one condition: they have to portray the empty city of Zaragoza. In other words, the shots must show how society follows the measures to contain COVID-19. Read more here

Contact: test email@amil.com

Rome – Libraries against isolation

Rome’s libraries are making their catalogue available online for free with the #cultureathome campaign. People can subscribe for a free membership that will give them access to over 7100 periodicals from 90 countries in 40 different languages, the main national and international newspapers, and widely circulated magazines. Users will also be able to borrow from 2 to 4 e-books. Read more here

Contact: Tamara Lucarelli

Warsaw – Digital zoo and forest visits

Warsaw launched several virtual broadcasts showcasing the natural world, serving both educational and recreational purposes. The videos show how employees of the city zoo take care of animals, or teach interesting facts about the animal world. People can also take a digital stroll in Lasy Miejskie, the City Forest of Warsaw, and teach their kids how to behave when in the forest. Read more here

Contact: Natalia Boitot

Ljubljana – Volunteering for the elderly

Ljubljana has connected with a network of local volunteers who want to make everyday life easier for the elderly. The people involved are workers and volunteers from the Home Care Institute (Zavod za oskrbo na domu) and Ljubljana’s cultural public institutes (e.g. theatres, galleries). From Monday to Friday, the volunteer project manager is using the Home Care Institute Ljubljana’s phone number to collect the contact information of those who wish to be called by volunteers. The volunteers talk to the elderly about their jobs and about how the city’s cultural institutes work, as well as about normal everyday things, in order to help the elderly overcome their feelings of loneliness.

Contact: Polona Novak

Leipzig – Museum makes videos for kids

Leipzig’s natural history museum is creating videos for children to replace its exhibition on the deep sea, which was supposed to open at the end of March. A carpet of rubbish swirling above a shipwreck, the installation, and subsequently the videos that the museum is creation, will explore areas such as evolutionary history, biodiversity and environmental protection, until the museum can be opened again. Read more (in German) here.

Contact: Christin Rettke

Madrid – City offers Youtube exercises

Madrid’s new online exercise channel includes games to play with children, aerobic training, challenges to exercise as a family, yoga and pilates, and more. The councilor delegate for Sport, Sofía Miranda, has stressed the importance of continuing to do sports at home to keep people’s immune systems strong. This is also being hosted on a municipal Instagram account ‘I train at home’.

All the content that is published is developed by the professionals of the municipal sports centers of the City Council. Read more here.

Contact: Ana Buñuel

Barcelona – Keeping culture alive

Advance payments for artists whose shows have been postponed, subsidies for grassroots culture and a new timing and programme for the festival Grec 2020 to include as many productions by local companies as possible – Barcelona has initiated ten measures to support culture in the city in the face of COVID-19. Read more here

Contact: Marta Puchal

Munich – Don’t stop creativity

To support artists and other creative workers, Kreative Deutschland together with some funding institutions, such as the Team of Excellence for the Culture and Creative Industries of the City of Munich, have initiated the campaign ‘Don’t stop creativity’, to share information about funding opportunities as well as inspirational ideas. Creative examples are also published on a website, such as a fashion crowdfunding project for home office wear. Read more

Contact: Larissa Kiesel

Bratislava – Cartoon communication on corona

The city of Bratislava has created a set of simple drawings that highlight key measures to fight the corona outbreak for citizens. The mayor commissioned a famous local cartoonist to draw a poster to inform citizens that has been distributed online and through posters across the city.

Bratislava offers to share the material with any city that needs such an easy to understand material – just send an email to inovacie@bratislava.sk. You can read more here