The Timisoara - European Cultural Capital program is coming to an end

The European Capital of Culture is coming to an end. The last weekend full of concerts, shows and exhibitions is coming. The balance of the year in which Timisoara was the European capital of culture looks good - the program was a success and exceeded everyone's expectations, said the mayor Dominic Fritz.

During this year, more than 2.000 cultural events took place, attended by hundreds of thousands of artists and visitors, and five new cultural spaces were opened as in cinemas, art galleries and multi-purpose halls. Almost 900 organizations and over 3.000 volunteers were involved. Timisoara enjoyed visibility both nationally and internationally, including at diplomatic level.

The cultural program cost over 20 million euros, money coming from the local and county budgets, from the Ministry of Culture and from sponsorships. Although the cultural program ends this weekend, a new stage follows, that of cultural heritage, which will provide artists with funding of 7 million lei from the state budget for the continuation of successful projects.

In addition, annually, the City Hall will allocate an amount of one million euros for artistic residencies and creative scholarships.

"From the beginning we said that we have two big ambitions with this title: the first ambition is to redefine culture and art in Timisoara, in our community, as a driver of development and the second objective - to put Timisoara and Romania back on the map of Europe", said Dominic Fritz.

To mark the end of the Timisoara - European Capital of Culture Program, several concerts, shows and exhibitions are organized in the open air and in multifunctional spaces until Sunday.

Translated by: Radu Matei