The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg expects to host the European Capital of Culture in 2022, to this end, Luxembourg's Ministry of Culture has launched an open call for applications more than six years before the year in question.
The title of European Capital of Culture is awarded each year to a maximum of one city in each of the two Member States - for the year 2022, the two Members States entitled to host the European Capital of Culture action are Luxembourg and Lithuania.
The aim of this call is to trigger applications from cities in Luxembourg wishing to bid for the "European Capital of Culture" title for the year 2022 and to lead to the designation of one of these cities that may be awarded the Melina Mercouri prize (worth €1.5m).
The candidate towns and cities must complete the application using one or more official languages of the EU, one of which must be English, with the deadline for submission of applications being 23 May 2016.
A jury of independent experts will make a first assessment of the applications and draw up a list of pre-selected towns and cities. They can then refine their project on the basis of recommendations made by the jury. The final selection will take place in 2017. The award criteria include 1. Contribution to the long-term strategy; 2. European dimension; 3. Cultural and artistic content; 4. Capacity to deliver; 5. Outreach; 6. Management.
The Ministry of Culture has set up a special email address: ecoc2022@mc.etat.lu to which the candidate towns and cities may make enquiries.
The ministry will also organise, in cooperation with the European Commission, an information meeting for potential bid towns and cities. This meeting will be held on Monday 28 September 2015 at the Ministry of Culture. Cities and towns interested may register using the above email address.
