This is why we're taking over the secretariat and chairmanship for Culture Night across all of Helsingør.
Blog post by Aslak Gottlieb, Chairman of the board
I just chatted on the phone with a journalist from Helsingør Dagblad. The reason is that our association is taking over the administration of Culture Night starting this year. And I'll be the chairman of the steering group, which is made up of a fantastic bunch of people from towns all over Helsingør. For the past few years, the event has actually happened in Tikøb, Hornbæk, Espergærde, and Helsingør – over two evenings, no less! It's really impressive that our local community has enough people to fill what are essentially four culture nights!
The journalist called after seeing a press release from Helsingør Theatre, who've been the Culture Night secretariat for years. It says that Elsinore 2032 will now be in charge of coordinating all the fun events at the end of September. In the press release, I'm quoted saying:
Culture Night is an awesome, kind of anarchic project where shops, associations, and cultural spots all over Helsingør work together under one big umbrella. It's a great example of the kind of teamwork we hope to boost over the next 10 years as we aim to become the European Capital of Culture. We all owe a huge thank you to Helsingør Theatre for all their hard work organizing Culture Night. After so many years, it's only fair for someone else to take the reins, and as a fairly new association, we're buzzing with energy and totally up for the challenge!
So, we on the board have really committed ourselves. The journalist asked me if it was “filled with awe” to take on such a big responsibility for the well-run project. I don't remember if I was tempted to use that exact word, but okay, there's always a certain excitement and nervousness when you dive into new tasks.
Because it's definitely a big responsibility we're taking on. The streets in the four towns are full and buzzing with life on Culture Night. Imagine if we messed it up. Don’t change a winning horse. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And all that.
But we're not shaking in our boots on the board. Over the past year and a half as a newly established association, we've experienced great support, and we're confident that we have the capacity to handle the task. In 2022, we organized five events ourselves, gaining experience with what the format entails. You can see for yourself who our members are.
So why? We're a board that works unpaid, after all. What makes us voluntarily take on a task that was already being handled professionally and skillfully?
Well, with Culture Night, we get a kind of prototype of what we, as the European Capital of Culture in 2032, need to be able to deliver. Not that the city's shops will be open late throughout 2032. But the cultural activity level throughout Helsingør will naturally get a huge boost in the years leading up to 2032 and afterwards too. That's one of the main points of the project.
The journalist also asked how people would specifically notice the change in chairmanship for Culture Night this year. I allowed myself to be a bit vague there. For me, it's important that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater and develop Culture Night at a calm pace. Also, in cooperation with the steering group, who won't meet until early February.
So, I only gave him a hint that we'll be focusing on how we can also attract out-of-town guests to Culture Night. Anyone who's been to Culture Night in Copenhagen knows from the traffic chaos that sometimes occurs both in the city and on its access roads, what a big draw the concept can be. We need to work on that – without creating traffic chaos.
Now that we're no longer a shipyard town, let's become a great host city.
