On Thursday, September 22, 2022, we held our annual general meeting at Spar Nord. While this is a formal occasion, the board also took the opportunity to mark the association’s first anniversary with this report, which, incidentally, was approved by the assembly. We also treated those in attendance to cakes from Bagt:
c/o Chairperson Aslak Gottlieb
When the newly elected board convened a year ago, we set ourselves the task of building as much capacity within the association as possible through volunteer work and networking. This report details how that has gone.
In terms of raw figures, the capacity could be calculated as follows:
This amounts to a revenue base of 59,000 kroner. Combined with grants from the Spar Nord Foundation and the Nordea Foundation totaling 75,000 kroner, we have thus managed to generate revenue of 134,000 kroner. I will return to the question of how we have managed to translate membership dues into activities.
Another key performance indicator could describe how successfully we have communicated our messages. We have achieved:
- 16 media mentions
- 200 followers on LinkedIn
- 250 followers on Facebook
- 100 newsletter subscribers
As an association, it is of course important that people participate in our activities. If we combine our meetings and workshops, the number comes to nearly 100 citizens—primarily locals of all ages—who have, in one way or another, engaged with our work through in-person participation. A number we hope will be multiplied several times over at Culture Night in Helsingør on September 30. In collaboration with our member organizations, we have planned five events with well-known names and varied content, which we have high hopes for.
To that end, the board is taking to the streets to engage in one-on-one conversations with the public to recruit individual members for the association or solicit donations. This was one of the recommendations our advisory board gave us earlier this year: Organize more activities, lower the membership fee, and recruit more members to lend credibility to the project.
At this general meeting , the board is therefore proposing an amendment to the bylaws to reduce the annual membership fee for individuals from 300 to 100 kroner.
But capacity shouldn’t be measured solely in numbers. After all, our activities are interactions between people and are typically based on experiences and conversations that cannot be quantified. Cultural activities could be described as gatherings centered around a shared interest—such as music, food, art, conversation, literature, or storytelling.
The board has worked extensively on this narrative in the form of a core narrative. It articulates the fundamental ideas and values that we believe are the essence of Helsingør as the European Capital of Culture in 2032. This work was inspired, among other things, by our activities, such as the creative journeys into the future we took two 5th-grade classes from Espergærde on in the old theater hall on Stengade. Or the walking workshop we held for members and interested citizens at the Hamlet Stage.
The core narrative is presented in a prose piece published on the website. In bullet-point form, it outlines some project objectives, but does not constitute a strategy as such. Since we do, after all, have a reasonable amount of time to draft our application to the EU, the board has prioritized the association’s capacity building over the work of formulating a strategy, which will be the incoming board’s most important task as soon as it has convened and, moreover, has wrapped up the events for Culture Night.
Personally, I am looking forward to the strategic planning process. Not that it will be an easy task in that sense. However, it will be rewarding for two reasons. I have just touched on the first one. We have clarified our core narrative and built up a solid capacity. The second reason is provided by the EU. In their guidelines for writing the application to become a European Capital of Culture, six points are listed that the applicant city must address. So there is a fixed framework within which we can be creative.
The six categories, which are weighted equally in the application, are as follows:
- Contribution to the long-term cultural strategy for the region
- Incorporating the European dimension
- Cultural and artistic content
- Ability to deliver
- Communication and Engagement
- Management and Administration
We are receiving guidance on the strategy from our advisory board. We are also in dialogue with representatives from the EU system and other European Capitals of Culture or candidates for the title. In this regard, it is worth noting that our dialogue with the City of Elsinore is informal. When and how we will formalize it is a matter we need to clarify over the course of the coming year.
Next year, we also hope to hire a part-time project staff member. This was actually planned for 2022, but the board quickly realized that the financial commitment was too great. The candidate’s profile will be an important strategic decision. Should we hire a curator? A communications specialist? A fundraiser? The association’s administration is already supported on a volunteer basis with great professional skill by Susanne Estrup, who is an alternate member of the board and the only person in this report mentioned by name.
The list of dedicated individuals who have contributed to the project over the course of the year is indeed long. A visit to the website—which, incidentally, was developed pro bono by one of our member companies—makes it clear that many people have already been involved in the project during the association’s first year of operation.
The snowball is formed. Now we just need to get it rolling.
