On Monday, the City of Helsingør and the Elsinore 2032 association traveled together to the Ministry of Culture. We brought with us Helsingør’s “bid book”—our application to become the European Capital of Culture in 2032—which we submitted to Minister of Culture Zenia Stampe. Many of you have helped shape its content.
And there we were, holding the printed book in our hands. After many conversations, meetings, workshops, and writing sessions, it was a great pleasure to submit our bid book—as the application is called in the context of the European Capital of Culture.
It's a milestone that gives us a reason to just pause for a moment, take a breath, and say thank you.
Thank you to all of you members who have stayed committed to this idea and helped bring it to life. Thank you to all of you who have shown up, shared your thoughts over a meal, asked a good question, or told us what you miss and hope for in our city and the entire surrounding region. And thank you to the artists, cultural institutions, associations, businesses, and municipal partners who have invested their time and effort in this work.
Mayor Benedikte Kiær, Minister of Culture Zenia Stampe, Chair of the Culture Committee Ulla Kokfelt, Aslak Gottlieb (Elsinore 2032), and Chair of the Sports and Recreation Committee Michael Mathiesen will present the “bid book” on the steps of the Ministry of Culture on October 5, 2026.
Your contributions have helped shape both the application and the way we work. We try to bring people together, listen to their experiences, and see what happens when we take the time to think and create together. We intend to continue working this way.
The title is *To Be…*. We borrow these two words from *Hamlet* and use them to ask questions about life in the here and now: What does it mean to be human in an age when technology, nature, and our society are changing? Who do we want to become? And where—and with whom—do we belong?
These are questions that art and culture can help us explore—with room for reflection, new experiences, and the unexpected. The 2032 program is structured like a play; in this application, we explore these themes through Being, Becoming, and Belonging: to be, to become, and to belong.
Elsinore and Europe serve as the starting point, but the project incorporates a regional perspective:
To everyone in the rest of North Zealand and in Helsingborg: We’d like to develop this together with you.
To cultural venues, artists, organizations, and others interested in collaborating: Let’s meet, share ideas, and explore what we can create across municipal boundaries and the Øresund. Drawing on our local experiences, we also want to contribute to the European dialogue and learn from others.
We are now awaiting the evaluation by the European panel of experts. If Helsingør is prequalified, we will continue to work together on the application and further develop the program.
We're glad to have made it this far. And we look forward to our next conversations with you.
