On Friday, October 27th, 2023, the competition for the next Belgian European Capital of Culture officially began with the publication of the Call for Submission and the launch of the website. Since then, candidate cities have been in full preparation mode for the pre-selection. 

On August 2nd, we will know which cities intend to compete. Candidate cities have until September 2nd at 17:00 to submit their candidacies. On October 21st, 22nd and 23rd the cities will be invited to present their candidacies to a panel of international experts at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels. The panel is composed of twelve independent experts, responsible for carrying out the different phases of the competition. Ten experts are appointed by European Union institutions and bodies. Two experts are appointed by the three Belgian ministers of culture. The names of the panel members will be published on the ECOC 2030 BE website one week before the pre-selection meeting. 

A detailed schedule for the pre-selection will be drawn up after the cities have submitted their candidacies. Each city will have 30 minutes for its presentation, followed by a 60-minute discussion between the panel and the city. The presentations of the candidacies will be given in English, or, upon request, in Dutch, French or German with translation into English. The panel will discuss all candidacies in English. 

The panel will evaluate the cities based on their applications and hearings against the competition’s objectives and criteria and will agree on a shortlist of pre-selected cities. These shortlisted cities will be disclosed by the chairperson of the panel during a press conference in the auditorium of the Royal Library of Belgium on October 24th, followed by a reception.  

To be continued!  

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