Aarhus 2017 challenges European colleagues

When representatives from different European Capitals of Culture visit Aarhus from 8-10 June, the Aarhus 2017 Sustainability operators, Samsø Energy Academy and WorldPerfect await them with a challenge.

The visitors come from European Capitals of Culture such as Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, Plovdiv in Bulgaria and Matera in Italy, and will visit Aarhus this week. They will be taken on a sustainability safari, exploring Dokk1, Mølleparken, Godsbanen and ReUse.

The guests will get one simple assignment during the safari: to take the Aarhus Sustainability Model and go back home and choose one, or more projects, to participate in the competition for The Samsø Award in 2017. The Samsø Award will be awarded on the Samsø Sustainability Festival in the summer of 2017.

This award has been developed by Samsø Energy Academy in cooperation with various European partners and is focused on sustainability in practise, by showing good examples on how sustainability can be carried out.

“We have been in contact with the other capitals of culture, but others have also shown an interest to participate in the Award. Despite the fact that Aarhus Sustainability Model was developed to support and inspire the Danish culture project, many of the recommendations are universal and can be used in different geographical and cultural contexts,” explained Peter Christensen, project leader at Samsø Energy Academy. The Energy Academy is working on getting the award passed on to the Capital of Culture City in 2018, Leeuwarden.

A selected group of Danish 2017-projects will also participate in the Samsø Award. Since the launch Aarhus Sustainability Model, the operators have selected 10-12 projects that are considered sustainability ambassadors for Aarhus 2017. The projects receive sparring and help to integrate selected sustainability initiatives in their cultural projects.

"Vi consider the projects and look to where it makes sense to them to work on being more sustainable. This could be anything from not having plastic bottles and forks and knives, or solving transport issues in a sustainable way. The projects are well underway and I'm certain that we will have even more strong contenders for the award next year," said Rasmus Hørsted Jensen from WorldPerfect.

The actual award ceremony will take place at Pentecost 2017, when participants from the national and international projects go on a sustainability safari from Aarhus to Samsø. During the festival the projects will be presented to the audience and an international jury.

Use the ferry
A new direct ferry route between Samsø and Aarhus has recently been opened. During the Samsø Sustainability Festival, the ferry will sail to the island from Aarhus, as well to other events during the Capital of Culture year around Jutland.

Participants:
Donostia / San Sebastián 2016 (Spain), Wroclaw 2016 (Poland), Pafos 2017 (Cyprus), Leeuwarden 2018 (The Netherlands), Valletta 2018 (Malta), Matera 2019 (Italy), Plovdiv 2019 (Bulgaria), Rijeka 2020 (Croatia), as well as Liverpool 2008 (UK), Stavanger 2008 (Norway), Essen 2010 (Germany), Ruhr 2010 (Germany), Maribor 2012 (Slovenia), Umeå 2014 (Sweden), Plzeň 2015 (Czech Republic) and Mons 2015 (Belgium).