Local Heroes
52 weeks - 52 towns
Graphic: Christoph Kniel/Niko Synnatzschke
From Alpen to Xanten, from Sunday to Saturday, from Dachsberg to the Rheinberger Heide. 10 January will mean just one thing: On with the spotlights! Through the "Local Heroes" project, every town and city in the Ruhr Metropolis will, for one week, take centre stage in the European Capital of Culture. Each of the towns will be independently responsible for their programme and will present their own cultural spectrum ranging from local roots to metropolitan challenges and the European dimension.
The 52 urban entities of the Ruhr Metropolis, plus the City of Essen officially bearing the title of "European Capital of Culture", will thus, for one week each, showcase how the big ideas of a Capital of Culture can be put into practice on a more local scale. With the help of the citizens and creative minds of these towns, projects have been developed which symbolise the cultural profile of each locality. These may be in the form of local festivals, concerts, exhibitions, readings, theatre and cabaret performances, as well as art installations. The challenge is to make visible what is special about each town within a wider regional context, to bring out the charm of a close-knit community within the hustle and bustle of the metropolis and to find perspectives for the future in the traces of history.
Dinslaken was the first of the towns to present itself as "Local Hero No.1" from 10 to 16 January 2010 - immediately following the official opening ceremony of RUHR.2010. A vaudeville show performed on a line 903 tramcar, local rock band "The Kilians" and readings by Jürgen Lodemann and Sigrid Damm are all examples of the culturally diverse start to the Capital of Culture programme provided by the towns. The other "Local Heroes" that will follow have also put plenty of thought into their programme. Art exhibited in a car showroom, nymph legends, talent shows and an orchestra made up of players from all ages promise to make the "Local Heroes" project one of the most diverse seen in the Capital of Culture. It will certainly be the one with most individual events on offer.
Essen, which is the 53rd town of the Ruhr Metropolis and "Local Hero" for the whole year, will be running local projects and programmes throughout the entire 12 months. The town of Hünxe in the district of Wesel will be ensuring that cultural capital year ends on a high note on 31 December 2010.
A !SINGTower has been specifically designed to be handed like a baton from one "Local Hero" to the next. Like an overscale interactive iPod, it provides a conceptual link between all of the week-long "Local Heroes" programmes. The !SINGTower enables musical greetings and songs by all the citizens and visitors of the town to be transmitted to the next "Local Heroes" town. Hence, during the 52 weeks of the Capital of Culture year, a musical map of the Ruhr Metropolis will be created, reflecting the cultural diversity of the 53 towns and cities of the Ruhr Metropolis. And this map is to remain on the website as a lasting record, emulating the Amsterdam equivalent on which the concept is based.
Further information on the events taking place as part of the individual "Local Heroes" weeks will be available from December 15th, 2009 on www.ruhr2010.de/local-heroes and also in a separate publication.
Events in all 53 cities of the Ruhr Metropolis:
Janurary 10 - December 31, 2010
Main project sponsor: Haniel