TWINS finale RUHR.2010

At the end of the European Capital of Culture year the TWINS idea may claim to have installed the strongest creative engine in Europe within just a few years. More than 1,700 partner organisations from 257 international cities, 39 countries and four continents were involved. A total of 2.5 million euros from the budget of RUHR.2010 GmbH flowed into the TWINS project. Taking the funds of the projects themselves and other patron, donation and sponsorship monies into account as well, however, the financial means available totalled about 7.3 million euros. Not yet included in this proud sum are payments in kind and services or monies that have already flowed or will still flow into successor projects.

Actively involved were renowned universities, e.g. the Universities of Rotterdam and Utrecht, the Delft University of Technology, the Wakefield Academy, the Vilnius Academy of Arts, the Technical University of Dortmund, the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, the Goethe University in Frankfurt, the Conservatory Nizhny Novgorod, the Turkish University in Afyon, the Norwegian University in Bergen and the Psychiatric University Clinic in Heidelberg. Other participants included a young dance ensemble from Vilnius, young artists from the slums on the outskirts of Istanbul, musicians from Belarus and the favelas in Chile as well as young Africans living in exile in Scandinavia.

The TWINS projects were hosts to world stars such as the Turkish clarinettist Selim Sesler, the French accordionist Lydie Auvrey, great jazz singers such as Dennis Rowland, the chanson singer Katja Douchine from Russia, famous organists such as Olivier Latry from Paris / Notre Dame and Prof. Marek Stefanski from Krakow, world musicians such as the outstanding Mongolian horse violinist Enkh Jargal, renowned dance choreographers such as Jean-Claude Galotta from Grenoble, famous poets such as the Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska and the British Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion and the internationally renowned architect Marcel Kalberer.

This list could be continued with other impressive participants: numerous consulates, established cultural institutes, theatres, ballet ensembles and museums, photographers and architects, the free cultural scenes from all fields, freelance artists, choirs, schools of all age groups and religious communities of different faiths also actively took part in the European project TWINS. Apart from the large Capital of Culture projects “Still-Life A40/B1”, “Local Heroes” and “!SING – DAY OF SONG”, it is mainly the European project TWINS that may claim to have extensively and actively involved the people of the region and Europe in the Capital of Culture programme, thereby giving them the opportunity to contribute significantly to its organisation and substance.

According to the project evaluations available at present, more than 90% of the people responsible for the TWINS project rate the success of the project retrospectively as very good and 5% as good. Almost all project initiators are, however, agreed in their résumés that they would definitely repeat their projects in the same or slightly modified form.

Only four TWINS projects could not be realised in the Capital of Culture year. The reasons for this lay in financial, personnel or organisational problems that proved insurmountable in the course of the projects.

Not all experiences and moments shared by the project partners from around the world were pleasing and happy ones. One project, for example, had the problem that the building of its sister school in Doncaster burnt to the ground at the end of 2009. This did not only mess up the schedule considerably. However, in spite of all difficulties, creative solutions were sought and the project was realised completely – albeit belatedly – in the end.

The severe and dire consequences of the toxic mud disaster in Unna’s Hungarian twin town of Ajka suddenly brought home the very personal fates of people with whom one had worked with in the TWINS project. The tragic air crash of the Polish prime minister and other passengers over Hagen’s twin town of Smolensk in April 2010, the heavy rainfalls and whirlwinds in Gladbeck’s twin town of Alanya in autumn 2009, the disastrous forest fires in Russia in summer 2010, which also strongly affected Essen’s twin town of Nizhny Novgorod, were no longer just sad, faraway events from somewhere in the world. No, they and many other places suddenly brought to mind shared experiences, meetings and concrete people. And in turn many of our European partners shared the shock the whole Capital of Culture region felt following the disastrous Loveparade event at the end of July 2010. Many twin towns reacted with deep dismay and full of sympathy for all affected by this tragedy.

For TWINS, the assessment of sustainability is not only linked to the question of whether and in which form which projects are to be continued, although numerous TWINS project initiators have already indicated that the European collaboration in their concrete TWINS project is to be continued after 2010 and they already have concrete plans in this regard.

It is not for nothing that big business companies often support broad international exchange and advancement programmes for young people. The motivation behind this lies, apart from the advancement of young talent and personnel recruitment and development in principle, in the aspect that these advancement programmes lead over time to the development of a broad global network, which has many decisive advantages. With personal contacts and advocates “on the ground”, it is then easier to communicate and realise business, cultural and ecological collaboration worldwide.

TWINS has a deeper sustainability in that creative and international opportunities for creation and learning were opened up to many thousands of young people. This definitely led to the development of new perspectives for later education, training and career wishes, greater openness to international encounters and the acquisition of additional language skills. TWINS gave many people from Europe and beyond the chance to get to know the Ruhr Metropolis for the first time. They will spread their mainly positive (according to the feedback received so far) experiences into the world. And hopefully soon return to the Ruhr area as tourists, students, cooperation partners or qualified employees.

A true metropolis can only breathe, grow and flourish in a globalised and interlinked world if it lives this internationalism actively and treats it as a great treasure. International cooperation, dialogue and encounters are the be-all and end-all for this. To develop this quality in the emerging Ruhr Metropolis and to keep it alive lies in the interest of the future of the complete region. It would be downright criminal to leave the TWINS idea and the related success unused after 2010.