Concise.pdf - Brugge Plus

Accents
Process and evolution
Making a programme is a process. We went about things very consciously with this
fact in mind: from the point of view of content, by analysing, prospecting, selecting,
studying in depth and concluding; from an organisational point of view, by programming,
budgeting and implementing; and from an operational point of view by
recruiting the right people, and sometimes also letting them go.
In 1999, in consultation with a small think-tank, we began to work on the basis of
Bart Caron’s bulky preparatory report. This contained an analysis of the cultural field
in Bruges and 800 project proposals submitted by local residents or cultural organisations
from Bruges and its surroundings. From this we drew seven thematic lines
for the cultural year. Hugo De Greef had at that point just started as intendant. When
Katrien Laporte and Jan Vermassen were taken on in November 1999 as programme
directors, they refined the thematic lines into seven main themes, which were to
make it possible to work in a somewhat more concrete and selective manner.
© BRODY NEUENSCHWANDER
PHOTO: JAN TERMONT & DIRK VAN DER BORGHT
By May 2000 we were busy prospecting
and working out project concepts. We
became convinced that the programme
ought not to turn into an accumulation of
disconnected components, but had to
approach the city and the idea of a cultural
capital as a whole. We expressly opted not
to work around a single theme. However,
the programme was subsumed into one
discourse, with five lines of approach:
connecting history and the present day,
building a bridge to the 21 st century,
endeavouring to leave something behind,
Hanseatic Days
moving off the beaten track, and providing
for festivities and fun. Each and every one of these inputs had to do with the context
of Bruges itself and had to offer enough openness for frontiers to be pushed back.
In November 2000 we presented this idea to the press and our partners.
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CONCISE
Gradually we came to the realisation that we were actually building the content of the
programme around the poem “Op een dag” (One Day) that Peter Verhelst had specially
written for BRUGGE 2002. It remained our leitmotif. We were being innovative
here, too, for this approach was not that of a guiding and all-governing principle, such
as one theme or neatly demarcated disciplines, but a poem and a discourse with the
context of the city. That meant a programme with no unequivocal guideline, but with
many layers.
In the middle of 2001 the programme was virtually complete and a start could be
made on working out the details.
Teamwork
The creation of the programme was the work of an entire team. This also involved an
evolution, step by step, in terms of tasks and people. The programme department
started up in November 1999 with three people and in the course of 2000 and 2001
grew into a team of 10 programme staff.
In March 2001 Gerd Van Looy joined the team as production manager. It was his job
to see our lofty dreams fulfilled. Katrien Laporte left in June 2001. Various production
staff was taken on from November 2001 onwards, so that by the start of the cul-