Now it's time to wait and see
For us it is hard to imagine: After more than three years of hard work, we presented in front of the jury for the last time today. On Wednesday, October 28th, we will finally find out if we were able to convince the jury.
The European Capital of Culture office of the state capital Hanover was opened on July 3rd, 2017. And today, October 26th, 2020, we're done. 1,211 days, four worn out coffee machines and countless special moments: That is the balance sheet for the past three years.
We did our best - and on Wednesday we will know whether we have convinced the jury. Because today we had our final presentation. That means 30 minutes in which we presented artistically to the international jury of experts, followed by a 60-minute question-and-answer session.
Like the last jury presentation in December 2019, we did the artistic part, such as the question and answer session, with a ten-person delegation. We chose people who, on the one hand, had a strong impact on the application and, on the other, were able to complement each other well with different skills.
The final presentation
- Belit Onay, Lord Mayor and CEO of Hannover
- Melanie Botzki und Inga Samii, Leadership-Duo for the European Capital of Culture application Hannover 2025
- Dr. Heli Meisterson, European Capital of Culture expert
- Juan S. Guse, author of our two bid books
- Ninia Binias, artist, Host of the digital city visit and chair of the advisory board for our application
- Aljoscha Begrich, Maxim Gorki Theater and member of the Artistic Team
- Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius, Collective raumlaborberlin and member of the Artistic Team
- Jean Peters, Peng!-Collective and member of the Artistic Team
- Ilka Theurich, artist and Think Tank „The Beauty of Failure“ (Ihme Centre)
Lena Kußmann, director, actress and artistic director of the Theater an der Glocksee, was once again responsible for the artistic production management.
In addition to a film that told the story of our second application phase, she also developed a performance that explored the technical and artistic framework of a video conference app, which we had to use for the question-and-answer session with the jury.
We are satisfied because we gave everything. We worked for days and nights, always with the big dream in mind: European Capital of Culture 2025. Hundreds, thousands of people supported us. In front of and behind the scenes. You all. You have filled our motto Here Now Everyone for Europe with life. Without you, this whole process would not have been possible, without you we wouldn't be here now. Thank you so much for that!
Now there is only one thing left to do: wait and see. On Wednesday, #DieEntscheidung will be broadcast live on YouTube at 1 pm. Because of the increasing corona infections, we now have to spend this moment, which we would have loved to experience with you, without you.
But we would be all the more pleased if we could see you at least at our digital public viewing - and then, in the best case, experience the title win together!
Here now everyone. For Europe.
