Dream, It Works! – this is a slogan under which Katowice will inaugurate its efforts to become the European Youth Capital (EYC) in 2015. Workshops, lecture courses and meetings will be taking place from 21st to 30th of March this year to promote the City’s candidature and the title’s idea among citizens.
The official motto of the Katowice candidature is the City of Dreams. It refers to a dream about the City of Gardens motto had been created while Katowice was applying for the European Capital of Culture (ECC) in 2016 (the City got to the final stage, though Wrocław was awarded the title).
The candidature of the City is coordinated by the “Katowice – Miasto Ogrodów” institution (Katowice – City of Gardens), previously responsible for participation in the ECC 2016 race. The institution interprets the new City of Dreams motto in a following way: “a friendly city, which stimulates consciousness and encourages activities, can not exist without inhabitants and their dreams. Young people dreams have a strong meaning while creating a perfect city. As the youth decides about the shape of tomorrow and their aspirations, desires and potential define how Katowice will look like in 5, 10 or 20 years”.
The European Youth Capital is a title granted by the European Youth Forum to a European city for a period of one year, during which it is given the chance to showcase its youth-related cultural, social, political and economic life and development.
The first European Youth Capital was Rotterdam (the Netherlands) in 2009. The European Youth Forum has awarded the EYC 2010 title to Turin (Italy), EYC 2011 to Antwerp (Belgium) and EYC 2012 to Braga (Portugal). The Forum has announced recently that the European Youth Capital in 2013 will be Maribor (Slovenia) and Thessaloniki (Greece) in 2014.
The deadline for EYC 2015 application is 1st of May 2012. On 4th of July 2012, the Forum will announce a short list of candidates, which fulfilled the criteria of the call. Then, the short-listed cities will have the possibility to improve the applications by 1st of October this year. The European Youth Capital 2015 should be announced late 2012.