Aarhus, located in Mid-Jutland in Denmark, is a city of 333 684 citizens (2017). It was chosen to be the European Capital of Culture 2017 along with Paphos from Cyprus. Aarhus’s theme was “Let’s Rethink”; the aim of the programme was to change the citizens’ mindset via culture, and to highlight the three core values: sustainability, diversity, and democracy.
Aarhus implemented a total of 442 core projects, and 13 708 “event days” in total. Approx. half of all events – 52 percent – were free entry.
The total budget was 61.9 million euros. Now that’s quite a lot, isn’t it? However, one should keep in mind that there also was an increase of 159.1 million euros in turnover in the private sector in Central Denmark Region (when it comes to European Capitals of Culture, that’s not even that much – in Mons in 2015, each invested euro brought back six euros)! In addition to this, 1965 new full-time jobs were born.
Photo: RUNI Photopop / VisitAarhus