Multilateral Exchanges on Art Nouveau & Tourism, Ljubljana, 14 March 2006
Eight partner cities participated at this event with brief presentations on initiatives taken in their city or region, concerning Art Nouveau heritage and tourism: Barcelona, Bruxelles-Brussel, Glasgow, Nancy, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Ljubljana, Regione Lombardia and Reus.
Other partner cities assisted to the multilateral exchanges with their questions and comments: Alesund, Bad Nauheim, La Habana, Riga and Terrassa.
La Chaux-de-Fonds (LCF) gave the first presentation explaining the difficulties being a small, relatively unknown town in a country with very strong touristical assets like nature and sport in connection with the alps and the capital cities. LCF is situated out of the touristic zones of the country and has small financial means for touristic promotion, but there is currently a stronger marketing vision developing in the city, to promote some of the strong points: its Art Nouveau heritage, with its distinctive feature "style sapin", and the fact that Le Corbusier was born in LCF. However, even though the Art Nouveau heritage of LCF is an important one it can not compete with the big cities without strong targeted actions to the cultural tourists. Furthermore, many of the works by Le Corbusier in LCF are difficult to visit and also do not correspond to his major works, so well known for the target groups.
In 2003 discussions started on how to promote the Art Nouveau heritage in La Chaux-de-Fonds. The discussions resulted in a rich programme of activities for 2005-2006 (see website), celebrating the centenary of the opening of the Art School in LCF. So far, the most simple actions have been among the most successful ones: covers of milk containers for cafés etc with images from the Art Nouveau heritage in LCF, stamps sold in every post office of Switzerland with references to LCF, a combined ticket/game with images from the Art Nouveau buildings and a calendar published and sold every year with attractive pictures of the architectural heritage of LCF. The official signature of the programme 2005-2006 is the characteristic sapin-style logo of LCF, and it has been used frequently in the promotion work giving a "face" to the LCF and its heritage. The response has been very positive. Among other, a richly illustrated article on LCF was published in one of the major magazines of Switzerland. The overall increase of tourism in LCF has been about 20% since the campaign started, which of course puts extra demands on a city of LCF's size with little infrastructure to receive a large number of tourists- the bigger hotels and restaurants are situated close to the watch industries of the city.
A cooperation with all the museums in LCF has been established for different types of activities and exhibitions. The bigger cities of Switzerland have been contacted to mention one of their major Art Nouveau building in the exhibition created showing the Art Nouveau heritage on a national level. The cities pay a fee to participate in the travelling exhibition, something that is of course important for a small city like LCF.This action is promoting the Art Nouveau buildings spread over the country and the two years event in LCF at the same time. In the past, Heritage Days have been organised by the cantons, but with scattered themes and events- with this campaign it was important to concentrate on one single theme to give LCF the characteristics and attributes it needed. The goal is to be put on the list of World heritage by UNESCO, a process that has recently started.
On an international level the Réseau Art Nouveau Network has been a visible European connection, as well as the patron committee including representatives from the Musée d'Orsay, UNESCO, the Horta Museum in Brussels but also one of the managers from the internationally well-known watch company Tissot. Tissot also made two special Art Nouveau watches for the campaign in collaboration with the School of Art, something that has also been of importance.
Ålesund pointed out some similarities with LCF, being a small city in a country most well-known for its nature experiences and little infrastructure to receive large numbers of tourists. LCF mentioned the change of focus for the tourism in Switzerland in later years. Nowadays the focus has moved from the alps towards food, luxury and heritage.
The next presentation was given by the Direction of Monuments and Sites of Bruxelles-Brussel (DMS), although its area of responsibility is not related to tourism issues. As projectleader of the RANN the DMS attended the major European cultural heritage forum organised by Europa Nostra and held in Bruxelles-Brussel on 7 December 2005 under the title ”Cultural Heritage counts for Europe” . A brief summary of the main discussions, which were based on Europa Nostra’s position paper to the European Institutionsgave the participants an idea of the importance of culture in the European politics today. Heritage should be regarded as an important asset in a sustainable economical development, giving a number of socio- and economical benefits. This is of course of special interest for Europe, being a world leading tourist destination, something that puts a lot of pressure on the European countries today to reinforce their budgets for tourism and organise well-functioning platforms for cooperation in the field. Present at the colloquium were national and international policy makers and in his speech Jan Figel', the European Commissioner for Culture and Education, mentioned the importance of the "organised civil society". Networks like the Réseau Art Nouveau Network can be seen as a good example of that (position paper, programme and speeches can be downloaded from www.europanostra.org).
The next topic was the year 2005, which was dedicated to the Art Nouveau heritage of the city. In that year Belgium also celebrated its 175th anniversary of independence and its 25th anniversary of the federal system, the need for a "public appeal" created a number of cultural activities in connection to the anniversaries. The theme for Bruxelles-Brussel was a natural choice given its rich Art Nouveau heritage. Please note that the DMS was not responsible for organising the 2005 Art nouveau tourist campaign, so the follwing brief statement reflects the point of view of a participant only.
As an international city, Bruxelles-Brussel receives a large number of visitors each year. The campaign was therefore visible in all airport terminals, train stations etc. A website (www.brusselsartnouveau.be), which is still available, was created as a support for visitors as the Art Nouveau heritage is spread out in all the city communes. Five "open door" weekends were held throughout the month of october receiving around 5000 visitors per weekend. The Art Nouveau campaign in 2005 was made in four languages (French, Dutch, German and English). All actors in the field have given very positive response to the campaign. For more details, please contact the organisers, the Office de Promotion du Tourisme Bruxelles-Wallonie (see www.opt.be, email ).
Our partners from Regione Lombardia discussed the difficulties in managing local initiatives and the risk of fragmentation in the presentation of touristic assets in the region. This also causes problems with funding f.ex. In 2004 a new law was created to support cooperation in this field. An example is the agreement between Regione Lombardia and the Province of Como to achieve restauration of the well-known villas around Lago di Como. The villas are integrated in the landscape around the lake and sometimes not so visible for the public, some are private and others are public. A dialogue with the private owners has been initiated to create a catalogue of all the existing villas, some unknown up to now. The goal is to create a unique presentation route for visitors. Many of the private owners struggle with financial problems to maintain the villas and a support system is currently sought to improve this situation in the future. A conference with the private owners was recently organised to discuss the issues connected to creating a visitors route in the Como area. Pompei was mentioned as a good example of a well functioning infrastructure with transportation solutions. In the Como area an executive project has been created to solve the transportation problems around the lake.
Lombardia is a heavily industrialised region, but nowadays there is a political will to change focus, to deindustrialise and instead concentrate on other assets of the area, f.e.x heritage, which will promote the economical development in the long run. Traditionally the tourism around the Lago di Como has been of an elite nature, today the politicians wish to attract new target groups, like families and young people. The focus will be on sustainable tourism. The initiatives are not yet visible on the internet, but some of the issues discussed can be seen on the website of Regione Lombardia (www.regione.lombardia.it).
Our partners in Reus are not only working in the tourist office, but also in the heritage field and therefore have a two-fold responsibility: to promote the city to tourists and to promote the heritage of the city to politicians in order to protect it for the future.
Reus is a relatively small town with 100 000 inhabitants, situated 100 km south of Barcelona and not too far from the touristic zone of Catalonia. It has been promoted as a "shopping centre" of the region but now the focus lays more with the cultural heritage, something that has proven successful.
One of the most successful initiatives has been the Ruta del Modernista that was created in Barcelona and in Reus in 1997. Prior to that year no-one spoke of Art Nouveau (Modernisme) in Reus, now it is a new argument to visit the town. Reus includes about 100 Art Nouveau buildings, identified with plaques and sign posts around the town. Guided tours are organised in four languages (Spanish, Catalan, French and English) and with the private houses normally closed for the public agreements have been made so that they can be visited during the supervised guided tours. Since 1997 there has been an increase in the tourism of Reus, something that naturally promotes the local economy.
In 2002, the official Gaudi-year, the restauration of the Modernist buildings intensified. 20 % of the buildings were completely or partly renovated, with subventions 25-50% of the total costs, depending of the architectural quality of the house. The restoring campaign called ’Reus fes goig’ was initiated by the Catalan parliament and had many positive effects on other cities as well. Now similar initiatives are planned for other heritage as well. In 2002, in cooperation with Ruta del Modernista (Barcelona) a large number of activities were started including workshops, merchandising, exhibitions (of which one is on permanent display in the Historical Museum of Reus), new cultural centres and routes for tourists.
One of the major initiatives is the so called ’Gaudí-Box’ or ’Capsa Gaudi’ (see website), a central building in the main square of Reus dedicated to Gaudí, housing exhibitions and other activities on 1750 m2. The work is on-going and is expected to be finished in May 2007. The total cost of the project is 9 million euros, an important sum for a town of Reus' size. With a venture of this size critical voices have been heard critisizing the initiative as a populist "theme park", others think that the Gaudí-box takes too much money from other projects in the city. It is important to involve professionals at an early stage in projects like this, to let the tourist side do the promotion, but the experts take care of the rest. The Gaudí-box is now promoted through a huge canvas on the building itself explaining the coming events and contents. One positive aspect of this initiative, according to the participants from Reus, is that the city's inhabitants have become more aware of its heritage and the Ruta del Modernista.
Nancy has always been aware of its rich Art Nouveau heritage, the challenge has been to make it known to an international audience. Since 1997 a number of initiatives have been taken to promote Nancy's heritage and today the city is well known not only in Europe, but also in countries like Japan. The media has played an important role in this, but also marketing and networking with other European cities.
The important role of the Tourist Office has been recognized by the Municipality that offered a bigger place for its activities, now there is enough space for exhibitions and other activities. The merchandising is an important part of the annual turnover and a number of local craftsmen and artists work for the Tourist Office shop to create unique products related to the city's heritage. The shop sell the objects with a commission and most objects are signed by the artists (apart from the industrialised objects, like the copies). In fact, the shop has been so successful the Tourist Office is now 30% self funding through the merchandising.
In 1999 the Art Nouveau routes were created, designated for different target groups. The initiative resulted in a 40% increase in the local tourism from previous years, 1450 group visits were held including more than 55 000 individuals from different countries. The effects from 1999 are still felt in the general interest in the city's heritage and a number of activities still available, like the on-foot visits, coach visits, taxi tours, signs on buildings in the town (more than 50 Art Nouveau buildings listed) etc. Transportation is important if you want to see the buildings outside of the city's centre and a number of initiatives were taken to solve that problem. The taxi tours have proven successful also among the taxi drivers themselves who were given a brief introductory course in the Art Nouveau heritage of Nancy in order to be able to guide visitors. In general the visitors are given audio guides, the taxi drivers only completes the information while driving. The taxi tour is paid with a fixed sum (15 euro), the Tourist Office does not profit from these tours.