Rouen Seine Normande 2028 2023 association report

APRIL 2024

2023 will have been the key year in Rouen’s bid to become European Capital of Culture: the culmination of almost 5 years’ work, summarized in the hundred or so pages of the second application file, and the denouement of a tremendous collective adventure, so exciting despite the disappointing outcome…

Taking stock of this year 2023 means realizing how far we’ve come from the success of the preselection process to the announcement, at the end of the suspense, of the European jury’s choice. But above all, it means measuring the impact that this adventure has had on the local fabric, on associations, on culture, on the economy, and even on local residents: an enthusiasm and an unprecedented sense of ownership that only something as powerful as a European Capital of Culture can inspire.

We will only be able to calmly consider the legacy and follow-up to the project, and envisage the traces we will leave in the region, when measured against the deep current of mobilization, cooperation and participation that has swept through our territories, and the immense wave of support and adherence that has carried us through to the end.