The creative journey starts by being curious. It is curiosity that awakes our initial interest. This in turn sparks imagination. Once we are imaginative we can become creative, from which innovation and inventions grow. With curiosity the entrepreneurial spirit can mature. We are at the edge geographically, yet at the cutting edge in how we use our diversity of imagination. Umeå punches well above its weight. The city often leads the way, because it has etched a culture of curiosity into its expressions and the way it behaves.

We believe we have a bid that can widen and deepen the concept and experience of the European Capital of Culture. We have a vision, a challenging mission, a strategy based on successful experience and a programme that consists of eight different themes, each with the aim of presenting a multitude of experiences within different art forms.

Umeå Means U+Me = The Art of Co-Creation

Working in partnership comes naturally to us locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. The aim has always been to focus on what really matters to all of us as citizens, cities and civilizations. The most important of these are conviviality and co-creation – the art of living together. Umeå has the commitment of co-creating the European Capital of Culture with the four northernmost regions of Sweden. Umeå has a rapidly growing population and about 30,000 university students.We are prepared to fill this project with unbridled passion, curiosity,joy, and co-creation!

Umeå is a special, unusual place. It represents distance and closeness, dark days, reflecting snow, the magic Aurora Borealis and light nights with plants growing around the clock. It is a place that enlightens from within a northern dimension. We understand how culture and nature can live and work together.