EXECUTIVE SUMMARY of a report by Anouk Gardien, Barbara Ruder, Philip Hemmerich and Raoul Hoomans.

The assignment mentioned in the introduction of this report can be divided into three topics:

1. Research
2. Research to strategy
3. Strategy

Research

In the first chapter the main question is what the key Visual Art related networks with European reach are. In order to answer this question the core networks are evaluated on five levels namely: Visual art, cultural heritage, inter city connectivity, intra city connectivity and knowledge economy. In order to answer this question, first desk research was conducted.

Secondly, field research was conducted which was mainly interviews with specialists in networks, cultural organisations in Breda, city functionaries and politicians from the municipality. From the topics above Footprints for Breda had been created. Field research had also been undertaken to compare Breda with two other cities. These two cities, Freiburg in Germany and Graz in Austria, are being introduced generally, and, in addition, according to the five dimensions. Now again the Footprints have been created according to the methodology. So differences and similarities are being visualized.

Research to Strategy

In the second topic, research to strategy, the main topic is the new international networks and how they should be developed to reinforce the basic strategy of the municipality of Breda in context of BrabantStad in order to become European Capital of Culture and why. In order to answer this question different theories are being applied. First of all, desk research had been extended. In addition field research had been conducted to deepen the knowledge. First the two successfully connected cultural cities Graz and Freiburg are being looked at in-depth. What are they being successful in, what are their strategies, and what kind of investments are being done in Visual Arts. After this, Breda again is being looked at in detail, investigating the findings of the comparable aspects and how strategies could be developed for the city.

Strategy

Thirdly, new strategies on how to improve the international networks of Breda had been made according to the findings. In total there are four, and all of them are based and evaluated on the five levels mentioned above:

1. Center of Creativity
2. Reconverting part of the town – alternative lifestyle
3. City Quality – online and offline
4. Friendship City Programme

In addition, the urban theory and bionics theory had been applied. The urban theory is mostly literature based on city networks, urban innovation and development and Visual Culture. The bionics theory is a creative approach to the topic; bionics is based on the idea that well working mechanisms from nature are taken as example for city networks.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY of a report by Jana Bovermann, Laurens van den Bergh, Mona Steufkens, Katharina Deppe, Natascha de Ruiter and Anna Schraven

Overall, it can be said that the research that was conducted served the purpose of getting an insight into the current identity of Breda and BrabantStad, as well as into the desired identity. Furthermore, insight was gained into six events, which where three ECOC events and three general European events, in order to find out their success factors.
The different aspects which are important for Breda in relation to their identity are presented in 17 criteria. These criteria are:

The main purpose of the research was to find out success factors of European events, as well as of ECOC events. Out of the in-depth analysis of the six chosen events, namely Glastonbury Festival, Ghent Festivities and Edinburgh International Festival as general European events, as well as Motel Mozaique, Tall Ships‘ Race and Les 12 maisons des Folie as the ECOC events, 29 success factors were concluded.

These factors are:
01. Event used as city marketing tool
02. Does not focus on one target group
03. High media attention
04. Existing venues are being (re)used
05. Positive reputation
06. Mix of music, arts and theatre
07. Cooperation and co-existing with artists
08. Personal involvement & interaction of all parties involved
09. Go with trends
10. Education and involvement of youth
11. Easy accessible
12. Long history of event
13. Funded by municipality
14. Involvement of local businesses
15. Event based in an attractive environment
16. Cooperation and co-existing with other festivals
17. Communication in various languages
18. Well-structured hierarchical organisation
19. Strong connection to history of city
20. Neighbourhood involvement
21. Unique products especially for the event
22. Strong word-of-mouth promotion
23. Funding is based on public and private sponsors
24. Changing themes
25. Changing core organisation
26. Residences for artists
27. Care about environment
28. Support of charity organisations
29. Spontaneous happenings

The success factors that are marked bold are the ones which occurred mostly within the six events. These 15 factors were then compared to the criteria of Breda and BrabantStad. With this comparison it was possible to see which factors could be applied to the city of Breda and in what way. The combination of several success factors is essential in order to organise successful events.

Future of the Lab

2018Brabant is the name of the ambition of five cities in Brabant to become European Capital of Culture in 2018 when the Netherlands deliver its capital of culture.
The efforts and results achieved in Ruhr2010 are impressive: artisticly, socialy and economicaly. The model of the organisation and the program are sources of inspiration to 2018Brabant.

2018Brabant has its focus merely on creativity, sustainability, social and economical innovation. Of course there is a dominant role for arts and culture in the proces.
To be more specific: innovative projects in the cross-over fields of creative industry, research, education and media art as BALTAN develops in collaboration with other parties like Virtueel Platform (Amsterdam), BAM (Ghent) and medienwerk.nrw (North Rhine-Westphalia) are important for 2018Brabant. This was shown at the E-CULTURE FAIR 2010 in Dortmund.

There is the historical connection of BALTAN with the development of media art in Brabant and the Netherlands. From the perspective of 2018Brabant this is an important building stone for the further development of media art.

The E-CULTURE FAIR has its roots in the Netherlands. In fact it was organised in the Netherlands since 2000, and it is now presented for the first time here in Germany.
In 1990, ISEA International, was founded in the Netherlands also. ISEA fosters interdisciplinary academic discourse and exchange in art, science and technology.

Earlier, roughly from the 60th until the 90th, there was a true artistic wave in Brabant wich incorporated a high degree of artistic freedom and quality. At that time Academy St joost in Breda, Academy of Fine Arts in Tilburg, Brabants Conservatoire in Tilburg, Natlab and Apollohuis in Eindhoven and V2 in ’s-Hertogenbosch were famous and well respected institutions. In fact they were the labs for media art.
Founding fathers of media art in The Netherlands worked there. Dick Raaymakers even started his carreer at Natlab Eindhoven.
From the 90th the labs slowly fell apart or moved to other regions. It seems to me as if the cities Tilburg, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Breda and Eindhoven weren’t able to absorb and understand the importance of what happened artisticly at that time. Due to a lack of support, one after the other, organisations and artists left to The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and elsewhere.
In the last few years, there is a movement in the opposite direction. BALTAN Laboratories, festival STRP in Eindhoven, Playgrounds Festival in TIlburg, and Noisivision in Breda pay attention to media art.
I believe that media art is – in a mix of artistic values and practices – able to enrich society and therefore contribute to the succes of 2018Brabant.

There still are important questions to be answered though:

• How can media arts contribute to science, society and arts?
• How do media arts participate in the discourse of (artistic) values outside its own domain?
• What does it mean to be a media artist these days?

Media art gives time, space and meaning unique dimensions. It creates a culture of innovation.
BALTAN works on media art in the cross-over fields of creative industry, research and education.

The publication  ’The Future of the Lab’ is an inspiring contribution to the discourse, the quality and the diversity whithin the arts in Brabant.