The project «European Citizenship, Twinning &Culture No. 2013-1376» was funded with the support of the European Union under the Programme “Europe for Citizens”

Participation: The project involved 10064 citizens, notably 9950 participants from the city of Kaposvár .(Hungary), 44 participants from the city of Csíkszereda/Miercurea Ciuc  (Romania) , 53 participants from the city of Koprivnica (Croatia) , 8 participants from the city of Glinde (Germany), 5 participants from the city of Bath (UK), 8 participants from the city of Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire (France)

Location/ Dates: The event took place in Kaposvár, Hungary, from 05/09/2013 to  08/09/2013

Short description: The Municipality of Kaposvár hosted a meeting of twinned towns between 5-8 Sept 2013 titled “European Citizenship, Twinning& Culture” within the framework of the 3-day-long local cultural festival called “The City is Ours” with wealth of cultural and community events. 2013 is the European Year of Citizens and Kaposvár has joined this initiative by organizing cultural and twinning programme involving delegations, groups from twin towns and local civic associations.

The day of  05/09/2013 was dedicated to orientation and welcoming the delegations and civic associations in the Ceremonial Hall of the Townhall. Representatives of Kaposvár municipality and twinning association greeted the guests and host families, then gave a short outline of the project and the programme of the following days.

The day of 05/09/2013 was dedicated to a workshop titled “European Citizenship, Twinning &Culture” which took place at the Townhall between 9am and 4 pm with the participation of Kaposvár and five twin town delegations, plus the Kaposvár Twinning Association and the Compass Youth Association of Kaposvár. The presentations addressed the following issues: European Citizenship, Voluntarism, Civic representation, Twinning, Culture, European Values, then a forum and discussion panel followed.

At 4 pm the festival opening took place and at 5,30 pm the performance of the Koprivnica Folk Ensemble started with a huge audience , followed by the choir of the Croatian Ethnic Minority of Kaposvár called Rainbow-Bridge.

The day of 07/09/2013 was dedicated to one-to-one meetings and an informal EU picnic, as well as cultural performances and the promotion of EU values and multiculturalism through the operation of twinning stands run by twin towns’ twinning associations and volunteers on the Main Street within the framework of “ Meet your Twin” programme to promote their country, town and association.  Each delegation recorded a video message about twinning which will feature our final report. The EU Picnic followed, with cooking, cultural programme and EU Quiz, plus informal discussions.

Meanwhile, cultural groups discovered Kaposvár and performed in front of a huge audience – “ Tenyeres –Talpas” Folk Dance group ( Csíkszereda) at 6 pm on the main stage and Walcot State Choir of Bath at 7 pm in the Reformed Church. Participants joined the concerts and other cultural activities in the evenings.

The day of 08/09/2013 was dedicated to visiting the Rippl-Rónai Villa  and Visitor Centre where the delegations visited the memorial museum and during an informal meeting at the Visitor Centre, than later at lunch discussed their impressions and experiences concerning the project  and the possible ways of future cooperation. It was agreed the twins of Kaposvár should start talking to each other and establish a network to encourage forging further links and gain new experiences, as European citizens with the right to live, move and act freely within the European Union. Beside the formal discussions, informal meetings took place and new friendships were forged. It was stressed by the partners that apart from the workshop, the info stall in the main street enabled the locals to have first hand info about the twinning and the EU and the cultural performances promoted multiculturalism.