A new step in the implementation of the European Bauhaus (see EUROPE 12581/22) is taking shape: on Friday 23 April, the European Commission will launch the first ever annual prize, soberly named “New European Bauhaus” prize.
The prize, which is expected to be awarded to around 10 winners, will be presented this summer. It will be allocated to initiators of projects that have already been set up and that reflect the spirit of the European Bauhaus: projects that create a bridge between the ‘European Green Deal’ and the citizens, between the world of science and technology and that of art and culture.
In other words, it will celebrate “contemporary examples that are in their own way already combining sustainability, quality of experience and inclusion”, says the Commission.
This Friday will mark the opening of the call for entries for the prize. The call will specify the expected profiles of applicants, the nature of the prize, the selection process—which should involve public voting and a decision by a jury composed of the project’s partner organisations—and the prize categories.
“There will obviously be different categories, to reflect the diversity of places and challenges” that the European Bauhaus will have to help transform, explains Xavier Troussard, head of the project unit at the Commission.
“We thought we should also address youth”, he says, referring to the creation of a similar prize for Europeans aged 30 years or under.
Conference
The launch of the prize will take place in the context of an online conference, which will be held over 2 days, Thursday 22 and Friday 23 April, and will be punctuated by a series of round tables aimed at exploring the “key themes” of the European Bauhaus.
They will bring together representatives of the European institutions, various organisations and foundations, political figures, but also scientists and architects.
These events are part of the so-called “design” phase of the European Bauhaus (see EUROPE 12638/3), which aims to further refine the initiative and should reach and mobilise interested stakeholders across the EU by the end of the summer.
For the conference programme: https://bit.ly/3e8U9o7 (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)