This weekend saw the launch of the Eldorado cultural festival in our French partner city of Lille. The festival was the latest offering from Lille3000, an organisation which was created by the city of Lille as part of the legacy of the European Capital of Culture title which they held in 2004.
This year’s theme is “Eldorado” and it brings together artists and musicians from Mexico, with exhibitions and performances taking place in Lille’s many cultural centres, fantastical creatures and Mexican skulls popping up in streets and public spaces and moon is making an appearance in the Lille Flandres railway station.
The new Chair of Leeds 2023, Ruth Pitt, was invited to take part in the launch events and to talk to the city leaders about how they have transformed their city through investment in culture. There was an open invitation from the organisers of the festival, Lille3000, to exchange ideas and learn from their vast experience of running high profile international cultural festivals. Ruth will use this learning in the design of the international cultural festival which will fill the streets of Leeds in 2023.
Since holding the title of European Capital of Culture in 2004, Lille3000 have run a number of cultural festivals, each on a different theme of global significance such as “Bombaysers” in 2006 which had an Indian theme, “Europe XXL” in 2009 which looked at the newly enlarged Europe and “Renaissance” in 2015 which included a Rio style carnival through the city centre.
“Eldorado” will run until 2 December 2019 and further details can be found on the Lille3000 website.