This is a beautiful city, north of Porto with a population of around 100,000. It is the birthplace of Portugal and will share the title of Capital of Culture in 2012 with Maribor, Slovenia. Unlike the usual competition that leads to the awarding of the title, Portugal chose not to request its candidates to submit a bid to become Capital of Culture. So, Guimaraes was awarded the title and is now developing its programme under the direction of Paula Aiexixo who was one of the key executives for Porto in 2001.

I visited the impressive Vila Flor Cultural Centre, inaugurated in 2005 and met the Artistic Director José Bastas who explained how the centre is encouraging discussion with local, regional and national artists via focus groups as to how the artistic programme for 2012 should develop. He outlined the centre’s role in encouraging emerging and artists locally and regionally to develop their work creatively and how the centre and its facilities can assist in their growth. There is no work being produced in the city and there are strategies to change this.

The afternoon was hosted by Tiago Andrade, a dynamic young arts executive who was responsible for hosting nternational and national artists in 2001. He is employed in an executive position at the Vila Flor. His expertise and knowledge of what went right and what didn’t in 2001 will be essential to the success of 2012.

He explained the arts infrastructure of the nothern region and the Vila Flor’s role in the lead up to 2012. He also treated us to a three course lunch which included a bottle of (seemingly endless) green wine.

Both Tiago and José felt that a city’s status as Capital of Culture should be a 10 year process - 4 years leading up to the year and 5 that follow - that it should not be a one year event.

It will be interesting to see how lessons learnt from 2001 will impact on 2012 as it will be interesting to see how a city that didn’t bid to become its country’s Capital of Culture develop its plans. Perhaps the 10 year model might be worth considering for future cities…

It was not all talk and culture. I managed a short tour of the city, a beer and martini (an odd combination) in the city’s pretty and bustling square, and a couple of hours at a swimming pool just outside the centre. As the school holidays had just started, it was full of children. I wished I’d remembered to bring my minidisk to drown out the relentless noise.