Great deal of interest in the Summit of LOV

East Brabant region on board, launch of pilot project Body & Soul and start of search for 30 radical project ideas

The recent LOV Summit brought together more than 280 participants and international experts, marking a crucial moment in the preparations for Leuven to become the European Capital of Culture 2030. The program offered inspiration and focused on the enormous potential that the trajectory has to offer. The LOV meeting lived up to its new name and established radically new connections.

The Summit attracted a great deal of interest from various sectors, with a strong representation of organizations and individuals from Leuven, as well as cities and municipalities from the surrounding region. The involvement in the project extends across borders, which strengthens Leuven's candidacy. The launch of promising initiatives such as the Body & Soul city festival, which focuses on the theme of health and well-being, illustrates that radically connecting with other sectors offers new perspectives. Combined with an open call for project ideas for the 2030 program, Leuven's candidacy is on edge.

Radically connecting in new ways

“With the LOV Summit, we showed that the road to becoming European Capital of Culture is an enormous opportunity to bring about fundamental change. This is done by forging new, sometimes radically new connections with both known and unknown partners. Our mission is to face our blind spot,” says Bert Cornillie, alderman for culture. “The project has also been given a new name since the Summit. And that is LOV. It sounds a bit like 'luive' [lœvɘ], the way young Leuven residents pronounce 'Leuven'. And of course, in LOV you can also hear the English 'Love'. And do you know of anything more radical and more unifying than love?” ​

Intendants Lore Baeyens, Stijn Devillé and Sarah Bekambo add: “LOV is our mindset, the name represents our boundless pursuit of a better future for Leuven, the region and of course Europe. We really want to show that things can be done differently. The Dreamteam 2030 – the 30 fantastic ambassadors of this project – have even written a manual with a twist about radical connection.”

Call for 30 project ideas: deadline Wednesday, May 15

​This manual will serve as a guideline for the open call with which the team will search for 30 project ideas that radically connect. Who will dream with us until 2030? Submit your proposal by May 15, 2024.

Leuven & Beyond: getting the region on board

​The collaboration with partners such as the cultural and heritage sector or the Leuven networks SOM, Leuven Mindgate and Leuven 2030 comes together with the Summit in a final plan and forms important input for the bid book that will be submitted on September 2. ​
 

Leuven is strengthening its position as European Capital of Culture by explicitly involving the surrounding region and thus reaching far beyond its own borders. Cities and municipalities from the East Brabant region are fully committed to 'Leuven & Beyond. Candidate European Capital of Culture 2030', as the baseline for the LOV story.