Tips for themed years

How do you organize a successful themed year?

 

Kick-off

It was relatively unknown that the world-famous painter Van Gogh spent time in Drenthe. To change this, the initiative was taken for Van Gogh Drenthe. “It had to be visible and experienceable, for both residents and visitors,” says Elizabeth. “We saw 2023 as a kick-off, but this was soon called the Van Gogh year. We have focused on creating a lasting offer, but also consciously opted for collaboration with local associations, institutions and entrepreneurs. There was great support, so that many events were organized locally and schools also took up the theme. There was really a lot of enthusiasm. Great, because this local aspect turned out to be essential for the success of Van Gogh Drenthe. It generated quite a bit of media attention locally and regionally, less nationally. This only really got going when the exhibition opened in the Drenthe Museum in September: Van Gogh's Drenthe paintings were brought together here for the first time in 140 years.”

     “The local aspect turned out to be essential for success”

 

Solid base

Carolien recognizes these start-up problems. “At the kick-off of the Hanseatic year on April 1, there was little concrete program for the year and the attention was disappointing. That changed over the course of the year.” A big difference with Van Gogh Drenthe is that the Hanseatic Year came about in a completely different way. These Hanseatic cities have been working together for 29 years. The Hanseatic Year was organized to create momentum between the international Hanseatic Days of 2017 (Kampen) and in 2030/2031 (Zwolle and Harderwijk). The advantage: there was already a lot of knowledge and a solid foundation as a starting point. The downside: the moment wasn't natural or tied to a specific event, which doesn't help tell the story. “And if a theme has been worked on for a long time, the theme year can also lead to a kind of fatigue. After the Mondriaan Year, those involved were 'fed up with Mondriaan'!”, Carolien jokes.

Not just touristic goals

A themed year is often used for tourism, but is also valuable in other ways. In a themed year you can make interesting links with other tasks and domains, for example research into a specific subject, strengthening cultural heritage, involving residents, increasing quality of life, social cohesion and stimulating collaborations. For example, Celebrations at Sea in The Hague has permanently improved the public space in a number of places.

Huge commitment

Both themed years were a success, with a number of initiatives really standing out. “The local collaboration was really great in Drenthe. In New Amsterdam, a village with 6.700 inhabitants, everyone was allowed to think about a large mural that would brighten up an ugly wall. There were four options and they could vote on them. That resulted in enormous involvement. Of course, Van Gogh Drenthe is also intended for tourists, but residents of Drenthe have also started to look at their surroundings differently. The 'lilac skies' that Van Gogh wrote about in his letters, I recognize them now. And I hear that from others too.” The event that Carolien is most proud of also has to do with the involvement of residents. “Color the Hanse” was a large project, in which at least one building was made in all Hanseatic cities that everyone could download, color and then upload. Those works of art were projected onto those buildings. The financing in particular was challenging, but once it was in place, the reactions were very positive. Not just from stakeholders; we also built a bridge to the residents who thus gave color to the Hanseatic cities. And it was perfect timing, during the christmas holidays. Everything was right.”

         “Most initiatives were temporary, which I think is a shame.”

Jealous

But not everything turned out so well. Carolien and Elizabeth have learned a lot from the themed years. Carolien: “What I personally think is a shame is that almost everything we did during the Hanseatic year was temporary: short-term events, temporary exhibitions and products. I would therefore advise anyone working on a theme year to start with a description of what the year after the themed year will look like. The Hanseatic year has definitely increased knowledge, skills and involvement, but I am jealous of the beautiful lookig through panels, the amazing cycle route and the new Van Gogh House in Drenthe. It would have been nice if the themed year had provided a permanent Hanseatic experience, for example. By the way, not every theme year has to produce a tourist attraction, you may also be working towards, for example, new structures and collaborations, a good script, a distribution plan for city dressing, a new product line or an academy.”

Better basis from the start

Visibility and lasting highlights have indeed emerged in Drenthe, but there was not much at the start. That made it quite challenging, says Elizabeth. “The marketing colleagues didn't really know what to promote. In retrospect, I would have preferred to have completed the cycling and walking route a year earlier, had already installed the viewing panels and placed information boards at the places where Van Gogh visited. Then we could have incorporated this into a campaign. That is a really important learning point. What we also noticed during the course of the year is that we had chosen to organize a somewhat larger event in each municipality, but that it was difficult to attract enough people. Drenthe is simply less populated. In the Hanseatic cities you jump on your bike to watch a projection, that's different here. People travel one or two hours by train for the major exhibition in the Drents Museum, but they do not do that for a smaller event such as a music performance.”

         “A theme year is not just a marketing tool”

Clear story

In the Hanseatic cities, some of the offerings were far removed from the story about the Hanseatic League. Carolien: “On the one hand, that's not a problem, you should certainly support good initiatives and you can certainly push boundaries. But the story you want to tell must be clear, especially for the visitor.” Elizabeth completely agrees. “We have chosen a clear positioning and also looked carefully at what is being said in Brabant or France. You must develop an offer that is based on the real, historical story, so that it is clear that a theme year is not a flat marketing tool. At Van Gogh Drenthe we saw that local initiatives often focused on a different story. There it was not always about Van Gogh's Drenthe works, but about Van Gogh's world-famous Sunflowers or The Starry Night. We didn't mind that, because the goal here was different. Locally, it was mainly about support. We had control over the larger activities and stuck to the positioning. That approach worked great!”

Lessons learned

A themed year is expensive, but at the same time a large budget does not necessarily mean a successful theme year. “It's about the way you use the resources and how you combine work and activities. That is not only financially interesting; it also increases involvement and impact,” Carolien adds.

Fortunately, a themed year also yields a lot, as is evident from the enthusiasm with which Carolien and Elizabeth say. The lessons learned are valuable. And they fully agree on one of the most important lessons: a themed year is long, so consider carefully whether the subject is really suitable for this. “You can also choose 100 days, a theme month or season. A year is quite a long time to maintain the attention span.”

Ten golden tips

• Start preparations in time: 2 to 3 years in advance. Then you can also link existing events to the theme and create more lasting effects.
• Formulate clear goals and describe what is needed to achieve those goals.
• Give someone the role of driving force. He/she keeps an overview and makes decisions. And above all, work together with as many existing and local organizers/parties as possible.
• Create lasting offerings, in addition to temporary initiatives. Think about this in the start-up phase, for example by using a subsidy scheme for local initiatives.
• Provide a clear story that is substantively correct and with a distinctive positioning. Be sharp in sticking to this story, so that what is developed really fleshes it out.
• Investigate how you can involve residents, local institutions and entrepreneurs and establish sustainable partnerships.
• Ensure sufficient budget for organization, program and marketing and combine existing budgets smartly.
• Organize a number of large events as a leader, but also offer plenty of space for local events. This is particularly important for support.
• Make sure there is sufficient supply right from the start, which will result in more media attention and more visitors.
• Learn from the things that went less smoothly. And…celebrate successes!