What happens when creative businesses contribute to a cultural program in new partnerships? And what kinds of outcome can come from experiments like this? This evaluation sat out to investigate the outcome of the so called More Creative Events which were a part of the Aarhus 2017 European Capital of Culture program. These events were created in order to highlight the creative strengths of Central Denmark Region within architecture, design, digital media, fashion and gas-tronomy.

Through in-depth interviews and an evaluation workshop we have uncovered and discussed the project partners’ experiences and learnings from their projects. The evaluation shed a light on the challenges and rewards that the new partnerships brought the involved organizations, and how events can help the companies communicate and relate to their markets and the public in new ways.

Among the key findings is the way that the cultural arena in many cases acted as a level playing field for the involved project partners, paving the way for successful partnerships. New knowledge and skills within novel subject areas were part of the outcome of the projects along with increased visibility and positioning of the organisations within different fields of expertise. Relations between people who would not have found each other in other contexts were formed and most of the involved organisations came away with inspiration and ideas for future projects of strategic value.