Europe, we love you!

In early 2022, we launched a participatory campaign around the visual identity of our bid entitled “Let’s Choose Bourges 2028 Together.”
Residents were invited to select the new logo for the bid from three proposals designed by four recent graduates of the École Supérieure d’Art et de Design d’Orléans (ESAD).
More than 3,000 people took part in the online campaign through our social media channels and website. Children across Bourges were also invited to vote for their favourite logo in their classrooms. A dedicated educational toolkit was provided to teachers to help explain Bourges’ bid for the title of European Capital of Culture.

The now-iconic leaf logo – which has since become the visual signature of Bourges 2028 – was chosen by the people of Bourges.
The design evokes lightness, environmental protection and biodiversity. In many ways, it was a powerful and symbolic choice, reflecting the strong ecological values at the heart of Bourges’ bid for the title of European Capital of Culture.
The new visual identity was officially unveiled on Valentine’s Day, 14 February 2022, during a special event entitled “Europe, We Love You!”

“Europe, We Love You!” was an event celebrating the European spirit. Its aim was to show residents that by choosing Bourges 2028, they were also choosing Europe.
If you’d like something slightly more inspirational in tone, I can adjust the phrasing accordingly.

From 12 to 14 February, Bourges 2028 organised a festive weekend during which the people of Bourges were invited to declare their love for Europe.
A unifying cultural programme, punctuated by a wide range of events and activities, was developed in partnership with the Ville de Bourges, Les Mille Univers, the Office du commerce et de l’artisanat, and Les Mystères de Bourges.
If you’d like, I can also make the tone slightly more celebratory or more institutional, depending on the page layout.

The programme invited residents to send love poems to their European friends — written and dispatched by the Projet Poétique Planétaire — with Jacques Jouet, Cécile Riou, Jean Paul Honoré, Patrick Biau, and Annie Pellet taking part.
If you’d like, I can slightly refine the rhythm to make it feel more editorial or more poetic.

The Belgian association Patrimoine à roulette invited the people of Bourges to sketch their love for Europe through an open portrait workshop for all ages, with the aim of creating a vast open-air gallery featuring the faces of local residents.
If you’d like, I can also make it slightly more vivid and visual in tone.

No love declaration is complete without a serenade!
To mark the occasion, Bourges 2028 brought together around ten musicians who set the city centre alight with vibrant jazz, funk and hip-hop sounds.
If you’d like, I can also make the tone slightly more lyrical or more dynamic depending on the rhythm of the full article.

Finally, the weekend ended on a high note: to mark the occasion, the bid team offered tickets to the Printemps de Bourges2022 edition to ten people drawn at random from among those who had voted for the logo in the “Let’s Choose Bourges 2028 Together” campaign.
If you’d like, I can now harmonise all the sections into one cohesive, publication-ready article.