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La Matrice
25 cities across the Region, France, and Europe. A network driven by the conviction that the future dynamism of European territories lies in mid-sized cities located on the periphery. The Bourges 2028 – The Matrix programme builds on the process of exchange and capacity-building developed during our European conferences in the pre-selection phase. The 22 cities are already on board with the project.
Since 2023, 25 cities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants have been interacting with a low carbon footprint.
The aim is to exchange around Bourges 2028 prototypes, adapt them to their own cities, and share best practices.
La Matrice is an informal capacity-building body dedicated to innovation, prototyping and the rollout of shared, collective solutions.
Participants in the quarterly interaction sessions come from a wide range of backgrounds and communities: elected officials, government representatives, cultural professionals, artists, entrepreneurs, citizens, students, retirees, and more.
We have already agreed with 25 cities to work together:
- 10 cities in the Centre-Val de Loire Region: Bourges, Châteauroux, Vierzon, Issoudun, Blois, Sancerre, Aubigny-sur-Nère, Saint-Amand-Montrond, Saint-Florent-sur-Cher, Tours, La Charité-sur-Loire and La Châtre.
- 5 French cities: Avignon (Provence-Alpes–Côte d’Azur Region, European Capital of Culture 2000), Angoulême (Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region), Guingamp (Brittany Region), Béthune (Hauts-de-France Region), Nevers (Bourgogne–Franche-Comté Region).
- 7 European Capitals of Culture: Matera 2019 (Italy), Bodø 2024 (Norway), Tartu 2024 (Estonia), Bad Ischl 2024 (Austria), Oulu 2026 (Finland), Évora 2027 (Portugal), České Budějovice 2028 (Czech Republic).
We have two specific partnerships with two French Creative Cities:
- Angoulême, a UNESCO Creative City of Literature, is home to a comprehensive image-based creative ecosystem: an international comics festival; 15 higher education institutions dedicated to image-related fields (including the École Européenne Supérieure de l’Image); the Cité Internationale de la Bande Dessinée et de l’Image (CIBDI); and the Magelis Image Cluster, bringing together more than 80 image-related companies.
It is also a place of residence and professional support for artists, through the Maison des Auteurs, which is part of the CIBDI. - Avignon, Europe’s leading city for live performance thanks to the Avignon Festival, was European Capital of Culture in 2000. With the Avignon 2025 – Terre de Culture project, launched 25 years after Avignon 2000, the city is developing an innovative network of Maisons Folies—originally created during Lille 2004—reimagined, updated and adapted to the Avignon area, particularly in the city’s outskirts.
