CULtour Journal: Beyond the borders

“I have been looking for this” is the most common reaction of readers who have leafed through an edition of the multicultural magazine CULTour-Journal. The paper, published twice a year, targets an adventurous audience that shows an interest in its cultural surroundings – the Euregio within Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

“Being a new inhabitant of Aachen, I was enthused at the variety of tips offered and immediately began to plan my week-ends,“ said Katja Ritter, a reader of the paper.

The magazine covers a variety of topics including descriptions of six to eight project partners per issue as destinations to visit, with the main focal point on cultural and historical aspects.

The idea for the trilingual magazine – French, German and Dutch – began to materialise in 1999 when 20 communities and cities exhibited their most prominent examples of architecture.

Due to its success, the magazine, currently funded under the EU Programme Interreg III, has the prospect of becoming an independent project with the guaranteed support of the communities.

Its extra challenge will be to expand beyond the Meuse- Rhine region in 2006. “Our project is important because inhabitants in the Euregio are offered the possibility of looking beyond their borders. It is a good way of getting to know each other,” said Kerstin Peters, the cheerful project coordinator. “Why should people have to travel far if you live close to lovely places such as Hoensbroek castle?”

Big cities such as Maastricht are not addressed in the paper: “They receive advertisements in many local newspapers,” Mrs Peters commented. “We want to give a chance to smaller regions, since they also have a lot to offer.”

CULtour-Journal is available free of charge at more than 400 outlets within the region.

By Natascha Ansari

Source: Crossroads print issue, July 2005