Pontresina joins

NEXPO – the new Expo – was founded in 2018 as an initiative of the ten biggest cities in Switzerland to establish the country’s first decentralised national expo. As part of this initiative, 100 projects will be set up across the country to encourage people to reflect on and discuss what it means to live together in 21st-century Switzerland. The national expo should evolve over time: the first projects will take off before the expo gets into full swing, with some carrying on afterwards as the "new emblems of Switzerland". In the name of sustainability, the projects should take place mainly in pre-existing buildings and temporary spaces.

NEXPO seeks to connect cultural initiatives throughout Switzerland, across all its language regions, in towns and cities, and in both urban and rural areas. Pontresina is the first Romansch-speaking municipality to join NEXPO. After Chur, it is the second member of the group to come from the Bündner region.

The benefits that NEXPO brings Switzerland will not just be abstract in nature; the initiative will also result in new, exciting cultural offerings for a wide audience. This will boost restaurants, hotels, and the events and cultural sectors, and will foster sustainable tourism, both within Switzerland and from its neighbouring countries.

Pontresina joins the founding members Bern, Basel, Biel, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Winterthur and Zurich, as well as the associated members Aarau, Chur, Frauenfeld, Fribourg, Grindelwald, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, Saas-Fee, Schaffhausen, Sion and Uster. The group now has 22 members in total, all of which can take an active role in shaping the project.

About NEXPO: The initiative of the ten largest Swiss cities for a new national exhibition is called NEXPO - the new Expo, because it will take on a completely new form: it will be sustainable, future-oriented, decen­tralised and take place throughout Switz­erland. It will not be an Expo on a defined and fenced-in site. It will connect cultural initiatives throughout Switz­erland, in all language regions, in cities, agglo­me­rations and in the countryside. It will build bridges between the centre and the periphery, form a nationwide network and create meeting places.