Leading Culture Destinations and visitBerlin Announce the LCD Berlin Awards 2021

London, United Kingdom, May 28, 2021 --(PR.com)-- Leading Culture Destinations (LCD) and visitBerlin have joined forces in 2019 to launch LCD Berlin, the first city-led initiative to build a sustainable ecosystem for culture and travel professionals from Berlin and beyond, bringing culture and travel together to create new opportunities for collaboration.

This year, the 6-month digital-first campaign will offer digital visitors the chance to explore the places they’ll want to visit in the future and will enable destinations to reach those audiences. The awards ceremony will take place in Q4, subject to COVID-19 restrictions. LCD Berlin has been encouraged by their culture and tourism partners to continue their support to existing associated partners and newly, nominated destinations creating new networks and alliances to restart their organizations. If people cannot get to cultural destinations, then let LCD brings the cultural destinations to the people.

“This pandemic has shown us that we need to rethink how we live, work and travel. We have to come together as a community to build and shape our cities in the future because partnerships -especially between travel and culture- make us stronger,” says Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin. “LCD Berlin therefore shows leadership to bring new partners together, to shine light on the best new and established cultural places in Berlin and beyond.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with visitBerlin and to continue developing our new culture-travel ecosystem in Berlin, which kicked off just before the pandemic hit in 2020, under the patronage of the Economy Senate and Professor Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation,” notes Florian Wupperfeld, founder of Leading Culture Destinations. “COVID-19 has changed how we experience cities and how we will travel in the future. Culture is what will bring travelers back to cities and it is a crucial community driver for many inner cities in times of growing digitalisation. We believe Berlin will be amongst the first ones to recover from the pandemic due to its diverse and deep cultural roots.

“Cultural tourism is an incredibly valuable sector. In Berlin, the vast majority of visitors mention ‘culture’ as a key reason for their visit and we want to build bridges and synergies between tourism, culture and decision-makers.”

The LCD Berlin Awards nominees are shortlisted by a team of LCD ambassadors, exhaustive research and recommendations from the world's leading cultural nomads. The winners are selected by both an esteemed international jury and public vote. The LCD Berlin Awards for 2021 feature 13 awards across the following sections; New Culture Destinations of the Year (with five categories); Digital Destinations of the Year (with three categories) Soft Power Destination of the Year (with one category); Climate Smart Award (with one category); and Travellers' Awards (with three categories).

The nominees for the LCD Berlin Awards for 2021 are:

New Culture Destinations of the Year

Asia Pacific
- National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts Weiwuying (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
- X Museum (Beijing, China)
- Museum of Underwater Art (Queensland, Australia)

Europe
- National Gallery Athens (Athens, Greece)
- Munch Museum (Oslo, Norway)
- James Simon Gallery (Berlin, Germany)

Latin America
- Museum of Image and Sound (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
- Museo Regional Aysen (Patagonia, Chile)

Middle East / Africa
- Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (Salmiya, Kuwait)
- King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Dhahran, Saudi Arabia)
- The Museum of the Future (Dubai, UAE)

North America
- The Momentary (Bentonville, Arkansas, USA)
- Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA)
- Fotografiska, (New York City, New York, USA)

Digital Destinations of The Year

Best Immersive Museum Experience
- Superblue (Miami, Florida, USA)
- Hopscotch (San Antonio, Texas, USA)

Bassins de Lumières (Bordeaux, France)

Best Digital Museum Experience
- Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Humlebaek, Denmark)
- Garage Museum of Contemporary Art (Moscow, Russia)
- Museum of Tomorrow (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Best Digital Destination Experience
- Helsinki (Finland)
- Faroe Islands (Denmark)
- Scotland (Scotland)

Soft Power Destination of The Year

- Battersea Arts Centre (London, UK)
- Project Row Houses (Houston, Texas, USA)
- The Plywood Project (New York City, New York, USA)

Travellers' Awards

Best Cultural Festival
- Desert X (Coachella Valley, California, USA)
- Inside/Out Lichtaktion Kunstreal (Munich, Germany)
- Art With Me (Tulum, Mexico)

Best Emerging Culture City
- Nantes (France)
- Lausanne (Switzerland)
- Jakarta (Indonesia)

Best Art Hotel
- The Maker (Hudson, New York, USA)
- Soneva Fushi (Eydhafushi, Maldives)
- Langham Residences (Munich, Germany)

Climate Smart Award in partnership with SUNx

- Australian Museum (Sydney, Australia)
- LÁ Art Museum (Hveragerði, Iceland)
- Museo del Prado (Madrid, Spain)