In 2026, Trenčín will become the European Capital of Culture. One of the systemic decisions the City Hall has made in connection to this was to establish the position of the City Curator, a specialised custodian of city public spaces under the City Hall’s Department of Spatial Planning. So far, Trnava has been the only city in Slovakia that has its own city curator. In a conversation with Omar Mirza, we discuss what his new job entails, how successful he has been in promoting public participation and what he has achieved in his first year in Trenčín.