2nd edition 2015-2016

The objective of the "International Award UCLG – MEXICO CITY – Culture 21" is, to recognise leading cities and individuals that have distinguished themselves through their contribution to culture as a key dimension in sustainable cities.

The "International Award UCLG – MEXICO CITY – Culture 21" has two categories: the City / Local or Regional Government Award, which recognises a city, local or regional government the cultural policy of which has contributed significantly to linking the values
of culture (heritage, diversity, creativity and transmission of knowledge) with democratic governance, citizen participation and sustainable development, and the Individual Award, which recognises an internationally renowned individual who has made a fundamental contribution to the relationship between culture and sustainable development.

Category "City" 2nd edition 2015-2016

In the framework of the 2016 Executive Bureau of UCLG, in Kazan (Republic of Tatarstan, Russia), the Councillor on Culture of Mexico City, and co-president of the Committee on Culture of UCLG, Mr. Eduardo Vázquez Martín, officially announced the winners of the 2^nd edition of the International Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21.

The Jury of the 2^nd edition of the International Award have decided that the winners were:

The City of Timbuktu (Mali), with the programme "Cultural heritage and reinvigoration of socio-economic activities in Timbuktu"; and the City of Vaudreuil-Dorion (Quebec, Canada) with the programme "I am... The adventure of one community in the middle of a transformation".

Timbuktu

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Full project description

tombouctou_eng.pdf

The programme “Cultural heritage and reinvigoration of socio-economic activities in Timbuktu” focuses on the rehabilitation of the sector and of crafts, following the recent terrorist occupation of the regions of northern Mali. This caused significant damage to cultural heritage, practices, and expressions: population displacement; destruction of innumerable historical monuments, memorial sites and ancient manuscripts; intense pillaging of archaeological sites and museums; and prohibition and weakening of cultural practices and traditions. The project associates the rehabilitation of cultural heritage with the rehabilitation of socio-economic activity, in particular of crafts. It has worked on ways of reinvigorating intangible heritage and arts and crafts, and also suggests ways of strengthening the city council’s capacities and improving local governance.

Vaudreuil-Dorion

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Full project description

vd_eng.pdf

The programme “I AM… / The adventure of one community in the middle of a transformation” has been underway in Vaudreuil-Dorion since 2010, and works to promote the emergence of a united community that experiences differences as richness. Each year, 20,000 citizens take part in some 600 workshops based around 50 main activities. The goal: to create encounters which allow an understanding of others, and encourage respect for differences. Active citizen participation through cultural and creative acts is at the centre of community reinvention. Here, citizens rub shoulders, interact, and learn to understand one another. Besides working directly on social cohesion, these cultural activities contribute to solid progress in terms of environment, town planning, community bodies and their missions, physical and mental health, and business environments.

Website (in French): www.ville.vaudreuil-dorion.qc.ca

Facebook (in French): facebook.com/Je-suis-Vaudreuil-Dorion

Video (Mrs Nichols, Member of Parliament of Vaudreuil, and Mr Couillard, Premier of Quebec) : watch video

Special mention

The Jury also decided to make special mention to the following projects:

Busan (Republic of Korea) for the programme "Historic Downtown Culture Cluster TOTATOGA".

busan.pdf

Dakar (Senegal) for the programme "School of Commons".

dakar.pdf

Kaunas (Lithuania), for the project "The Šančiai Cabbage Field Project – small scale seeks big transformation"

kaunas.pdf

Lake Mégantic (Quebec, Canada) for the programme "Rebuilding Lake Mégantic"

lacmegantic.pdf

Montevideo (Uruguay) for the programme "Cultural Co-Management Civic Centre: SACUDE"

montevideo.pdf

Category "Individual" 2nd edition 2015-2016

The Jury of the 2^nd edition of the International Award have decided that the winners were:

Jon Hawkes and Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui.

Jon Hawkes

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Full profile

hawkes_eng.pdf

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Article

jh_article_eng.pdf

Author of the book "The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: culture's essential role in public planning". With this book, Hawkes significantly contributed to transforming the basic structure of public policy making. The core concept that informs his work has become central to many policy development strategies at the local level throughout the world. By proposing culture as a fourth perspective from which to view sustainability (and indeed, all of the key concerns of public policy), Hawkes not only raised culture to the same level as the three traditional dimensions of policy development – economic, social and ecological – he also helped to focus the "sustainability" discourse on culture. For Hawkes, culture "has always been a process rather than a product" and its value "lies in its making far more than in what is made." Consequently, locally generated cultural action becomes the key to sustainable development and takes place within and between communities. Without a vital and inclusive public culture, imagining a future (what else is planning?) can never be effective or wholesome. Always committed to practical local action, Jon currently works with Melbourne-based organisations, Ilbijerri Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative, The Substation Multi Arts Centre and J-Studios, an artist run studio collective.

Website: ‘The Hawkes Library’.

Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui

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Full profile

rivera_eng.pdf

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Article

src_article_eng.pdf

Sociologist and activist, she is a member of the free independent collective Colectivx Ch’ixi in Bolivia. Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui has been professor of Sociology at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés in La Paz (UMSA), where she is now Emeritus Professor, and has been a visiting lecturer at the Universities of Columbia (New York, USA), Austin (Texas, USA), La Rábida (Huelva, Spain), Jujuy, and the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (Quito, Ecuador). Along with other intellectuals, in 1983 she founded the Andean Oral History Workshop (THOA), a self-managed group which focuses on orality, identity and the indigenous and popular social movements, particularly in the Aymara region. In the last few years she has also been involved in the setting-up of El Tambo Colectivo, a cultural centre in La Paz which aims to combine academic knowledge, manual work and environmental practices. She is the author of several books, and she has also directed fiction and documentary videos and films. Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui’s work deals with continuity in the logic of domination of indigenous identities and cultures, including in those contexts where diversity and the value of indigenous cultures have been officially recognised.

Website (in Spanish): www.colectivachixi.blogspot.com.es

Facebook (in Spanish): facebook.com/colectivxchixi

Participants

The award will recognise an original policy, programme or project that explicitly includes the principles of Agenda 21 for culture. The action awarded should count on, at least, two years of execution and have documented proof of the impact and the successes achieved.

A city, local or regional government will only be able to present one bid.

83 participated to this edition of the Award:

The Jury was formed by five members, international experts, highly eminent figures with a proven track record in the cultural world, ensuring this way the notoriety and relevance of the Award: Eduardo Vázquez Martín (president of the Jury); María Victoria Alcaraz; Emmanuel Kouela; Leônidas de Oliveira and Farida Shaheed.

Eduardo Vázquez Martín
Secretary for Culture of Mexico City, and President of the Jury
María Victoria Alcaraz
Director General of Teatro Colón in the City of Buenos Aires, and former Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage, City of Buenos Aires
Emmanuel Kouela
Director for Culture at the City of Ouagadougou, and Director of the Local Centre for the Promotion of the Performing Arts (CMPAS) of Ouagadougou
Leônidas de Oliveira
President of the Municipal Foundation of Culture of Belo Horizonte, and President of the Belo Horizonte’s Deliberative Council of Cultural Patrimony
Farida Shaheed
First Special Rapporteur of the United Nations in the field of cultural rights, and Independent Expert on Cultural Rights of the United Nations

Read the document of presentation of the Jury, the communique of the Jury on the winners, and the complete report of the Jury of the 2^nd edition of the International Award: