The European Commission has recently released a new report on "Culture and Democracy: the evidence. How citizens' participation in cultural activites enhances civic engagement, democracy and social cohesion: lessons from international research".

The report analyses the concrete link between democracy and culture, and maps out how citizens who participate in cultural activities are much more likely to engage in civic and democratic life. 

More information here.

The Committee on Culture of UCLG has a partership with IN SITU "Place-based innovation of cultural and creative industries in non-urban areas", a 4-year project that combines research and experimental actions to advance the innovation-related practices, capacities, and potential of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) based in non-urban areas of the EU countries.

IN SITU is currently exploring how cultural and creative practices can help tackle place-based issues in six non-urban areas representing the six IN SITU Labs: Azores, Portugal; Western coastal region, Ireland; Western region, Iceland; Rauma and Eurajoki municipalities, Finland; Valmiera County, Latvia; Šibenik-Knin County, Croatia. As an outreach partner of this project, the Committee on Culture supports a survey on 'Mapping of cultural and creative projects & selection of case studies', which aims at mapping projects proposing cultural and creative responses to key place-based issues in the six IN SITU lab locations and at identifying the two most relevant, impactful and innovative projects in each Lab location. The survey is now closed. We will keep you updated about new developments soon.

At the beginning of June, the IN SITU researchers met in Finland to present their findings and reports -- D1.1. and D2.1. -- that can be accessed through this website link.

This fall, the In Situ initiative just launched a series of three webinars on Creative Viability in Non-urban Areas, which will address key themes that support the work of cultural and creative ecosystems in non-urban areas in Europe. The first webinar, entitled "What contributes to the viability of creative small-scale entreprises (CCIs) in non-urban areas?" took place online on 28 September 2023, and the second one, entitled "How can CCI innovation ecosystems be fostered in non-urban areas?" was organised on 30 November 2023. 

The last webinar took place on 5 December 2023 under the title "How does cultural and creative work contribute to place-based sustainability and resiliency?". The video recording is available here.

More info here!

On 23-24 May 2023, the City of Rabat, 2023 African Capital for Culture, hosted the Forum of Mayors and Leaders of Territorial Authorities of Africa on Culture.

The Forum gathered African local elected officials members, experts and partners from across the world to discuss on culture and sustainable development, including the cities of: Bilbao, Bologna, Brazzaville, Bulawayo, Cape Town, Dakar, Izmir, Kampala, Lilongwe, Matera, Nouakchott, Saint-Louis, Sibiu, Yoff (Dakar) and Yopougon.

On the second day of the event, the Manifesto for the Renewal of African and Afro-descendant Culture was adopted by the Forum.

The programme of the meeting is available in French and English. See also the press-release. The final report is here.

More information here.

In the framework of the 9^th “CULTURE NEXT” Meeting, which will be held in Elefsina on next 9-11 June 2023, the UCLG Committee on Culture will organise a workshop devoted to “Culture and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. 

This workshop will present the interlinkages between culture and the SDGs, deepening the role of culture as an enabler of sustainable people-centred development. An innovative analysis on the positive and negative interaction of cultural elements in the SDGs will be presented as an approach for the design and implementation of rights-based sustainable cultural policies, but also to show, synthetically, how strongly cultural actions, programmes and policies influence the achievement of the SDGs. During the workshop, the UCLG Culture Committee will present an interactive exercise on the relationship between culture and the SDGs, and cities will be able to exchange their initiatives related to the topic.

The workshop will take place on 10 June from 15h00 to 17h00 (local time).

More information coming soon.

On next 9 June 2023, from 15h00 to 16h15 CEST, the UCLG Committee on Culture will organise a workshop with European Pilot Cities in the framework of the Beyond the Obvious Conference "Handle with Care | Culture for Social Well-being" (7-9 June 2023, Elefsina), the annual conference of Culture Action Europe (CAE) which is UCLG's partner for the Pilot Cities programme - Europe. 

The workshop will be devoted to learning from policies, programmes and activities on “Care-cities: Strategies for Enhancing Urban Well-being through Culture" (see draft programme of BtO here).

This will be part of a series of workshops related to the CultureForHealth project and the presentation of the “CultureForHealth Report. Culture’s contribution to health and well-being. A report on evidence and policy recommendations for Europe”. 

More information will be available very soon.

On next 25 and 26 May 2023, UNESCO will call a wide range of stakeholders across the cultural and education ecosystems to join a multistakeholder dialogue on Culture and Arts Education on the occasion of the International Arts Education week to be celebrated at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

The meeting will aim at harnessing the powerful relationship that exists between culture and education to advance sustainable development and achieve more inclusive and resilient societies. 

More information on the meeting here, and on UNESCO global framework for culture and arts education here.

The International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (IOPD) launches the 17th edition of the award “Best Practice in Citizen Participation”.

The award is delivered annually to recognize successful experiences and public policies on citizen participation, community engagement, democratic innovation, public deliberation, and open government. This year's edition presents as a novelty the inclusion of categories to classify and evaluate the practices. Therefore, you must choose the category to nominate your practice: citizenship, decision, or deliberation.

If your city or local government has implemented a practice to promote participatory democracy in your city, region, or territory between January 2020 and March 2023, we invite you to submit an application to Award before May 31, 2023. 

The local government winner of the best practice will receive the award, a diploma, a special dissemination of the experience and a paid trip with accommodation for one person to the 22nd Conference in Rio de Janeiro, which will take place from November 6 to 8, 2023.

More information here.

The UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Ms. Alexandra Xanthaki, will continue to work on cultural rights in development for her next report to the General Assembly, examining more closely the global governance of development and its impact on cultural rights.

The call for contribution of the Special Rapporteur is available online in English, Spanish and French, on this page. Submissions were to be sent electronically until 14 April, but the Special Rapporteur is happy to accept additional submissions until 28 April 2023.

More information here.

On next 20 April 2023 (14.00-15.30 CEST), the UCLG Committee on Culture and the Learning team of UCLG are organising a webinar to introduce the different MOOCs promoted by UCLG regarding culture and sustainable development.

On the agenda: the MOOC on Cultural Actions fostering Gender Equality in Cities and Territories and the MOOC on Culture and Climate Resilient Development, as well as exchanges on the experiences of some of our cities and a collective interactive exercise.

If you wish to explore the critical role of culture can and needs to play in achieving the SDGs at the local level, this webinar is for you!

Please register to participate to the webinar following this link.

Artemrede celebrates its 18 years with debates and dialogues on cultural cooperation, promoting qualification and development in the territories, valuing the central role of theatres and other cultural spaces as dynamising and promoting poles of arts and citizenship. The meeting will take place on 16 March 2023 in Lisbon.

More information: https://www.artemrede.pt/pt_pt/project/dias-abertos-2023/#0