Barcelona: host of the International Days on Cultural Rights

From 16 to 19 November 2022, the City of Barcelona hosted the Conference Culturopolis: International Days on Cultural Rights.

During three days and a half, the City was the theatre of international debates, knowledge sharing and workshops on a wide range of issues revolving around the question of cultural rights, including cultural work and sustainability, diversities, participation and communities, and digital environments.

The Conference gathered participants from all corners of the world, including cultural practitioners and stakeholders, experts, academics, activists, journalists, local and international cultural networks and local and regional leaders and decision-makers. It was freely opened to everyone interested in participating. The meeting served as a meeting space for reflecting on and discussing cultural rights, for thinking about how they are defined and for imagining and finding mechanisms that promote and guarantee that they are respected.

The meeting was coorganised by the City of Barcelona, represented in the inaugural ceremony by Ada Colau, Mayor of the City, and Daniel Granados, Barcelona City Council Delegate for Cultural Rights; Culture Action Europe, represented by Tere Badia, Secretary General; and the Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), represented by Jordi Pascual, coordinator of the Committee. The opening also included a keynote speech by Alexandra Xanthaki, UN Special Reporter on Cultural Rights.

Several cities and local or regional governments from the UCLG Committee on Culture took part into the event, including the cities of Izmir and Malmö physically, and the cities of Bogotá, Dakar and Mexico City virtually.

The programme of Culturopolis included experts and partners such as Nicolás Barbieri, researcher in the field of cultural rights and writer of UCLG Gold VI piece on “The right to participate in urban cultural life: from inequalities to equity”; Luca Bergamo, former Vice-Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Cultural Development of Rome and co-writer of the UCLG Pact for the Future of Humanity; John Crowley, consultant and author of the #Culture2030Goal proposal of a dedicated goal on culture in the SDGs; Laurence Cuny, Human rights lawyer and researcher; Lucina Jiménez, expert of the UCLG Committee on Culture; Ricardo Klein, University of Valencia; Paola Leoncini Bartoli, Director of Cultural Policies and Development at UNESCO; Alfons Martinell Sempere, Professor Emeritus of University of Girona, Co-Director of the Pau Casals Chair (Music and defence of peace and human rights); and Patrice Meyer-Bisch, President of the Diversity and Cultural Rights Observatory and winner of the 2018 edition of the International Award UCLG – Mexico City – Culture 21.

The event also included a diverse and outstanding cultural and artistic programme open to all, which included theatre performances, music concerts, and participatory workshops.

More information on the Conference here: https://www.barcelona.cat/aqui-es-fa-cultura/en/culturopolis