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Ceremony of the Internationa Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21 (2024)
On Thursday 25 July 2024, Mexico City celebrated the winners of the UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21 International Award at an Award Ceremony held at the City Theatre Esperanza Iris.
The International Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21 recognises cities, local and regional governments, and personalities that have excelled in their contribution to culture as a key dimension of sustainable cities through the promotion of cultural rights for local sustainable development.
On the occasion of the 6th edition of the International Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21, Mexico City hosted the official Award Ceremony, which this year awarded Gwanak-Gu (Republic of Korea) with the programme ‘Capital of Youth Culture’ and La Paz (Plurinational State of Bolivia) with the initiative ‘Traditional Medicine Information and Guidance Centres – Qullañ Uta’ in the category ‘City, Local or Regional Government’. Alfons Martinell Sempere and Milena Dragićević Šešić were also awarded in the ‘Individual’ category.
The Award Ceremony began with the welcome remarks of Argel Gómez Concheiro, General Director for Great Community Festival, Secretary of Culture of the Government of Mexico City, who stressed that ‘it is a privilege to organise for the sixth time this Award which recognises the great contributions of cities and personalities from all over the world, who contribute every day to sustainability and human development’. In turn, Jordi Pascual, Coordinator of the Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) emphasised the pioneering role and global leadership of Mexico City in the field of cultural rights.
The winning cities of the Award 2024 were invited to take the floor. Lee Yungki, Vice-Mayor of Gwanak-Gu, thanked the organisers and jury of the Award, and mentioned the innovative character of their winning initiative, as a project that aims to 'actively involve young people in the local community and in public policy-making processes'. On behalf of La Paz, Eusebio Clares Cutili, Head of the Interculturality Area, expressed his gratitude for the recognition given to his city and presented the winning project, which 'intertwines cultures with the care of life, bringing more humanity and greater quality to the health system'.
The winners of the Award in the 'Individual' category were then invited to take the floor. Alfons Martinell Sempere stressed that ‘the fact that this Award is being held in Mexico City makes great sense: a pioneering city in the field of international cooperation, and a city that is key regarding public cultural policies building’ and Milena Dragićević Šešić reflected on ‘the broad idea of culture as a public good that creates meaning, brings people together and opens new horizons towards more solidarity and more care’.
Also invited to take the floor, Eider Inunciaga, Councillor for the Basque Language, Citizen Services and Participation, Agenda 2030 and International Affairs, representing the City of Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain), designated as a special mention in the 2024 edition of the Award, who highlighted the ‘importance to think about the values that nurture city development’, and Anastasia Nyalita, Director of Public Participation, Inclusion and Public Services of the City of Nairobi (Kenya), representing the cities that have merited consideration as good practices, who underlined the ‘importance of having strong cultural systems able to lead local development’.
To conclude the Award Ceremony, Arturo Morell Barragén, Coordinator of Coordinator of Advisors and International Affairs of Mexico City, thanked all the attendees, as well as all those who participated in the Award, and acknowledged explicitly ‘all the people that work, every day, to defend the value of culture’.
In the morning of the same day, the International Seminar ‘Cultural Innovation and Prospective for Cities and Territories’, held at the ‘El Rule’ Cultural Centre in Mexico City, hosted by the Culture Department of the same city, comprised several roundtable discussions on the promotion of cultural rights in local and territorial sustainable development. Some ideas raised during the Seminar included (1) the need to move from state cultural policies to rights-based and people-based cultural policies; (2) citizen participation and cultural democracy; (3) the guarantee of minimum cultural services and (4) the urgent need to include a culture goal in the SDGs.
The recording of the Award Ceremony of the International Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21 is available online.
If you want to know more about the UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21 Award and its winners and special mentions, please visit the website dedicated to the Award
