The International Federation of Libraries Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession. In 2016 IFLA launched an International Advocacy Programme (IAP) which is a capacity-building programme designed to promote and support the role libraries can play in the planning and implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The programme reached the UN in June 2018.

In order to deepen and strengthen their close cooperation, UCLG and the International Federation of Libraries Associations and Institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on last 28 November 2023.

Following the UN general Assembly resolution on the relationship between culture and sustainable development adopted on 19 December 2023, IFLA published two very interesting articles: The UN General Assembly Resolution on Culture and Sustainable Development: What’s Changed?, and the 10 Takeaways from the UN General Assembly’s Resolution on Culture and Sustainable Development.

GYCR 2023

The Global Youth Creative Residency (GYCR) is a process and an event that relates culture to the sustainable development of Jeju. It is hosted by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, organized by UNITAR CIFAL Jeju / Jeju International Training Center, and supported by the Committee on Culture of UCLG.

The 5th edition of the GYCR will take place from 14 to 20 September 2023 in Jeju Island. Entitled “Rooted, Growing Island”, the Residency will bring together young cultural and artistic experts from around the world in Jeju to collectively explore the intersection between the arts and sustainability for the present and future. The programme will be articulated around three sub-themes:

- Roots: Jeju's environmental and traditional heritage;

- Tree trunk: Sustainability and the Arts;

- Branches and leaves: Practical connections and expansion worldwide.

The call for applications (in English) will be open from 31 July 2023 to 22 August 2023 (18:00 Korea Standard Time UTC +09:00). The application form is available here and the portfolio here. See the concept note of the GYCR 2023:

GYCR 2022

The 4th edition of the GYCR took place from 5 to 10 August 2022 in Jeju Island. Entitled “Islands in Flow 2”, the Residency invited 24 young artists from Jeju and abroad to develop creative proposals with the aim to face the urgent climate crisis, while being consulted by expert mentors. An in-person workshop (9-10 July) and a hybrid exhibition (19 August - 2 September) was held as well.

This experience was based on the commitments of the practical toolkit Culture 21 Actions on culture in sustainable cities, adopted by UCLG in 2015, especially the one related to “Culture and the Environment”, and the report coordinated by the Committee on Culture: The role of culture in climate resilient development.

See the programme of the GYCR 2022:

GYCF/GYCR 2021

In 2021, the Forum takes a new shape! Retitled "Global Youth Creative Residencies", the Forum will gather this summer for a new edition!

Check out the final report and watch the promotional video and the final presentation of the 2021 GYCR:

GYCF 2019
The Global Youth Culture Forum (also referred as GYCF) is a process and an event that relates culture to the sustainable development of Jeju. It is supported by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province government and the Culture Committee of the world organisation of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), together with JITC-Jeju International Training Center, JFAC-Jeju Foundation for Arts and Culture and JURC-Jeju Urban Regeneration Center.

The Global Youth Culture Forum in 2019 will take place on 19-26 October and it will aims to implement, in a very practical and illustrative way, the UCLG toolkit “Culture 21 Actions” on “culture in sustainable cities”, especially its commitment related to “Public Spaces, Urban Planning and Culture”.

The Global Youth Culture Forum in 2019 will also contribute:
- To localize SDGs, especially Goals 8, 9 and 11
- To promote young artists in the making of sustainable cities
- To involve local communities in the process
- To develop Jeju as a creative culture platform for global artists: a place where meaning is developed.
- To establish a forum in which exchange young artists share their experiences and cooperate.

OPEN CALL AND CURATORIAL PROPOSAL

The call for mentees is open to international artists and architects who had interest in public space and work in any art media (photography, installations, drawing, ceramics, video, performance, soundscapes, etc.). The deadline for submissions is 2 September 2019.

GYCF 2018

The Global Youth Culture Forum Jeju 2018 was held from 29th October to 4th November 2018. A global curator, local and international mentors as well as local and international artists and architects worked together taking as cases of study two different neighborhoods of Jeju City: Namsung Old Town and Jeju Old Downtown.

Find below all the results of the GYCF 2018:

Culture and heritage for sustainability

ICOMOS works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places. It is the only global non-government organisation of this kind, which is dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology, and scientific techniques to the conservation of the architectural and archaeological heritage. ICOMOS is a network of experts that benefits from the interdisciplinary exchange of its members, among which are architects, historians, archaeologists, art historians, geographers, anthropologists, engineers and town planners

ICOMOS and the UCLG Culture Committee are partners in the #culture2030goal campaign.

Heritage at the HLPF 2018

ICOMOS, together with UNESCO, Un-Habitat, IUCN, GEN, the Government of Ireland and UCLG, will organise on next 11 July 2018 (6:30pm - 9:30pm) at Japan Society an exchange of knowledge and celebration focusing on ‘Implementing SDG 11.4 through Local Voices and Global Agendas for Cultural & Natural Heritage’ a special event to be held in parallel to the UN-HLPF. The event will bring together both local (United-States) and international stakeholders active in the protection of the world’s natural and cultural heritage, illustrating the vital connections between integrated heritage protection and sustainable development.

Declaration for the inclusion of Heritage in the Ministerial Declaration

ICOMOS, together with UCLG, the Global Planners Network (GPN), Europa Nostra and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), signed a Declaration for the acknowledgement and the inclusion of culture as well as cultural and natural heritage into the UN HLPF 2018 Ministerial Declaration. Join and support!

The Committee on Culture of UCLG , together with a consortium of eight African, European and international partners (including Interarts, the International Music Council - IMC, Bozar, the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust, Culture et Développement, the Regional Center for the Living Arts in Africa - CERAV, and the Arterial Network), and with the support of the European Union, launched the  ‘Culture at Work Africa’ project, aiming to promote the public value of intercultural dialogue for social cohesion in urban Africa.

Culture at Work Africa - Promoting the Public Value of Culture for Social Cohesion and Urban Development in Africa is looking to support innovative on-the-ground projects aiming at developing safe and neutral spaces for intercultural dialogue and at promoting active citizenship and intercommunity relations. Projects will seek sustainable outputs and will foster multi-stakeholder national and transnational cooperation, inclusive societies, cultural diversity and equal dignity for all.

FIRST CALL
The first call for proposals run until 21 September 2018 (12:00 GMT) and welcomed 15 subgranted projects from all over Africa.

Check out the contents and descriptions of the selected projects: https://www.cultureatworkafrica.net/category/subgrantees/first-call/

SECOND CALL
Culture at Work Africa launched a second call for proposals addressed to 15 African countries! The call was looking for innovative on-the-ground projects aiming at developing safe and neutral spaces for intercultural dialogue and at promoting active citizenship and intercommunity relations.

The second call run between 15 January 2019 and 15 April 2019 (12:00 GMT) and welcomed 20 new subgranted projects from all the targeted African countries.

Check out the contents and descriptions of the selected projects: https://www.cultureatworkafrica.net/category/subgrantees/second-call/?fb...

To know more about Culture at Work Africa, please visit http://www.cultureatworkafrica.net/

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Since its launch in 2017, "Creative Mobilities Initiative" has organised an international forum (with more than 300 professionals from 16 cities and metropolises around the world), compiled 100 global best practices and created two pilot projects. Since its inception, the UCLG Culture Committee has collaborated with the Creative Mobilities Initiative; as a result of this collaboration, among others, the UCLG "The future of Mobility" 2019 Manifesto, which was adopted in Durban, highlighted the significance of cultural and mobility synergies

In 2025/2026 the "Creative Mobilities" concept is unfolding in 3 directions:

(a) In-depth historical background, existing trends analysis and future perspectives.

(b) A "Prospective Action" to develop an intervention model to help public authorities and private actors to boost the synergies between cultural and mobility policies, activities, services and stakeholders.

(c) The development of a Concept Note towards the creation of an "International Alliance for Creative Mobilities".

This is a call for members of the UCLG Culture Committee to host one- or two-day workshops in their cities as part of the "Prospective Action" to bring together the local government's culture and mobility departments and local stakeholders to consider or strengthen a strategic and integrated approach of these two important public policies. The workshops should be planned between the 18 April and the 10 June 2025.

Contact Valeria Marcolin directly at valeria.marcolin@sciencespo.fr for further details.

The UCLG Committee on Culture supports a consultation to cities and local governments on the UN SG Report on the UN 76/214 Resolution on Culture and Sustainable Development. This consultation is framed in the partnership between UCLG and UNESCO. 

We would like to invite cities and local governments to provide their insights, building on the questionnaire you will find below either in English or French, and to return it to the Secretariat of the UCLG Committee on Culture by 15 May 2023 using the following email: culture@uclg.org. Your feedback will support the preparation of the report which will be provided to UNESCO.

The 3rd UCLG Culture Summit took place in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on last 3-5 April 2019. It tackled the following key themes:

- Culture in the SDGs: towards 2030
- A gender perspective in cultural policies
- Implementing Culture 21 Actions
- Social Transformation and Culture
- Independent culture

The UCLG Culture Summit is a unique global event, sends very strong messages on the role of culture in development and provides a remarkable international visibility to the city / region / local government that hosts the event. The programme of the Summit, elaborated between the UCLG Committee on culture and the host city, emphized that culture is an integral part of sustainable cities, and promoted the sharing of experiences and innovations from cities accross the world.

Following are available a number of documents, among which: the background document, the Terms of Reference as well as the first pressnote on the Summit; but also the complete programme of the event and the final communiqué.

Check out the key speeches of Mr. Mpho Parks Tau, President of UCLG; Ms. Johanne Bouchard, Observatory for Cultural Rights and Diversity ; Ms. Ammu Joseph, Independent journalist and author, Bangalore, and M. Alfons Martinell, Professor of International Cultural Cooperation, Girona:

Pepe

Jose

Culture 21: Actions

The document Culture 21: Actions was approved on 18-20 March 2015 in Bilbao, in the framework of the first Culture Summit of UCLG. It is now available online: