The community and participatory arts worker François Matarasso just published a new book entitled 'A Restless Art. How participation won, and why it matters'. 

A Restless Art is about community and participatory art. It's about what those practices are, how people think about them, why they're done and what happens as a result. It's called 'A Restless Art' because this work is unstable, changing and contested. It involves a range of ideas and practices. It crackles with artistic, political, ethical and philosophical tensions that give participatory art life, energy and creativity. They are what make it matter in people's lives.

The book is freely available online.

More info about the book here.
More info about the author here.

On next 11-14 March 2019, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) will organize its 8th World Summit on Culture & Arts, entitled "Mobile Minds: Culture, Knowledge and Change", in Kuela Lumpur, Malaysia.

This Summit will bring together leading policy makers, researchers, managers and practitioners from the arts and culture sector from around the world to address these issues and examine how governments, cultural organisations, creative practitioners, and citizen can - and do - work together to actively lead change.

See official website of the 8th IFACCA World Summit on Culture & Arts.

The Quebec Council of Living Heritage (Conseil Québecois du Patrimoine Viviant, CQPV in its original title) recently released a new document providing guidance for municipal administrations. This guide was elaborated in stretch collaboration with the Canadian Ministery for Culture and Communications.

Intanglible Heritage for Local Cultural Vitality includes sections on what is living heritage, how to promote and support its development; it is also about the Canadian Law on Cultural Heritage, ant it provides civil society resources to learn more about the issue.

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) recently released a new publication on "Culture and Local Development" on the role played by cultural activities in local development.

There has been a growing interest in the role played by cultural activities in local development. When major traditional industries declined or disappeared at the end of the last century, cultural tourism and creative industries have been recognised as both a heritage and a lever for future development.

Central and local governments were mandated to develop infrastructures for cultural creation and heritage conservation, to widen the accessibility to cultural goods and services, and to ensure that culture reinforces the image of their territories. These objectives remain valid, but the context has evolved, influenced by several trends.

Read the full report here. 

The Committee on Culture of UCLG recently released its 7th report, entitled "Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development. Key themes and examples in European Cities", and elaborated by Jordi Batlà Portolés, expert on local cultural policies and sustainable cities.

Since the adoption of the Agenda 21 for Culture in 2004, the Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) promotes the understanding of culture as a fundamental dimension in sustainable development. This nexus gains particular importance at the local level, as reflected in the cultural policies of local governments and in the cultural values and practices of individuals, groups, civil society organisations and other stakeholders. Cultural heritage, including its tangible and intangible aspects, is a testament to human creativity, as well as a resource for the construction of the identities of people and communities. As with other components of cultural life, the aspects that make up cultural heritage, including memory and knowledge, pertain to the core of human dignity, and respecting, protecting and enhancing them requires appropriate rights-based, people-centred policies. The latter should recognise that cultural heritage is alive, diverse and constantly changing, and that its components and meaning evolve and interplay with the other dimensions of sustainable development, including social, environmental and economic aspects.

More reports from the Committee on Culture of UCLG here.

We invite you to revize our work!

The Committee on culture of UCLG recently released a new publication called "Culture 21 [re]view. Building together a global platform of cities for culture", aiming at summarizing two years of activities of the Committee.

The first edition of this new publication covers years 2014 and 2015, and is available in English, French and Spanish.

We hope you like it!

Organized annually by the African regional section of UCLG, UCLG Africa, Africities is the most important democratic gathering in Africa. This year, it will be organized in Marrakech, from 20-24 November 2018, and will convene various sessions under the title "The transition to Sustainable Cities and Territories, the Role of Local and Subnational Governments of Africa".

The Committee on Culture of UCLG will be present at this big event, and will organise two sessions in close collaboration with the regional section:

     - Session on the transition. (STA5) "Culture & Communicational Transition"
       20 November 2018, 2.30pm - 5.30pm
       Marrakech, Morocco

     - Open session. (SOU86) "Sustainable Development, Cultural Policies and Cities. Towards a long-term
       Learning and Policy Development programme on "Culture in Sustainable Cities": in Africa"
       22 November 2018, 2.30pm - 5.30pm
       Marrakech, Morocco

4 more sessions on culture as a dimension of sustainable development will be organized:

     - Open session. (SOU6) "Cooperation between the African cities or creative industries and European
       Capitals of Culture"
       22 November 2018, 9.30am - 12.30pm
       Marrakech, Morocco

     - Open session. (SOU35) "African Capital of Culture"
       22 November 2018, 2.30pm - 5.30pm
       Marrakech, Morocco

     - Open session. (SOU38) "International Day of African Culture"
       22 November 2018, 2.30pm - 5.30pm
       Marrakech, Morocco

     - Open session. (SOU54) "World Heritage as a builder of peace and inclusion"
       22 November 2018, 2.30pm - 5.30pm
       Marrakech, Morocco

In the context of the Award Ceremony of the 3rd edition of the International Award 'UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21' held on last 18-20 October 2018 in Mexico City, an International Seminar on 'Cultural Rights and Peace in the City' was organised.

The programme of this high-level seminar is still available and included presentations and speeches from key actors from cities, local and regional governments, academics and activists coming from across the world, as well as debates with the four winners of the 3rd edition of the Award (2017-2018), and with some of the former winning cities from the previous editions.

These events were also the occasion to celebrate the 15th annual meeting of the Committee on Culture of UCLG. The agenda of the meeting is still available here. It was also the occasion to present the City of Mexico Declaration, available below.

In the context of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 5th Valletta 2018 conference entitled ”Sharing the Legacy”, a first workshop will permit to formally launch the "Valletta Network for Cultural and Nature-based Public Space Interventions" (also known as MUNIN network), with participation of Growing Pathways and the Valletta Design Cluster.