The German Commission for UNESCO, the European Cultural Foundation, Racines and Ettijahat-Independent Culture are inviting you to contribute to their joint online publication that highlights practices and projects from and around the MENA Region, which showcase pathways to cultural diversity. Check out their call for sharing experiences.

Following the success of the first and second Culture Summits, and considering the growing importance of culture in the framework of sustainable cities, the Executive Bureau of UCLG has decided to convene a third UCLG Culture Summit in 2019.

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, to be elaborated between the UCLG Committee on culture and the host city, will emphize that culture is an integral part of sustainable cities, and will promote the sharing of experiences and innovations from cities accross the world.

We are therefore pleased to invite you to consult the Terms of Reference of the UCLG Culture Summit and to submit candidacies to host the event.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), in partnership with the Technology and Social Change Group at the University of Washington (TASCHA), launched the first Development and Access to Information (DA2I) Report at The New York Public Library, during the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on 17 July 2017. 

Hildesheim UNESCO Chair annonces the launche of the Arts Rights Justice programme that will take place in Berlin, on 31 August 2017.

Check out the new report of the Salzburg Global session on 'The Art of Resilience: Creativity, Courage and Renewal'.

Read Culture Action Europe (CAE) statement on the European approach to Sustainable Development and the Agenda 2030: A sustainable future can be achieved with a fundamental cultural change.

Artcena released its new edition of the publication 'How to organize an event in public space - A guide of good practices" (only in French).

The Creative Mobilities International Forum, co-organized by Territoires Associés, SMTC and Terra21 will be launched in Grenoble, France, on 29 September 2017.

The Forum focuses on the human dimension of urban mobility, including the potential synergies between mobility, creativity, culture(s), and sustainable development in cities and human settlements.

THE FORUM OBJECTIVES

Promoting sustainable mobility forms through culture, education and creativity.
Promoting the territories’ identity and their cultural richness through mobilities.

• Transform commute and transportation time into experiences;
• Place the human being back at the heart of the territories through public policies synergies and by promoting the cooperation between the different stakeholders in cities and human settlements;
• Develop transports and mobilitities through creativity;
• Make artistic creation and the diversity of cultural expressions « travel » and accessible through mobilty networks and new forms of sustainable mobility;
• Investigate values, supporting behaviors change for sustainable development and active citizenship;
• Promote the emergence of new and shared imaginaries for and in public space(s), an inclusive urban development, fighting against climate change;
• Foster multi-stakeholders partnerships, CSR, R&D, artists and creatives cooperation in companies for technological, social and artistic innovation.

COMMON CHALLENGES

• Diversity complex and plural societies where the local and the global are interdependent;
• The issue of inequalities and rights (right to the city, right to mobility, cultural rights…);
• The digital environment, its opportunities, its limits and its impacts on mobility, the artistic creation, artistic distribution and on the values within communities; address the digital divide
• The raise and the need for new knowledge and new skills to address territories and social inequalities;
• Participation in and co-construction of public space(s) for a culture of active and inclusive citizenship;
• Public health and inhabitants well-being in territories;
• The preservation of the natural and cultural resources for future generations.

The ASEF Foundation also published a very interesting article on the links between Creative Mobilities Forum and Agenda 21 for culture. 

The city of Vaudreuil-Dorion will receive the UN Canadian Ambassador on 20 June 2017. This will also be an opportunity to present the Agenda 21 for culture and its 'Leading City' learning programme.

The Culture Action Europe network (CAE) released a new report entitled 'Polis and the People. Looking into the future of urban cultural policies'. Read it now.