The UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights, Ms Alexandra Xanthaki, is about to issue a new report entitled "Cultural Rights and Migration”. The report will be available in several languages in this website very soon.

The Special Rapporteur will be presenting her reports to UN Human Rights Council next week, on Wednesday 15 March at 11.00am, Geneva time, approximately. All who wish to follow the interactive dialogue live can do so by accessing the webcast trhough this link: http://webtv.un.org/live

We are sincerely saddened to announce the passing away of Zayd Minty, founder of Creative City South and expert of the UCLG Culture Committee.

Zayd knocked on our doors almost a decade ago, when he was leading the cultural policies of Cape Town. We began a closer work with him when he founded Creative City South. In this project, he connected his profound knowledge and committed love for African cities with cities in other continents, especially in Latin America and East-Asia. In 2018, he was involved as a key expert in a capacity-building workshop organised in South Africa by the South African Local Governments Association on culture in sustainable cities. He came to our Culture Summit in Buenos Aires in 2019, where he ran a special workshop, and he was very much involved in the writing of the Rome Charter on cultural rights and in the initial steps of the Climate Heritage Network. At that time, he became Research Associate on Cultural Policy and Management at the Wits School of Arts, working with Avril Joffe. In 2020, we were lucky to have Zayd as our key expert in the first-ever “Seven Keys” workshop, in Bulawayo, and in 2021 he involved us in the first steps of the Local Cultural Governance Network of South Africa. He also brought his enthusiasm for urban cultural expressions to the UCLG Community of Practice on Inclusive and Accessible cities. He was a brilliant speaker and writer, and he had hunger to learn, to share and to include all in the conversation, with the genuine interest in improving the lives of all.

Our sincerest condolences to the family and friends. The whole culture community is in grief.

The Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is happy to release a new Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on Culture and Gender Equality

Hosted on the UCLG Learning platform known as #LearningWithUCLG, our MOOC explores the role of Cultural Actions to Support Gender Equality in Cities and Territories, and provides a cultural perspective to addressing women’s rights and gender-responsive policies for sustainable development. It is based on the report on 'Cultural Actions Supporting Gender Equality in Cities and Territories' coordinated by Farida Shaheed, former UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights and published in late 2021.

This course aims to introduce the contents of the report to an audience of local government practitioners, women’s rights advocates and people interested in this subject. The modules of this online course are intended to be a good practice guide for municipalities and governments around the world who are putting into practice how to make their cities and territories more inclusive and egalitarian.

What will you learn in this MOOC?

• The main policy and global agenda frameworks for local cultural action in the field of gender equality.
• Three key pathways to advance transformative policies with regards to gender equality from a local government perspective, including: institutional and governance arrangements; public spaces and values-oriented interventions; and new cultural activities modalities
• The role of the global municipal movement in advancing gender equality.

The MOOC is open to anyone interested in learning on the relation between culture, local public policies and gender equality. It is free of charge, available in English, and it includes a completion certificate.

You can access the MOOC at: https://learningwith.uclg.org/p/cultural-actions-supporting-gender-equality-in-cities-and-territories

On next 7 December 2022, from 15:00 to 17.00 CET, the European Network of Cultural Centres (ENCC) will organise a webinar on "Non-urban culture".

This peer-learning webinar will be dedicated to showcasing and interacting with promotors of large scale cultural projects (IN SITU, SPARSE, CORAL ITN), which have the ambition to support Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), cultural professionals and civil society in non-urban areas. It will also allow to introduce a number of innovative place-based practices and examine them along the three dimensions of territory, scale and action.

More information on the agenda of the webinar can be found here. Register here.

The Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is happy to release a new Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on Culture and Climate Resilient Development.

Hosted on the UCLG Learning platform known as #LearningWithUCLG, our MOOC explores the fundamental role of Culture in Climate Resilient Development, and focuses on the perspective of local and regional governments, as well as cultural actors and institutions from all continents. It is based on the report on 'The Role of Culture in Climate Resilient Development' coordinated by Andrew Potts, coordinator of the Climate Heritage Network (CHN) and published in late 2021.

The MOOC showcases a wide variety of case studies from all over the world drawn from an open call for contributions for the elaboration of the report, a good practice from UCLG Learning peer-learning notes, and audio-visual resources within the modules, as well as complementary in-depth materials, which you will find at the end of the course. Moreover, it offers the opportunity to test your own knowledge in the field.

What will you learn in this MOOC?

• How to make arts, culture and heritage take part as key factors for imagining new resilient futures; desirable ways of living neither wedded to the carbon economy nor dependent on unsustainable narratives.
• How to engage with climate change profiles and vulnerability scenarios.
• How cultural actors are and should be further involved in the emissions of their communities.
• How to further engage with interdisciplinary work towards tackling climate change, intertwining cultural actors with a wide range of different sectors.
• How to identify potential tensions or synergies that may arise between climate action and culture, thus reconciling trade-offs and maximising synergies.
• How to address the challenges of climate change through a cultural lens and from a perspective of equity and justice.

The MOOC is open to anyone interested in learning on the relation between culture, local public policies and climate resilient development. It is free of charge, available in English, and it includes a completion certificate.

You can access the MOOC at: https://learningwith.uclg.org/p/culture-and-climate

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

On next 14 December 2022, from 15:00 to 17.30 CET, the Committee on Culture of UCLG will organise two followed online events:

• 15:00-16:30    Webinar on Buenos Aires’ “Abasto cultural neighbourhood: economic boost and urban regeneration” initiative.
• 16:30-17:30    19^th annual meeting of the Committee.

The agenda of the annual meeting is available here and will include:

• Presentation of the main elements of the Committee’s programme undertaken in 2022.
• Presentation of the Committee’s programme for 2023.

We invite you to save this date in your agendas, and to register here before 10 December 2022.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Secretariat of the UCLG Committee on Culture or contact culture@uclg.org should you need any additional information.    

From next 6 to 18 November 2022, the world’s focus will be on the city of Sharm el-Sheikh where the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt is hosting the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – also known as COP27.

In this context, and continuing the work of UCLG on issues that relate climate and culture, the Committee on Culture has been working in stretch collaboration with the Climate Heritage Network towards this important gathering. As part of the network and co-leader of the CHN Working Group 5, and among various other strategic activities aiming at amplifying arts, culture and heritage voices in and around COP27, we have co-elaborated, together with other partners, a Manifesto, in line with the Manifesto elaborated in the context of COP26 (Glasgow, 2021). 

The Manifesto, entitled "Imagining and Realising Climate Resilient Futures: The Power of Arts, Culture and Heritage to Accelerate Climate Action", is available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic. It provides key messages on culture and climate change aimed at the 2022 United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) and beyond. It seeks to activate those involved in arts, culture, and heritage to take climate action through communication and engagement, inspiring and assisting their constituents, members and audiences to increase ambition; to change their own behaviours; and to engage with climate change policy development at local and national government and intergovernmental level.

We invite you to sign the Manifesto!

On next 1 December 2022, from 9:30 to 10:45h AM GMT-4 (15.30-16.45 CET), the UCLG Committee on Culture will organise together with the city of Montreal a webinar on 'Cultural Leisure and Amateur Artistic Practice: A Look at Municipal Intervention Models.

The webinar will be based on the publication and research work led by Montréal in the last years.

The agenda of the meeting is available here. Registrations are open here.

A great partnership that emphasizes the role of culture and heritage professionals as important actors to create sustainable cities and territories.

One year after the signing the Memorandum of Understanding between the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the United Cites and Local Governments (UCLG), the partnership between the two international organizations remain strong. Two recent events have shown this good collaboration. The UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development, also known as Mondiacult 2022, was held in Mexico City from 28-30 September 2022, forty years after the first of its kind organised in Mexico City in 1982. The important gathering provided the opportunity for the two organizations to speak with ministers of culture and other local and regional leaders to explain the importance of advocating for Culture to have its own goal in future frameworks, and especially the post 2030 UN Agenda for sustainable development. As part of the many events organised by ICOMOS and UCLG, Jordi Pascual, coordinator of the UCLG Committee on Culture spoke at the m and shared UCLG’s perspective on the role of cultural heritage in democracy, citizen's participation and sustainable development. Gabriel Caballero, ICOMOS Focal Point for the UN SDGs, participated at the #Culture2030Goal campaign events and highlighted the importance of the Mondiacult 2022 Conference as a good starting point to push for more cultural actors to be part of the global initiative to elevate culture as a goal after 2030.

At the recently concluded 7th UCLG World Congress and Summit of Local and Regional Leaders – organised in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, from 10 to 14 October 2022 and which main outcome is the UCLG Pact for the Future of Humanity: for the People, for the Planet, for the Government-  ICOMOS was also present to this important event where South Korean colleagues, Se Hoon Park and Hae Un Rii were part of the discussions on Culture and Climate, the future of cultural rights to shape new sustainable development and Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals. Se Hoon Park, ICOMOS Korea representative on the ICOMOS Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals, highlighted that climate action, the promotion of cultural pluralism and intercultural dialogue, governance and civil society cooperation for cultural policies and culture as the 4th pillar of development were among the priorities of ICOMOS. Hae Un Rii, President of ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Places of Religion and Ritual, presented various initiatives, included the rights-based approach working group ‘Our Common Dignity’ and the ICOMOS Declaration of Human Rights, which aims at building stronger relationships with communities and peoples to guarantee their inclusion in heritage decision-making.

It is evident that both organizations are committed to making cities and other urban areas more liveable, engaging and alive through local public policies on culture and heritage. Through shared activities and advocacy, UCLG and ICOMOS strengthen the role of culture and cultural policies as a key resource for communities, cities and territories of the future.

For more information on UCLG and ICOMOS', joined in the #culture2030goal campaign, shared advocacy, please see the following info:

Culture Goal: http://culture2030goal.net/resources

EN  http://culture2030goal.net/sites/default/files/2022-09/culture2030goal_Culture%20Goal%20-%20ENG.pdf
FR   http://culture2030goal.net/sites/default/files/2022-09/culture2030goal_Culture%20Goal%20-%20FRA.pdf
ES   http://culture2030goal.net/sites/default/files/2022-09/culture2030goal_Culture%20Goal%20-%20SPA.pdf