In the framework of the last steps-forward of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) towards gender equality, the empowerment of women and the active participation of women in decision-making and public life, UCLG Committee on Culture has been promoting research on ‘The Role of Culture in Achieving Gender Equality’, as a contribution from the cultural perspective to address women’s rights and gender-responsive policies for sustainable development.

As a result of this research work led by Farida Shaheed, former UN Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights, the report "Cultural Actions Supporting Gender Equality in Cities and Territories" is informed by UCLG and UCLG Culture Committee policy documents and resources, as well as by contributions of UCLG members and consultation mechanisms on the latest elements of the international debate on culture, gender equality and sustainable development.

Drawing upon data collected from UCLG archives, the experience and insights of UCLG members and partners that responded to an open call to submit gender-equality initiatives in the cultural field, extensive research of positive examples from around the globe and a series of key informant interviews, and noting too challenges that require further discussion and debate, the document presents policies, programmes or projects recently implemented at the local level which constitute inspiring achievements in this field, and includes a list of key policy areas to be considered, first and foremost, by cities and local governments in their policies relating to gender equality and culture.

This report was presented as a draft on 10 September 2021 at the UCLG Culture Summit held in Izmir and online, at the plenary session “Promoting Local Actions on Culture and Gender Equality”. The final version was published on 29 October 2021.

On Monday 26 April 2021 at 19h CET, the City of Barcelona organised an international roundtable entitled 'Culture is a right. Urban policies and international context for cultural rights', with the participation of serveral cities of the UCLG Committee on Culture.

The agenda included:

• Jordi Pascual, coordinador of UCLG Committee on Culture (facilitator)
• Joan Subirats, deputy on culture, science, education and community, Barcelona City Council 
• Luca Bergamo, initiator of the Rome Charter on the right to participate in cultural life
• Catarina Vaz-Pinto, councillor on culture of Lisbon and coPresident of the UCLG Committee on Culture
• Marlene Fautsch, representing Vannesa Bohórquez, minister on culture of Mexico City and coPresidente of the UCLG Committee on Culture
• Tere Badia, Secretary General of Culture Action Europe
• Daniel Granados, in charge of Cultural Rights, Barcelona City Council 

The session is now available on Youtube in English, Spanish and Catalan.

More information here.

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) recently released the French version of the "Future of Our Pasts" (2019) report aiming at increasing engagement of cultural heritage in climate action. 

The report highlights a number of ways in which the core considerations of cultural heritage intersect with the objectives of the Paris Agreement, including heightening ambition to address climate change, mitigating greenhouse gases, enhancing adaptive capacity, and planning for loss and damage.

The report is now available in English and French. 

More information here.

On last 20 April 2021, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), together with UN Habitat and Metropolis, and in partnership with the #culture2030goal campaign, Rome City Council and Palaexpo, organised a 'Cities Are Listening' session on culture.

Entitled 'Upgrading Culture in Sustainable Development: The Time is Now', the session aimed at consolidating a dialogue between global cultural civil society networks and local and regional governments in the frame of the UCLG Pact for the Future. In particular, the session allowed panelists and participants to give visibility to the campaign #culture2030goal; learn from the narratives, the activities and the challenges of global cultural networks; give visibility to the Rome Charter; visualize specific examples of work by the Orchestras of Transformation that relate culture and the arts with the SDGs; and learn from narratives, activities and challenges of UCLG members in the field of culture.

The session took place online on 20 April 2021, 15:00 – 17:00 CEST. The agenda of the session, as well as connexion details are available here.

The Center for Music Ecosystems is a new global NGO dedicated to understanding and advancing music ecosystems to foster more sustainable communities. 

The Center for Music Ecosystems just launched a Guide to Music and the SDGs, which explores the relation between music - in all its forms and functions - and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Written in collaboration with UN Agencies, the detailed Guide outlines the role that music plays across each of the 17 SDGs, and describes examples from around he world. 

The guide is available for all to download and read at www.centerformusicecosystems.com/sdgs.

The Voices Of Culture initiative recently launched a brainstorming report on Culture and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities, calling for a full SDG dedicated to culture, including contributions from the Committee on Culture of UCLG. 

More information: https://voicesofculture.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/VoC-Brainstorming-...

We are happy to announce the release of an in-depth video interview on the #2020RomeCharter! A conversation with Luca Bergamo, Deputy Mayor on Cultural Development of Rome and Emilia Saiz, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), facilitated by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, from the Teatro di Roma.

The video of the interview is available here in English, with subtitles in Italian. 

More info on the Charter: www.2020romecharter.org

The Prince Claus Fund, the European Culture Foundation (ECF) and Hivos have joined forces to publish a publication entitled "Forces of Art: Perspectives from a Changing World", to which several experts the UCLG Committee on Culture daily works with contributed, including experts Jordi Baltà Portolés and Zayd Minty.

The publication reflects on the transforming power of art in communities in the global south, and is an extensive volume with many case studies and research conducted by people from different regions. It investigates the way in which artists, artworks and cultural organizations affect people and their social environments, and explores how cases of creative practice have been operational in empowering people, communities, and societies in their given contexts. It is a dense, multi-layered, polyvocal compendium of current thinking about the impact of art on civil society and social change, and contains a large number of essays and case studies located all over the world, from Central Asia to Meso and Latin America, from Africa to Central Europe, from South and South-East Asia to the Middle East.

More information here.

The IETM has recently published a new report entitled "The moment for change is now. COVID-19 learning points for the performing arts sector and policy-makers".

The report explores how the performing arts sector has been adapting to the pandemic and attempts to identify some of the interesting solutions for survival which should be scaled up and brought into the post-pandemic future. It also provides recommendations to policymakers on how to support the sector today, in the near future and in the longer term, and how policies and funding programmes should be reexamined in light of the COVID-19 crisis. The publication is a quick look back over the past several months, a snapshot of what we have learned so far, and an attempt to imagine a better future.

More information here.

In last September, the British Council published a very important report entitled "The Missing Pillar. Culture’s Contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals".

The report explores the place of culture in the SDGs through research, policy and practice. It analyses where arts and culture as a sector and as a creative process can fit within a number of goals, including their targets and indicators. 11 British Council programmes provide examples of cultural initiatives around the world, tackling a variety of issues and cutting across sectors, such as sustainable fashion, creative inclusion, and cultural heritage protection. 

The recommendations from the report advocate for the SDGs to be more accessible to the cultural sector, for them to be embedded in the delivery of cultural initiatives based on local needs, and for their impact to be measured accordingly. The report recommends taking an inclusive approach, involving communities and local actors to understand cross-cutting needs and ecosystems to ensure sustainability. It also calls for a focus on digital technologies to raise awareness and a clearer response to the climate emergency from the cultural sector.

This report is a tool to increase understanding of the link between arts and culture and sustainable development. It is a first step at framing the impact of our British Council programmes alongside the SDGs, while keeping on advocating for the value of culture as a fourth pillar of sustainable development and a key part of cultural relations.

More information here.