NEXUS / Open Sessions take form of active meeting, in which to discuss, empower and draw attention to case studies regarding hybridisation between neighbourhood development and artistic practices, including debates, exchange of experiences and roundtables. To be held on 29-30 June 2018 in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain), and organised by ID-Idensitat.

Check out the call for papers, with deadline on 25 May 2018.

Check out the two new publications of Les Arts et la Ville network building on the Agenda 21 for Culture: "Le Petit Guide d'Appropriation de l'Agenda 21 de la Culture" and "Le Petit Guide d'implantation de l'Agenda 21 de la Culture" (both only available in French).

On 26 March 2018, the cities of Geneva, Mosul, Timbuktu, Lund, Strasbourg, Vienna and Erbil adopted and signed the Geneva Declaration on 'Human Rights and Cultural Heritage: committed cities working together', in presence of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein.

The Geneva Declaration was drafted by a group of international experts with the collaboration of the Observatory of Diversity and Cultural Rights. It will be disseminated and promoted to as many cities and local governments as possible.

See also the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The University of Maiduguri (Borno State, Nigeria) will organise the Maiden International Conference from 14-17 November 2018. In this context, a call for papers on 'Cultural Sustainability, Performance and the Sustainable Development Goals in Time of Crisis' was released and will be open until 30 April 2018.

Culture Action Europe, in collaboration with the Budapest Observatory and CAE members and other partners, launched a new report entitled 'The Values and Values of Culture', collecting relevant evidence substantiating the impact of culture across a wide range of EU policy.

An executive summary of this report is also available.

The European budget faces a tough challenge to fund more with less. As the negociations over the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) move forward, Culture Action Europe launches the #Double4Culture #Commit1% campaign, calling the European cultural sector to become loud and visible and support their demands to double the budget for culture in absolute terms, and ensure that at least 1% of the next MFF is allocated to culture across policy fields and funding programmes.

If you believe that culture brings EU added value and deserves additional European finding, join the campaign!

Sign the manifesto here.

Learn more on the position of CAE on the post-2020 MFF "A shared European future is only possible with sustainable financial support for culture" here.
 

#Double4Culture
#Commit1%

From 28 February to 2 March 2018, the City of Cuenca hosted the Continental Forum on Intermediary Cities: Latin-America "towards the Agenda 2030" (information in Spanish only).
We took part to the following sessions:

   - Thematic session: Citizen Participation and Rights regarding Sustainability of Intermediary Cities
     and Regions.
      Thursday 1 February 2018, 11:30-13:00.
      Salón de la Ciudad.
      With the participation of Mrs. Clarisa Ruiz-Correal, Lecturer, University of Bogotá.

   - Parallel session (no. 8): Culture in Sustainable Cities: Learning with Culture 21 Actions.
      Thursday 1 February 2018, 16:15-17:45.
      Museo de la Ciudad.
      With the participation of Mr. Antoine Guibert, expert on Pilot Cities of the Agenda 21 for Culture; and
      Mrs. Clarisa Ruiz-Correal, Lecturer, University of Bogotá.

Culture discussed at the 9^th World Urban Forum

The 9^th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF9) was held in Kuala Lumpur on 7-13 February 2018. The WUF, described as 'the world's premier conference on cities' is a technical forum convened by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) since 2002. Entitled 'Cities 2030, Cities for all: Implementing the New Urban Agenda', WUF9 was the first session to focus on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda adopted in Habitat III.

In this context, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), together with the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, organised the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments on 8 February, 11am-2:30pm in Kuala Lumpur in order to discuss progress and follow-up on the implementation of the global goals and the New Urban Agenda from the perspective of proximity.

UCLG Committee on Culture also organised an event entitled 'Culture, the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda: A Guide for Local Action' on Saturday 10 February, 6-7pm, at the Listen to the Cities room, Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. The event involved a presentation of our publication Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals: A Guide for Local Action. Furthermore, other evidence regarding the role of cultural aspects in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda and the importance of local governments in this respect will also be presented. Speakers at the session included Catherine Cullen, former Deputy Mayor for Culture of Lille and Special Advisor on Culture in Sustainable Cities for the UCLG Committee on Culture; and Marcel Pandin, co-founder and managing Director, Indonesia Institute for Corporate Directorship, and Expert for the Agenda 21 for culture.

Other activities

Other activities related to the place of culture in the context of the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda also took place within WUF9. They included the following:

• Side Event ‘Revitalising Cities Through Conservation’, organised by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 8 February, 5-6pm
• Special Session ‘Leveraging Diversity and Culture, Shaping the Cities for All’, organised by UN-Habitat, 9 February, 2.30-4.30pm
• Networking Event ‘Creative Cities are Vibrant Cities’, organised by the Bandung Creative City Forum (BCCF), 10 February, 9-11am
• Session ‘Culture, Recovery and Reconstruction: Sustainable Development Policies’, organised by UNESCO and the World Bank, 10 February, 1-3pm
• Off Event ‘Creativity and Transformation of Cities’, organised by the British Council and Think City, 10 February, 4.30-5.30pm
• Side Event ‘Culture, Nature, Heritage, Cities: Case Studies on Localizing the SDGs’, organised by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), 10 February, 5-6pm
• Networking Event ‘Urban Culture and Heritage Partnerships towards Achieving the UN SDG and NUA’, organised by ICOMOS, 11 February, 9-11am
• Training Event ‘Creativity for Sustainable Cities: Leveraging Culture for Social Inclusion, Economic Development, and Enhanced Resilience’, organised by UNESCO, 12 February, 11am – 2pm

For additional information about the participation of UCLG and the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments at WUF9, please visit this webpage.

Washington DC's released last week the draft of its first-ever Cultural Plan. The draft is available here; all contributions and participations to its drafting are welcome on this website until 28 February 2018.

The 58th Congress of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA) will take place in Cork from 28 to 31 August 2018. It will include a Special Session on "Culture-led development: theory and evidence", aiming to attract papers dealing with a wide range of cultural aspects (specific call detailed here). The call for abstracts will be open until 28 February 2018.

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