On last 28 May 2021 from 15h00-16h30 CEST, the Committee on Culture of UCLG together with the City of Rome and in collaboration with Azienda Speciale Palaexpo organised the event "The Rome Charter an informal and multi-voiced conversation one year after" with the aim of debating the place of cultural rights in short-term, mid-term and long-term development and post-crisis recovery strategies.
Check out here the programme of the event.
In the context of our activities as a member of the Culture At Work Africa initiative consortium, we are happy to announce the release of the final publication "Culture At Work Africa: the Public Value of Intercultural Dialogue for Social Cohesion in Urban Africa".
The publication addresses the lack of documents or reports that illustrate in practice, at work, how culture changes our societies in an empowering way. It explains the reality of 15 African countries and provides details about 33 projects and programmes co-funded in the context of the Culture At Work Africa initiative; from the frames and narratives to the final outcomes and outputs, from the successes to the difficulties experienced. All the projects described in the report can be understood – should be understood – as learning experiences. Beyond this, the publication aims at providing an overall conceptual analysis of the main thematic issues, challenges and opportunities addressed by the sub grantees.
It also provides recommendations for subsequent activities at local, national, regional or African and EU level. Along with providing valuable lessons in addressing local issues and challenges, this publication also aims at documenting, promoting and providing international visibility on the 33 projects and programmes co-funded in the context of the initiative. With this publication, we aim at providing both a printed and digitalised record of the experiences of both the Consortium and the pool of subgrantees of the Culture at Work Africa initiative.
More information on the Culture At Work Africa initiative: www.cultureatworkafrica.net/
The Committee on culture collaborates with the Mediterranean City-to-City Migration Project (MC2CM), implemented by the UCLG Migration Community of Practice, ICMPD and UN-Habitat, and funded by the European Commission and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
MC2CM brings together cities and experts on migration issues, human rights, and sustainable urban development in order to improve migration governance at the city level. MC2CM promotes peer-to-peer dialogues and actions to support learning on specific urban challenges such as social cohesion, intercultural dialogue, employment, housing rights and provision of basic services for migrants.
On 11-12 December 2019 the Committee on culture participated at the MC2CM thematic learning event “Cultural Policies: a vector for migrants’ inclusion in urban context” held in the city of Casablanca, which explored the ways local governments can implement a cultural approach to migration as vector of inclusion and opportunities at the local level. Based on this experience, Jordi Baltà Portolés, cultural consultant and researcher at Trànsit Projectes (Barcelona) and an advisor to the UCLG Committee on Culture conducted a report with the same title, benefiting from the contributions of MC2CM city focal points and partners, as well as from expert Phil Wood’s background document for the event.
More information on the MC2CM project here.
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:
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
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