The five year National Local Government Cultural Forum has been brought to a close with the release of the final report 2018. The cultural forum brought together cultural policy and practice managers from across Australian jurisdictions and was the first time that policy and practice in this field had come together. The Forum acted as a clearing house for CDN's research and the development of the planning and evaluation frameworks. This report summarises the activities of the Forum, key research and outputs of the initiative as well as evaluation from the Cultural Forum members.

More information here.

This year, the annual conference of Culture Action Europe (CAE), Beyond the Obvious, will be held in Koblenz, Germany, from 23-26 October 2019.

Entitled "Culture Crops: cultural practices in non-urban territories", the meeting will aim at sparking the debate on peripheral territories, througout three conceptual blocks:

       1. Dynamic & Organisation: How does cultural work in peripheral territories take place and how is
           it organised?

       2. Urban-Rural Discrepancies: What is the difference between urban visions of the rural and what
           the rural is today?

       3- Blurred Borderlines: Where does the rural begin and where does it end?

Culture Crops will be the conference on the road. various thematic itineraries will be proposed to the participants in order to experience the diversity of models of practice present in the region. These visits will include facilitated debate and exchange between similar practices from other parts of Europe and offer an opportunity for learning and peer-to-peer exchange.

The conference will also feature high level keynote speeches and panel discussions, as well as capacity-buildging workshops and a project agora.

More info: https://www.cae-bto.org/

Voices of Culture is the European Commission's platform aiming at structuring a regular dialogue with civil society in order to respond to three strategic objectives, namely the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, the promotion of culture as a catalyst for creativity and the promotion of culture as a vital element in the Union’s international relations.

Voices of Culture recently launched a call for contributions for the topic Gender Equality: "Gender balance in Cultural and Creative Sectors", which will lead to a Brainstorming Session (4-5 September 2019, Pragues, Czech Republic) as well as a Dialogue Meeting (5-6 November 2016, Brussels, Belgium), representing the opportunity for a group of around 35 European civil society stakeholders in the cultural sector to exchange ideas on this topic and to present these to the European Commission. The group will brainstorm in September 2019 in Prague, and then discuss the main ideas (to be summarised in a Brainstorming Report) with representatives of the European Commission at a Dialogue Meeting in Brussels in November 2019.

The call is open to representatives of the cultural and creative sectors (professional organisations, cultural institutions, non-governmental organisations, European networks, foundations, private organisations, etc.) with relevant expertise on the topic “Gender Equality: Gender Balance in Cultural and Creative Sectors”, who would like to contribute to discussions with the European Commission.

Organisations applying must be from one of the 28 EU Member States, and apply before 14 June 2019 at last.

More info: http://voicesofculture.eu/2019/05/20/call-for-applications-for-the-topic...

On next 11 June 2019, UCLG together with UITP, and in cooperation with Creative Mobilities and UCLG Committee on Culture, will organise a side-event on "Mobility & culture cluster: a city for all".

This session will happen in the context of the UITP Global Public Transport Summit, taking place from 9-12 June 2019 in Stockholm. The session will discuss new strategic partnerships involving local and public authorities, private stakeholders and citizens to foster social innovation, economic clusters, and human centered sustainable development, with a specific focus on culture and creativity. Partners will present a common agenda and actions to promote the active cooperation between cities, public and local authorities leaders, mobility stakeholders, researchers and citizens through multi-stakeholders pilot projects and clusters.

WHAT  ‖  "Mobility & culture cluster: a city for all" side-event
WHEN  ‖   11 June 2019, 12:45-1:30pm
WHERE  ‖   UITP Stand, Stockholmsmässan, Stockholm, Sweden

More information here.

Following the Call to Action launched at the EDD 2018, the eight convening organisations and their associated partners will invite relevant stakeholders from the cultural sector and other fields (education, health, business, territorial development,...) to reinforce cross-sectorial dialogue and collaboration.

The objective of the brainstorming session is to follow up projects involving holistic, human-centered approaches.

The session, called "Promote gender equality through culture and creativity. Fostering synergies between the creative and gender related strategies to reduce inequilities and for peaceful societies" will take place in the context of the European Development Days 2019 in Brussels, Belgium, on next 18 June 2019, from 10.00am to 11.15am.

More information here.

On next June 3, 2019, in the framework of the Sustainable Development 2019 Festival, an international gathering will be organized in Rome and will bring together academics, political representatives and civil society at Palazzo delle Esposizoni. 

The aim: to reflect together on how cultural participation contributes to the development of sustainable societies. Starting from a state-of-the-art discussion with a focus on current and future challenges, four international case studies on practices that assess the impact of cultural experiences will be presented. Among them, the innovative analysis recently carried out by Roma Capitale.

The session will be closed by “mirroring reflections and reactions”, insights offered by members of civil society and participants from the audience.

More information on the gathering here.

In next November 2019, UCLG will hold its triennal Congress in Durban, South Africa, under the title "Local Action For and By the People".

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SAVE THE DATE!
11-15 NOVEMBER 2019
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More info available on www.durban2019.uclg.org/en/

The ARJ Studies (Arts, Rights, Justice) form the initial basis for the ARJ OBSERVATORY. Being part of the overall ARJ PROGRAMME, the ARJ OBSERVATORY provides access to knowledge, undertakes research and gives new insights into the sector of freedom of artistic expression and the protection of artists at risk. Also the ARJ LIBRARY is one component of the ARJ OBSERVATORY.

For more information, click here.

On 4 October 2019 in Dijon, France, academics, researchers and practitioners from Europe and beyond will present their latest work during the annual Education and Research Session organised during the 2019 ENCATC Congress on Cultural Management and Policy "Diversity and sustainability at work. Policies and practices from culture and education” (2-5 October).

This gathering of the international education and research community will provide a unique interdisciplinary environment to get the latest world-class education practices and research being conducted on cultural management and policy.

The open call welcomes submissions for abstracts, posters and teaching demonstrations until 25 May 2019. Proposals may be from any relevant discipline will be considered, provided that they make an original academic and professional contribution to the study and practice of cultural management and cultural policy. Themes related to the main topic of the 2019 Congress are encouraged to critically address diversity and sustainability in an operating context, exploring the practical meanings of diversity in the cultural and creative sector, investigate how its different connotations are implemented in practice, and how they are contributing to the sustainability discourse in the field.

Deadline: 25 May 2019

For more information: https://www.encatc.org/en/events/detail/2019-encatc-education-and-research-session/

10 years after the Colloquium “Cultural and Creativity: vectors for Development” and the publication of the “Brussels Declaration of EU-ACP Professionals of the Creative Industries”, the European Commission is organising a new International Colloquium this June to promote the role of culture, creativity, innovation and inter-cultural dialogue as key vectors for inclusive development and peace and anchor this fundamental dimension in EU international cooperation and development policies.

The colloquium "Culture for the Future" on "Creativity, Innovation and Dialogue for Inclusive Development" will take place on next 16-17 June 2019 at Bozar, in Brussels, Belgium.