Culture in Sustainable Cities: Learning with Culture 21 Actions in Europe (2015)

ICC Head of Research for Cultural Policy, Dr. Beatriz García, has been appointed to act as an international expert in a new programme designed to promote self-evaluation, local dialogue and cultural policy innovation in European cities.

Culture in Sustainable Cities: Learning with Culture 21 Actions in Europe (Pilot Cities Europe 2015-2017) is a programme jointly owned by the Committee on Culture of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and Culture Action Europe (CAE) that has been inspired by Culture 21: Actions, a new toolkit that provides guidance for cities aiming to evaluate, design and implement cultural policies which contribute to sustainable development.

Based on the ideas and principles of Culture 21: Actions, Pilot Cities Europe 2015-2017 will involve public, private and civil society representatives from each chosen city in a process which – with the support of UCLG, CAE and an appointed external expert – will put these ideas and principles into action.

As part of the programme, Dr. García will be advising two pilot cities: Swansea (Wales) and Galway (Ireland). In her role as an expert adviser, Dr. García will be responsible for assessing the local cultural policy context in each city, with a view to identifying its strengths and weaknesses and drawing up a work programme, in consultation with the city government and key stakeholders, that aims at improving the city’s performance. She will also help to organise peer-learning visits with other pilot cities in the programme, in addition to facilitating a series of participatory meetings between city stakeholders and the wider citizen body. Further recommendations for local action and an analysis of improvements evidenced during the course of the programme will be summarised in a final report.

The first written output to emerge from Dr. García’s work with Galway – a self-assessment report that summarises and analyses the thoughts of local stakeholders on how Galway scores against the nine ‘commitments’ or thematic areas that make up Culture 21 Actions – is now available (see project downloads).

Photo credits
“The Big Top Tent at the Galway Arts Festival” by Barnacle Budget Accommodation is licensed under CC BY 2.0