culture Solutions’ year in review
culture Solutions’ Composing trust podcast series, launched in 2023, was featured on Culture Unleashed, whose library focuses on the creative economy, cultural policies and cultural management, with already more than 1.000 resources from 55 countries and 9 regions.
On 13 November, Estela Vilanova Núñez represented culture Solutions during the opening of “Changemakers: From committed art to democratic artivism”, an exhibition of the European Parliament that explores how art can serve as a vehicle for societal change by juxtaposing the work of several generations of visual artists. The opening was preceded by a workshop, in which organisations, cultural practitioners and the exhibition’s artists themselves jointly explored innovative ways in which culture can lead to the reinforcement of democratic values. Many of the artistic contributions to this exhibition were produced under the “Pop the vote! Culture on the ballot” project, launched by Culture Action Europe and co-financed by the European Parliament.
On 9 November, culture Solutions attended the closing event of Talk CEC’s “Seas & Ocean” programming. Through its 3,500 square meters of exhibition, conferences, workshops and artistic performances, Seas & Oceans’ experience offered a sensory immersion below sea level in order to understand its complexity and environmental issues.
On 6 November, our chair Elise Cuny attended the Future Africa-Europe High-Level Forum 2024, an initiative of the Africa-Europe Foundation (AEF). Policy makers, experts and civil society organisations from different sectors (from finance and health to green and digital) discussed the future of the partnership between the neighbouring continents – built on equal footing, mutual learning, and shared opportunities. Her reflections: “Investment is at the core of the EU’s international partnerships’ approach but should not lose sight of human development and value policy areas that do not necessarily or immediately translate into economic spinoffs. Culture should be a core area of cooperation between Africa and Europe.”
On 5 November, the Africa-Europe Foundation launched the Africa-Europe Action Research Partnership, of which culture Solutions is proudly a part as one of the five commissioned strategic research projects. Together with our partner South African Cultural Observatory, we will look into the state of Africa-EU cultural cooperation and skills development for creative youth across continents. Our research will inform and support future partnerships fit for youth, employment, human development and wellbeing. Our chair Elise Cuny presented the project and exchanged with AEF and other partners with a keen interest in knowledge and evidence, including European Commission, European External Action Service, European Investment Bank (EIB), GIZ, The ONE Campaign.
Between 23 and 25 October, our board member, Linda Mbeki, participated in 2 roundtable discussions of the conference Envisioning Decolonial Futures Through Archaeology. “Decoloniality is essentially practice, but discussing its underlying theoretical aspects is key to defining strategies for the future. Scholars from different backgrounds will share their ideas about the meaning and relevance of decolonial theory in archaeology and heritage. There will be discussions on themes such as Indigeneity and the meanings of enslavement in the Americas.”
On 22 October, Elise Cuny’s profile was included in Center for Intercultural Dialogue‘s list of scholars and practitioners working on intercultural dialogue with a view to connect international peers and colleagues. She will be participating in CID’s first expert group, namely Promoting Intercultural Understanding through Education for Global Citizenship.
From 27 to 29 September, our chair Elise Cuny attended the AFIELD forum “Systems change by artists”. The AFIELD network gathers more than a hundred artists from all around the world who implement projects with social impact on their communities: dance classes, school programmes, professional training, refugees’ integration, singing, designing, thinking of livable cities… Their projects show the role of artists in society, its value, for citizens and public spaces.
On 8 July, culture Solutions’ podcast Composing trust #3: Cultural relations perspectives beyond the European Union was recommended in the newsletter curious patterns, prepared by Kai Brennert on the topic of culture and development, noting the irony that a podcast on fairer cultural relations with eight non-European experts is not available on Spotify in Cambodia.
In April, the Cultural Relations Platform amplified the outreach of the podcast episode (Re)generating trust #2: Youth mobility to end racism, which features Nicky Along, a former participant in the Global Cultural Relations Programme.
On 13 February, Damien Helly took part in the European Parliament CULT Committee’s Exchange of views on cultural diplomacy, with experts (including culture Solutions member Mafalda Damaso), the EEAS, and the European Commission. The discussion built on the 2022 EP resolution, for which the CULT Committee had also consulted us, and looked beyond the European elections in May 2024. Check out the recording (he starts talking at 10:10) and the presentation.
Interested in inviting culture Solutions members as experts or moderators at your event? Contact us now.