The first UCLG Culture Summit will be hosted by the City of Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain) from the 18-20 March 2015.

The UCLG Culture Summit is a new event to promote knowledge-sharing and networking of cities and local governments, recognizing the important place of culture in sustainable cities. It envisages gathering all key stakeholders in the promotion of cultural policies, with special emphasis on cities, local governments, and urban actors.

The highlight of the first UCLG Culture Summit will be the presentation of "Culture 21: Actions", a document that builds on the Agenda 21 for Culture that makes a strong link between culture and sustainable development, while providing guides to self-assessment and implementation. “Culture 21: Actions” recommends further expertise, peer-learning, and exchanges. 

The UCLG Culture Summit is oriented towards creating a full global learning experience among participants. It will feature good practices of Agenda 21 for culture. It will showcase the best projects of the first edition of the “International Award UCLG - Mexico City – Culture 21”. Additionally, the results of the Pilot Cities programme will be presented.

The Summit will also connect the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda and culture, building on the work carried out in the process of defining the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly #culture2015goal and #UrbanSDG. It will be an occasion to exchange with the international community and UN Agencies as well as civil society organizations. 

The first UCLG Culture Summit will have six plenary sessions, devoted to:

• Opening: why Culture and Sustainable Cities?
• Cultural Rights in the City
• The place of Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals
• Culture and Sustainable Cities: the Commitments
• Cities, Culture, Citizenship and Development
• Closing: Culture in Sustainable Cities: the way forward.

In addition there will be nine specialised sessions, dedicated to specific topics and aimed at in-depth contact with key actors. These sessions are framed around three main concepts: “Cities and cultural policies”, “Good practice in Agenda 21 for culture” and “Speed-networking: meet our people”.

Should you be interested in presenting a specific case or issue in a specialised session, write to us at your earliest convenience (a few slots are still available): [email protected]

More information: http://www.uclg-culturesummit2015.org/index.php/en/