PRESS RELEASE - UCLG CULTURE SUMMIT 2021 IN IZMIR

UCLG CULTURE SUMMIT 2021 IN IZMIR

Barcelona, 22 March 2021

UCLG Culture Summit in Izmir: Culture Shaping the Future

From 9 to 11 September 2021, the City of Izmir, Turkey will host the UCLG Culture Summit. Mayors and local leaders, academics, activists, civil society organizations, cultural networks and key stakeholders involved in the global debate on culture and development will gather in Izmir to discuss the place of cultural policies for sustainable development.

The covid-19 crisis has made evident the profound need for culture that cities and communities have. People have turned to culture to reinforce the sense of belonging in communities and cities, inventing new forms of participation, recognizing what brings us together and by creating meaning and solidarity. The pandemic has also shown that cultural actors need better working conditions, which were already precarious and difficult in the old normality. Life after pandemic will have to place cultural life at the centre of development. The cultural policies of cities and local governments will be more central than ever. This is why the title of the Summit is: Culture: Shaping the Future.

The Summit is a global event that contributes to the Pact for the Future of Humanity that UCLG launched in November 2020, to be approved in November 2022. The Summit is also framed by the 5^th anniversary of UN’s New Urban Agenda (2021) and the future organisation of the UNESCO Conference “Mondiacult+40” (2022). Previous editions of the UCLG Culture Summit were organized in Bilbao (2015), Jeju (2017) and Buenos Aires (2019). Summits witnessed the approval of the Culture 21 Actions toolkit and debates of the advocacy campaign #culture2030goal on the role of culture in the achievement of the SDGs.

UCLG is the world organization of local and regional governments and their associations, representing and defending their interests on the world stage. UCLG's network of members represents 70% of the world’s total population and is present in all world regions; representing more than 250,000 human settlements. Among its key areas of political interest are: local democracy, culture, climate change and environment, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, local finance, urban development and city diplomacy in peace building.

UCLG COMMITTEE ON CULTURE
The Committee on Culture of UCLG – also known as the Agenda 21 for culture network – is a unique global platform of more than 800 cities, local governments and organizations which cooperate on “culture in sustainable development” through peer-learning activities, tailored monitoring programmes, global advocacy campaigns, publications and biennial events. The Committee on Culture works with actors in all the continents to “promote culture as the fourth pillar of sustainable development” and to operationalise this narrative with practical tools.

IZMIR
Izmir is a city of 4.5 million inhabitants with 8500 years of history. Being one of the largest port cities in the Mediterranean, Izmir has historically been one of the key locations at the center of flow of people, goods, capital, and ideas in global supply chains.
For hundreds of years, the port of Izmir has facilitated not only the trading of goods but also flow of ideas, arts and culture within the Mediterranean basin. The city has become a nexus, where diverse cultures interact and co-habitate paving the way for a tolerant society. The city’s geographical location, history, and demography have enriched the city with fruitful economic, social and trans-cultural interactions.
Today, Izmir remains an important, prosperous city with a vivid cultural life and a major logistic hub. A pioneering city, it connects Turkey to the global value chain with its thirteen industrial zones, two free zones, four technology development zones, and four main commercial ports.
The city supports its developing culture and economy by accommodating 180 thousand students in 9 universities.

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