Venue: Oh Yeah Centre (15 Gordon Street, Belfast BT1 2LG)
Please note this is not an official event of the Culture Forum but an opportunity offered by the city of Belfast.
You can check the full agenda here.
Belfast City Council’s City of Music team invite you to a networking and learning session. This is a meeting of UNESCO Creative Cities of music, but the event is also open to Eurocities members who are interested to join the agenda at any stage.
- 12.00: Welcome and presentation of Belfast’s music plan and City of Music activities
- 12.45: lunch, followed by knowledge exchange with three Creative Cities of music
- 14:00: choice of two learning exchanges: existing UNESCO members OR aspiring cities
- 15:00: Optional 30-minute tour of Oh Yeah Centre
OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
Venue: 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA
A registration desk is open for all Forum participants to collect their badge for the three days.
Venue: 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA
In this session, participants can gain a deeper understanding of Eurocities’ organisational structure and learn about the advantages of being a member. They will learn about the thematic areas of the Culture Forum and the different opportunities that offers for its members. Additionally, this session will provide a space for participants to engage in discussion with Eurocities’ team and voice specific needs and interests of their cities.
Venue: 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA
Join fellow Forum participants for a Belfast welcome and networking with friends old and new. Words of welcome at 19:15 from:
- Andrew McCormick, Belfast Deputy Lord Mayor
- Dejan Crnek (Ljubljana) and Nicole Yardeni (Toulouse), political Chair and Vice-Chair of the Eurocities culture forum
- André Sobczak, Eurocities Secretary General
Savoury snacks and drinks will be provided by Yallaa Kitchen, a social enterprise.
If a meal is required, delegates may wish to book in advance. Advice on dinner locations from www.visitbelfast.com or Christine at osbornec@belfastcity.gov.uk. Members of Visit Belfast staff will also be there to offer advice.
Venue: 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA
A registration desk is open for all Forum participants to collect their badge for the three days.
- Welcome to The MAC from Lisa McGinley, Chief Executive
- Welcome to Belfast from Sharon McNicholl, Belfast City Council Deputy Chief executive
- Belfast 2024 by Erika Clark, Creative Programme Manager
- Ali Fitzgibbon, Senior Lecturer and head of Arts Management and Cultural Policy, Queen’s University Belfast
This year’s keynote for the Eurocities Culture Forum will explore the different modes of connection (SMART cities, traversable cities, citizenship) and some of the questions or contradictions they raise for cities and their cultural governance. As we navigate connectivity in the digital and physical realms within and between cities and regions, we may wonder if we (as citizens, policymakers, cultural professionals) can ever properly understand the human scale of our connections or what limits we might want to place on being connected.
Dr Ali FitzGibbon is a Senior Lecturer in Creative & Cultural Industries Management at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research has focused on leadership and ethics in arts and cultural production, particularly focusing on sustainability of cultural ecologies and creative freelancers. She has built this on an extensive career as a cultural consultant for public bodies, local authorities and cultural companies in the UK, Ireland and internationally, principally on considerations of strategic development, succession planning and change management as well as creative evaluation. She was an advisor on the Belfast/Derry European City of Culture bid in 2017 and has worked on a range of city-level projects and bids in the UK and Ireland. Previously she worked as a multidisciplinary producer and programmer for over 25 years in outdoor events, performing arts and youth arts.
Moderator: John McIlduff, Creative Lead, Belfast 2024
- Culture as a connector for economic stability
The transformation of the City Centre, Western Harbour, Temple Quarter in Bristol (UK). Councillor Ani Stafford-Townsend, Elise Hurcombe and Joanna Plimmer will focus on culture’s role in inclusive and holistic placemaking.
- Culture as a connector for sustainable cities
‘Refúgiate en la Cultura’ programme in Madrid (SP). Blanca Martínez Román will present a new programme inviting locals and visitors to escape high temperatures during the day by going to museums, libraries or movie theatres, using them as climate shelters.
- Culture as a connector for social development
ForwArt in Tilburg (NL). Ulco Mes will present ForwArt, a project offering youth at risk wider perspectives, positive role models and alternative pathways than those leading to criminality.
The history of Malmö (SE) Muslims until 1990. Fiona Winders will present a project which is part of the work on combatting islamophobia; it is done by the city of Malmö, where a third of the population identifies as Muslims.
The Eurocities Lille Call to action on sustainable culture is a political commitment from Mayors to develop cultural policies and activities that are greener and more inclusive. 47 cities have signed it since it was launched in June 2023.
Two signatory cities will share concrete illustrations of such policies and actions:
- "KREATIV.RAUM.BÖRSE" (Creative Space Exchange) in Dresden (DE). Stephan Hoffmann and Juliane Moschell will tell us about a programme developed to look at the city centre from a cultural perspective and to reimagine empty spaces in the inner city. This example illustrates priorities 4, 5 11 and 14 of the Call to Action
- The GAS (Genders, Accessibilities and Sustainabilities) seal in Terrassa (SP). Anna Farras Sanz will a seal that supports non-discrimination for reasons of gender and work towards zero-waste cultural projects. It illustrates priority 15 of the Call to Action.
This session is also an opportunity for elected representatives to sign the Eurocities Lille Call to action on sustainable culture. Please find more information here.
Hosted by Dejan Crnek, Deputy Mayor of Ljubljana and chair of the Eurocities culture forum, and André Sobczak, Eurocities Secretary General
Opportunity for elected representatives to have a networking lunch and chaired discussion on the theme of Culture as the Connector – new challenges and opportunities for cities and regions
Parallel themed site visits around the city of Belfast – all walkable / cyclable except one which requires bus transport
You can find more info on each site visit here: https://linktr.ee/EurocitiesCultureForum
Belfast 2024 Drift with Wild Belfast; and Ulster Museum / Ravine
Visit an artist designed floating structure, and a new city centre hub of creativity
Belfast 2024 North Star and Crescent Arts Centre.
Public spaces, places and projects which engage with and share people’s stories.
2 Royal Avenue meeting space with Belfast Stories and Urban Garden.
Includes an example from Leeuwarden (NL): Jantine Verver will share how local cultural and economic administrations join forces to develop the cultural infrastructure.
Belfast 2024 Sound Links project at Townsend St; with Ulster Orchestra
Belfast 2024 Waterworks (boat building); with Catalyst and Maritime Belfast Trust
Belfast 2024 Shadowdock site; meeting hosted by Titanic Distillery with HMS Caroline
Includes an example from Toulouse (FR): Guillaume Ajavon will present ‘La Halle de la Machine’, a new major cultural facility showing machines of the company La Machine and a strong public investment in a disconnected district of the city.
SOCIAL EVENT
Venue: St Anne's Cathedral (Donegall Street, Belfast BT21 2HB, United Kingdom)
After a day full of sessions and site visits, you can have a short visit to St Anne’s Cathedral with a relaxing and inspiring musical performance before dinner nearby. Pop in any time from 18:00.
Venue: The Academy Restaurant (Ulster University, York St, Belfast BT15 1ED, United Kingdom)
The Academy Restaurant, overlooking St Anne's Cathedral. Locally sourced, fresh and healthy, mostly vegetarian dinner with short introduction by lead chef and students at Ulster University who created the menu using organic and sustainable produce.
Venue: 2 Royal Avenue, Belfast, BT1 1DA
A registration desk is open for all Forum participants to collect their badge for the three days.
"Multidirectional Memory in Public Art" is the theme for discussion and we will look at examples from a Belfast perspective. We will see examples of art in public space in which different perspectives of local memory have been integrated to create new artistic forms of collective memory. We will visit the region’s biggest sculpture called RISE, and hear from people from two differing sides of the community who were involved in the engagement and creation process.
Fit for the future: finding and keeping good staff and freelancers within the cultural sector.
The meeting will focus on the following challenges: What skills are needed and recruited? What recruitment challenges there might be in the cultural field? How do organisational models contribute to finding the right people for the job? What leadership challenges does the future bring?
Culture as a lifeline for everyone: We will look at two local venues with programmes of Community Outreach which specifically benefit older people. One will focus on reminiscence through song and community get togethers. We will visit a local photographic gallery which opens its space to groups and delivers programmes which enables everyone, including older people, to reach their full potential.
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Walkabout split in two groups:
- CONNECTING URBAN SPACES: Cathedral Quarter with lunch at Golden Thread Gallery. Example from Vacant to Vibrant scheme.
- CONNECTING CITIZENS: Bank of Ideas (participatory budgeting scheme) with lunch at Black Box Green Room. Includes an example from Debrecen (HU): Szilvia Szilágyi will focus on the city’s work to support literature, and reading.
Chair: Dejan Crnek (Ljubljana) political Chair of the Eurocities culture forum
- The big picture: working with the new European Parliament and European Commission
- Recent and future Eurocities policy work on culture
- Forthcoming opportunities for Eurocities members
- Meet cities that recently joined Eurocities and the culture forum
- Save the dates! Next culture forum September 2025
Venue: Thompson Dry Dock, beside Titanic Distillers, Titanic Quarter, Belfast.
Discover a hidden world filled with light, colour & sound on a truly Titanic scale. An amazing one off experience in the dry dock where HMS Titanic was built.
Please note this is not an official event of the Culture Forum but an opportunity offered by the city of Belfast.
A booking code will follow, and people should book their choice of experience here: