Events

This event marks a key moment in history
The 2015 Paris Agreement gave each country 5 years to hear from scientists and ratchet up their climate action contributions to meet the escalating climate emergency. In the coming weeks, will find out which countries are listening.

November marks one year until the next UN Climate Summit (COP26) where a precious chance awaits to get climate action on track.

November marks the one-year anniversary of the Edinburgh launch of the Climate Heritage Network — whose members embrace the critical role that arts, culture and heritage can play in driving greater ambition and supporting rapid and just transitions to a low-carbon, climate resilience future.

Culture x Climate 2020 responds to this moment by creating a forum designed to unite all those interested in the role of arts, culture and heritage in tackling the climate emergency.

It aims to enhance the capacity of the arts, culture and heritage sectors to help build a climate-neutral and resilient world in the time of COVID-19.

It aims to promote new partnerships between cultural actors and stakeholders across sectors.

It aims to prepare the culture sector to play its part in driving greater ambition at COP26 and beyond.

Key elements
Culture x Climate 2020 runs from 12 October to 27 November, anchored by Climate Heritage Week 2020 (16-22 November). It offers an online array of visionary panel sessions and a series of informative webinars and action-oriented forums. Over a 45-day period, attendees will have access to a variety of virtual formats to accommodate different topics, time zones, and languages.

Who should attend?
Are you an arts, culture or heritage practitioner, expert or advocate looking to help increase the capacity of these sectors to engage in climate action, science and policy? Our Climate Heritage Mobilisation Webinars are for you!

Are you a climate change or cultural decisionmaker who wants to engage across sectors to better leverage the power of arts, culture and heritage to support climate resilience and accelerate collective action? Choose the visionary November Dialogues!

Are you working with a cultural institution, civil society, university, design firm, government agency, or indigenous peoples organisation and want to learn from, and network with, colleagues in your global region committed to using arts, culture and heritage to tackle climate change? Join one of our action-oriented Regional Climate Heritage Forums.

The Week of Contested Heritage offers workshops, a keynote presentation with discussion and a session with policy-makers. Tune in for thought-provoking reflections about the current Zeitgeist that requires institutions and individuals to think about change. The Heritage Contact Zone (HCZ) project proposes a tool for that change, to open up spaces for difficult conversation about our heritage and the societies we want to live in. The Week will showcase and discuss the HCZ project’s experience with artists and activists that have worked with civil society initiatives to build ‘safe spaces’ that are open for dialogue.

3 key moments

• 23 November 2020, 17:30 – 20:30 (CET): Local workshops and international panel conversation 
• 25 November 2020, 19:00 – 21:00 (CET): Keynote lecture with Q&A
• 26 November 2020, 14:00 – 16:00 (CET) Launch of toolkit and discussion with policy makers

Who should participate?
The Week invites artists, activists, creative producers, cultural managers and curators to engage with the project’s outcomes and bring in their own experiences in order to share and empower each other.

Background
We live in unprecedented times. Never was history and heritage so much the focus of public attention. The post- colonial discussion, revisionism over national identities, Black Lives Matter and many more strong and timely movements show how much public spaces, places of memory and the stories we tell about our histories and roots matter for the togetherness of a society and the feeling of belonging for all its members. The conference OPEN UP! – working with contested heritage’ proposes examples of working with complex histories in a participatory manner. It will discuss the outcomes of a two-year EU funded international project that has produced the Heritage Contact Zone Toolkit.  The slogan ‘all personal is political’ could apply for these initiatives and implies that all personal memories can be politicised, for better and for worse. The question remains how we can build spaces of memory dissent for the better, in which conflict is made constructive and creativity and participation can become drivers of inclusive history-making. For a strong civil society and against  exclusionary and authoritarian narratives and policies we need new tools to empower institutions and communities alike.

On 24 and 25 of November 2020, the Partnership on Culture and Cultural Heritage will present and discuss its final Actions during a digital conference, the Digital Forum on the Action Plan. The final agenda is available here. 

Culture and Cultural Heritage are important cornerstones for the sustainable development of our living environment. As a resource and potential to create just, green and productive cities, cultural heritage has a profound effect on the cities of Europe and makes essential contributions to the quality of life. But: How to deal with cultural heritage? How to protect and develop it at the same time? And how to put it into value socially, ecologically and economically? The Partnership for Culture and Cultural Heritage of the Urban Agenda for the EU has developed a comprehensive, holistic and pragmatic approach, and it offers interested stakeholders the opportunity to participate in the development of this important European task. The Partnership consists of a network of 30 selected partners from across Europe. This network is currently working on several pilot projects and recommendations, so-called “actions”, to manage cultural heritage and to foster further development while focusing on the existing, grown European city. The Actions and their aims are summarised in an Action Plan.

You can register to the event at the following link: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/StakeholderConferenceRegistrationForm

Please note that registration will close on Friday 20 November at the end of the day.

For any further information and/or queries, please contact: [email protected]

This autumn 12 Creative Europe Desks from the whole continent join efforts to build new connections between cultural and creative representatives from throughout Europe. They prepare three online networking events open for everyone, who is eager to find international partners for their prospective projects during the times when traveling and personal meetings are not possible.

Creative Europe Desks from Ukraine, Greece, Poland, Germany, Tunisia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland, Portugal, Hungary, Croatia are organizing 3 networking sessions “Matchmaking with Creative Europe” for representatives of culture and creative sectors from the above-mentioned countries. During the 2-hour networking events, each participant will be able to meet prospective partners for their projects, pitch their idea to foreign colleagues, exchange experiences and challenges during these uncertain times.

To meet the territorial diversity of the event, a limited number of participants from each country will be selected based on their motivation to work internationally. The participants are expected to present their project ideas, where they want to engage international partners and/or firm intention to cooperate with colleagues from the whole region within the respective topics (i. e. Digitalization in culture or Gender equality in arts or Green culture).

Each event will have a specific thematic focus, so please apply only if you have / are looking for a project in that particular field:

• 13th October 10:00-12:00 CET “Digitalization in culture”
• 5th November 10:00-12:00 CET “Gender equality in arts”
• 26th November 10:00-12:00 CET “Green culture”

This event is held in English with no translation and it is free of charge and open to all creative, cultural and heritage professionals with an interest in developing or strengthening European connections, partnerships and projects.

In order to participate in one of the networking sessions, please apply until 4th October 2020 via the following application form.

Each organization representative can participate only in one networking session. Please note that the amount of places for each networking is strictly limited. All the selected applicants will be notified about selection results on the 9th of October 2020 at the latest.

For further information, please contact the respective Creative Europe Desk in your country: contacts are available here.

From flags to canopies, tapestries, furniture, bride clothing, traditional attire, etc., silk is found in countless contexts. Besides, it is also a multifaceted living heritage, because it involves more than the textile itself, around it there are designers, weavers, painters, etc. Although the Silk Road is often associated with its Asian origins, its European ramifications were fundamental for the construction of today’s Europe. 

The European Silk Heritage is linked to history, sociology and cultural production. It also underlined as an artistic connection. A fluid exchange that influenced the development of each productive points.

The commercial and cultural connection, liaised Europe for several centuries thanks to the exchange of goods and techniques, but also of ideas, religions, trends, which have been going through the diverse routes and trading ports, leaving traces and influences in each of them, building a common and shared history.