On 25 and 26 November, Faro 2027 – ECoC candidate city from Portugal is hosting the meeting of the Culture Next network of European cities, current or former candidates for European Capital of Culture.
The program organized in Faro included plenary sessions with discussions and presentations dedicated to:
- the Culture Next cities and the SDGs;
- the future of the European Capitals of Culture;
- launching the Cities Fund for Culture, an alternative financial mechanism, a bottom-up solution to complement the European Commission’s top-down funding structures. 10 European cities contribute with 2.000 euro each to a joint fund that would be offered, through an open call, to European artists interested in working together to share their Visions for Culture in a Sustainable Future;
- launching the ECoCArchive, with almost 300 documents: bid books, monitoring reports and evaluation studies from 1985 till today;
- as well as internal meetings of network members.
Skopje 2028 submitted a candidacy for membership in the network that was accepted by the current members at the meeting in Faro, and currently, a memorandum of cooperation is being prepared which will confirm the membership. Violeta Kachakova and Oliver Musovik, as representatives of Skopje 2028, took part in the meeting in Faro via an online connection.
Culture Next is a network founded in 2017 by ten European cities, current and former candidates to the European Capital of Culture title. The mission of the network is to support cities to implement culture-led urban development programmes and policies, building on the experiences, participatory processes and collaborations established during the preparation for the ECoC bid.
More information about the network can be found here
