The International Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21, coorganized by UCLG, Mexico City and the Committee on Culture of UCLG, recognises leading cities and individuals that have distinguished themselves through their contribution to culture and sustainable cities. The Award also recognises the leadership of Mexico City on culture, and local cultural policies, as a pilar of sustainable development. The Award has two categories: "City or Local/Regional Government" and "Individual".
The first edition of the Award took place in 2013-2014, and awarded the City of Belo Horizonte, as well as Manuel Castells and Farida Shaheed as for the 'Individual' category. The second one took place in 2015-2016 and awarded ex-aequo the Cities of Timbuktu and Vaudreuil-Dorion, and Jon Hawkes and Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, as for the 'Individual' category.
Open from 2 November 2017 to 16 March 2018, the call for the third edition (2017-2018) of the Award received 99 applications from cities and local governments from across the world. The International Jury of the Award examined all the candidacies in the course of April and May 2018.
The Secretary for Culture of Mexico City, Eduardo Vázquez Martín, formally announced the winners of the third edition of the Award on last 25 May 2018, during UCLG Executive Bureau in Strasbourg.
In the category ‘City / Regional or Local Government’ the Jury decided to give the Award to the candidatures of Lyon (France), for its charter “The Sustainable City of Lyon: the Charter of Cultural Cooperation”, and Seongbuk (Republic of Korea), for its programme “Common Seongbuk Artist Roundtable: Local Culture Governance”.
The Jury also decided to recognize the following exemplary programmes as special mentions of the Award (in alphabetical order):
- Dublin (Ireland), for the programme “Culture Connects”
- Hamilton (Ontario, Canada), for the project “Love Your City’: Transforming Hamilton through Culture”
- Montevideo (Uruguay), for the programme “Cultural Policies with a Perspective on Gender Equality”
- Nablus (Palestine), for the porgramme “Saving Cultural Identity under Occupation – Regeneration of Nablus Historic Centre”
- Novosibirsk (Russian Federation), for the programme “Novosibirsk: Turning the City into a Museum”
- Saha-gu (Republic of Korea), for the programme “Gamcheon Culture Village Project”
In the category ‘Individual’, the Jury decided two winners would also share the Award ex-aequo: Basma ElHusseiny and Patrice Meyer-Bisch.
The Award Ceremony, as for the previous editions, will take place in Mexico City on 18-20 October 2018. This year, it will also be the occasion to celebrate an International Seminar on "Cultural Rights in the City", as well as the 15th annual meeting of the Committee on Culture of UCLG.
- Visit www.agenda21culture.net