The meeting will take place at the Center for Contemporary Culture
The I International Meeting of Creative Cities and Sustainable Development will take place in Castelo Branco from April 12th to 15th. The event is organized by the albicastrense municipality as part of its candidacy to the Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) network of creative cities, in the category of Handicrafts and Popular Arts.
The event will bring together people responsible for different creative cities around the world, such as Paducah (United States), Tétouan (Morocco), San Cristóbal de las Casas (Mexico), Sokodé (Togo), Ilha de Brava and Praia (Cape Verde), São Luíz do Paraiting and João Pessoa (Brazil).
The Meeting starts on the 12th, in Jardim do Paço, with the reception of the participants, followed by a visit to the exhibition of Castelo Branco Embroidery, in the Francisco Tavares Proença Júnior Museum, and the show “The Traditional Embroidery in Fashion”. Also on the first day, the inaugural dinner will take place.
On Thursday the 13th, the meeting will start at the Castelo Branco Contemporary Culture Center, with an opening session with the participation of Luís Castro Mendes (diplomat, poet, and former Minister of Culture) and the Mayor of Castelo Branco, Leopoldo Rodrigues. This will be followed by a lecture on “Strategic Decisions and New Challenges of Creative Cities”, with an intervention by historian Felix Manito (director of the Creative Cities initiative of the Kreanta Foundation). Also in the morning, at 11:30 a.m., the topic “The creative economy and local development” will be on the table, with speakers António Covas (professor at the University of the Algarve) and Francisco Pinho (director of the School of Applied Arts).
During the afternoon the cities Paducah (United States), Tétouan (Morocco), San Cristóbal de las Casas (Mexico), Sokodé (Togo), Ilha de Brava (Cape Verde) and São Luíz do Paraiting Brazil will be presented.)
Castelo Branco’s candidacy to Unesco’s Creative City is presented by the vice-president of the albicastrense municipality, Hélder Henriques, who is also the coordinator of this project. The president of the APPACDM of Castelo Branco, Maria de Lurdes Pombo, will also speak about the candidacy.
On Friday, also at the Center for Contemporary Culture, François Lajuzan (Director General of Culture in France) will speak on “Culture and Creativity in France: the Role of Small and Medium-sized Cities. This will be followed by presentations by the Lusophone member cities of João Pessoa (Brazil) and Praia (Cape Verde). Also before lunch, the Idea Lab “Creativity and Innovation” will take place.
In the afternoon there will be space for the discussion of four themes. “Small Potent – Creativity and Development in Small Cities”, is the first to be discussed, after the presentation of Alejandro Castañé (director of Garimpo Solutions; International Specialist in Collective Intelligence Projects and Urban Innovations).
Next, Ana Saraiva (head of the Mobile and Intangible Heritage Division of the Directorate-General of Cultural Heritage) and Luís Rocha (Director of CEARTE) will speak about “Handicrafts and Popular Arts: Teaching and Practice”.
“The importance of Creative Tourism for Territorial Sustainability”, will be the theme presented by Sílvia Ribau (head of the Structuring, Planning and Tourism Promotion Nucleus at Turismo Centro de Portugal). The program continues with the presentation of papers on “Creative Economy: A Strategic Axis for Local Development”, by Montserrat Pareja Eastaway (co-director of the Barcelona Chair of Housing Studies and professor at the University of Barcelona) and Ernesto Vilar Figueiras (professor at the University of Beira Interior); and “Culture, Creativity and Territorial Development”, with the intervention of Suzana Menezes (regional director of Culture of the Center).
The last day of work is marked by the presentation of the cities of Barcelos, Caldas da Rainha, Covilhã, and Idanha-a-Nova, which integrate UNESCO’s network of creative cities.
In the final part of the meeting, the themes “Teaching, Certification, and Preservation of Traditional Embroidery in Portugal” will be presented by Graça Ramos (president of the Board of Directors of Associação Portugal à Mão) and Ana Margarida Fernandes (professor at Escola Superior de Artes Aplicadas, of Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco); and “Cultural Tourism and Employment: The Centrality of Training”, through the intervention of Roser Bertran Coppini (Vice-president of Kreanta Foundation and Director of the Chair Medellín- Barcelona). This will be followed by the closing session with Hélder Henriques and Leopoldo Rodrigues (vice-president and mayor of Castelo Branco, respectively).
The meeting ends with a visit to different cultural spaces in the city.
Reconquista 10/4/23