Arts & International Affairs: 2.3: Autumn/Winter 2017 | Page 93

CITIES ARE DRIVING NEW CULTURAL POLICIES
ANNA LISA BONI
Secretar y General of EUROCITIES
Anna Lisa Boni has been secretary general of EUROCITIES since June
2014. Before joining EUROCITIES, she was director of the Brussels of-
fice of the French region Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur. EUROCITIES is
the network of major European cities. It brings together the local gov-
ernments of over 140 of Europe’s largest cities and more than 40 partner
cities, that between them govern 130 million citizens across 39 countries.
PHILIPPE KERN
Managing Director of KEA European Affairs
Philippe Kern Philippe is the founder of KEA European Affairs, and has
been its managing director since 1999. KEA has been advising territo-
ries, organisations and people to unlock the potential of cultural and
creative industries since 1999.
C
ulture is everywhere. It reaches out well beyond museums, heritage sites, or tra-
ditional cultural institutions, infiltrating our daily life. It can be found in technol-
ogy hubs, in media clusters nourishing innovation, on city walls in the form of
graffiti and murals, or at local community centers and street festivals which trigger social
interactions. It serves to create an aesthetic, an atmosphere, and ultimately the attractive-
ness of places.
While the analysis of global transformation has begun to stress the cultural dimension,
there is a predominance of a particular type of study. The literature is rather focused on
technology (digital networks, artificial intelligence, genetic manipulation, the Internet
of Things for instance), climate change, population growth, or economic sustainability.
This shows a tendency to attribute historical development mainly to economic, techno-
logical, business, and demographic factors, as if ideas, creations, institutions, and culture
played little role in major global change.
Too often, culture and its agents (artists, creative professionals, cultural institutions) are
given poor consideration in the context of economic and social development. This is not
new, but rather puzzling, considering the important role of culture and cultural opera-
tors in the shaping of today’s and tomorrow’s world.
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doi: 10.18278/aia.2.3.7