Culture Next
Project Name
Culture Next – EU Network
Project Partners
Culture Next Network (32 member cities and 19 countries) and Galway City Council
Role of Galway Culture Company
Partner that:
- Facilitates membership on behalf of Galway city
- Attends monthly meetings online and contributes to network activities
Strategic Aim
This project falls under our first strategic aim;
Facilitate International and EU Relationships and Funding.
Project Description
Galway has joined 32 cities and 19 countries in the EU Cultural Network called Culture Next. Culture Next is dedicated to current or former European Capital of Culture (ECoC) candidates, whether awarded or not. The network focuses on capacity building, organising conferences and annual meetings, and on developing a platform for promoting member cities, as well as facilitating collaborations among them. The network also aims to become a voice in shaping European cultural policies.
Galway is listed as a member city in the Culture Next Cities Network for 2023 and 2024. Given the raised interest of the ECoC candidate cities (33 applicants for 23 member city seats), the Culture Next Board confirmed 23 full member seats for eligible cities and set up an observing member status for 9 European cities of which Galway is one.
32 cities from 19 EU countries and the UK became members of the Culture Next Cities Network starting from January 2023. The first members meeting in the new formula was held on December 15th.
Projects outcomes-what we expect from this project
Rights and benefits of the full member cities:
- Possibility of free access for two representatives to five network conferences;
- Possibility of one away mobility per term;
- Communication budget received from the Network;
- Free access to the Network’s capacity building programme;
- Free access to the Culture Next digital channels;
- Technical and moral support to face the specific ECoC candidacy challenges;
- Possibility to take part in grant application consortia;
- Participation and support in advocacy campaigns related to culture and European topics;
- Opportunity to contribute to cultural policies and establish best practices in these fields;
- Possibility to increase European relevance and visibility of our member cities and the impact of our cultural work.
The observing member cities can access all Culture Next activities on their own expense for one year, without just the rights to vote in the General Assembly and to chair Thematic Working Groups. After one year they will be invited to join as full members.
We are currently working on a mobility project with the City of Oulu. We are also delighted that Macnas are now in discussion with a city in respect of their opening ceremony, the outcome to be announced soon.
How is this project funded
Membership is paid for by Galway City Council as a Municipality member.
Duration
2 years
