Communiqué: Winners of the International Award UCLG - MEXICO City - Culture 21

The winners of the second edition of the “International Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21” were presented by Eduardo Vázquez, Secretary of Culture in the City of Mexico, during the session of the UCLG Executive Bureau in Kazan.

The second edition of the “International Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21” was presented to the UCLG World Council in Paris (5 December 2015). Since then, forms for the presentation of candidatures have been available on the Agenda 21 for Culture website. 

Several organizations participated in the promotion of the call for candidatures, including the World Secretariat of UCLG, the Committee on Culture and the Government of Mexico City; at the same time, many international networks in the field of culture, as well as the UCLG continental and metropolitan sections, contributed to multiply the impact of the call through their members. 

This second Award has been a very enriching experience, enabling us to learn about policies, programmes and projects that cities and local governments around of the whole world have developed in areas connecting city, culture, citizenship, and sustainable development.

This Award unequivocally demonstrates that diversity, heritage and creativity, that is, culture, is a fundamental dimension of sustainable cities throughout the world. The Awards ceremony will take place in Mexico City in October or November 2016.

The winners of the 2016 edition of the “International Award UCLG - Mexico City - Culture 21”

The Jury was formed by five international experts, highly eminent figures with a proven track record in the cultural world, ensuring the prestige and relevance of the Award. In May 2016, the Jury selected the winners:

  • In the category “City, Local or Regional Government”: the city of Timbuktu, with the programme “Cultural heritage and reinvigoration of socio-economic activities inTimbuktu”, and the city of Vaudreuil-Dorion, with the programme “I am… / The adventure of one community in the middle of a transformation”.
  • In the “Individual” category: Jon Hawkes and Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui.

The Jury also decided to give a special mention to the following cities:

  • Busan (Republic of Korea) – “Historic downtown culture cluster ‘Totatoga’”
  • Dakar (Senegal) – “School of Commons”
  • Kaunas (Lithuania) – “The Šančiai Cabbage Field Project – small scale seeks big transformation”
  • Lake Megantic (Quebec, Canada) – “Rebuilding Lake Mégantic”
  • Montevideo (Uruguay) – “Cultural Co-Management Civic Centre: SACUDE”

Additional information can be found in this  communiqué of the International Award UCLG - Mexico city - Culture 21.