I Basic principles / Question 9
Córdoba City Council has always had a Department of Citizen Relations; in 2003 it became a dedicated Citizen Participation unit, made up of 23 technical staff, 11 playscheme specialists and five administrators. For the last three years, they have worked closely with the CCCF on taking culture closer to the city’s 14 districts, raising public awareness of the bid and encouraging participation in activities. These are the Córdoba 2016 Cultural Activists, the real catalysts and intermediaries for getting local people involved; they ensure that our programmes are extended and appropriately implemented throughout the city’s districts, acting as “transmission mechanisms” for the ECoC project and veritable sources of information. We have drawn inspiration from the Copenhagen 1996 ECoC in defining the role of these intermediaries. We have twice put this “transmission mechanism” to the test with results that were more than satisfactory. A total of 53 cultural activities were held on 8 and 9 May 2010 to celebrate Europe Day, designed and organised by 75 neighbourhood groups and associations, in 14 venues simultaneously, involving ten of the city’s districts. It was a project made for and by local people, who suggested the activities, decorated their balconies with flags in support of Córdoba 2016 and enjoyed the open-air, dressed in blue.
I Basic principles / Question 9
2. CULTURAL AGENTS: ASSOCIATIONS
Córdoba’s well-established participatory movement includes local associations and groups, non-governmental bodies that organise countless low-cost activities in their areas, getting residents used to the consumption of culture. Among them are cultural, neighbourhood, youth, women’s and recreational associations whose activity locates them within the area envisaged by the ECoC; they receive funding from the Citizen Participation Department, as well as from other departments. The City Council will maintain its public funding in 2016, and the CCCF will incorporate this programme into its cultural agenda. The citizens’ movement has a long history, thanks to the voluntary work of many local residents, independently of institutional recognition. The first Neighbourhood Associations’ Coordinator dates back to 1974, when the dictatorship was still in power. Nowadays, the Al Zahara Federation of Neighbourhood Associations represents 96 groups and forms part of a network of similar Andalusian and Spanish organisations. The work of thousands of people has created an institutional fabric and has influenced the city’s strategic decisions in all kinds of policy areas. 3. VOLUNTEERS
For the second edition, between 30 April and 8 May 2011, the celebrations have been extended for the first time to all 14 suburban districts: Alcolea has organised Performances focussing on Europe; El Higuerón has proposed activities under the title of Flamenco, heritage of 2016 and Villarrubia will proclaim Villarrubia is Córdoba 2016 too, with inter-generational and gender-specific activities. Finally, attention is drawn to the Municipal Training School for Citizen Participation, dedicated to training technical staff, people in public posts and citizens, to improve the quality of participation in Córdoba. In addition, participatory cultural programmes are held in the residential districts (Culture Network, Collective Art), the outcome of close collaboration between the Departments of Citizen Participation and Culture, which include training and creative activities and exhibitions. In the last edition of Collective Art, 135 young artists took part in 192 travelling exhibitions.
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A large part of the task of spreading the word about our bid, as well as enlivening the future ECoC programme, will fall on Córdoba 2016’s volunteers: 2,230 people (March 2011) who give up their free time to take part in the bid, generating a sense of public pride, facilitating social cohesion and improving the flow of communication between cultural actors and the population at large. Voluntary activities have been organised on the basis of the Andalusian Autonomous Community Volunteers Law. Volunteer activities are organised by CCCF’s specially-designed Córdoba 2016 Volunteer Programme, the Action Plan for 2011 (http://www.Córdoba2016.es/es/candidatura/ plan-de-accion-voluntariado) and a specific Technical Secretariat, which will run until 2016. The volunteers themselves have created a Coordinating Committee, comprising seven people: a general coordinator and specific coordinators for six areas: logistics and promotion; communication; protocol; cultural activities; social integration and a digital volunteer corps involved in all areas.
For the period January to June 2011, the volunteers have drawn up a plan of the city for the placing of flags and promotional material (logistics and administration); they have publicised Córdoba’s bid in Madrid, Cádiz, Málaga, Seville and Granada, using Córdoba’s ECoC 2016 bus, and in Córdoba they have carried out an in-person publicity campaign in the city’s 14 districts (communication and publicity). Receiving and attending to the needs of visitors also forms part of the work of the volunteers. They have taken part in Cosmopoetica, the May Fair and the White Night of Flamenco (protocol and cultural activities). Lastly, attention to visitors with special needs has included accompanying people with disability to cultural activities (social integration).
cultural activities, two of the ECoC project’s aims —social and cultural commitment— come together. 3. THE AREA INVOLVED IN THE PROGRAMME Activities designed to encourage participation extend to the province of Córdoba and throughout Andalusia, reflecting the project’s marked regional strategy. In order to kick-start the ECoC programme, both in 2016 itself and in the leadup years, the existing supra-municipal bodies (provincial and Andalusian) will be maintained and others will be created to activate the region involved. Many of our activities will have a second base in another Andalusian province, creating a kind of regional circuit.
With this latter programme (“I’ll go with you”), whereby people with disabilities and special needs are accompanied to
— Is sustainable and an integral part of the long-term cultural and social development of the city? Córdoba took part in the Third Conference of the World Summit of United Cities and Local Government (UCLG), and formed part of its Culture Committee. In the course of the meeting, the UCLG’s Executive approved a Policy Guideline Document entitled Culture is the fourth pillar of sustainable development (the other pillars being the environment, the economy and society), which endorses the premises of Agenda 21 for culture and reinforces the importance placed by UCLG on culture in local policies. The balance between cultural and natural resources is one of Córdoba’s chief concerns16. LThe ECoC bid is one of a series of municipal initiatives addressing the relationship between cultural development and other aspects of sustainable development (economic growth, social cohesion, environmental balance, cli-
16 Córdoba has the support of the Andalusian Regional Government’s IFAPA (Andalusian Institute of Agricultural Research and Training) and the CSIC’s Institute of Sustainable Agriculture (IAS). It has also pioneered the implementation of urban solid waste recycling and the integrated water cycle. It has carried out programmes which endeavour to combine environmental with educational and social aspects in a variety of locations: the Environmental Education Centre; Children’s City (park); the Botanic Gardens; Córdoba Zoo; Asomadilla Park; and Cruz Conde Park.
Sustainability: 1
The CCCF was set up in 2006 as part of a multi-level governance model, and was deliberately not linked to 2016, because the idea was that it should continue to exist whether Córdoba was designated or not.
2
Several of our projects will serve to strengthen public-private partnerships as a development model for the creative industries, thus meeting the recommendations of the Green Paper.
3
Mechanisms to facilitate mobility, micro-funding and cooperation between the university and business sectors, as indicated in earlier answers.
4
Strategic alliances and thematic platforms establishing long-term joint work plans with European and international institutions and networks, yielding results before, during and after 2016, and lasting effects both in the city and at an international level.
5
The infrastructure projects that have been started will be continued, and will generate added value in the decades to come. None of the planned facilities will expire in 2016, because they form part of the “sustainable creative city” project.
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