EUROPEAN CONFERENCE · 1st episode on August 31: “Culture’s place in our lives” with Nicolas Barbieri, Mafalda Damaso and Anne Torreggiani

The 1st episode of the European Conference 2020 will take place on August 31. Under the theme of “Culture’s place in our lives”, Nicolas Barbieri, Mafalda Damaso and Anne Torreggiani will be the panelists for this session with the coordination of  Alessandra Gariboldi. In addition, Valentina Montalto, Jordi Pascual and Lene Struck-Madsen will be the long table moderators.

Throughout the COVID19 outbreak, half of the world’s population has been on lockdown. Cancelled fairs, festivals and concerts, closed clubs and shut-down theatres: we were all affected. Yet, in a time of desolation and deprivation, we have once again invited culture into our homes. Watching streaming series and movies, listening to music, reading books, we have suddenly become painfully aware of the extraordinary meaning culture has in our lives. Overnight, we were able to watch theatre performances from our couches, browse through galleries and virtual exhibitions, listen to live online concerts. What is happening, and what is going to happen under the rule of social distancing? In this new light, it seems important to put forth once more the need for culture, its relevance, its accessibility and the conditions under which this access is provided. And to keep in mind the millions without access to it, asking ourselves how we can overcome these obstacles.

Register here (registration deadline 27/8/2020)

BIOGRAPHIES

Nicolas Barbieri

Nicolas Barbieri

Panellist: European Conference episode Culture’s place in our lives

Nicolas Barbieri holds PhD in Political Science, and is a researcher at the Public Policies and Government Institute and adjunct lecturer at the Department of Political Science, UniversitatAutònoma de Barcelona (UAB). His main research area is policy analysis and evaluation, particularly in the field of cultural policy, cultural rights and inequalities. He is co-author of the first Survey of cultural participation and cultural needs in Barcelona. He has published books, chapter books and papers in international journals, available at link. He is the author of the blog http://ubicarse.net

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Mafalda Damaso

Mafalda Damaso

Panellist: European Conference episode Culture’s place in our lives

Damasos’ work examines the intersections between culture, politics and international affairs. Specifically, her research focuses on the processes through which cultural policies and practices support (or reject) the movement from state-centred to transnational forms of participation, governance and belonging. A former Cultural and Foreign Policy expert for ifa, the German Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, she is now a Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries Education at King’s College London. She also teaches Cultural Diplomacy at the InstitutCatholique de Paris and works as an expert on a project around values, identities and policymaking for the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

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Anne Torreggiani

Anne Torreggiani

Panellist: European Conference episode Culture’s place in our lives

Anne Torreggiani is founder and Chief Executive of The Audience Agency, the UK national charity for public engagement with arts, museums and heritage, enabling reach, relevance and resilience across the sector. She is also the Co-Director of the AHRC funded “Centre for Cultural Value” based at the University of Leeds. She has been influential over three decades, improving practice and advocating for change in the cultural sector, especially in terms of encouraging a people-centred approach and in the use of data and other evidence in the development of policy and practice. Prior to Audiences London and The Audience Agency she was director of marketing and audiences with numerous UK cultural organisations – local authorities, theatres and festivals and then as a consultant, facilitator and adviser for agencies such as Arts Council England, British Council, the European Commission. Anne is a specialist in audience strategy, trends and patterns of public engagement and works across all artforms and museums and has special interests in the use of data especially for cultural democracy, human centred design and organisational change in social enterprises.

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Alessandra Gariboldi

Alessandra Gariboldi

Chair: European Conference episode Culture’s place in our lives

Alessandra Gariboldi is a senior researcher and adviser in the fields of visitor studies, cultural programmes and policies evaluation, with a primary focus on audience engagement and participatory approaches. She is Head of Transnational Projects of Fondazione Fitzcarraldo, and collaborates with the Cultural Observatory of Piedmont, Italy. She’s been involved as researcher and trainer in several EU funded projects focused on cultural participation, as ADESTE, CONNECT and Be SpectActive, and designed the two years capacity building programme in AD for the European Capital of Culture Rijeka2020. At the national level, she contributed to several research and capacity building programmes focused on urban regeneration through the arts, cultural entrepreneurship and arts impact evaluation, working with both cultural institutions and independent cultural organisations. She is passionate about arts and strongly believes they must be at the very heart of social development. She wrote essays or contributed to many publications on visitor studies and impact evaluation of cultural policies.

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Valentina Montalto

Valentina Montalto

Long Table Moderator: European Conference episode Culture’s place in our lives

Valentina Montalto has ten years of professional experience, combing work in the private sector as researcher and project manager, and in the public sector as policy analyst, with a focus on the potential of culture for economic and social well-being. Her research interests lay in a) developing metrics to capture the economic and social value of culture; b) advising policies at all levels – local, national, European – that can help make the most of culture to empower citizens and foster new economies. Valentina currently works at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, where she is in charge of the development of the ‘Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor’ project. She previously worked at the Brussels-based research and advisory company KEA where she extensively worked on multiple research assignments and policy-oriented reports to assess European cultural statistics, for instance, or culture’s impacts on local development, on behalf of both European institutions and city authorities. On YouTube her TEDxTalk on how to measure the value of culture in European cities.

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Jordi Pascual

Jordi Pascual

Long Table Moderator: European Conference episode Culture’s place in our lives

Jordi Pascual is the founding coordinator of the Committee on culture of the world organisation of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). He has published books, articles and reports on cultural rights, international cultural relations, culture and sustainability and the governance of culture, which have been translated to more than 20 languages. Some examples: “Cultural rights, local cultural policies and sustainable development. Looking for a coherent narrative” (Journal of Law, Social Justice and Global Development, 2018), “Culture as the fourth pillar of sustainable development: the best is yet to come” (Economia dellacultura, 2016), “Rio+20 and culture: advocating for culture at the centre of sustainability” (UCLG, 2012), “Culture and sustainable development: institutional innovation and a new cultural policy model” (UCLG – UNESCO, 2009), “On citizen participation in local cultural policy development for European cities” (European Cultural Foundation, 2007), or “Third system: arts first! Local cultural policies, third system and employment” (European Commission, 1999). Jordi has been a member of the jury of the European Capital of Culture and teaches cultural policies and management at the Open University of Catalonia.

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Lene Struck-Madsen

Long Table Moderator: European Conference episode Culture’s place in our lives