Bilbao, economic capital of the Basque Country, is the centre of a metropolitan area with over one point two million inhabitants. It is a modern, balanced, efficient, friendly, and attractive city in which to live, work, invest, and enjoy leisure and cultural activities.

Bilbao is a cultural ecosystem in which dynamic and enriching encounters for both residents and visitors occur every day. As from its extraordinary economic transformation, the city’s name has started to be associated with concepts such as excellence, economic activity, knowledge, art, technology, design, and creativity.

When one shifts from a dependence on natural resources to a dependence on intellectual resources, culture is acknowledged as being a fundamental all-purpose aptitude. Culture helps in boosting economic development and citizens general wellbeing; it increases levels of innovation and creativity, and it is decisive when seeking to attain global attractiveness and competence.

With this aim in mind, the 2014 edition of the Forum d’Avignon Bilbao seeks to explore the potential of cities as cultural ecosystems.

On the basis of some positive practices, we can analyse the different ways in which a city can become a cultural environment which makes use of its most diverse resources. Through this comparative process, we will be able to ascertain how creativity can contribute to the hybridization of the perspectives of both artists and urban planners. The main themes that the debate in Bilbao will focus on will be: the public/private relationship in culture, the actors, producers, and consumers of creativity, and the transformation of the city through art and culture.

As a prelude to the Forum, artists and cultural agents will hold themed encounters focussing on the most current reflections on culture in the city and the collective and individual rôles of the said agents in the development and evolution of urban transformation and the capacity to generate a creative economy.

The Forum d’Avignon Bilbao will also serve as the occasion to present the conclusions of the Research Action Workshops (RAW) for the promotion of Research in Bilbao, which will be held on March 5th, as well as the Catalyst Manifesto for the cities participating in the Catalyse project, which are Essen (ecce/Forum d’Avignon Ruhr, Germany), Avignon (Forum d’Avignon, France), and Bilbao itself. The Catalyse network  is supported by EU Culture program.

Registration fees
Normal: €200
Early registration (before January 20th): €150

For further information, see the external link below.