On 3 December, the evaluation panel will announce the city which, most likely alongside Victoria-Gozo, will be the European Capital of Culture in 2031.
Let’s start with Cáceres. Enjoy the read and stay tuned.

Cáceres has reached the final stage of Spain’s selection process for European Capital of Culture 2031. Its bid connects the UNESCO World Heritage city with the wider territory of Extremadura, placing rural life, citizen participation and European cooperation at the heart of its cultural vision. In this interview, Iris Jugo, General Coordinator of the Cáceres 2031 Consortium, explains the thinking behind Transcultura, the programmes already under way and the legacy the project aims to build well beyond the title year.

Why did the city decide to be the European Capital of Culture?
For Cáceres, the European Capital of Culture is an opportunity to place culture at the heart of the city’s and the region’s long-term development. Cáceres is a World Heritage city in a predominantly rural territory, with an exceptional cultural and natural heritage. We also share challenges with many other European regions: demographic change and territorial imbalance, the need to create opportunities for younger generations, the climate transition, the preservation and renewal of traditional knowledge, and broader access to cultural life.

The ECoC process provides a framework for addressing these challenges through culture while strengthening our relationship with Europe. That process is already generating change. Today, the project reaches all 388 municipalities of Extremadura, supported by a territorial network that includes 16 cultural managers. The candidacy team has grown, and continuous dialogue with the cultural and artistic sector is helping to shape the project.

This commitment is also reflected in a significant increase in cultural investment since 2025, reinforcing the cultural policy that will sustain the project beyond the title year. At the same time, the process has helped us understand more clearly what Cáceres and Extremadura can contribute to Europe: a perspective shaped by rural life, landscape, heritage, movement and exchange, and by communities with a long experience of adaptation and reinvention. 2031 is a milestone in a transformation that has already begun.

What changes are expected for the reference community?
One of the clearest changes is already visible in the relationship between people, culture and territory. Culture is becoming more present in schools, neighbourhoods, villages and public spaces. The territorial dimension of Cáceres 2031 is creating new links between the city and rural communities and opening up different ways of producing, experiencing and participating in culture.

The Rural Labs are a good example. They bring artists, including European artists, into dialogue with rural communities and local knowledge. Contemporary creation is meeting the realities, skills and experiences of the territory, while connections with other European rural contexts are beginning to grow. The Cultural Activation Office, operating since 2026, provides a permanent structure for cultural professionals and communities. It connects initiatives with knowledge, training, funding and opportunities for cooperation and mobility, while extending its activity across the territory. The cultural and creative sector is also gaining new opportunities for collaboration, professional development and international connection. What is emerging is a cultural ecosystem that is more connected, more participatory and more European, while remaining deeply rooted in its territory.

What are the three keywords of your cultural programme?

Earth. Path. Encounter.

These three words emerge from Transcultura, the concept at the heart of Cáceres 2031.

Earth speaks about where we come from: landscape, biodiversity, rural life, heritage, memory and the knowledge rooted in our communities.
Path is movement and connection: between rural and urban territories, generations, disciplines and different forms of knowledge, and between Cáceres, Extremadura and Europe. It is closely linked to the history of transhumance, a practice that has carried people, animals, knowledge and cultures across territories for centuries. Movement creates connections, and those connections transform both the journey and the places it crosses.
Encounter is what happens when those paths meet. Different people, cultures, ideas and ways of understanding the world come together, exchange perspectives and create something new.

For us, culture is precisely that: a space of encounter capable of generating something that did not exist before. Earth, Path and Encounter are already shaping a programme that is rooted in its territory and open to Europe.

What are the main citizen involvement activities?
Citizen participation has been part of Cáceres 2031 from the beginning. Our previous experience taught us that a European Capital of Culture becomes stronger when citizens take part in building it.

Through the Diálogos por la Capitalidad and more than 30 meetings with the cultural and artistic sector, the candidacy has created spaces for listening and exchange. Contributions have come from neighbourhoods, villages, schools, libraries, associations and cultural organisations, through meetings and workshops as well as email, WhatsApp, letters and everyday conversations. That listening is increasingly turning into action.

Generación 31 is already working with children and young people, schools, teachers and artists, giving younger generations an active role in the cultural process. Its first activities have focused particularly on young people aged 12 to 18: the generation that will experience 2031 first-hand and help shape it. Erasmus 65+ brings an intergenerational and European dimension to the project, connecting older people in Extremadura with European partners, including Leuven 2030, through an initiative that has already secured European funding.

Diversitas creates routes into the project for communities that encounter greater barriers to cultural participation, making space for their experiences, ideas and creative contributions. Cultural volunteering, mediation and participatory artistic projects add further possibilities, while the Cultural Activation Office provides a permanent point of contact for professionals, communities and citizens with ideas they want to develop. Participation can take many forms: singing, creating, volunteering, sharing a memory, joining a workshop, exchanging knowledge, proposing a project or discovering an artistic experience in a street or square.

Cáceres 2031 is becoming a project that people can enter from different places, generations and experiences — and help to shape.

What do you want to remain after the capital year?
Our legacy has already begun. It is visible in new relationships between institutions and cultural organisations, educational programmes, stronger links with rural communities, European partnerships, professional networks and a growing culture of participation.

The Cultural Activation Office is one tangible example. Generación 31, Erasmus 65+, Diversitas and the Rural Labs are creating other forms of continuity through education, participation, intergenerational exchange, inclusion and work with rural communities. They are being developed and tested from 2026 onwards, giving them time to evolve and, where they prove valuable, become part of long-term cultural life.

Our European connections are also becoming deeper. Cáceres 2031 is a full member of Culture Next, works closely with Culture Action Europe and maintains exchanges with cities involved in the ECoC process. In March 2026, our first Innovation Summit, developed with the Global Leaders Institute, brought knowledge and experiences from more than 35 countries into conversation with Extremadura’s creative sector and the challenges facing its younger generations. Together, these developments are building something that can last: greater cultural capacity, stronger territorial cooperation, deeper citizen participation and a more permanent relationship with Europe.

Another change is already emerging as well: a greater sense of possibility. Cáceres and Extremadura are becoming increasingly present in European cultural conversations, bringing their own knowledge, creativity and experience to the table.

For us, 2031 is a milestone, not a finish line.