Organised by the Culture Next network in collaboration with MEP Daniel Buda’s office (ROU), the event marked the launch of an annual high-level meeting designed to strengthen collaboration between European policymakers and the cultural sector.
The Summit was envisioned as a platform for open dialogue between decision-makers and cultural professionals, aiming to build a stronger alignment between the European Parliament, the European Commission, and networks that champion culture as a driver of democracy, peacebuilding, social justice, and sustainable development.
The agenda covered three key themes: a new framework for the European Capital of Culture programme, the new Culture Compass for Europe, and the inclusion of culture as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
A new framework for the European Capitals of Culture programme
Georg Häusler, Director of Directorate General Education and Culture at the European Commission, shared updates on the calendar for drafting and adopting a new framework for ECoC from 2034 onwards. In this context, Ștefan Teișanu, Secretary General of Culture Next, presented the network’s main recommendations for the new framework, such us the need to define ECoC Legacy not just as title legacy, but as bid book legacy, and the opportunity support to increase collaborations between awarded cities and not-awarded cities. Reinforcing this perspective, Marilyn Reddan, former chair of the ECoC panel and European Parliament rapporteur for the European Capitals of Culture, emphasized the need for a lighter and more supportive framework: “We need to make the European Capital of Culture less burdensome for cities, while keeping its visibility and power intact.”
Culture as a sustainable development goal (SDG)
Discussing the role of culture in sustainable development, John Crowley (UCLG Culture) offered updates from the Culture Goal campaign and argued that culture should have been part of the United Nations Sustainable Development agenda from the very beginning: “Culture is what gives meaning and connection to the world. It binds communities together and forms the foundation of genuine human development.”
Beatriz Garcia and Jak Spencer, Culture Next cultural policies experts, presented new pathways for cities to transform local cultural policies into tools for sustainable development and social inclusion. The Culture Next SDG Lab is a research and development project taking place in 12 Culture Next pilot cities, planning to measure cultural impact on each of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Culture Compass & the European cultural networks meeting
One week before the official launch of the new Culture Compass of Commissioner Glenn Micallef, Lars Ebert, Secretary General of Culture Action Europe, presented the key insights from the ”Sector Blueprint”, developed in coordination with cultural networks and experts in support of the future official Compass.
The meeting at the Parliament concluded with contributions from Culture Next city members Trenčín 2026 (Slovakia), Oulu 2026 (Finland), and Leuven 2030 (Belgium), three upcoming European Capitals of Culture, offering a glimpse into how culture will continue to shape Europe’s shared future.
With this inaugural Policy Summit, Culture Next reinforces its role as a European platform for policies, collaboration, and advocacy, supporting cities that invest in culture as a strategy for sustainable development and social cohesion.
On November 4th, the Summit continued with a meeting of European cultural networks hosted by the Migration Museum in Molenbeek, where representatives of UNESCO, the European Festivals Association, Eurocities Culture, the European Creative Rooftops Network, the Culture and Health Platform, 2030CultureGoal, the new European Metacluster, the Culture Next Network, and the Creative Europe Networks programme of the European Commission came together to share insights on their future agendas, exchange information, and strengthen connections. To conclude the Brussels meetings, participants attended the “Culture Climate of Curiosity” event hosted by Oulu 2026 and Trenčín 2026, where the two European Capitals of Culture officially launched their cultural programmes.
Looking ahead
“This summit is our attempt to bring the Culture Next member cities face to face with EU policymakers and major cultural networks in a necessary conversation that gives cities a stronger voice in shaping European cultural policies. We will meet in this format every year, to increase mutual understanding and collaboration” said Ștefan Teișanu, Secretary General of the Culture Next network.
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