EcocNews is delighted to feature an article today by Beatriz Garcia, one of the leading experts on European Capitals of Culture. It has been 40 years since this European programme began. In this article, Beatriz Garcia helps us to better understand what has happened over the years, particularly in terms of the connections and challenges centred on culture and cities. Starting with the Ecoc family and Culture Next of which EcocNews is an official media partner.

On the eve of the new programming of the European Capitals of Culture, the debate to improve this programme continues. EcocNews was perhaps the first public space to question the future of the European Capitals of Culture by interviewing cultural managers from all over Europe since 2022, just after the pandemic. And the interviews will continue in the coming months.

The word culture has many meanings. One of the many is undoubtedly that of helping humanity protect itself from the upheavals of nature caused by human activity. Climate change is increasingly visible to everyone and all of humanity is dramatically experiencing what it means not to take care of the environment.

After having reported on the thirteenth Culture next conference in two episodes and after having published interviews with some of the speakers who spoke in Cluj-Napoca, EcocNews, in its own small way and in its function as a webmagazine entirely dedicated to the subject, tries to indicate some tips for enhancing the European Capital of Culture programme, also in the light of its most recent experiences.

Since EcocNews has been online, just after the pandemic, we have been doing a series of interviews with cultural managers and European Capital of Culture experts.