IN ACTION: THE LEADERSHIP EXCHANGE PROGRAMME
Cities collaborate to share innovative solutions to global cultural policy challenges
Since 2018, the World Cities Culture Forum Leadership Exchange Programme has been supporting cities to share innovative solutions to complex cultural policy challenges. Through a series of eleven exchanges the programme has funded cities to visit each other and gain in depth knowledge about different approaches shared issues, such as supporting affordable creative workspace, reconciling with indigenous communities and protecting culture at risk.
“We believe that by being generous with our ideas and learning from one another we can build fairer and more prosperous cities.”
Justine Simons OBE, Chair of World Cities Culture Forum
The programme is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and has allowed 22 cities to create meaningful and lasting changes to cultural policy using ideas learned through exchanges. Now for the first time, we share lessons from the exchanges in a new report which celebrates the impact of the Leadership Exchange Programme.
The report highlights the tangible impacts that the Leadership Exchange Programme has had on cultural policy and programmes in cities around the world, supporting creativity and cultural expression.
World Cities Culture Forum is founded on the principle that cities are stronger when they share their ideas, which is the foundational principle of the Leadership Exchange Programme. Read the full report to gain a deeper understanding of how cities are tackling eleven important cultural policy challenges including:
- Improving access to culture for citizens
- Growing affordable creative space
- Supporting artists through new funding models
- Supporting cultural organisations to be more sustainable
