Danique Bailey, Digital Publishing Intern at World Cities Culture Forum
Hi, I’m Danique Bailey, and over Summer 2025 I’ve been working as a Digital Publishing Intern at the World Cities Culture Forum as part of the 10K Interns Foundation arts and culture programme.
One of the highlights of my internship was editing the 5th Edition of the World Cities Culture Report. I am proud to contribute to a publication that showcases incomparable cultural data and insights. The Report reaffirms something deeply important to our network: that access to culture should be a human right—a message I wanted to celebrate through a creative experiment.
That inspiration became the short story you’ll read here. In it, a cynical narrator – who embodies a mindset that undervalues culture – follows someone through the streets of a city. The person being followed then confronts the narrator and is able to defend themselves with research and digital insights from the World Cities Culture Report 5th Edition. With evidence from the report shows that culture is a right, not a luxury, the narrator’s perspective shifts until they fade away.
The character being followed represents me: someone who loves exploring how texts can inform, entertain, and spark critical thinking about the ways our perspectives are shaped—whether by art, research, education or storytelling. Just as I experimented with writing meta descriptions in WordPress during my internship, this meta short story became a way to explore the relationship between author and reader.
Short story: Culture Changing Perspectives
You’re being followed.
“Why are you running?” A voice calls from the corner of a street.
They don’t understand. How could they? My presence is a mindset, not a person. So insidious, people look the other way. I’ve become overpowering. You can’t outrun me. I’m everywhere. I’m the weight you feel when culture is made inaccessible due to social, economic and physical barriers. I’m the chill that stings when individuality is watered down. I’m the frustration you’re left with when the importance of the creative economy is overlooked. I lack culture.
I smile: The thud of your footsteps grinds to a halt. At last. Have you finally given up? Will you let me catch up with you, drag you to the ground, keep you lacking facts? Oh! I swallow. Something isn’t right. You turn. You face me. You look me straight in the eye and tell me you’ve had enough. Assertive. People are watching. They’re looking at you. Then they’re looking at me.
I flinch.
You’re making them see me. You step inside an office. I try to step back as experts join you. I trip on my own feet. There’s a buzz of voices as you pull a book from the shelf, now armed with The World Cities Culture Report 5th Edition, the pages crinkling as you read through incomparable data and research. You helped to edit the report, a celebration of over forty-five cities thriving, collaboration threaded across the globe. You turn on a computer to reveal a digital version, making cultural research even more accessible, illuminating the shadows.
A few people insist that culture should be a luxury. Yet the evidence is undeniable. I can feel myself growing faint.
