World Cities Culture Summit
About the World Cities Culture Summit
World Cities Culture Summit brings together hundreds of Deputy Mayors, Heads of Culture and other cultural city leaders from across the globe to participate in panels and site visits in a different host city each year. Described as a ‘Masterclass in cultural policy’.
Full list of global summits include:
- 2012 London
- 2013 İstanbul
- 2014 Amsterdam
- 2015 London
- 2016 Moscow
- 2017 Seoul
- 2018 San Francisco
- 2019 Lisbon
- 2020 Cancelled (Covid-19)
- 2021 Global Coversations (online)
- 2022 Helsinki
- 2023 São Paulo
- 2024 Dubai
- 2025 Amsterdam
Amsterdam Summit 2025
Amsterdam will welcome senior leaders from the world’s largest creative cities for the 14th World Cities Culture Summit, taking place from 15 to 17 October 2025. This event will.
São Paulo Summit 2023
The World Cities Culture Summit 2023 was hosted by São Paulo from 25-27 October 2023 under the theme of ‘Culture, Courage and Leadership for a New World’. Covering.
Dubai Summit 2024
From October 30 to November 1, Dubai hosted the World Cities Culture Summit 2024, the largest in the event’s history, welcoming over 140 senior leaders from 36 cities worldwide. The Summit, held in the Middle East and North Africa for the first time, was organised with Dubai Culture & Arts Authority under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
HELSINKI SUMMIT 2022
Helsinki 2022 was a chance to be forward thinking to look beyond the immediate pandemic recovery and design the cultural policies needed for long term success of cities.
GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS SUMMIT 2021
Instead of the originally planned in-person summit in Milan, a panel of Global Mayors convened online to contemplate the lessons gleaned from their pandemic responses and advocate for the.
LISBON SUMMIT 2019
Lisbon hosted 2019’s summit thanks to its strategic positioning as “an open capital: a central and cosmopolitan city, with an international calling”. The city is considered to be an.
SAN FRANCISCO SUMMIT 2018
Cities came together to explore the year’s theme: Culture and New Technologies Transforming World Cities. Looking at the opportunities and challenges afforded by new technologies, and considering what they hope to.
SEOUL SUMMIT 2017
Over the past two decades, cultural policymakers have succeeded in making the case for the power of culture to drive economic development. But is this the ultimate goal? The.
LONDON SUMMIT 2015
Defined as world cities because of their scale, dynamism and diversity, which create fertile conditions for innovation and radical thinking in economic, social and cultural policy, those attending the.
BUENOS AIRES (REGIONAL) SUMMIT 2014
Within a two-day programme, the regional summit was an opportunity for Latin American cities in the network to share ideas and knowledge about the role culture can play against.
İSTANBUL SUMMIT 2013
‘The New Cultural Agenda: Beyond Boosterism’, the first policy briefing of the Forum, captures some of the main conversations that took place at the Summit such as going beyond the.
AMSTERDAM SUMMIT 2014
‘Sustaining Success’, the third policy briefing of the Forum, captured conversations such as cultural authenticity in the age of mass tourism, balancing heritage and identity with modernity, and developing.
LONDON SUMMIT 2012
The inaugural World Cities Culture Summit was held in London on 1 August 2012, to mark the launch of the World Cities Culture Report 2012. The report was commissioned.
SHANGHAI SUMMIT 2012
In 2012, the Shanghai Theatre Academy joined forces with the then London Mayor, Boris Johnson for the World Cities Culture Report during the Global Education Conference on Creative Industries..