World Cities Culture Report 2022
From Crisis to Creativity: How Cities Rebuilt Through Culture
The Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on communities, on our cities, on our sector and on us as individuals. Across our cities there was a 50% average drop in theatre and music performances between 2019-21, resulting in devastating impacts on employment and income for artists and creative workers. But the last two years also saw remarkable resilience and responses from all our cities.
The Report
The Report highlights the role of culture in driving cities economic and social recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic and demonstrates the key role culture plays in addressing urban challenges and creating thriving cities.
This comprehensive Report is the most far-reaching account of how cities have responded to crisis with creative solutions building great resilience to face the Covid-19 pandemic. It highlights the devastating impact of of the pandemic to cities’ culture and creative industries including 95% average fall in attendance at main festivals, 72% average fall in international tourism and 51% average fall in music performances per year. Despite this, the Report showcases a wide range of new cultural initiatives and creative approaches to recovery across the globe.
From Taipei’s online arts festivals to New York’s Culture at Risk Task Force to protect community assets; from Helsinki’s Culture Kids, where every child born after 2020 is paired with a cultural organisation, to San Franscisco’s groundbreaking guaranteed income for artists; or Buenos Aires’ Cultura en casa bringing culture to people’s living rooms.
The Report highlights the role of culture in driving cities economic and social recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic and demonstrates the key role culture plays in addressing urban challenges and creating thriving cities.
The Report was launched on the first day of the World Cities Culture Forum Summit that took place in Helsinki from 5-7 October 2022, and was attended by over 100 city leaders from around the world. The Summit brough together cities to debate how culture addresses urgent urban challenges, from climate change to equity.
The World Cities Culture Report is published every three years and is the most comprehensive dataset and case study research on cities and culture. The Report will become a public resource for city policymakers, academics and city planners to inspire urban renewal and strengthen cities resilience.
Justine Simons OBE, London’s Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries and Chair of World Cities Culture Forum, said:
“The pandemic had a devastating impact on culture across the globe, but since then we have seen the resilience of the industry shine through, drive the recovery of our economies and bring us back together. This ground-breaking report provides one of the most far-reaching accounts of the cultural initiatives developed and sustained during these most challenging of times – from Oslo generating tools to help festivals track their carbon footprint, to San Francisco creating new funding models for artists, Buenos Aires’ bringing culture into people’s homes, and in London, the Mayor leading a city-wide tourism collaboration encouraging visitors back to cultural attractions. We hope this report will help to inspire city policymakers, urban researchers and cultural practitioners across the world to embrace the power of culture to continue our recovery.”
Images Courtesy © World Cities Culture Forum, City of Los Angeles, City of Helsinki