At our last annual event in Turin, we looked at the future from the starting point of participation and community building. In 2023, we invite each of you to join a creative reflection on sustainability in different practical declinations, having imagination and practice as a key.

Many pathways to low-carbon futures have been articulated, but most fail to engage communities in imagining themselves as being part of those futures and involved in the transition. Cultural centres play an important role in building imaginaries and providing inspiration to navigate possible horizons. Can they become active players in the transition to a more sustainable world?

Post-fossil societies would look very different to the ones we inhabit today in Europe. Landscapes, transport systems, buildings, communities and indeed most social relations would be transformed. For this meeting, our guests will be researchers, practitioners and artists working on low-carbon futures, who will share the concrete questions they are working on and the narratives they are building to help citizens appropriate the future and feel that they are able to create it. Special guests from our partner network in Latin America will bring another perspective.

Leaving petroculture behind will not happen just through mitigation of fossil fuel use. It will also require systemic and cultural change. In-depth workshops will look at two key questions that the ENCC is working on: digital sustainability, and an ecology of human resources in culture. We will discuss how to move away from extractive logics towards collective practices for care, creation and flourishing.

More info: http://encc.eu/activities/events/joining-dots-practices-and-imaginaries-post-fossil-cultures

Practical Information

As a participant to "Joining the dots" you will have access to:

• The full programme
• Two meals (lunch and dinner) on the 29th and the 30th of March
• A cultural programme with sightseeings and concerts

PROGRAMME:

Descarga el programa en español aquí

Wednesday 29 March

12.00 - 14.30 Registrations

13.00 - 14.30 Welcome standing lunch and networking

14.30 - 15.00 Official opening with Carolina García, mayor of Orihuela; Juan José Sánchez Balaguer, Co-director of the Iberoamerican Chair of Cultural and Creative Industries; Ivo Peeters, ENCC Chairman

15.00 - 17.00 Opening panel “Joining the Dots: environmental, digital, cultural and mental health sustainability for new imaginaries”, with:

• Heather O’ Donnell, psychologist, consultant and founding director of The Green Room
• Jara Rocha, artist and cultural researcher
• Mariachiara Esposito, policy officer DG EAC, European Commission
• Pierre Huyghebaert, graphic designer and teacher
• Vittorio Bianco, cultural manager and sustainability expert, member of ENCC’s Board of Directors

17.00 - 17.30 Coffee break

18.15 - 19.45 Guided tour of the old town of Orihuela

20.30 - 22.30 Welcome dinner

22.30 - 23.30 Cantos de la Pasión on the streets of Orihuela

Thursday 30 March

09.30 - 10.00 Inspirational talk “Digital dependencies: plotting infrastructure solidarity with cultural organisations”, by Femke Snelting, artist and researcher

10.00 - 12.00 Opening talk and workshop “Towards a regenerative justice of/for digital ecologies”, by Pierre Huyghebaert, graphic designer and teacher, and Jara Rocha, artist and cultural researcher. Launch of ENCC’s guidelines for digital ethics

10.45 - 11.05 Coffee break

12.30 - 14.30 Lunch and networking

14.30 - 16.30 Workshops:

• Workshop A: “For an ecology of human resources and mental health in culture”, by Heather O' Donnell, psychologist, consultant and founding director of The Green Room
• Workshop B: “La sostenibilidad ambiental de los centros socioculturales” (ESP), by Vittorio Bianco, cultural manager and sustainability expert, member of ENCC’s Board of Directors
• Workshop C: “Possible worlds and how art can change our reality and our future”, by Alicja Brudło, artist, pedagogist and cultural manager, and Beata Kwiatkowska, local community development specialist
• Workshop D: “Gestión cultural para una nueva cultura ciudadana” (ESP), by Victoria Clemente Legaz, cultural mediator and consultant, Municipality of Murcia

16.30 - 17.00 Coffee break

17.15 - 19.00 Soundwalk in the Palmeral de Orihuela designed by Climaginaries, followed by a debriefing with the multidisciplinary research team

20.00 - 21.00 Concert of the Ensemble San Pablo offered by Casa Mediterráneo

21.15 - 23.00 Traditional Dinner

Friday 31 March

10.00 - 10.30 Keynote speech “Imagining a more sustainable Europe: the cultural and creative sectors shaping the future in unprecedented times”, by Lisa Lang, Policy Director and EU Affairs Orchestrator, EIT Climate KIC

10.30 - 10.50 Coffee break

10.50 - 12.30 Roundtable “Culture and sustainability as transformative forces for community regeneration and the practice of different imaginaries, in Europe and beyond”, with:

• Alfonso Vegara Gómez, architect, economist and sociologist specialised in city planning and innovation: “Intelligent territories, a global view”
• Marga Crespo, designer and project manager at Innovarte international consultancy: “The Mediterranean creative and cultural industries confronted to global challenges”
• Lisa Lang, policy director and EU affairs orchestrator, EIT Climate KIC: “How can the European creative and cultural sector contribute to systemic change?”
• Enrique Vargas, Coordinator of the Ibero-American Cultural Space of the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB): “Cooperative culture and creativity as transformative forces of community regeneration: the Ibero-American perspective”

12.30 - 12.45 Final remarks and presentation of the 2024 annual meeting host

14.30 - 16.30 Visits to the Murals of San Isidro and the house of Miguel Hernandez

How to join Orihuela by train

From Madrid: 6 to 10 Renfe trains per day. Departure from P.ta Atocha or Chamartin Station, depending on the schedule. Journey lasts 2 h 30 to 4 h depending on the train.

From Alicante: 16 Renfe trains per day. Journey lasts 35 mins to 1h 15 mins.

ESP: Cómo llegar a Orihuela en tren

Desde Madrid: 6 a 10 trenes Renfe al día. Salida desde P.ta Atocha o la Estación Chamartín, según horario. El viaje dura de 2h30 a 4h dependiendo del tren.

Desde Alicante: 16 trenes Renfe al día. El viaje dura de 35 min a 1h 15 min.