Medellín received international recognition for its work in cultural democratization, the improvement and adaptation of cultural facilities as learning spaces open to all citizens. This plan is shown in the CATUL network project that includes the Culture Houses Network, Theaters, Articulated Life Units and Sound Production Laboratories.
The capital of Antioquia is one of the three winners, along with Santos (Brazil) and Torres Vedras (Portugal), within a group of 50 cities from four continents.
The delivery took place within the framework of the 16th AICE International Congress, virtually and with the assistance of the organizers of the AICE Network award, juries, mayors, delegates from the other winning cities and the more than 500 cities that make up the association.
The award-winning project, CATUL network, impacts an average of 400,000 people each year.
The secretary of Citizen Culture, Álvaro Narváez, was present at the ceremony, he highlighted: “The Culture Houses Network receives more than 400,000 people a year to make an exchange between the State, the community and artists. We are recognized for being innovative through social, educational and cultural transformation of a Medellín that continues to move through culture towards it way to the future ”.
The award was announced in October of last year and constitutes an achievement, thanks to the application made by the Agency for Cooperation and Investment of Medellín and the Metropolitan Area – ACI Medellín and the Secretariat of Citizen Culture.
For the executive director of ACI Medellín, Eleonora Betancur: “this AICE award grants global recognition in inclusion and democratization of culture, thanks to the work done with the CATUL network. Today, thanks to the Medellín Futuro Development Plan, our city presents itself to the world as a city where culture and the arts are consolidated as an open, diverse, critical, dynamic ecosystem committed to the transformation of Medellín ”.
The recognition is delivered within the framework of the 16th International Congress of AICE, led by the President Delegate of the AICE, Commissioner for Education of the Barcelona City Council.
This recognition highlights good government practices in access and participation the community, with greater relevance in vulnerable populations, in order to promote their participation in the cultural scene, either as a spectator or as active members of the different artistic, social and cultural groups. Likewise, it highlights the way in which the city’s people appropriate spaces to impact the real needs of the social and cultural environment, in order to improve it.