From 16 to 18 October, the 13th Culture Next network conference was held in Cluj Napoca, Romania. It brought together representatives of 50 European cities and major cultural networks, together with representatives of the European Commission, local artists and cultural organisations from the Romanian city to share good practices and discuss collaborations on relevant European topics such as the New European Bauhaus, Culture and Resilience, and Culture and Well-being. Among the key topics was the Culture Goal, i.e. making culture the 18th SDG in the next UN Agenda, and the ECoC (European Capital of Culture) Reform to improve the European Union's European Capitals of Culture project.

On 17 October, on the occasion of the round table ‘Matera, 10 years of Capital’, dedicated to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Matera's proclamation as European Capital of Culture 2019, we organised, as partners of the network, a video link with the Secretary General of Culture Next, ŞtefanTeişanu, who outlined the network's objectives and the themes of the conference, and with Beatriz Garcia, Associate Director of the Centre for Cultural Value, who analysed the new challenges for cities wishing to become European Capitals of Culture, 40 years after the institution of this title.

The link was coordinated by Serafino Paternoster, who attended the conference with ECoCNews, a Matera-based online newspaper founded in February 2021 by professionals who worked for Matera European Capital of Culture 2019. ECoCNews, the only newspaper entirely dedicated to the European Capitals of Culture, is now a media partner of Culture Next, contributing to report on its activities.

Matera 2019 at the conference of the European network Culture Next / The video

Culture Next is a network of 34 cities from 19 European countries, dedicated to present, past and future European Capitals of Culture and candidate cities. Founded in 2017, based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, the network was created to contribute to have more ECoC (European Capital of Culture) programmes implemented in European cities and regions, regardless of whether they obtain the title or not, and to define a European, long-term vision on local development through culture and creativity.

We are a partner in this important European network and the benefits are numerous: exchange of information and expertise, specific for the needs of cities in different phases of the ECoC (European Capital of Culture ) candidacy; free access to the Network’s capacity building programme for cultural cities: an annual training programme (residencies, arts programmes, artists' mobility etc.) built on the needs of the members and funded through suitable European grants; involvement of cities and citizens in European affairs, with the possibility of increasing the European relevance and visibility of their work and their cities.