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Cultural heavyweights from across the world are heading to Liverpool for a conference which explores the big questions cities face today around culture AND also reveals the real legacy of the European Capital of Culture 2008 title.

Cities of Culture 30 Years On: Who Has the Edge? is an international symposium taking place on Thursday 18 and Friday 19 October. It will see world-renowned speakers head to the Town Hall to discuss experiences in cities big and small, from Barcelona to Shanghai, Marseille to London and Porto to Los Angeles. They will debate topics such as what counts as a cultural renaissance in the 21st century, what are the risks to success, what are the impacts of local and international partnership working and whether going bigger is always better. Key speakers include; Maria Balshaw CBE, Jon Snow, Ulrich Fuchs, Lord Michael Heseltine, Jude Kelly CBE, Professor Ann Markusen, Darren Henley OBE, Alice Webb, Professor Michael Parkinson, Martin Green CBE, Tamara Rojo and more.

Cities of Culture, 30 years on. Who has the edge?

In 2018, Liverpool looks back into the 10 year legacy of becoming European Capital of Culture. It does so as the first city to have fully documented its journey from inception, amassing over two decades of evidence on the impact and value of cultural interventions as catalysts for urban change.

On 18-19 October 2018, the Institute of Cultural Capital (ICC) is partnering with Culture Liverpool, British Council and the CreArt European Network to present the results of 15 years interrogating the long term impact of cultural interventions in cities around the world: from Impacts 08 to Impacts 18.

Save the date and join us at this two-day international symposium. We will place Liverpool in conversation with other cities worldwide to answer these questions:

When being a city of culture is everyone’s aspiration… Who has the edge? What are the legacies? Where is the evidence?

Discussions will evolve around one major research presentation, six plenary sessions and three parallel workshops dedicated to rethinking the big questions that both established and aspiring ‘cities of culture’ face today.