A brief update from London and Amsterdam

London
Over the last 2 months we have been working with an extended group of Local Action Group members to sense check and develop the next steps for ‘Art is Everywhere’, our integrated action plan.

This has included a number of different gatherings, including a large on-line workshop exploring the three emerging themes: Better Together – Bridging the gap between cultural partners and community-led initiatives; Improving engagement and evidence for our work; and Communities as policy co-designers

Early July will see a celebration event at the new City Hall in the Royal Docks to thank all the people involved in the creation of the plan and work towards a launch event with members of London’s communities and stakeholders in September.

In the meantime, we’re are excited to be joining the final transnational meeting, along with four members of the London Local Action Group as well as the City Network Festival in Paris, where our programme manager for the World Cities Cultural Forum will be joining us.

Amsterdam
The main focus of the city of Amsterdam in her action plan is to develop culture with and for all Amsterdammers by creating an inclusive approach to culture across the city. With this aim we  focus on the peripheral neighborhoods by strengthening and developing cultural infrastructure in Zuidoost, Nieuw-West and Noord. We will also investigate how inhabitants define culture, what are their cultural needs and how can we make the cultural offers more inclusive to enable more cultural participation.