International Mayors’ Forum Culture as a Driving Force in City Development, 19–21 June 2009 Vilnius

From 19 to 21 June, the Vilnius City Municipality will hold an International Mayors’ Forum entitled “Culture as a Driving Force in City Development”. This year, culture has been the main topic of discussion, as Vilnius has been granted the status of European capital of culture 2009. Representatives from local authorities: mayors, their delegated deputies and city council members of cities, twinning or cooperating with Vilnius, as well as the capitals of Central and Eastern European countries – have all been invited to participate in this event.

Culture is an important factor contributing to the development of a city’s history, architecture and arts. When people live and work together, their citizens’ communication culture develops, which influences urban culture in general. The major cultural aspects to be discussed in the forum are as follows: urban culture, communication culture, the culture of living and working in the city, and consumption culture. The significance of culture in urban development will also be discussed by philosophers and sociologists, as well as cultural researchers from Lithuania and abroad. During the second part of the forum, discussions regarding the dynamics of cultural clashes and the interrelation of different cultures within a single city will be held between artists, youth representatives and local authorities.

These international meetings serve as a means for facilitating inter-city cooperation and maintaining active relationships. During a reception hosted by the Vilnius Mayor, which will be held in the Vilnius Town Hall on 19 June, the twinning agreement between Vilnius and Tbilisi (Georgia) will be signed by Vilius Navickas, Mayor of Vilnius, and George Ogulava, Mayor of Tbilisi. Besides the formal agenda, the forum will include a cultural programme as well: guests will be offered tours of Vilnius and Trakai as well as a visit to the National Art Gallery of the Lithuanian Art Museum, which will open on 20 June.

The International Forum of Mayors is a highly significant event, organised for the first time in Vilnius; it will be attended by representatives from more than 30 foreign cities as well as members of the Union of the Baltic Cities. 10 mayors, 10 deputy mayors, city council members and representatives from the following twinning cities will come to Vilnius: Aalborg (Denmark), Ankara (Turkey), Baku (Azerbaijan), Bergen (Sweden), Bratislava (Slovakia), Chicago (USA), Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk (Ukraine), Duisburg and Erfurt (Germany), Gdansk (Poland), Ivano-Frankivsk (Ukraine), Joensuu (Finland), Kaliningrad (Russian Federation), Kiel (Germany), Kiev (Ukraine), Krakow, Lodz (Poland), Milan (Italy), Minsk (Belarus), Nicosia (Cyprus), Oslo (Norway), Prague (Czech Republic), Saint Petersburg (Russian Federation), Stavanger (Norway), Stuttgart (Germany), Taipei (Taiwan), Tallinn (Estonia), Tbilisi (Georgia), Vienna (Austria), Warsaw (Poland).