Binaural president Luis Costa was invited to participate in the congress “Places of Culture”, organized by the Galician regional government (Spain) in Santiago de Compostela between January 21st and 24st 2009.
Properly equipped cultural facilities have become a magnet for many territories during this last decade. However, are they contributing towards the processes of cultural development and change in such territories and their inhabitants?
The endeavour of this meeting was to set up an ongoing process of discussion and analysis with the involvement of whoever may be interested in culture as a generator for values, attitudes and behaviours that are essential to the development of more flexible and innovative societies.
Luis Costa was one of the invited speakers in a round table (along with Chiu Longina from escoitar.org, Paulo Vinhas from Matéria Prima, Ugia Pedreira from aCentral Folque, Manuel Olveira from CGAC), entitled “Atlantic Axis”, dedicated to the discussion of cross-border cultural strategies between Galicia and Portugal.
Both in Galicia as in Portugal, there are several projects working in this direction, intent on the interaction with the cultural fabric, paying attention to the heterogeneity of cultural practices and aiming to the production of knowledge. Through some of the experiences that operate in the Atlantic Axis questions such as the following arise: How can a permeable and common cultural planning can be articulated in the Atlantic Axis? Do cultural institutions have a commitment to build a collective cultural memory? Are they aware of the need to create a common country even while losing some of their particular attributes in the process?