- The program is aimed especially at those between 18 and 25 years of age in 2031.
- The candidacy appeals to the city’s educational centers to join in.
Cáceres 2031 has presented this Monday ‘Generation 2031’, a strategic project designed to integrate young people at the heart of the city’s bid to become European Capital of Culture.
The initiative was presented at a press conference by Jorge Suárez, Cáceres City Councilor for Culture, Education and Commerce, and Iris Jugo, general coordinator of the Cáceres 2031 Consortium.
‘Generation 2031’ was born with the idea that the culture of the future must be built with young people, not only for them. The program is aimed especially at those who in 2031 will be between 18 and 25 years old – the young people who today are between 12 and 19 years old – the future protagonists of the cultural transformation that the city will project before Europe. During the presentation, Jorge Suárez stressed that “Cáceres 2031 cannot be understood without the eyes of those who are going to live it to the full. This project opens a real space for our young people to imagine, create and actively participate in the cultural life of the city”. For her part, Iris Jugo emphasized that “‘Generation 2031’ is a living process, open and continuous over time, which will accompany and make young talent visible, connecting educational centers, institutions and cultural agents in a creative network that will grow until the year of the capital”.
A project to activate, listen and co-create with young people
Generation 2031′ invites schools in the city to join through a flexible membership process adapted to each reality. Participation is articulated in three phases: an expression of interest through a first contact with the Consortium; a formal adhesion that does not imply rigid obligations, but a willingness to collaborate; and a phase of active participation in activities such as creative workshops, laboratories, student challenges, co-created projects, youth listening spaces and cultural proposals linked to the candidacy. Each center will be able to determine its level of involvement, from one-time actions to continuous support.
The project seeks to give young people a voice and a leading role by offering them their own space to develop ideas; to encourage their active participation in cultural life; to promote creative, digital, cultural and European skills; to weave networks between educational centers, institutions and cultural agents; to promote co-created projects that can be integrated into the 2031 program; and to reinforce the feeling of belonging and the idea that young people are co-producers of culture, not just spectators.
Cáceres 2031 invites centers to request presentations and design customized collaborations. “Thousands of young people will be directly involved in a major European cultural project that will leave a lasting impression on the city. And we need the centers to be active allies in activating this creative energy,” said Jugo. To initiate the membership process or to request information, centers that wish to do so may write to press@caceres2031.org.
Among the projects born with Generation 2031 will be the creation of a Living Archive, a youth memory project that collects, year by year, the ideas, works and opinions of the students. Creative challenges will also be launched, forums will be organized, there will be specific artistic residencies for the centers and there will be transgenerational actions, in which young people will be united with the elderly.
And in the end, he added, the main objective is that initiatives and projects designed by these young people over the next few years form part of the final programming of Cáceres 2031.
