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#StopRacism: Barcelona’s anti-racism campaign in midst of #Covid19

Various actions of mutual support and solidarity towards the most vulnerable populations have emerged during the situation generated by Covid19 including those who are infected the medical and health care personnel food and services staff and the elderly the homeless and the poor Simultaneously the pandemic has fuelled racist and xenophobic acts everywhere including online hate speech and stigmatization mainly targeting specific populations who are or are perceived to be of Asian descent

#WindowsOfMusicAndHope in Llíria, UNESCO Creative City of Music

Llíria in Spain a UNESCO Creative City of Music since 2019 has a longstanding musical history that dates back to the 3rd century BC Today Llíria is recognized around the world for its music a fundamental part of its cultural identity Throughout the year Llíria hosts a variety of music events including the Gastronomía y Música de Llíria This popular jazz festival combines music with local gastronomy and Llírias cultural and historical heritage The event provides artists a platform to showcase their music while spectators enjoy local and regional cuisine The city also holds a number of competitions to encourage new and emerging performers and provides support to music professionals and young artists in the industry In response to the confinement of Spains inhabitants to prevent the spread of COVID19 Llíria through its social media campaign WindowsOfMusicAndHope aims to spread a message of hope while raising awareness on the importance of staying at home It uses music to unite people in these troubled times and help alleviate the difficulties faced due to social distancing measures As part of this campaign on 19 March the day of St Josephs feast the Federación de Sociedades Musicales de la Comunidad Valenciana its presenter Eugeni Alemany professional musicians students from the Conservatori Municipal and other music enthusiasts gathered on their balconies to give a unique musical performance and celebrate the day They played Paquito el Chocolatero a popular and festive song associated to the Fallas a Valencian traditional festival A few days later for the anniversary on Beethovens death the city musicians once again gathered to play the ninth symphony Ode to Joy from their homes The campaign has been supported with great enthusiasm and has rapidly expanded throughout the Valencian Community with the Federació de Societats Musicals and the Confederación Española de Sociedades Musicales The music has travelled beyond boundaries and is being echoed in many UNESCO Creative Cities in Spain like Dénia Terrassa Burgos and Bilbao and in Chennai India Katowice Poland Leira Portugal and Mannheim Germany The campaign has gathered significant attention from local and national media who broadcast live the campaign events through digital and traditional media channels Being popular amongst the youth hundreds of videos interpreting Beethovens ninth symphony can be found on popular social networks Links Official hashtag of the campaign is WindowsOfMusicAndHope TWITTER LliriaCityMusic INSTAGRAM lliriacityofmusic FACEBOOK LliriaCityOfMusic httpswwwyoutubecomwatchvoowlkgDiStQ

Online creative contests in Valladolid, UNESCO Creative City of Film

Valladolid Spain is a UNESCO Creative City of Film designated in 2019 Historic capital of the Kingdom of Spain and home to one of the oldest universities in the world Universidad de Valladolid Valladolid enjoys an outstanding cultural heritage anchored with over 20 centuries of history The city annually organizes the Valladolid International Film Festival one of the oldest film festivals in Europe Also known as the Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid or SEMINCI the Festival screens around 100 long and short films from across different continents and attracts up to 80000 spectators annually With the strategic agenda that integrates culture and cinema along with the broad outreach gained through the Film Festival the city has successfully been able to develop a wide range of programmes for artists and cinema practitioners Throughout the year various creative activities and exhibitions take place spanning from career guidance to film students to support to independent cinema Valladolid has mobilized its rich creative potential to preserve and animate the citys passion for culture and art during the ongoing confinement established to contain the spread of coronavirus COVID19 With the aim to maintain optimism and to encourage citizens to stay at home the city has launched a creativitybased campaign titled Valladolid stays at home Within this campaign several contests and social media promotions have been set up by the municipality which utilizes and illustrates the diverse aspects of the citys cultural capital The campaign includes the photography contest Valladolid from the Window which invites inhabitants to look out of their windows and share the landscape or scenic views that they can experience during the challenging period Following this context an exhibition displaying the most vibrant and rich photographs will be curated at the end of the confinement period To cater to the cinematic and audiovisual followers the city has also launched a contest titled Creativity Cures Participants are invited to share short videos illustrating their social distancing experience as well as how this situation has influenced their routine ideas and feelings The videos are being shared on Facebook and Instagram using hashtags CreativityCures and LaCreatividadCura The Superheroes at Home contest dedicated to children of all age groups further promotes and emphasizes the importance of saving lives by staying at home to contain the spread of coronavirus Just like how superheroes save lives the contest invites children to share drawings of themselves their family and friends disguised as superheroes More information wwwfacebookcomculturayturismoVLL wwwtwittercominfoVLL wwwinstagramcominfovalladolid

“Young at Home Films” initiative launched by Terrassa, Creative City of Film

Terrassa a UNESCO Creative City of Film is one of the pioneer cities for film industry in Spain Focusing on developing an educational ecosystem for consolidating its film industry the city has developed several provisions for audiovisual training and activities With the opening of the Centre for Conservation and Restoration of the Catalonian Film Archive the city has become a significant hub for audiovisual creation in Spain Facing the spread of coronavirus the city of Terrassa has mobilized its film potential and used its strengthened international cooperation to reaffirm its strategic commitment to training and supporting young artists In this regard the city has launched a collaborative creative project titled Young at Home Films which aims to provide voice to talent creativity and ingenuity in the fight against Covid19 The initiative aims to highlight how creativity and cinema can be used to combat the pandemic Young creators from the Creative Cities of Film and elsewhere are invited to create and share a sevenminute video on various topics such as precautionary measures physical distancing palliative care etc to be undertaken amidst the ongoing pandemic The videos aim to highlight the experiences of youth facing monotony and challenges of selfisolation In order to better assist and guide the young participants of this contest the city of Terrassa is also providing useful tools such as online teaching materials and free video editing software One of the resources available on the initiatives website is the Basic Manual Fent Cinema on filmmaking created by the Catalonia Audiovisual Park Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya a major production centre and an incubator for the creative industries in Terrassa Videos are being posted on Instagram and Twitter by tagging the city of Terrassa trscityoffilm and using the following hashtags TRSFilmACasa UNESCOYoungAtHomeFilms and WashHandsCameraAction Participants are free to choose the language format and genre of the video Upon the completion of the project four of the best video will be recognized and awarded For further information kindly visit the link httpswwwterrassacityoffilmcomenyoungathomefilms httpstwittercomTRSCityofFilmstatus124093437144980684 httpswwwinstagramcompB980P1jAz3Sutmsourceigwebcopylin

“Malaga, don’t let your guard down”: how Malaga is promoting solidarity and sport amidst COVID-19

In the midst of the COVID19 pandemic the City of Malaga launched a unique initiative aimed at supporting the StayAtHome movement and enhancing peoples solidarity while promoting sporting activities at home during the lockdown

Spanish application using AI to help overcome dyslexia wins 2019 UNESCO ICT Prize

UNESCO's role in response to the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano in the Caribbean

UNESCOs Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme in Latin America and the Caribbean IHPLAC is working with the Central Water and Sewerage Authority of St Vincent and the Grenadines to ensure water security threatened by lava flows earthquakes ash plumes seismic activity following repeated eruptions and hurricanes

August 27, 2021

Digital empowerment for distance education - Teacher story from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

September 5, 2021

The Urdabai Biosphere Reserve joins the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the MAB Programme with the #SoyBiosfera campaign

December 3, 2021

Eswatini TVET Policy Review report launched

February 21, 2021

National Geographic's 2021 calendar celebrates Spanish Biosphere Reserves

As part of the 50th anniversary of UNESCOs MAB Programme National Geographic has published its traditional calendar entitled Spain World Leader in Biosphere Reserves 2021 The spread was distributed with the January issue of the magazine

February 25, 2021

Eswatini joins Sustainability Starts with Teachers programme

Eswatini joins the Sustainability Starts with Teachers programme