<p>The city of Jerez has presented an ambitious Integrated Action Plan (IPAP), which, under the general heading of “culture as a driver of change,” is conceived as a cross-cutting strategy to guide major investment and infrastructure projects for the coming years within the framework of the objectives of the bid for European Capital of Culture 2031.</p>
<p>Developed through citizen participation and listening, and as a result of the lines of action in the city’s 2030 Urban Agenda document, the IAP includes a total of 13 actions with a total budget of over €20 million. These actions include actions both in the city center and in the neighborhoods based on mature projects in the areas of digital transformation and revitalization, sustainability and energy efficiency, social transformation, and heritage and culture.</p>
<p>Specifically, more than €8 million will be invested in the rehabilitation and restoration of city spaces and buildings to house cultural heritage. Various cultural initiatives: the relocation of the municipal archive to the former Diez Mérito winery and its conversion into a documentary research center; the completion of the renovation of the 16th-century Riquelme Palace to house the city’s future ethnographic museum; the renovation of the second floor of the Santo Domingo Cloisters to create a large-format exhibition hall; the restoration of the Astoria Cinema (summer cinema); and work on the former winery on Ponce Street to launch a business incubator and entrepreneurial initiatives related to culture and crafts.</p>
<p>Thus, Jerez City Council, through this application under the Local Integrated Development Strategy (EDIL) financed with ERDF funds, intends to carry out work on various spaces and buildings in the city between 2026 and 2029, with the aim of rehabilitating them and equipping them with cultural uses and activities, and strategically aligning all possible resources and actions with the objectives of the bid for European Capital of Culture 2031.</p>
<p>The Mayor of Jerez, María José García Pelayo, accompanied by the Presidential Delegate, Agustín Muñoz, and the Project Manager, Eusebio Castañeda, presented the Integrated Action Plan at a public event attended by more than 200 representatives of the city’s economic, social, and cultural fabric.</p>