<p>#Jerez2031 continues its roadmap to create the best possible bid for the title of European Capital of Culture in 2031. For this reason, today, dozens of representatives of cultural, social, and economic groups and stakeholders from the city and province shared a meeting space where the participation strategy was relaunched with the public presentation of the lines of action aimed at engaging and meeting with different sectors of the city over the coming months.</p>
<p>This meeting, which took place as part of the International Youth and Children’s Flamenco Festival (Kriatura 2025), taking place in Jerez from March 25th to April 2nd, also served as a starting point for the agenda of meetings and working sessions with the leadership of the Aarhus 2017 bid. The meeting began today with a lecture by its director, Trine Bang, to a large group of representatives from the city’s cultural and social stakeholders. The aim was to unravel the details and unique features of the winning project.</p>
<p>The event served as the launch of a new phase of the #Jerez2031 participatory process, aimed at intensifying citizen involvement in the city’s cultural strategy by promoting their active participation.</p>
<p>To this end, the outlined work schedule includes an initial phase, extending from April to July, which includes two specific meetings with each of the groups that have been profiled following the preliminary assessment of this participatory process. In the first of these, needs, concerns, dreams, and challenges will be directly and participatively collected. In the second, accompanied by artists, creatives, and professionals, we will work on lines of action that will allow the concerns and proposals gathered to be transformed into concrete cultural projects.</p>
<p>During the event and as part of the Kriatura 2025 program, 150 young artists from the Klejtrup Musikefterskole Choir (Denmark) participated. The agenda of activities featured a very special closing performance by the inclusive flamenco group of the AFANAS Jerez Association, a non-profit association that brings together various organizations working on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.</p>