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3h ago

UNESCO’s Mondiacult Opens in Barcelona With AI, Peace and a Push to Elevate Culture in the UN Agenda

UNESCO unveils its first Global Report to quantify culture's economic weight, exposing stark funding gaps.

Ernest Urtasun, Salvador Illa, Pedro Sánchez y Ernesto Ottone, subdirector general de Cultura de la UNESCO, en el centro de la foto de ministros de Cultura presentes en Mondiacult, este lunes
Eva Yerbabuena y Miguel Poveda, en su actuación en la ceremonia inaugural de Mondiacult 2025, en Barcelona, este lunes.
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Overview

  • More than 160 national delegations opened the three‑day summit at Barcelona's CCIB, with the United States absent and Palestine present after Spain’s culture minister welcomed its delegation and denounced Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide.”
  • UNESCO released its first Global Report showing cultural and creative industries contribute about 3.39% of global GDP and 3.55% of jobs, with public cultural spending averaging $418 per capita in Europe and North America—roughly 13 times higher than elsewhere.
  • Delegates elevated artificial intelligence and culture‑as‑peace as transversal priorities to manage risks to creators and diversity and to harness culture for dialogue and recovery in conflict settings.
  • Talks began on a Declaration of Barcelona intended to press the United Nations to recognize culture as a standalone Sustainable Development Goal in the post‑2030 framework.
  • Spain’s culture minister, Ernest Urtasun, was elected to preside over the conference and urged concrete financing, stronger international cooperation and protection of culture in times of crisis.