Final event - Exploring and assessing the societal impacts of culture

This event took place in Paris, at Césure, and was also streamed live on our social networks. The replay is available here. 

Link to the event agenda

Culture stands at the very center of Europe's long and complicated history. Across different eras and places, this has included the role that culture can play as a driver of public policy for social and political cohesion and inclusion. Right now, the potential is ripe to significantly enhance the role of European culture to improve lives and advance society, as outlined by the New European Agenda for Culture and emphasized by a number of recent initiatives such as Horizon Europe Cluster 2 and the newest thematic KIC - Knowledge and Innovation Community.

The strength and diversity of European culture is currently emerging as a main asset, not only to reinforce the EU welfare model in a challenging world, but the Union's geo-strategic positioning. MESOC's research has sought to develop innovative methodologies to capture and measure the wider societal value of culture that includes, but is not limited to its economic impact. It also encompasses personal health and well-being, urban renovation and regeneration and people's engagement and participation.

MESOC provides improved cultural value measurements, including by the use of AI, and case studies in support of effective and inclusive policies and institutional frameworks which offer a convincing vision for citizens to face current cultural and societal transformations. Furthermore, the project uses hundreds of academic and grey literature documents, delved into dozens of city case studies, and interviewed scores of experts and stakeholders. We have also invested in the technological development needed to exploit the knowledge and resources, building toolkits for a new vision to develop policies oriented to the cultural and creative sectors.

At the final conference of MESOC on March 9 and 10 in Paris, we aimed to consolidate an existing community of practice committed to maximizing the creative transformation of society. This conference also featured the co-construction of the MESOC Declaration to work with stakeholders to lay down the conceptual and operational principles of this community of practice.

This event took place at Césure, a transient occupation project led by Plateau Urbain in partnership with Yes We Camp, on the former Censier campus of Sorbonne-Nouvelle, in Paris. This 25,000 m2 site, hosting a vast workspace for more than 180 resident structures and 1,000 students since the summer of 2022, is becoming an experimentation ground for inventing new ways of learning from each other.

Contact: info@mesoc-project.eu