Cultural Pearls Network Conference

Engaged communities – Resilient cities.

Join us for the first Cultural Pearls Network Conference, taking place in Helsingborg from 3–5 March 2025. It will bring together cities and stakeholders to exchange knowledge and develop practical methods for strengthening community resilience through culture.

Helsingborg, Sweden will host the first Cultural Pearls Network Conference on 3–5 March 2025, bringing together the Cultural Pearl cities of 2024 and 2025 along with other stakeholders to enhance resilience through culture. This event also marks the first joint gathering of the BSR Cultural Pearls and RESCOM initiatives. Through the RESCOM project, the conference will extend beyond the Baltic Sea Region to welcome partners from Ukraine and Moldova.

The event’s theme, “From Case to Method”, highlights the focus on transforming successful examples from Cultural Pearl cities into adaptable frameworks that other cities can implement. Through learning labs, study visits, and roundtable discussions, participants will work collaboratively to refine and scale proven approaches for building resilient communities and adapting them to local contexts.

As one of the Cultural Pearls 2025, Helsingborg will showcase its Culture and Resilience Action Plan through guided study visits, offering insights into how the city integrates culture into its resilience strategy. The conference will be held at key cultural venues, including Helsingborg’s Konserthuset, Stadsteater, and the historic Brandstationen Gåsebäck.

“City-to-city learning is at the heart of the conference, where we will be putting the good in good practice. By focusing on practical exchange and knowledge-sharing, participating cities will explore how cultural initiatives can strengthen communities and be adapted across different contexts, including in the Baltic Sea Region, Moldova, and Ukraine.”

Felix Schartner Giertta,
BSR Cultural Pearls project coordinator at the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS)
When: 3-5 March 2025
Where: Brandstationen Gåsebäck (Old fire-station), Gåsebäcksvägen 2, Helsingborg, Sweden
Programme

Who should participate?

  • Cultural Pearls awardees 2025 & 2024
  • Former candidate cities
  • BSR Cultural Pearls project partners
  • RESCOM project partners and stakeholders
  • Associated organisations and strategic partners

Venues

  • Welcome get-together (Day 0) is at the Brandstationen Gåsebäck
    (Old firestation), Hall 16, Gåsebäcksvägen 2
  • Lunch is at the Helsingborg Stadsteater (City theatre), Karl Johans gata 1
  • Study visits are departing from the Clarion Hotel Sea U Lobby, Kungsgatan 1
  • Learning Labs are at the Helsingborgs konserthus, Drottninggatan 19

Accommodation

Clarion Hotel Sea U (Kungsgatan 1 – 252 21 Helsingborg)

  • Room prices with discount ~ EUR 100 per night.
  • 15% discount using this link (until 1 March 2025).
  • Cancellation until 16:00 day of arrival.

Travel

By flight and train (via Copenhagen Airport)

  • Trains run frequently from Copenhagen Airport (CPH) to Helsingborg Central (about 1h30).
  • Book your train ticket here. Cost: around EUR 30.
Register here

Voices from the Cultural Pearls:

For us, culture is an instrument we can use to consolidate the community and highlight significant urgent problems. It is a story of encounters, of a dialogue in any of its variety of forms.

Madara Seile
Culture department project manager – Valmiera municipality

The exchange with other Cultural
Pearls has been incredibly valuable and inspiring. Together with many people in Kiel, we have shown that a  and culture empower individuals while also strengthening the social community. They are the lifeblood of democracy!

Annette Wiese-Krukowska
Head of Department for Culture
and Creative City – State Capital Kiel