From 26–27 November the Culture for Resilience Forum 2025 took place in Varde, Denmark, bringing together municipalities, cultural leaders, researchers, and practitioners from across the Baltic Sea Region to exchange knowledge on how culture strengthens social resilience in smaller and medium-sized cities. The forum featured a remarkable group of speakers and facilitators, including the Director…
BSR Cultural Pearl 2025 Kaskinen-Kaskö is Finland’s smallest town in Finland and famous for its old and beautiful wooden houses, which it honoured with the first edition of its own Wooden House Fair on August 17th in the framing of its Culture and Resilience Action Plan (CuReAP). The idea for the event was born out…
After an intense journey that started in February of this year, the selection of the 2026 Cultural Pearls has been announced: Municipalities Glücksburg (GER), Kristinestad-Kristiinankaupunki (FIN), Krosno (POL) and Schleswig (GER) will continue their path toward strengthening social resilience through culture as BSR Cultural Pearls 2026. In total, 11 highly motivated candidates reached the final…
At the EUSBSR Annual Forum 2025 in Sopot, the Policy Areas Culture and Secure joined forces to highlight how community cohesion, trust and civic engagement form the “soft core” of “hard security” in building resilient societies. On October 30, 2025, the session “The Soft Core of Hard Security: Community Cohesion and Agency in Times of…
RESILIENCE vs. RESISTANCE – a significant difference Urban resilience is a complex topic and a rich field of research that has been developing for many years both in the academic as well as the public and private spheres of urban planning and management. Yet, outside the ranks of urban practitioners, this concept is often misunderstood…
The BSR Cultural Pearls project was granted the great opportunity of presenting its work at the European Week of Regions and Cities from October 13-15, 2025 in Brussels, Belgium. The stand at the event’s fair first and foremost featured the towns and municipalities across the Baltic Sea Region awarded the BSR Cultural Pearls title and…
We as the BSR Cultural Pearls project partnership are proud to share that 11 candidates have taken the final step on the pathway towards becoming BSR Cultural Pearls 2026 title holders by submitting their Culture and Resilience Action Plans (CuReAPs): Estonia: VormsiFinland: Kristinestad – KristiinankaupunkiGermany: Glücksburg, SchleswigLatvia: Cesvaine, RēzekneLithuania: Neringa, Pakruojis, VisaginasPoland: Krosno, Zagórz We commend…
Over the course of a week in August, young people from Smiltene, together with artist Viktorija Zeme, engaged in a creative project at Smiltene Active Recreation Park ‘Smiltiņš’, painting a park hut as part of a collaborative effort to shape the town’s new community space. The hut project is part of Smiltene’s broader activities during…
From October 13-15, the European Week of Regions and Cities – Europe’s largest annual event for cities and regions – is taking place in Brussels, Belgium and online. Each year, policymakers, experts, and local leaders from across Europe come together to exchange ideas, share experiences, and explore solutions that strengthen regional development and cross-border cooperation….
The city of Płock, Poland – one of the Cultural Pearls 2025 – hosted a vibrant international conference on culture-driven social resilience from 17 to 19 September 2025. Under the theme ‘Engage and Activate’, the Cultural Pearls Network and RESCOM partners came together for their second joint meeting, bringing together cultural actors, policymakers, and community…
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