Panel discussion. Centre Cultural La Nau
Cultural Observatory UV
The territorial perspective of culture: a rural viewpoint
Main lecture and panel discussion’s moderator:
Benito Burgos, organiser of the “Citizenship and Rurality” programme of the Ministry of Culture and Sport.
Territorial panel discussion:
Silvia Colom, Mayor of Vilafranca del Cid Town Council
Sergi Vidal, Mayor of Potries Town Council
Jordi Puig, Mayor of Rótova Town Council
Pedro Altabert Martínez, Mayor of Carrícola Town Council
José Manuel Vila Oltra, Councillor for Art and Culture in Riba-roja de Túria Town Council
Activating the processes of bonding with the people who inhabit rural areas means generating instances to recognise their identity. Rural culture is characterised by its roots in the land and its capacity to connect with environmental issues in a spontaneous way, which opens up spaces for participation to audiences with other sensibilities. The Valencian town councils of Carrícola, Potries, Riba-roja del Túria, Rótova and Vilafranca del Cid are living examples of a type of governance that places culture at the centre of its management. This has provided them with keys for the critical analysis of the rural context, has given meaning to the imaginary of the people who live there and has made possible a coexistence capable of caring for fragility, promoting difference and even articulating counter-hegemonic spaces of identity.
