Opinion

Diplomacy and culture in Santander

photo_camera srael y Santander, rememoran sus lazos culturales

On 3 and 4 June, the second edition of the seminar Public Diplomacy and Cultural Cities: Shared Experiences, held at the Palacio de la Magdalena and promoted by the Directorate General of Culture of the Santander City Council with the support of the Academy of Diplomacy and the magazine Atalayar, took place. The participation of the Embassies of the Czech Republic and Israel, on this occasion, has been added to the visit of the Ambassadors to Spain of the Russian Federation and the United Arab Emirates, who attended the first edition last October. The aim of the initiative is to share in international environments the dynamism and quality of the cultural offer of our city and the enormous relevance of the cultural projects that are being developed at the moment, or that are already a reality.  The success of the launch of this seminar has been achieved thanks to the involvement of the public and private actors involved, with the special involvement of the professional spheres, large and small entrepreneurs and cultural managers, as well as the social support of the people of Santander. 

The fact that four Diplomatic Missions of great importance and cultural diversity, such as those of Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic and Israel, were present through their highest representatives, the Ambassadors, together with the heads of their associated cultural centres, clearly confirms the interest that Santander and its cultural structures and projects arouse abroad. In less than six months, the attention of the departments in charge of cultural diplomacy of four countries so relevant in international relations means that Santander is perceived as an exciting reality, in a phase of growth and with the maximum interest to transfer to their governments and cultural institutions the experiences gained and the image of an open city, with a global vision, conducive to intercultural relations, friendly and bright. 

The seminar was impeccably managed by the City Council's Directorate General for Culture, headed by Eva Guillermina Fernández, formerly with Enrique Bolado, who drew on the experience of the Academy of Diplomacy and Atalayar in organising multi-thematic conferences with a diplomatic presence. Alongside the ambassadors, the Russian, Emirati and Czech cultural centres and the Centro Sefarad Israel, part of the network of Casas of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and the EU, as well as writers, intellectuals, journalists and artists from the guest countries actively participated. All of them have shared lectures, meetings and cultural visits with different managers and directors of some of the main private institutions in our city, such as the Banco Santander Foundation, the Lafuente Archive, the PECCA, the Botín Foundation and the Botín Centre, the FIS and the Ateneo. And with a list of speakers from the university world (University of Cantabria, European University of the Atlantic, European University of Madrid), academics and intellectuals of great prestige and prominent journalists from our region and from national and specialised media, among other speakers. 

Among the conclusions drawn during the course of these first two editions, some very notable and recurrent ones can be highlighted in the different round tables and speeches: the decisive importance of public-private collaboration for the development of quality cultural projects with the capacity for national and international impact; the suitability of public diplomacy to promote artistic creativity and intercultural values; the growing role of cities in the design of cultural diplomacy strategies with global projection; the intrinsic collaborative relationship between Santander and Cantabria to strengthen the common objective of building a pole of cultural attraction integrated, moreover, in the area of Northern Spain and, more broadly, in the country as a whole; the multiple possibilities of social transformation and economic progress associated with the cultural spheres; the extraordinary work of the fabric of cultural companies, large and small, and the need to find ways to boost their activity; the value of culture as a space for creativity and innovation capable of generating bridges of global understanding based on the arts and thought.   

The management and the culture section of the Diario Montañés and the Cantabrian media as a whole have reported in detail on the dimension of the first two editions of the Public Diplomacy and Cultural Cities seminar. And the society of Santander, through its institutions, clubs, personalities and citizen interest, has once again demonstrated, with its disinterested involvement, the collective and inclusive awareness of respect for culture; the commitment to offer deferential and exemplary treatment to the Diplomatic Missions invited; and the shared optimism with which the city of Santander observes and builds the future.