9 march 2025

Granada faces one of the most decisive moments of its candidacy for European Capital of Culture 2031 with the official presentation of its project to the international panel of experts appointed by the European Commission and the Ministry of Culture. The event will take place this Tuesday, March 10 at 9:00 am at the Ministry of Culture, in Madrid, where the city will defend its Bid Book, the strategic document that includes the cultural, social and urban vision with which Granada aspires to become the European Capital of Culture in 2031 and which is the core of its proposal.

Granada competes in this preliminary phase with eight other Spanish cities in a highly competitive process that will evaluate the capacity of each project to position culture as a driver of urban, social and economic transformation. Granada’s bid is presented with a plural and representative team of the city’s cultural identity, which brings together institutional experience, academic knowledge, artistic creativity, scientific innovation, economic solvency and citizen participation, and which is also a UNESCO heritage site. This delegation is led by the mayor of Granada, Marifrán Carazo Villalonga, who will lead the institutional presentation of the project before the international jury, conveying the commitment of the city, which walks united, with an open, participatory cultural strategy with a European vocation that is a central axis of the Strategic Plan of the city approved unanimously.

Together with the mayor, Pilar Tassara Andrade, managing director of Granada European Capital of Culture 2031, specialist in cultural management and international cooperation, responsible for the strategic coordination of the candidacy and the preparation of the Bid Book that includes the cultural project that the city proposes for the coming years, which has had the participation of groups of the literary and international dimension of the candidacy, will be represented by Luis García Montero, Granada-born poet, professor of Literature and director of the Cervantes Institute, who serves as the Bid commisioner, contributing his intellectual prestige and his international cultural projection.

The team will also have the participation of David Jiménez Blanco, president of the Madrid Stock Exchange, economist, writer and president of the Board of Trustees of the Friends of the Alhambra Foundation. Furthermore, Jiménez Blanco serves as commissioner of Granada’s bid for European Capital of Culture 2031, contributing his extensive experience in management, cultural, financial, institutional and strategic.

Representing the academic sphere, Esteban Romero Frías, Professor of Economics and Vice-Rector for Social Innovation, Employability and Entrepreneurship at the University of Granada, will participate. He is responsible for citizen participation processes, as well as for monitoring and evaluating the bid, integrating social, cultural and citizen groups into the development of the project

The scientific and innovative dimension of the project will be represented by Alicia Pelegrina López, head of the Research Support Office of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia of the CSIC, who has participated in the development of programs that link art, science and citizenship, one of the most innovative lines of the Granada candidacy.

The Granada candidacy also incorporates the voice of young people through Julia López Pérez, an Erasmus student and participant in the Young Ambassadors of the Cultural Capital program, which represents a new European generation linked to Granada and committed to its cultural future.

The cultural programming will be represented by Jesús Antonio Ortega Pérez, cultural manager and writer, responsible for the Granada UNESCO City of Literature program. Ortega has worked on the definition of cultural programming and on the bid’s connections with European cultural cooperation networks, strengthening Granada’s international positioning as a city of literature

The urban and sustainability dimension will be represented by Ana Isabel Agudo Martínez, Councillor for Mobility, Urban Agenda and Next Generation Funds of the City council of Granada, who is responsible for urban planning and sustainability strategies linked to the development of the city’s cultural project.

The team also incorporates the artistic and visual dimension of the project through Granada-born illustrator Sergio García Sánchez, winner of the National Illustration Award, creator of the bid’s logo and designer of the Bid Book that outlines Granada 2031’s cultural proposal, helping to build the graphic and narrative identity of the project.

The delegation is completed by Fernando Álvarez de Cienfuegos, audiovisual technical manager of the presentation, and Óscar Jiménez Serrano, translator and interpreter, responsible for facilitating communication with the international panel of experts during the defense of the project. Óscar Jiménez is a professor at the UGR and has a long career as an interpreter at major cultural events, including, among others, being the voice of Granada at the Princess of Asturias Awards for the past 20 years.

The presentation of the Bid Book is a decisive step for Granada in its aspiration to become the European Capital of Culture, a project that has been built upon collaboration between institutions, universities, cultural agents, social groups and citizens, with the aim of placing culture as one of the fundamental pillars of the future development of the city and its province.

The Grenadian delegation is already in Madrid, with members of the Consortium of the Capital and authorities of the city, along with a large group of journalists from Granada, feeling the excitement of a job well done and eager to share it and present their vision before the panel of European experts responsible for evaluating the bids.

Click here to read the full article in Spanish:https://2031granada.org/granada-se-presenta-ante-los-evaluadores-con-una-candidatura-que-aglutina-al-tejido-cultural-empresarial-social-y-ciudadano-de-toda-la-provincia-y-refleja-la-unidad-y-el-consenso-del-proyecto/