Culture
Ali Al-Moussawi’s passion for books goes beyond reading. He has developed the first city library on wheels in Baghdad. His main goal is to revive a love for books and to encourage the culture of reading in the city. Baghdad, once the literary and cultural capital of the Muslim world, is now better known for bombs than poems: “With ...
BAGHDAD, IRAQ
Culture
The Olivar de Castillejo, an ancient olive grove that nurtured the ideas of Spain's Silver Age, is now a remarkable setting for classical music in Madrid—and perhaps for intellectual debate once again
MADRID, SPAIN
Culture
Once seized by the Nazis and nearly lost to history, Max Liebermann House was reclaimed by citizens determined not to let his legacy disappear
BERLIN, GERMANY
Culture
Backed by thousands of donors and volunteers, an independent cinema in Paris was saved from redevelopment and is now community-owned
PARIS, FRANCE
Culture
Inside the ancient stonemason workshop of Freiburg Cathedral, Germany, founded in the Middle Ages and still sustained by its citizens
FREIBURG IM BREISGAU, GERMANY
Culture
Beyond its walls, the Prado lives in everyday moments — and the museum now seeks stories through El Prado Cotidiano
MADRID, SPAIN
Culture
Federica Parretti, co-owner of Villa Il Palmerino in Florence, discusses the intellectual circle linked to the house that her artist grandparents bought from writer Vernon Lee
FLORENCE, METROPOLITAN CITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY
Culture
Without the support of Friends of Florence, much of the city’s cultural heritage would be at serious risk of decay
FLORENCE, METROPOLITAN CITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY
Culture
Once a month, a cultural salon takes place at publisher Samuel Fischer’s historic house in Berlin, where the spirit of art and literary works can still be felt
BERLIN, GERMANY
Culture
Monacensia Hildebrand’s house in Munich was a place for intellectuals, later swept out by the Nazis — it rebounded as the literary memory of the city and a refuge for writers
MUNICH, GERMANY
Culture
The Philharmonie de Paris has reached places and audiences where other concert halls in their temples have never been before — music is its language for social change
PARIS, FRANCE
Culture
The nonprofit KulturRaum München enables access to culture for low income residents in Munich – but cultural participation often requires more than a free ticket
MUNICH, GERMANY
Culture
Culture in Munich is mutating into new perspectives at Habibi Kiosk ; the success at its privileged location addresses difficult questions about the city
MUNICH, GERMANY
Culture
How the decentralizing "Uffizi Diffusi" initiative at the Florentine Gallery offers a healthier alternative to overtourism while reinvigorating the greater region
FLORENCE, METROPOLITAN CITY OF FLORENCE, ITALY
Culture
As Russian bombs fall, Ukrainian artists have produced activist responses at the PinchukArtCentre Prize 2022 exhibition in Kyiv to stir pain empathy
KYIV, UKRAINE
Culture
A Ukrainian curator, art historian and critic on how the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw changes its strategies to the current evils. And how the question of neutrality restrains others.
WARSAW, POLAND
Culture
A unique collaboration between the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid and its neighborhood, Lavapiés, questions the role of museums in relation to their surroundings
MADRID, SPAIN
Culture
A grassroots movement in Spanish cities is documenting and safeguarding commercial signs of the most unique mom-and-pop shops and bars. This Graphic Heritage captures a disappearing world.
MADRID, SPAIN
Culture
Clärchens Ballhaus will reopen soon in Berlin. Privately owned, it embodies the challenge of future cultural institutions in cities to engage with a diverse crowd.
BERLIN, GERMANY
Culture
The Tucholsky bookstore in Berlin sells more than just books. Over the years, its owner, Jörg Braunsdorf, has created a community around culture for neighbours and regular customers who meet at the bookstore periodically. Culture has energized a collective force with the civil courage to face up to the far right in their neighbourhood towards ...
BERLIN, GERMANY
Culture
At Hull-House in Chicago, unlikely cultural encounters dissolved barriers of class and education, fostering social change and peace—then and now
CHICAGO, IL, USA
Culture
Nearly 50% of New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home — and the Endangered Language Alliance is racing to preserve those at risk of extinction
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
Dubbed the “White House of Exile,” the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles sparks the same kinds of debates that once defined Mann’s era
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Culture
Stepping into the home of minimalist artist Donald Judd in SoHo offers a reflection on why the house is preserved as it is — and the conversations it still sparks
NEW YORK CITY, NY, USA
Culture
Without having to step foot inside, award-winning artist Sonya Clark’s new exhibit at Declaration House in Philadelphia engages passers-by with the entangled legacies of the United States’ founding
PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA
Culture
A Palestine Museum in American suburbia sends a message to the world: through art perhaps we could all agree
NEW HAVEN, CT, USA
Culture
Award-winning poet Chisara Asomugha on the creation of the first library of poetry in Los Angeles and how poetry spaces humanize us
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Culture
This museum’s work supports a diversity of thought through art, including a rethinking of the definition of a museum
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
Cohesion
A revolutionary show, curated by security staff, spotlights the commitment of the museum to be more representative of the community it serves.
BALTIMORE, MD, USA
Culture
The Cossitt Library in Memphis might be almost 130 years old; yet, it is one of the most innovative in the US. Its latest renovation will unite the city in ways beyond a dedication to the written word.
MEMPHIS, TN, USA
Cohesion
Lee Mingwei has transgressed the walls of museums. His participatory art provokes human connectedness among strangers. These moments of change are evidence of how museums could embrace new approaches to advance social value.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
Mitchell Borden, founder of legendary Smalls and Fat Cat clubs, and his wife, jazz musician Rie Yamaguchi-Borden, hold on to the unifying power of music to revive the jazz community and local businesses of New York.
NEW YORK, NY, USA
Culture
Back in January, we reported on those in the music scene defying Iran’s cultural red lines. Now, living through war, we speak to them again about whether change in Iran still feels possible
TEHRAN, TEHRAN PROVINCE, IRAN
Culture
Built from one man’s lifelong devotion to collecting, the museum at Heritage Village in Dammam stands as a testament to memory in a transforming Saudi Arabia
DAMMAM SAUDI ARABIA
Culture
Despite extraordinary adversity, audiences attended the Nablus premiere of Palestine 36 in the West Bank, while a Jerusalem screening was raided — an event that has only echoed the film’s central argument
NABLUS
Culture
Despite risks and canceled public concerts, organizers, artists and DJs—from Iranian folk to Western techno—keep music alive at secluded events in Tehran
TEHRAN, TEHRAN PROVINCE, IRAN
Culture
Two years ago, I moved from Europe to Bethlehem, to support artists to stay and create — essential to resilience here in the West Bank
BETHLEHEM
Culture
After years of conflict, Juba’s youth take to the streets with theater to bridge ethnic divides — placing culture at the heart of nation-building in South Sudan
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
Culture
A longing music scene has risen from the underground in Saudi cities, poised to create noise for Saudis to be themselves and inspire future generations
RIYADH SAUDI ARABIA
Culture
Restorers and volunteers have united forces to rescue the An-Nasr Mosque in Nablus in the occupied West Bank, where the destruction of cultural heritage goes with impunity
NABLUS
Culture
In the town of Bolgatanga in northern Ghana, its local museum is part of the curriculum at schools, and students are cultural ambassadors
BOLGATANGA, GHANA
Culture
Volunteers in Cairo are racing against time to preserve the city's historical memory while bulldozers demolish parts of the City of the Dead to construct new highways
CAIRO, EGYPT
Culture
Not everything in Yemen is war; in the city of Ta’izz, writers and poets encourage dialogue, understanding and unity through arts
TAIZZ, YEMEN
Culture
A new generation of literacy activists are decolonizing public libraries in Nairobi – from the space to the language represented on its shelves
NAIROBI, KENYA
Culture
Over the years the jazz dancers of Santa Amalia have forged a dancing community in their neighbourhood that has become a philosophy of life in Havana.
HAVANA, CUBA
Culture
The programming at Cinema Akil is meticulously chosen by a strong feminist voice, which uses the impact of media culture to raise awareness on Dubai’s society about worldwide critical issues and human values.
DUBAI - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Culture
Abdulmalik Sultan Al Maskari, one of Oman’s most recognisable graffiti artist, has been finding legal ways to pursue his passion for street art, which has always been prohibited in public spaces in Muscat. By painting in legal spaces like old busses and old houses he and other street artists are slowly unleashing the street art ...
MUSCAT, OMAN
Culture
‘Not all who wander are lost’, reads the display with the maps of the Alserkal Avenue located in Al Quoz neighbourhood in Dubai. Alserkal Avenue was an industrial area that has been converted in 2007 into a cultural district of contemporary art galleries, creative businesses and non-profit organizations spread across 500,000 square feet. Here you ...
DUBAI - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES