Skills for cultural life – Tenth EPUO Forum

Culture and learning make a great lifelong pair! You don’t even know who is more important, and that’s the way it should be in a true partnership.

Learning strengthens our awareness of our own cultural identity and equips us to express it. It stimulates our creativity, as well as our interest in cultural developments in the wider environment. It points our gaze towards our cultural heritage and supports its transmission from one generation to the next. Learning opens our horizons by making us aware of and respectful of the differences and cultural values of others. And the list goes on.

Culture is the foundation of good learning and creativity, it enhances the individual’s capacity to create spiritual representations, it enables expression and communication in different languages in a world of shared symbols, and it enables us to act in accordance with shared values. Culture supports the development of the individual and society and their interaction.

A successful combination of culture and learning therefore enriches our lives and broadens our world of experience. At the same time, it connects, inspires and delights us. It gives us a voice in society and offers ways to express it – including when it comes to tackling contemporary challenges such as green and digital transformation, health and well-being… It builds bridges between generations and civilisations.

This Forum will touch on many of these, but above all, it will offer concrete opportunities to enter the intertwined worlds of learning and culture. It is no coincidence, of course, that this gift will be brought to us by Saint Nicholas, who is particularly known for his giving spirit.