Culture as a driver of transformation and dialogue is the common thread of the two initiatives presented in Barcelona by the IEMed and the Anna Lindh Foundation on 29 and 30 September, as part of the Agora in Network programme in the Catalan capital and in connection with UNESCO’s MONDIACULT 2025 conference. The first initiative focuses on youth creativity through a day of literature and artistic expression with young participants from various Mediterranean countries, marking the closing of the literary contest A Sea of Words 2025. The second centres on debates on the protection of Mediterranean cultural heritage in times of crisis, linked to the exhibition “A Sea of Heritages: Dialogue, Diversity and Fragility”. The literary contest A Sea of Words, promoted by IEMed and ALF since 2008, offers young people from the Euro-Mediterranean region a platform to express themselves through literary creation. The 2025 edition invited participants to imagine futures for the Mediterranean in a context of armed conflicts, inequalities, the climate emergency, and forced migration.

The public closing event will take place on Monday 29 September at Sala Moragues – El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria, featuring the 10 finalists from different countries. In addition to the awards ceremony, the programme includes an intergenerational dialogue between the three prize-winning authors and writers Maram al-Masri (Syria), Cristina Rivas (journalist and writer), and Karima Ziali (philosopher and writer), as well as a concert by emerging Catalan artist L’Beel, who fuses pop with North African musical traditions. On Tuesday 30 September, IEMed and ALF, with the support of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf (DG-MENA), will host the high-level seminar “Culture, Heritage, and Crisis in the Mediterranean: Collective Action for Peace and Sustainability”. The event will take place at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), where IEMed’s exhibition “A Sea of Heritages: Fragility, Diversity and Dialogue” is being shown.

International experts, institutional representatives, civil society actors, and academics will reflect on the risks threatening Mediterranean cultural heritage — from climate change and political instability to the erosion of intergenerational transmission — as well as on the opportunities for heritage to serve as a tool for dialogue, cooperation, and peacebuilding. The opening session, at 9:30 am, will feature Stefano Dotto, Head of Sector at DG MENA (European Commission), and Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).