End of Year Message from Iwona Preis, a President of River Cities Platform.

At this time last year I wrote that actions are the most important part of any collaborations.
River//Cities Platform Foundation enters 2019 with partnership in I_Improve, an EU project funded by Erasmus+ and S.O.S. Climate for waterfronts, another EU project, funded by Horizon 2020. Through its members, R//C is also participating in Memory of Water, funded by Creative Europe.

Until 2021 we will thus be engaged in developing several new angles on competence of cultural organisations, we will cross the sectorial boarders participating in research on climate on waterfronts, we will create water and culture heritage bridges between South and North of Europe, looking for memories closed in water drops.

Our organisations will use informal learning as methodology for becoming more competent and more competitive, our artists will use their eyes and minds to transform waterfront heritage and take the ownership of places closer to people, our staff will dig into the mud of climate changes and add a cultural dimension to the research on what is going to happen on waterfronts in near or distant future.

With three EU projects granted in 2018, the R//C platform gained new Council Members among partners all over Europe. Partners from Sweden, Poland, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Italy, Ireland, UK, Greece, Portugal will meet in different constellations, sometimes joining not one but two of the projects. This is what it is all about, partnerships are created among organisations being members or requested to join by special invitation taking into consideration their unique expertise. Those collaborations are really sustainable, and thus it also has a tangible value to be with us!

Since 2006 River//Cities Platform Foundation has gathered organisations (from all over Europe) that understand the importance of international collaborations. To remind you about our goals: we are a partnership between cultural, environmental and social initiatives, which work in their cities to interact with and develop their rivers or waterfronts as cultural spaces. Council members join forces for the aim of the River//Cities Platform Foundation to increase the impact of culture on the sustainable development of urban waterfronts for the benefit of their citizens.

I am looking forward to a wonderful 2019 and I wish all our members and followers a Happy New Year!
Iwona Preis
President
River//Cities Platform Foundation