Urban Identity Requires Ongoing Cultural Programs

Alborz Director-General of Culture and Islamic Guidance, stressing the need to sustain cultural activities to strengthen urban identity, said: Building identity for Karaj cannot be achieved through one-off programs, and establishing a permanent secretariat for Karaj Day could help ensure cohesion and continuity of these efforts.

Ebrahim Sharifi, in a conversation with Aria Heritage reporter, said: Karaj Cultural Day has the capacity to become one of the main axes of strengthening the city's identity. The identity of a city includes a set of cultural, social, economic and even political components, and its strengthening requires simultaneous attention to different aspects of urban life.

Alborz Director General of Islamic Culture and Guidance added: In order for Karaj Day to become a well-known identity among families and future generations, we must move away from the limited view of holding a program on a specific day and follow a series of continuous and targeted actions throughout the year. What is important is the extent of its impact on citizens' recognition of the city's identity and strengthening their sense of belonging to their living environment.

He said: "Culture is a gradual process and one cannot expect to form or stabilize the cultural identity of a city by implementing a few short-term programs." If cultural activities are stopped after the end of an occasion, the possibility of their works' continuity also decreases; Therefore, we should look for programs that are designed from the beginning with a long-term view.

This official stated: Urban identity formation is important in both physical and cultural and social aspects. To realize this goal, the capacity of specialized meetings, poetry evenings, exhibitions and art and media events can be used; Of course, these activities will be effective when they are included in the framework of a coherent program and there is a clear connection between them.

Alborz Director General of Culture and Islamic Guidance stated that continuity is one of the main components of the success of cultural programs and added: It is necessary to form each course of Karaj Day based on the experiences of the previous courses and by identifying the strengths and weaknesses, the basis for the improvement of the programs is provided. In such a situation, cultural activities move away from scattered actions and become a process whose results can be reviewed and evaluated over time.

Sharifi considered one of the challenges of holding Karaj Day to be the change of the custodian of this event in different years and stated: In the past periods, the responsibility of holding Karaj Day has been transferred between different institutions. So that in one year the General Directorate of Culture and Islamic Guidance, in another year the municipality and this year the governorship have been responsible for this work.

He explained: "Changing the responsible body is not the main issue by itself, but the problem arises when there is no clear mechanism to preserve experiences, transfer achievements and follow up on long-term plans." In this situation, the programs of each year may be designed without sufficient connection with the activities of the previous courses and the opportunity to use the valuable experiences of the past is lost.

The Director General of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Alborz Province continued: The views and criticisms of the media community should also be taken into consideration in the planning process. The media can help to correct trends and increase the quality of cultural activities by presenting expert views and examining the strengths and weaknesses of programs. The use of this capacity will be more possible when a fixed structure is responsible for collecting views and following up on their results.

Emphasizing the necessity of creating a stable structure to manage this event, Sharifi said: In order to make positive and tangible changes in the coming years, it is necessary to form the permanent secretariat of Karaj Day. Considering the mission of the municipality in the management of urban affairs and the direct connection of this collection with the issues and capacities of the city, I believe that the cultural, social and sports organization of Karaj municipality can be a suitable option for establishing this secretariat.

This official stated: The establishment of the secretariat in a certain group does not mean handing over all responsibilities to one institution, but the goal is to create a center of coordination and planning so that different institutions can move towards the realization of common goals by sharing responsibility and mutual cooperation.

Pointing to the necessity of the participation of various groups in strengthening the urban identity, he said: the permanent secretariat should work with the cooperation of cultural institutions, universities and even non-cultural institutions. Each of these collections has capacities that, if identified and coordinated, can be used to enrich Karaj daily programs.

This official explained: Universities can play a role in recognizing the identity and social dimensions of the city, and cultural and artistic collections also have a suitable capacity to introduce the properties and characteristics of Karaj. In addition to these cases, using the power of the media and the participation of various institutions can help increase the effectiveness of programs.

In the end, Sharifi pointed out: My suggestion is to raise the issue of forming a permanent secretariat of Rooz Karaj in the Council of Public Culture, in order to provide the basis for the formation of a dynamic and identity-building cultural flow with the synergy of related institutions and collections. If we are looking for Karaj Day to become a lasting part of this city's identity, we must prioritize the continuity of programs, coordination between institutions, and long-term perspective.