Press Release 5: Culture for Coastal Resilience

WATERFRONTS held its Concluding Conference, “Culture for Coastal Resilience”, on 8 June 2026 in Zadar and Bibinje, Croatia. The two-part international event marked the close of the project’s dissemination programme and brought together artists, project participants, cultural and creative sector representatives, non-governmental and civil society organisations, and members of the public.

Hosted by the Croatian partner IM Industries, the conference shared results from all three WATERFRONTS communities and examined how artistic practice can contribute to coastal resilience. It drew 135 participants in total, 51 in person and 84 following online, against a target of 100. The morning programme was delivered as a live stream by Seventh Media.

The morning session, held at Centar za mlade Zadar from 10:00 to 14:00, opened with a cross-community showcase bringing artworks from Sweden, Greece and Croatia into a single programme. Fred Sanders gave a presentation on artivism, exploring the relationship between artists, communities and climate change, and documentary interviews with Dutch artists were followed by a live discussion with project participants.

During the midday break, a Clog Dance Workshop led by Fred Sanders and Croatian dance artist Anđela Bugarija invited participants into a facilitated movement exercise.

In the evening, the conference moved to Bibinje for a field conference on the Adriatic coast, with an open conversation and walk led by Đani Iglić on how people affect, and are affected by, climate change. The event also closed the week-long exhibition of Croatian community artworks, presenting the works in the community setting where they had been created.

The Concluding Conference brought the project’s themes together in a real coastal landscape, connecting international exchange with local experience and giving a public conclusion to the WATERFRONTS activities in Croatia. 

Waterfronts Project Concluding Conference recording is available here.

Media enquiries

For interviews and images, please contact the WATERFRONTS project team via https://www.waterfronts.site/contact. Images are available on request.