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Dr Beatriz García — cultural strategy and impact for cities and mega events · Member, IOC Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission

Dr Beatriz García has spent 27 years studying what culture does for the cities that host the world's biggest events. She directed the Cultural Olympiad evaluations for London 2012 and Paris 2024, led Impacts 08 on Liverpool as European Capital of Culture, and sits on the International Olympic Committee's Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission.

Dr Beatriz García is an independent researcher and strategic advisor on cultural strategy and impact for cities and mega events, and founder of Beatriz García Research & Advisory. She has followed the cultural programmes of the Olympic Games since Sydney 2000: she directed the Cultural Olympiad evaluations for London 2012 and Paris 2024, edited the Milano Cortina 2026 report and sits on the IOC's Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission. She also directed Impacts 08, Europe's reference model for evaluating a Capital of Culture, and was member and chair of the European Capital of Culture Selection and Monitoring Panel — one of very few people to have worked at the centre of both worlds. She has given more than 300 invited talks in 45 countries.

Dr Beatriz García is an independent researcher and strategic advisor on cultural strategy and impact for cities and mega events. Through Beatriz García Research & Advisory she advises cities, governments, organising committees and international bodies on cultural strategy, programme architecture, impact evaluation and legacy.

Originally from Barcelona, where the four-year Cultural Olympiad began, she has followed the cultural programmes of the Olympic Games since Sydney 2000, the subject of her PhD. She directed the Cultural Olympiad evaluations for London 2012 and Paris 2024, edited the Milano Cortina 2026 report, and has sat on the International Olympic Committee's Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission since 2015. In Europe she directed Impacts 08, the study of Liverpool 2008 that became the reference model for cultural impact evaluation; wrote the European Parliament's review of three decades of European Capitals of Culture; served as member, chair and rapporteur of the European Capital of Culture Selection and Monitoring Panel; and chairs the international board of Monitor 2024, assessing Bodø 2024.

She is a member of the Culture Next Policy Task Force, Associate Director of the UK Centre for Cultural Value, Chair of the outdoor arts company Walk the Plank and Senior Research Fellow in Mega Events and Cultural Policy at the University of Liverpool. She has raised over £2.5 million in research funding and given more than 300 invited talks in 45 countries, in English, Spanish, Catalan and French. She writes Euphoric Cities, on cities, major events and culture.

Dr Beatriz García
Founder, Beatriz García Research & Advisory — mega events, cities and culture
Member, Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission, International Olympic Committee
Senior Research Fellow, Mega Events & Cultural Policy, University of Liverpool