International Network for Cultural Diversity
Newsletter 25, December 2002
Contents:
The Secretariat and Steering Committee of the INCD would like to wish you all a peaceful and joyous holiday season. Please note that the Secretariat will be closed from December 23 – January 2.
1. Croatia 2003
Mark October 13, 14 and 15, 2003 off in your calendars for the
Fourth Annual Conference of the INCD
in the historic resort town of
Opatija, Croatia.
2. World Social Forum 2003: India, Brazil
INCD Seminar at the Asian Social Forum – India
Hyderabad, India
The INCD is pleased to announce its first public event in Asia, through the framework of the Asian Social Forum. The Seminar falls into one of the key themes of the ASF – Ecology, Culture and Knowledge – and will be examining the Convention on Cultural Diversity as well as other strategies to promote cultural diversity at a regional and international level.
Speakers include:
Garry Neil, INCD Coordinator
Atul Kumar, INCD Steering Committee member and Artistic Director of the The Company Theatre, India
Leah Enkiwe, INCD Steering Committee member and Researcher with the Tebtebba Foundation, Philippines
Arshia Sattar, Mahindra World United College, India
For more information, contact: incd@ccarts.ca or kr_archana@yahoo.co.in
INCD Seminar at the World Social Forum – Brazil
Porto Alegre, Brazil
More details will be available soon. For more information: incd@ccarts.ca
INCD Steering Committee member Mireille Gagné spoke at the annual general meeting of the International Centre of Films for Children and Young People (CIFEJ) in Norway which focused on how to defend cultural diversity in children’s broadcasting in a global market. The CIFEJ endorsed the INCD’s draft Convention on Cultural Diversity.
Danish Centre for Culture and Development
Copenhagen 29 and 30 November 2002
On November 29th 2002 the Danish Center for Culture and Development (DCCD) hosted an international conference on cultural diversity. The conference was arranged in co-operation with The Danish UNESCO National Commission and the Danish department of Coalition for Cultural Diversity represented by Danish Jazz, Beat and Folk Authors Association (DJBFA) as well as the International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD)
The conference dealt with many topics tackling the issue of cultural diversity from many different angels and offering various viewpoints. Participants also discussed the relevance of existing international instruments and documents and a possible for the adoption of the Convention on cultural diversity. Garry Neil, the coordinator of the INCD presented the work and initiatives of the INCD. The conference will be followed by a report written by Mike van Graan, member of the INCD Steering committee. More information can be found at the conference web site: http://diversity.dccd.dk
On November 30, the DCCD hosted a meeting of the INCD where strategies for regional organizing were discussed. Proposals from this meeting will be circulated to the European members of the INCD shortly. For more info, contact incd@ccarts.ca
Vienna, IG Kultur
9 December 2002
IG Kultur, an umbrella organization of independent cultural organizations in Austria organized a discussion entitled Konvention für kulturelle Diversität?/ Convention for cultural diversity?". The participants at the discussion were:
Ludwig Laher (European Council of Artists)
Bernhard Amman (Chairman IG Kultur Österreich)
Monika Mokre (FOKUS, Vienna)
Kurt Mayer (Film Director, Vienna)
Peter Rantasa (MICA - music information center austria, Vienna)
Nina Obuljen (INCD Steering Committee member)
The moderator was Therese Kaufmann from the European Institute for
Progressive Cultural Policies. The summary of the discussion will be published
at the web page: http://igkultur.at/igkultur/aktuell/1037003668
Reports by Nina Obuljen, Researcher Culturelink Network
INCD Steering Committee, Croatia
EFAH – European Forum for Arts and Heritage –
General Assembly
November 28th – December 1st
2002 in Ljubljana, Slovenia
The theme
of the EFAH meeting in Ljubljana was ‘Probing the Stalemate: Bringing Culture
Back to the European Agenda’. The meeting was attended by 70 delegates from all
over Europe including a large number of participants from the candidate countries
in East and Central Europe. The discussions within the theme focused on the
role of culture in the EU enlargement process and in the new EU constitution
treaty that is currently being drawn up by the so-called European Convention.
The working groups on Saturday debated issues like the EU support programmes
for culture, for instance the Culture 2000 programme and the EU Structural
Funds. The Sunday morning session was devoted to the EFAH General Assembly
including the report of activities in 2001, budget of 2003 and election of new
board members. A very elaborate presentation of EFAH institutional development
and capacity building was given by the president of EFAH, Mr Dragan Klaic.
On Friday
morning during the session ‘New initiatives and networks, news and changes in
the European cultural landscape’ an opportunity was given to present the INCD
by Ulrica Källén, coordinator at the INCD member organisation KLYS. The
objectives of the INCD appealed to the EFAH members, who were urged to join the
network. Many delegates agreed that the issue of cultural diversity and
globalisation should be dealt with on a European level within EFAH. The INCD
brochure, the Cape Town Statement and a written version of the presentation of
INCD were distributed to the delegates after the presentation.
Report by
Ulrica Källén
General Secretary, KLYS, Sweden
4. INCD News from members:
Feral Arts:
www.globosaurus.net
Globosaurus is a new online resource for community cultural workers responding
to the impacts of global development. It links people from around the world,
encouraging collaboration and information sharing on a practical level.
Globosaurus also hosts discussion and debate about the threats and
opportunities posed by globalisation, bringing the expertise of other
disciplines into dialogue with the cultural and community sectors.
The idea for Globosaurus developed from a gathering in May 2001 of 25 community
cultural development workers from around in world hosted by the Rockefeller
Foundation. The week long conference focused on the cultural and community
impacts of globalisation, exploring the role of the cultural and community
sectors in sparking and coordinating local responses. In essence Globosaurus
aims to broaden the involvement in these vital and challenging discussions.
The launch of Globosaurus in October 2002 coincides with the release of the
Rockefeller Foundation's book Community, Culture and Globalization - an
anthology with chapters from each of the conference delegates. Globosaurus uses
the ideas and questions raised in this unique publcation as the starting point
for dialogue.
Globosaurus is an initiative of Australian community cultural development group
Feral Arts. Stage one is a collaboration between Feral Arts and Adams and
Goldbard - Seattle-based community cultural development consultants, and
editors of Community, Culture and Globalization.
email: feral@feralarts.com.au
www:feralarts.com.au
Australian
Coalition for Cultural Diversity
Twelve
professional associations in Australia recently launched the Australian
Coalition for Cultural Diversity. The immediate focus of the ACCD is to
pressure the Australian government to keep to its word and not include culture
in the upcoming negotiations on a free trade accord with the US, nor to open it
up to offers under the GATS. The INCD looks forward to a collaborative
relationship with the ACCD; INCD Steering Committee member Richard Letts of the
Music Council of Australia is a link between the two organizations.
For more
information: ozmusic@zeta.org.au
International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural
Agencies
Singapore
23-26 November 2003
The theme for the Second World Summit on the Arts and Culture will be “Creating Connections: Trends in Government Support for Artistic Creativity.”
For more information: ifacca@ozco.gov.au
5. GATS EU Declaration
At the recently held conference in Brixen, the Assembly of
European Regions (AER) called for increased transparency in WTO negotiations
and for Parliamentary vote on GATS. At the initiative of the AER, 150
regional Ministers and political representatives of culture and education from
all over Europe and Canada looked at the consequences of negotiations in the
framework of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) on public
policies and services in the fields of culture, education and the media. They
unanimously demand the organisation of wide public consultation and deliberation
by national and regional Parliaments before opening up these sectors of major
importance for the protection and promotion of cultural identities and
diversity to privatisation and competition. The AER also warned the European
Commission, main EU negotiator within GATS, against following a unilateral
strategy for the promotion of privatisation and reiterated its opposition to
further modification of the EU Treaties which would allow the transfer of
competences in education and culture to European level. All speeches,
particularly those by important guests at the Conference - Diane Lamieux, State
Minister for Culture and Communication of Quebec (Canada) or Fritz Pleitgen,
Director of ARD (German public television channel) as well as the final Declaration
are available on the AER web site: http://www.a-e-r.org/ (Brixen
Conference).