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Summary Report onThe Artist, Culture and
Globalization and The Founding Meeting of the International Network for Cultural Diversity
September 24-26, 2000
Santorini, Greece
Introduction
These two gatherings were the result of organizational work which began almost three years earlier. The idea of creating an
international culture network was sparked by the 1998 UNESCO Conference on Culture and Development in Stockholm, which recommended the creation of global networks of cultural
organizations dedicated to fostering cultural diversity. Building on this momentum, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) organized a follow-up NGO conference in Ottawa later that
year, which ran parallel to the first meeting of cultural ministers in the International Network for Cultural Policy (INCP). The CCA then worked with the Swedish Joint Committee of
Literary and Artistic Professionals (KLYS) to lay the ground for the network and create a Statement of Principles. The statement has garnered the support of more than 200 cultural
organizations in 47 countries since it was circulated in September of 1999.
The CCA collaborated with the National Book Centre of Greece to organize a conference on The Artist,
Culture and Globalization parallel to the third meeting of the INCP, as a prelude to the launch of the NGO network. Delegates from more than 70 organizations in 21 countries gathered on
the Greek island of Santorini for the conference and the founding meeting, and emerged with a Founding Statement which will guide the development of the network. The statement
clarifies and extends the original principles of the network and identifies the challenges for cultural diversity in a globalized world. It recommends that governments not enter into any
agreements that constrain local cultures and the policies that surround them, and it supports the creation of a new international agreement which will give a permanent legal foundation to
cultural diversity. The statement also sets out a basic organizational structures which will allow the network to pursue its goals, and identifies members of a temporary steering
committee.
The new steering committee of the network had its first face to face meeting in Santorini, and drafted a statement which was delivered by delegates to the meeting of
Ministers. The convergence of these networks was reported in both the European and the Canadian Press. All conference-related documents are included at the end of this report, which
provides an overview of the conference and founding meeting, as well as short summaries of the presentations and short biographies of the presenters. Full texts of a number of the
presentations will be available through our Internet site,
The INCD thanks the Department of Canadian Heritage for providing core funding for our project. We thank the Canadian
International Development Agency, the World Bank Institute and the Prince Claus Fund of the Netherlands for subsidizing the travel of several participants from developing countries, who
otherwise could not have attended. We also thank Creative Exchange in England for their help in developing our session on Culture and Development.
Overview
The conference
began with a series of passionate statements from artists struggling to connect with their audiences in the face of an onslaught of commercial American culture. Speakers called for their
governments to support local cultural production and distribution, but cautioned against programs which revert to outdated notions of national identity, or effectively shut out all
foreign producers. Adamant that both exposure to a wide variety of new influences and connection with tradition are vital to artistic creation, the speakers vowed to work together with
other artists around the world to promote cultural diversity.
The ensuing session on Media, Culture and Civil Society centered on one of the key ways that governments have
supported diversity and dialogue, public broadcasting. Speakers from Eastern and Western Europe as well as South Africa reported the importance of public broadcasting to nation-building,
healthy democratic process, creation of shared identity and exchange of views between different social groups. They proposed steps to ensure that national and international frameworks
support the continued health of public broadcasting in this era of globalization and new communications technologies.
Speakers in The Arts and Culture in World Trade session
reviewed the encroachment of trade rules and global marketing on cultural production over the last century. They explained the important role that cultural support measures play in
different parts of the world, and warned of the continuing resolve of American trade negotiators to obtain more liberalization in the cultural sector. This session was followed up
by The WTOs Agenda for 2000/2, which more closely analyzed recent pressures for liberalization of trade in culture, and identified the substantial threats to culture in ongoing talks in
Geneva on the liberalization of services. It also presented developing world concerns that institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are imposing similarly destructive
restrictions on important cultural policy tools. Speakers felt that the strong push for liberalization in the cultural sector should be countered with a united opposition, and
support for a new international treaty which would regulate international trade in culture.
The first set of concurrent sessions allowed participants to examine in depth
some of the abiding concerns of this wired and globalized age: how intellectual property laws must be adjusted to better serve creators, communities, and audiences; how new technologies
can be made to serve the cause of creators and consumers interested in diversity; how communities can find new ways to promote the full spectrum of histories and heritages. The
second set of sessions examined different ways of promoting cultural diversity in different contexts. A grassroots literacy worker and a community organizer in the developing world
presented their projects as vital remedies to the profound disruption of traditional cultures caused by new social and economic structures and a flood of imported cultural products.
Creative artists coping with the pressures of market forces looked at options ranging from complete self-sufficiency to international networking and event organizing. Aboriginal community
organizers set their resistance to trade liberalization in the context of their long struggle against colonialism, and reported some progress in their efforts obtaining recognition for
aboriginal collective rights in the international arena.
The conference concluded with presentations from representatives of other international organizations which have an
important bearing on the work of the INCD. Jerry Mander presented the work of the International Forum on Globalization (IFG), which has brought divergent interests from around the world
together with the common aim of opposing the destructive aspects of globalization. He recommended that the INCD broaden its concerns to include the destruction of social, environmental
and economic infrastructures which underlie traditional cultures. On a practical note, he advised the members of the INCD to establish their common ground and common enemy, and from there
proceed to reconcile their differences. He offered the support of the IFG to the work of the INCD.
Vladimir Skok reported on the interests of the governmental International
Network for Cultural Policy (INCP), which like the INCD grew out of the UNESCO Conference on Cultural Policies for Development and its concern to promote cultural diversity. He
reported that a working group of network representatives have been studying the international instrument idea, and will seek a mandate from the upcoming conference to continue this work
for the coming year. In the days that followed, the ministerial network endorsed the idea of the instrument or treaty and the extended the mandate of the working group.
Finally, after a concluding report on the conference by co-host Christos Lazos of the National Book Centre of Greece, the Founding Statement of the network was presented by steering
committee members who had helped to draft it. Ensuing comments from the floor raised a number of important issues which were then incorporated into the document, particularly:
that the network should endorse the creation of a
new international treaty on cultural diversity with some form of enforceability
that it should ask governments not to make any new
commitments on cultural goods or services in trade negotiations
that it should be explicitly stated that each cultural
community should have the inherent right to protect itself from, or control and regulate unwanted external interventions from outside economic or political forces
that it be mentioned that traditional and aboriginal
communities require particular attention
that the
link between cultural diversity and sustainable development be explicitly stated
that the essential role of the individual creator be mentioned
that the network support exchanges between cultures
that national or regional members be selected, as well
as the steering committee, to carry out the work of the network
The founding statement is being recirculated to all those who attended the meeting. It will be posted on
the web site of the INCD, and continues to be open to debate.
The conference and founding meeting created ground-breaking consensus on the problems facing cultural groups around
the world. It also suggested a number of means to address them, and set in place basic organizational structures to carry forth the beliefs of the network. Since the conclusion of the
conference, the Steering Committee has approved INCD interventions in several international forums. The Steering Committee and Network Secretariat are also working on the expansion of the
network, and planning the next meeting of the network in Switzerland in 2001. The non-governmental conference in Switzerland will include sessions of more substantial interaction with the
ministerial network, and will draw on the expertise of international experts present in Geneva.
Janet Creery
INCD Secretariat
Canadian Conference of the Arts
December 2000
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