We are delighted to welcome Santiago Jara Ramirez to the IFACCA team as our Latin American coordinator. Santiago's appointment, which has been made possible through a partnership with the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, is part-time and will be reviewed early next year. Santiago will be working to raise awareness of IFACCA in Latin America, assist IFACCA in building relationships with members and potential members in the region, expand the Spanish-language resources offered by IFACCA and encourage information exchange between IFACCA's international and Latin American communities. His role will involve making contact with cultural policymakers and researchers across Latin America and helping IFACCA develop networks, projects and events in the region. Santiago has worked in a variety of positions for public cultural agencies in Colombia. He has undertaken research work for the Colombian Observatory of Cultural Policies, and for the District Institute for Culture and Tourism (Bogotá), and has edited reports for a number of projects including the Latin American Conference on Artistic Education, held in Colombia in November 2005. Santiago is currently studying toward a Masters in Political Philosophy at the Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. For more information on Santiago's experience and interests, including links to some of his work, view his ConnectCP profile.

Nos alegra dar la bienvenida a Santiago Jara Ramírez, en calidad de coordinador para América Latina, al equipo de la FICAAC. La vinculación de Santiago, que ha sido posible gracias a una alianza con el Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia, será de medio tiempo y se reconsiderará a comienzos del año entrante. Santiago trabajará para que haya una mayor conciencia en América Latina de la FICAAC, para ayudar a la FICAAC en la construcción de relaciones con miembros activos y miembros potenciales de la región, para aumentar los recursos en español que pueda ofrecer la FICAAC y alentar el intercambio de información entre las comunidades latinoamericana e internacional de la FICAAC. Su rol también contemplará establecer contacto con los responsables de formular políticas culturales e investigadores en América Latina y desarrollar redes, proyectos y eventos en la región. Santiago se ha desempeñado en distintos trabajos en entidades públicas encargadas de cultura en Colombia. Ha llevado a cabo investigaciones en políticas públicas en cultura para el proyecto Observatorio de Políticas Culturales del Ministerio de Cultura de su país y para el Instituto Distrital de Cultura y Turismo de Bogotá. También ha editado reportes de distintos proyectos y eventos como el de la Conferencia Latinoamericana sobre Educación Artística que tuvo lugar en Colombia en noviembre de 2005. Actualmente, está adelantando una maestría en Filosofía Política en la Universidad de los Andes de Bogotá. Para conocer más sobre su experiencia laboral y sus intereses, incluidos hipervínculos a algunos de sus trabajos, puede visitar su perfil en Connect CP.

The Australia Council for the Arts and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) plan to co-host a mini-summit in 2008 on issues relating to the support of major performing arts organisations. As a first step, we have released D'Art 27 to identify critical policy issues and locate key personnel from national arts councils and ministries of culture to inform and focus debate at the mini-summit. The query, which also provides context about the topic, is available in three languages: Support for Major Performing Arts Organisations (English), Soutien apporté aux grandes organisations d’arts du spectacle (French), and Apoyo para las Principales Organizaciones de las Artes Escénicas (Spanish).

To commemorate our first five years, we have produced a world map that highlights the 61 countries in which IFACCA members are currently based, and has at its centre the IFACCA secretariat in Sydney, Australia. The map was handed out at the third World Summit in NewcastleGateshead in June, but if you missed out, you can download it here. Members can order paper copies of the map by emailing us at [email protected].

Arts ministers from around Australia and New Zealand met in Wellington last week to discuss ways to boost cultural cooperation, and what to do about a worsening picture for Indigenous arts.

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