Culture and development conference in South Africa

IFACCA/Artshub,
23 July 2002, Canada

The International Network for Cultural Diversity has recently extended its links with South Africa, in planning to hold its third annual conference in Cape Town, and appointing a local to its secretariat. To be held October 11-13, the conference, according to an INCD statement, will ‘discuss strategies to foster cultural diversity in and among nations and analyse the effects of programs that link culture and development.’ Discussions will focus both on the organisation’s global strategies – including the creation of a new international Convention on Cultural Diversity – as well as members’ national and local efforts. For South Africa, the meeting plans to examine how cultural diversity interacts with culture and development, including what can be done to enhance cultural industries in the developing world. INCD has also announced that South African cultural activist and playwright, Michael van Graan, joined its secretariat in June, in order to co-ordinate the Cape Town meeting and build INCD’s network in Africa. An Associate Co-ordinator for Europe, Rebecka Koritz, began work in March, to extend the organisation’s reach and contacts on that continent. Meanwhile, the main secretariat will continue its work at the Canadian Conference of the Arts in Ottawa. Contacts for each of INCD’s global offices, are, as follows: Alexis Andrew, INCD Administrator (Canada) – [email protected] Rebecka Koritz, INCD Associate Co-ordinator (Europe) – [email protected] Michael van Graan, INCD Administrator (South Africa) – [email protected] Further information regarding the conference is available online at: www.incd.net