UNESCO announces Asia-Pacific Symposium

IFACCA/Artshub,
01 February 2005, India

This week UNESCO, in conjunction with UNIDO, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank has announced that it will convene a symposium in Jodhpur, India, between 22 and 26 February 2005. Asia-Pacific Creative Communities - a Strategy for the 21st Century aims to encourage the development of cultural industries in the Asia-Pacific region and will involve reviewing policy framework and establishing a plan of action for policy makers. Asia-Pacific countries are rich in cultural assets, but despite this, the world map of cultural industries shows a rapidly widening gap between developing and industrialised countries. Current debate on cultural industries is also dominated by the experiences, resources and economics of the North. The symposium will draw attention to these imbalances and set an Asian Agenda – a conceptual framework for future policy development. Arts, craft, music, film and publishing all fall under the title of Creative Industries. What they have in common is that they all use creativity to produce products or services that have a social and cultural meaning. But while creative industries have become one of the fastest growing sectors in the US and UK recently, many areas of the Asia Pacific region are lagging in this respect. In many countries in the region, cultural industries are not even recognised as an economic force, partly due to the ambiguity in defining them. Confronting an unclear conceptual framework, policy makers find it difficult to address the problems and issues associated with the industry. In an effort to combat this, the symposium plans to outline a comprehensive policy framework, focussed on cultural industry development as a strategy for poverty reduction and social development. The result will be a 10-year action plan, promoting development of the sector across the entire region – but particularly in the less developed economies. The framework will encourage a wider recognition of cultural industries and their potential, and also serve as a model for policy makers and the inclusion of cultural industries into national development plans. Preparations for the Symposium have involved consultation with a wide range of Asia-Pacific organisations and institutions. This interaction foreshadows another planned outcome of the Symposium: a network for groups and countries trying to implement the plan of action. The Symposium itself will be divided into three topics: Keynote Addresses on Economics and Policy; Asia-Pacific Trends Analysis; and Consideration of Technical Issues. Each debate will be a dialogue between experts in the field and a cross-section of senior officials, and statesmen and women from the region. There will be a focus on roundtable discussion and open questions to all panellists and speakers. At the end of the symposium, a policy framework will have been developed, together with the action plan. For more information, and to register for Asia-Pacific Creative Communities - a Strategy for the 21st Century, please CLICK HERE.