Social cohesion has acquired a central and transversal role in public policies in a globalized world. The European Union established it as a fundamental concern of its external and internal policies and has defined specific actions to incorporate economic, ethnic, gender or age minorities in order to enable a fairer society and a more politically active citizenship. It has come to the foreground due to the realization that economic growth, macroeconomic policies, and free trade agreements cannot guarantee on their own a better distribution of the wealth they produce. Civil, political, social and cultural rights should be guaranteed to a larger number of people in order to make up for the negative effects of globalisation, and social integration should improve so that violent outbursts are minimized, and confidence on democracy is re-established. Various international meetings that intend to define national policies and international cooperation mechanisms for the enhancement of social cohesion, have taken place and are being organized.
The X Iberoamerican Conference on Culture, to which IFACCA was invited, that took place in Valparaíso the 26 and 27 of July as part of the XVII Iberoamerican Summit of Heads of State and Government and was called for by Segib and the Chilean Government, began its working agenda with a session on culture as a mean for social cohesion and as a field for inclusive social policies, which was guided by the document Social Cohesion. This document establishes as priorities the following actions to generate social inclusion: to guarantee decent employment permitting access to basic goods and services necessary for full social engagement; to open up programs of professional and technical upgrade, so that workers can meet the needs of the global work market in which information and knowledge have a central role; to favour equity in education opportunities for citizens; to generate scenarios within the public institutions for civic participation, and to promote the creation of communal social capital. These actions should also be accompanied by the promotion of intercultural dialogue and a more appropriate definition of the role of arts in education.
Also within the frame of reference of the XVII Summit, Segib and the Economic Commission for Latin America (Cepal) have carried out three seminars entitled Social Cohesion: Inclusion and Sense of Belonging in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Mexico City, Bogotá and Brasilia. The III Parliamentary Forum, which will take place September 11 and 12, 2007 in Valparaíso, will be an opportunity for national parliaments to clarify their responsibility in three topics: governmentality, democracy and participation; integration and social protection, and the legitimacy of democratic institutions.
With a similar objective, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) will arrange on October 1 and 2, 2007, in Washington and within the framework of the Third Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Committee on Culture (CIC), a workshop on Culture as an Engine of Economic Growth and Social Inclusion in the Americas, which has as goals to promote a focused dialogue among the makers of cultural and financial policies of member states, as well as with the representatives of international organizations, on the contributions of culture to economic growth and social development in the Americas, and to identify sources of international cooperation resources for cultural development initiatives. The three core subjects for discussion will be: the impact of culture’s economy on the economic development of the Americas; fiscal incentives for cultural industries and their impact on national economies; creative economies and cultural tourism: building sustainable communities, and international cooperation alternatives.
In the field of the arts, social cohesion can be achieved through the generation of employment opportunities for artists; the creation of professional upgrade programs for a better positioning of artists in the global community; interinstitutional cooperation between the ministries of education and culture for an artistic education of higher quality that could enable artists to master new information and communication technologies as creative tools, and the increase of artists circulation in Iberoamerica and the Americas to promote an intercultural dialogue based on respect and tending towards a common ground.
IFACCA has produced various D’Art reports useful for the formulation of inclusive public policies in the arts: Arts and Disability Policies, Indigenous Arts Contacts, Cultural Development in Rural and Remote Areas, Culture and Regeneration: Literature Review, Models of Support for Older Artists, National Visual Arts and Craft Sector Associations, Multi-language Literature Funding, and Toolkits for Local Cultural Planning and Provision. These can be found at www.ifacca.org/themes/
The X Conference working documents and Declaration can be located at: X Iberoamerican Conference on Culture The official Web page of the III Iberoamerican Parliamentary Forum is www.foro-chile.cl To find more about the workshop on Culture as an Engine of Economic Growth and Social Inclusion in the Americas, you can write an e-mail to [email protected]. The OAS Culture Department Web page is www.oas.org/udse/english/cpo_cult.asp

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