Report and Recommendations on New Media Arts Policy and Practice

IFACCA,
12 March 2009, Singapore

The Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) today published the Report and the Policy Recommendations developed from the Mini Summit on New Media Arts Policy and Practice held in Singapore on 24-26 July 2008, and committed to follow up action during 2009.

The Mini Summit, staged in partnership with ISEA2008 (International Symposium for Electronic Arts), brought together 54 artists, researchers and policy makers from 26 countries to develop an overview
of the key issues impacting on new media arts practice and to create a policy framework and some key points for action.

The Policy Recommendations, which can be found here also encompass the dialogue that has taken place over the past decade between policy makers, artists and practitioners. Taking into consideration the diverse political realities that exist today, they call for concrete research and action. One of the main recommendations is to establish or support an existing transnational media arts practice & policy platform to share, promote and inform developments in media arts practice.

The Report describes the process and proceedings of the Mini Summit and places the Policy Recommendations into the context of discussions that took place within the four working groups of the Mini Summit. 

Illustrated by case studies and quotes, it also includes the results of IFACCA’s D’Art survey conducted as part of the preparation for the event.

Four topics were addressed during the meeting:

- Ambient intelligence, web 2.0 location based media, leapfrogging
- Creative research, iterative design cycles, academic research and creative communities
- Open source and open networks: the role of small independent new media labs
- Media education, media, civil society

Next steps

During 2009, IFACCA and ASEF will commission research and take concrete steps to help raise global awareness and debate about the policy recommendations amongst arts funding agencies and key organisations, explore the potential for international collaborations and information sharing, and identify broader policy contexts within which to develop an action plan and set of priorities. This will lead
to focused discussion of the action plan later in the year.

Call for Action

It is a challenge for us all to create dynamic policy that recognizes changes in media arts, locally and globally, and to create permanent yet flexible support structures. ASEF and IFACCA sincerely hope that
in each member country these points and recommendations are debated thoroughly and action is taken as a result.

http://www.ifacca.org/ifacca_events/new-media-policy-practice/