The International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) today announced that the Australia Council for the Arts will host the 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture in Melbourne, Australia, in October 2011.
At the conclusion today of the 4th World Summit on Arts and Culture in Johannesburg, outgoing Chair of IFACCA, Risto Ruohonen, Director of the Finnish National Gallery, announced the Australia Council as the successful bidder for the 5th World Summit.
Kathy Keele, CEO of the Australia Council for the Arts, welcomed all delegates to the next World Summit in Melbourne. She presented a video featuring endorsements by the Federal Arts Minister, Peter Garrett AM, actor Cate Blanchett and other arts leaders, celebrating how the arts intersect with and express the voice of communities across Australia.
The 5th World Summit will be held on 3 to 6 October 2011, on the eve of the Melbourne International Arts Festival and in partnership with Arts Victoria. Australia was a founding member of IFACCA and the 2011 Summit marks the Federation’s 10 year anniversary.
The 5th Summit’s theme of Creative Intersections highlights the current global interest in how the arts can give voice to different communities and concerns, through collaborations with business and the economy, new technologies, health and wellbeing, the environment, education and identity through Indigenous, local and global cultures.
“Australia is a recognised leader in the diverse and energetic ways the arts now intersect with many different sectors and peoples,” said Kathy Keele, CEO of the Australia Council for the Arts. “Our arts are giving voice to health and environmental messages, to community building and multicultural expression, to a new interchange with our business world, and of course to the continuity of our Indigenous cultures. The engagement of Australian artists with these now urgent issues, local and globally, is at the heart of our successful bid to host this world summit.”
The Australia Council won a competitive bid process among the IFACCA’s national members from 61 countries. The Australian Summit is likely to attract over 500 key people from arts funding agencies and cultural organisations from around the world. The impact of arts and culture policies will be explored, with many delegates expected to bring to the 2011 Summit a specific interest in the Asia-Pacific region.
The first World Summit, hosted by the Canada Council for the Arts, was held in Ottawa in 2000. The second Summit was held in Singapore in 2003, the third Summit was held in Newcastle Gateshead in 2006 and the fourth Summit was held in Johannesburg in 2009.
“IFACCA’s World Summits bring together the world’s leaders in arts policy,” said Sarah Gardner, founding Executive Director of IFACCA, which is based in Sydney. “The Summit provides a unique opportunity to learn about good practice, build new networks and initiate projects and research to support artists and the arts at the national and global level.”