The 30th meeting of IFACCA’s board of directors and the meeting of its Latin American and Caribbean Members were carried out in Havana on 18-19 April.
Inaugurated at the World Summit on the Arts and Culture in December 2000, IFACCA aims to create an international resource and meeting ground for all those whose public responsibility it is to support excellence and diversity in artistic endeavour.
IFACCA’s vision is to be a dynamic network, sharing knowledge and creating understanding to enrich a world of artistic and cultural diversity.
From its various objectives it is worth highlighting due to their current relevance, its interest in strengthening the capacity of arts councils and national culture agencies to meet the challenges and opportunities of globalisation and technological change, brokering joint-commissioning of resources, research and analysis, facilitating exchanges of people and brokering collaborative projects, encouraging support for arts practice and cultural diversity by promoting an appreciation of the talents of our artists and creators and the value of creativity in the community and by stimulating dialogue and debate on emerging multilateral issues.
Ms Sarah Gardner, IFACCA’s Executive Director, talked to the press at the end of these meetings.
Why are IFACCA’s Board Meeting and Latin American and Caribbean Members Meeting being held in Cuba?
The Ministry of Culture has been a national member of IFACCA for several years and Ana Mayda Álvarez, former member of the Ministry, attended Johannesburg’s World Summit and had offered various opportunities to host one of our meetings in Cuba, which we were able to do this year.
This is the 30th meeting of IFACCA’s Board of Directors that meets twice a year each time in a different country. The previous one took place in Madrid and previously we had met in Vancouver, Johannesburg and Chile. We meet in a different member country each time and we had not met in the Caribbean, which has been a great opportunity. The board had met in Colombia in the year 2006 and in Chile in the year 2009.
Which were the main issues discussed?
Despite great differences that exist between arts policy models or between governments, the issues in the arts are the same everywhere. Thus, we found many common points shared by the countries that were present, like arts and education, and new media arts or the relationship between arts and technology and how these new artistic expressions are promoted, all these of interest to IFACCA.
Mainly, there are coincidences in funding difficulties that all, large and small, nations are facing, like defraying and facing public funding cuts, finding new or alternative funding. These are problems that all countries are facing independently from their type of government or political project.
There is another common topic and that is the social role of the arts. Nowadays, we talk about arts as a tool to create social cohesion, to build cultures of peace, to promote dialogue and intercultural understanding, all of these of great value to all countries. The previous World Summit’s central theme was the role of the arts to generate dialogue and exchange between cultures, which is currently a topic of great significance.
What were the public outcomes of the meeting?
The first positive outcome was the possibility of networking: we were able to meet UNESCO Regional Office staff, delegates of the Ministries from Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Cuba met each other and the board was able to gain first-hand knowledge of the Latin America and the Caribbean situation in relation to public arts policy to include its key subjects in IFACCA’s activities and projects to further the region’s presence in the Federation. From these contacts made will later spur specific projects that will take form depending on the interests of each country and institution.
Was there during the meetings a specific declaration in relation to UNESCO’s call to mobilize experts from all its member countries to safeguard the cultural heritage of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya during the difficult moments they are facing?
IFACCA’s objectives, projects and activities seek to support policy-makers in charge of contemporary, visual and performing arts public policy with research, information, events and experience sharing, in order to help them improve their policies and take them closer to artists’ needs. Even though cultural heritage is not part of our direct jurisdiction, we are not alien to cultural heritage preservation, since it is the result of artistic expressions. We work in the field of arts, not in cultural heritage or cultural industries, and this explains why there was not a specific declaration.
We have published news in our bulletin ACORNS on the role of arts and UNESCO in Haiti’s recovery. One of the themes that is going to be discussed in this year’s World Summit is how arts can play an important role in the reconstruction processes of communities and peoples. This topic is not foreign to us, but we approach it from the field of the arts and not from heritage.
Was it a good idea to carry out these meetings in Cuba?
Yes, Cubans have been great hosts and it has been a very interesting opportunity to carry out this meetings in Cuba. The Ministry of Culture organized a great cultural program that will allow us to have a significant exchange with Cuba’s cultural reality: we attended the opening ceremony of the International Meeting of Ballet Academies, we visited Casa de las Américas and will visit José Fuster’s arts community project in Jaimanitas and the Fine Arts National Museum.