The Australia Council for the Arts and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA), co-hosts of the 5th World Summit on Arts & Culture, are gearing up to welcome leading arts delegates from across the globe to Melbourne on 3 October 2011.
A first for Australia and celebrating IFACCA’s 10th anniversary, the Summit brings together national arts councils, ministries of culture, cultural policy makers and researchers, artists and community leaders. Over three days, delegates will exchange experiences and ideas about issues affecting public support for the arts and creativity at a national and global level. So far over 400 delegates from 74 countries are confirmed to attend.
“This is the only international event of its kind,” stated Kathy Keele, CEO for the Australia Council. “It’s a rare occasion for us to gather from all corners of the world to share an illuminating diversity of cultural perspectives and arts policy-making. I am excited by the opportunity this Summit creates for all of us to focus on our diverse artistic and cultural perspectives and ideas for the future.”
The Summit’s theme, Creative Intersections, offers a rich backdrop to explore the compelling connections between the arts and culture with the wider sections of society. From environment to health, social inclusion, technological innovation and education, the Summit will look at how the arts can be a catalyst for change and examine the ways policy can provide pathways for these intersections.
Over 70 speakers from 26 countries will address three aspects of the main theme; Place, People and Projects.
“With the assistance of Programme Advisor, Robyn Archer AO, we have created a robust and dynamic programme to encourage lively debate, discussions and creative policy ideas,” said Sarah Gardner, Executive Director of IFACCA. “We hope the delegates will also take advantage of the many opportunities for learning, exchange and building worldwide networks.”
Speakers include:
- Jacques Martial, President of Paris's Parc de la Villette discussing its policy of inclusion for both local residents, many of whom are from North Africa, and who use the park for family leisure but seldom enter its major cultural facilities.
- Jo Dorras and Danny Marcel, members of Wan Smolbag, a theatre company based in Port Vila, Vanuatu, whose social welfare and health programs, supported by foreign aid, are implemented through theatre and TV.
- Alison Tickell, founder of Julie’s Bicycle in the UK, a non-profit company helping the creative industries to reduce their enronmental impacts and develop new thinking in tune with global environmental challenges.
Panel and roundtable discussions include:
- Chairman of the US National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman, Director of India's International Artists' Association, Pooja Sood, and Lachlan McDonald from Western Australia discussing creative intersections in three very different places in the world.
- Moroccan journalist and playwright, Driss Ksikes, Mexican anthropologist, Lucina Jimènez, and South African playwright and cultural activist, Mike van Graan, will talk about places where the arts intersect with real danger.
- Arts Council England’s Moira Sinclair, Cambodia’s Say Kosal, Australia’s Marcus Westbury and the President of Interarts, Eduard Miralles, will discuss the infinite ways in which the arts play a role in these places where rich and poor increasingly live side by side, and diverse cultures of age and race jostle, and consider whether arts policies are responding to these realities or whether new frameworks are required.
- Cambridge University's Becky Schutt, ANAT Australia's Gavin Artz, media lawyer Shane Simpson and European Culture Foundation's Katherine Watson will discuss the fear that download culture will eat away at traditional arts audiences, and that there will be a shift to new forms of creativity away from books, theatre, live music.
- Malaysian gallery director, Pang Khee, Creative Scotland's Andrew Dixon, and big hART Australia's Scott Rankin discuss where policy fits in the intersection of arts with 'outsider culture' as well as the work of artists in prisons and in other contexts outside the law.