In the last few months, IFACCA has been profiling the key aspects of its new five year strategic plan: networking, knowledge and analysis, capacity building and advocacy. In this fourth edition, we highlight ‘Advocacy’ and IFACCA’s commitment to being a champion for public investment in arts and culture and to equipping its members with tools to advocate for the development and promotion of arts and culture in various contexts.
Governments around the world are urgently seeking alternative, values-based models to address global social challenges, but the capacity to articulate new options continues to be limited. Meanwhile, the arts are often at the forefront of new territories for engagement and innovation. Valued in and of themselves, the arts and culture can also offer new perspectives on persistent problems. Other portfolios of public policy – such as health, education, immigration, business, community affairs, trade and diplomacy – could benefit from creative intersections and greater associations with the arts sector.
IFACCA is one of the few international networks of public agencies working in the culture sector that carries out actions in all continents. Despite the fact that IFACCA´s members are public funding bodies, IFACCA is an independent non-governmental organisation with a vocation to serve a larger audience across the culture sector. Its purpose is to serve its members, and be a global voice advocating for arts and culture.
IFACCA encourages support for arts practice and cultural diversity by promoting an appreciation of the talents of artists and the value of creativity in the community. In 2013–2014, for example, the role of IFACCA as an advocate for arts and culture gained momentum through the joint campaign, ‘The future we want includes culture.’ Initiated in response to the absence of culture in the UN’s
Development Agenda, the campaign captured global attention, provided members with unique briefings, and helped position IFACCA as a respected voice and key point of interaction between its members, civil society and intergovernmental agencies.
During the next five years, IFACCA will enhance its defence of the principles of public investment in the arts by raising awareness of the public value of the arts and artists in society. By providing language and mechanisms to persuasively articulate arguments for public support, IFACCA will assist members in addressing a range of challenges that affect the arts, but have a broader base in cultural policy, such as diversity, equality, freedom of expression, social cohesion, education, youth, unemployment, the digital era, protection of creative and cultural content, the environment and sustainable development.
IFACCA is committed to developing a medium to long-term advocacy strategy that is focused, bold and supported by solid communications. Arts and culture advocacy, including research on national arts advocacy campaigns and models for international arts promotion, will also continue to be a priority for IFACCA
One of the strategic priorities is to contribute to thought leadership on emerging international and regional topics. Recently announced, the theme for the 7th World Summit on Arts and Culture is on cultural leadership in the 21st century. Through this platform and other projects and international presentations, IFACCA is committed to maintaining an active and valued voice in international debates; assisting members to advocate the benefits of the arts to government and the wider community, and to enhance their engagement with civil society; and stimulating dialogue on the impact of the arts, as well as the relationship between the arts and other public policy areas.
For information on IFACCA’s advocacy work, please visit: http://www.ifacca.org/topic/arts-advocacy-arguments/ or more specifically on ‘The future we want includes culture’ campaign, visit: http://www.culture2015goal.net/.
For more information on the 7th World Summit on Arts and Culture visit: www.artsummit.org