Building on the success of their inaugural Arts & Culture Conference, the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) and UJ Arts & Culture, University of Johannesburg, are proud to announce their 2013 conference entitled, ‘Creative Currencies: accessing opportunities in an expanding marketplace’. The conference, to take place from 06 to 08 August 2013 at the UJ Arts Centre in Johannesburg, will focus on commercial and trade aspects of cultural and artistic endeavour in South Africa and further afield.

This year's conference has attracted participation and support from a number of influential players in the arts and culture space, including the European Union (EU), British Council, the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) network, Arterial Network South Africa and the Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA).

Pieter Jacobs, Arts & Culture Trust CEO, notes: "ACT is delighted to be in a position to, once again, invite arts, culture and heritage practitioners, academia and people who are involved in the commerce of the arts and culture industry to attend the conference and participate in rigorous debate around trade and exchange in the arts and culture environment" and adds "we look forward to presenting fresh content which will go beyond trade and exchange in economic terms by also looking at it from a multi-dimensional perspective which includes the interchange of ideas, research, information and knowledge."

Knowledgeable local and international speakers and panellists will cover a wide range of topics related to trade, exchange and commerce within the creative sectors. Through the presentation of keynote speeches, case studies and panel discussions; the roles of government, donors/funders and other stakeholders will be discussed. Focus areas will concern policy enabling and encouraging creative and culture-based industries, and international best practice regarding trade in creative/cultural goods and services. A detailed conference programme will be made available in due course.

Conference registration is invited at www.act.org.za. In an effort to encourage participation from all stakeholder industries, including arts and culture, education, government and business sectors; conference registration fees will be heavily subsidised. A limited number of sponsored registrations will be made available to arts, culture and heritage practitioners. Applications for sponsored registrations will be welcome from 02 May 2013.

A second edition of the SA Arts and Culture Listing, an up-to-date national database of industry stakeholders, will be released at this year’s conference. Arts industry stakeholders that are engaged in performing arts, visual arts, music, dance, heritage, arts training, community art, literature and South African arts and culture festivals, as well as agencies engaged in the sponsorship of arts, culture and heritage, will be invited to submit their details for inclusion.

A partnership with the Cultural Development Trust will see the conference include an expo component for the first time. Media partners SAFM, Mail & Guardian and Classicfeel magazine add additional strategic marketing opportunities. The organisers further wish to acknowledge the invaluable support of Santam, Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), the SAMRO Foundation and Distell Foundation.

Conference registration is currently open!
Registration closes 26 July 2013
Click here for online registrations.

To see the conference schedule, click here.

To receive updates, follow ACT:
Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/actorgza
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Arts-Culture-Trust-ACT/162339817162875.