This seminar, to be held in Paris, seeks to identify certain specific contexts in which art does not simply function as a source of income or of identity politics.

The working hypothesis is that any international dialogue on the future of the arts and letters calls for in-depth awareness of their role in a multitude of different socio-cultural contexts : as means of spiritual elevation or social cohesion; as modes of radical critical thought, as prophetic signals of an alternative knowledge that might help improve the lives of people all over the world …

Our hope is that this seminar’s results, by setting forth some new approaches to such issues, can help set the stage for the Second World Conference on Art Education in 2010.