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4th World Summit on Arts and Culture

IFACCA’s World Summits are triennial events intended to provide national arts councils, ministries of culture and other agencies with an opportunity to discuss key issues affecting public support for the arts and creativity. Previous World Summits have been held in Ottawa, Canada (2000); Singapore (2003); and NewcastleGateshead, UK (2006). “Such a global gathering,” says Mike van Graan, Programme Director for the Summit and Head of the Arterial Network’s Secretariat, “allows for key debates to be initiated, for visionary ideas to be launched and for networks to be consolidated so that the Summit is not be an end in itself, but a catalyst that will leave a lasting legacy for the global arts fraternity, and in this instance, for the African arts sector in particular.”

The context for the theme is a world which is increasingly divided by ‘cultural’ rather than political ideology, where feelings of being threatened by ‘other’ are largely based on ignorance about ‘other’. The arts – music, theatre, dance, literature, film, visual arts and craft etc – are seen by some as a possible bridge between cultures, to provide safe, non-threatening points of entry into understanding ‘other’.

Proposed keynote themes include:
• Sword or Plough, Bridge or Dynamite: the arts as vehicles for intercultural dialogue in a globalised world
• Cultural Diversity: Essential for peace or the root of all conflict?
• Saving the arts … so the arts can save the world.

Following each keynote speech, panel sessions will examine more specific topics stemming from these issues, such as, art as an instrument for public good, freedom of expression, the global economic downturn, art in conflict zones, climate change, and the arts and culture in post-Apartheid South Africa. Topics and speakers will be announced in coming weeks.
Workshops or roundtable discussions will complement the programme. Delegates will have a wide choice of workshops from which to select. The first day’s workshops will focus on theoretical issues (with practical consequences), and the second day’s sessions will focus on practical ideas that could be catalysed at the Summit.

Discussions and presentations will be interspersed with arts performances from around Africa, practically demonstrating the role of the arts in intercultural dialogue.

On the final day, 25 September, delegates will have the opportunity to look to the future: how do we continue these discussions in our own countries? How do we advocate for the arts, nationally and internationally? The final day will also feature the announcement of the host country for the Fifth World Summit on Arts and Culture.

For more details, contact Rosie Katz, World Summit Coordinator, on 011 838 1383, or e-mail her on rosie@artslink.co.za