The 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture

Scott Rankin, Director Big hART talking at the roundtable discussion day two IFACCA - The art of misdemeanor

From 3rd to 6th October, I was fortunate enough to attend the 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture at Melbourne’s rather grand Convention and Exhibition Centre. The Summit’s theme was Creative Intersections – and it brought together government and cultural leaders from over 80 countries to explore how artists can give voice to diverse communities and concerns through collaborations with experts in health and well-being, the environment, education, business, new technologies, cultural identity and more.

As many readers of this blog already know, arts and creativity are integral to our lives, to understand who we are as individuals and to how we engage with the world. The 500 or so delegates explored the possibilities of how cultural policy can be used to create opportunities and intersections within government and institutions, to create change and deliver creative connections within communities and peoples’ lives generally.

As an idea, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) commenced 10 years ago with the first summit held in Ottawa, Canada. Now planned to occur on a triennial basis, the next gathering will be in Chile, in 2014.

Both key-note and panelists spoke about Australia’s strong reputation as a leader in successfully building collaborations between the arts and other sectors of our society. The strength of our policy and institutional leadership, when compared internationally, was clear.

However, in my opinion, the need for our state and federal governments to re-focus their policy and funding initiatives also became apparent. Several informal discussions at the summit raised the need to now prioritise support for artists and the small to medium sector away from the current weighting (in dollar terms) toward major cultural institutions and performing arts companies.

Why? Because the small to medium sector and contributions of individual artists to culture is where the real intersection occurs, where change is manifest in new and exciting work and where the potential for policy becomes most effective.

For more information about the Summit and its outcomes follow the above link and visit the ABC website (arts) for in-depth coverage and reports.

Michael Rolfe