WANT TO KNOW ABOUT CULTURAL POLICY IN THE ARAB REGION? LOOK NO FURTHER….

The 1st Conference on Cultural Policies in the Arab Region was held in Beirut on 7-8 June 2010. Independent researchers in the Region produced eight country profiles (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco) following the European Compendium of Cultural Policies model. The Conference was attended by 75 experts and the main organisers were:Culture Resource/Al Mawred Al Thaqafy (Cairo) and the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam), in cooperation with Doen Foundation and the British Council. The conference aimed to discuss the current situation of cultural policies in the Arab region and their implications on cultural work in the region. The attendees included a wide range of culture professionals from Arab countries, representatives of governmental cultural institutions from Morocco, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt and some of European Cultural organizations. Sessions covered cultural policies and the position of culture in society, challenges facing culture in the national & international contexts, financing cultural policies and regional and international cooperation frameworks. CULTURE IS BIGGER THAN THE ARTS - SAYS BEN ELTHAM… A very interesting article about the need for a progressive arts policy is available online, published by Overland magazine. Ben Eltham argues, amongst other things, that the Australia Council (the federal government's arts funding and advisory body) has lost its way: "It has failed to meaningfully engage with the arts practices of everyday Australian artists and no longer enjoys the support of many of those w ho create art in this country. The time has arrived to seriously re-assess the role of the country's chief cultural policy body. I believe it is time for the Australia Council to be abolished." He goes on to list the three main reasons why - click here to read the article in full.