|
How can we embrace our differences to build
a multicultural world? Experts from around the world are thrashing out this and
other issues at the World Summit on Arts and Culture.
LEADERS in the arts and culture world are
in Johannesburg for the fourth triennial World Summit on Arts and Culture
(WSoAC), with the weighty theme of "Meeting of cultures: creating meaning
through the arts".
Academic and author Professor Njabulo Ndebele
More than 300 delegates from over 60
countries have gathered at Museum Africa in Newtown
for the summit, the first time it is being held in Africa.
It officially opened on Tuesday evening, 22 September with a scintillating mixed
media event, 3 Colours, at the Alexander
Theatre, in Braamfontein.
And then the real work got under way this
morning with a plenary session, focusing on the topic "Sword or plough, bridge
or dynamite: the arts as a vehicle for intercultural dialogue in a globalised
world".
The world was a multicultural village
brimming with artistic and cultural differences, said one of the speakers,
academic and author Professor Njabulo Ndebele. These "should only be embraced
if people have an understanding of the multiplicity of each other's differences".
Embracing differences would make the world
a better place.
"If, as we like to say, we live in a global
village, then there must be a way that the village can look at itself through
the many lances that reveal the multiplicity of strange reflections of that
village ... pondering it even at a moment that it unsettles us ... we need after
that [to] celebrate differences but only after we have deep understanding," Ndebele
said.
Heritage Day
WSoAC runs until Friday, 25 September, coinciding with national Heritage Day on
Thursday. Seminal and somewhat contentious issues relating to arts and culture
are on the agenda, which features symposiums, panel and roundtable discussions,
workshops and plenary sessions where topical issues are being thrashed out,
including "Can the arts market promote cultural diversity and intercultural
dialogue".
Lola Young, the chair of the commonwealth group on culture and development
Other topics include: traditional culture
versus modernity, surviving the global recession and its impact on
intercultural dialogue; the meaning for cultural exchange and co-operation;
culture is integral to development - what development, whose culture?;
developing culturally diverse audiences: unsustainable political imperative or
crucial to the survival of the arts?; and what can the Rainbow Nation teach the
world about intercultural dialogue?
Ndebele is one of many speakers; others include
Stojan Pelko, a film publicist; Lebo Mashile, a poet, writer and social
commentator; Lee Suan Hiang, the senior adviser to the National Arts Council;
the Canadian minister of arts and culture, Lindsay Blackett; the Pakistani
theatre activist, Madeeha Gauhar; Max du Preez, the award-winning journalist
and columnist; Jonathan Katz, the chief executive of the National Assembly of
State Arts Agencies in the US; and Kirsi Vakiparta, the senior adviser to the International
Affairs and Arts Council of Finland, to mention a few.
The summit is hosted under the auspices of
the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (Ifacca) and
the National Arts Council and is sanctioned by the City's directorate of arts,
culture and heritage.
Delegates
Attendees include members and affiliates of Ifacca, representatives of
international, national and regional artists' networks, ministries of arts and
culture, cultural policy makers, researchers, arts educators and
administrators, artists and supporters of the arts.
Taking place every three years, it is
designed to explore various ways in which arts and culture can foster intercultural
dialogue and social cohesion. The summit seeks to challenge thinking patterns, initiate
debate and consolidate networks to leave a permanent legacy for the global arts
fraternity, particularly the African arts sector.
WSoAC also serves as a platform to examine various ways in which countries can
support the arts. In a nutshell, it aims to resolve how the arts can fit into a
world where people are culturally divided, and how to help them build
multicultural societies.
Minister of Arts and Culture Lulu Xingwana
said the summit would provide an intellectually challenging experience "that
will find a way to further strengthen the global arts agenda".
"There can be no sustainable development
without cultural development being an integral component [of it]," said the
minister.
For more information on WSoAC, visit the
website.
Related stories:
|
