The Department of Arts and Culture will be hosting the Cultural Diplomacy conference: “Redefining The Role Of Culture In The 21st Century” on 20 to 21 May 2010 in South Africa, Pretoria.
The conference seeks to open opportunities for the department to share ideas and exchange knowledge with prominent thinkers on cultural diplomacy and further interact and debate with local and international experts to benchmark best practices with a view to formulate a national policy that will guide South Africa’s international cultural engagement.
The conference will feature four main areas of discussion as follows:
* culture and politics
* culture and economy
* culture and peace and security
* culture and human rights
Since the conference is a consultation process, different key stakeholders, namely; arts and culture public sector, civil society, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), politicians, business community, national and international institutions, academics, diplomats, donors, media professionals and policymakers will be brought together over two days to reflect on the impact of the arts and culture in strengthening international relations and highlight critical issues that will inform the National Policy on Cultural Diplomacy.
It is envisaged that the national policy will support the existing South African government policies aimed at building mutually beneficial relationships between people of South Africa and other countries and further increase appreciation of the South Africa’s creative ideas, expertise and talents in the areas of arts and culture.
This will be driven by South Africa’s strong belief in cultural diplomacy as a tool to facilitate intercultural dialogue, enhance professionalism and encourage enthusiasm for creativity amongst the people of South Africa.
The policy will further serve as a framework to guide and support the cultural sector in establishing international partnerships in areas of specific cultural government priorities and to best realise the full benefit or potential and impact cultural activities can have on diplomacy and post conflict and reconstruction and sustainable development.
For more information on the above conference please contact the following officials:
Ruphus Matibe
Tel: 012 441 3617
Fax: 012 441 3452 or 3
E-mail: ruphus.matibe@dac.gov.za
Zodwa Mpanza
Tel: 012 441 3031
Fax: 012 441 3452 or 3
E-mail: zodwa.mpanza@dac.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Arts and Culture
24 March 2010
Source: Department of Arts and Culture (http://www.dac.gov.za/)
