From the Focal Point

I.

After Culturelink's Cultural Forum on networks, identities and intercultural dialogue, held at the end of November 2011 at the Mimara Museum in Zagreb (see C-News no. 65/November-December 2011), one of the lecturers, François de Bernard, President of the French association GERM (Groupe d'etudes et de recherches sur les mondialisations) published the article Welcome to Croatia! in the journal Le Monde of 27 December 2011, on the occasion of the conclusion of the Accession Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Croatia. This article received a strong and positive echo in Croatian and foreign media, and in the cultural/scientific milieu. Numerous portals have brought it in Croatian translation. The author underlined the cultural and scientific potential with which Croatia will enter the EU. All this happened just before the EU accession referendum of the Croatian citizens, held on 22 January 2012.
You can read François de Bernard's article here.

II.

On the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of China's 1911 Revolution, which overthrew the two thousand years old monarchy system and established democratic republicanism, the longtime member of the Culturelink Network (from its inception in 1989), Gao Xian of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, analyzed the influence of democratic republicanism on gentry-intellectuals in the late imperial China. Mr. Gao Xian's analysis is devoted to the role of the intellectual strata (represented mainly by gentry-scholars, and the Gao family in particular) in the introduction of republicanism. The proliferation and popularization of modern democratic republicanism in China has marked a crucial historical change that introduced modernization processes to this country.
This analysis is available online in PDF format.

III.

D. Paul Schafer, the distinguished author of two especially important books Culture: Beacon of the Future and Revolution or Renaissance: Making the Transition from an Economic Age to a Cultural Age), and Culturelink member since its inception, as is Gao Xian (see above), sent us two recent articles, The Cultural Imperative and Foundation for Life.
The article Foundation for Life was published in a collection of research materials of the East Ukrainian National University. As Schafer wrote to us, "such a communication in this world of all possible crises is of greatest importance". And we, from the Culturelink Team, may add, "such a communication among all continents and the entire world, made possible by cultural networks, is invaluable".

1.   Arte-Polis 4 – Creative Connectivity and the Making of Place

Building on the successes of previous Arte-Polis international conferences and design workshops, the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) is inviting papers to Arte-Polis 4, to be held in Bandung, Indonesia, on 5-7 July 2012 on the topic of Creative Connectivity and the Making of Place: Living Smart by Design. Submission deadline is 6 February 2012. >>>

2.   ECREA 2012 – 4th European Communication Conference

The European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) and the Turkish Communication Research Association (ILAD), together with the Istanbul Bilgi University, welcome the submission of abstracts for papers, panels and presentations at the 4th European Communication Conference, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 24-27 October 2012. Submissions on the topic of Social Media - Global Voices are accepted by 28 February 2012. >>>

3.   International Conference on Theatre Between Tradition and Contemporaneity

This professional conference researching the bridge between tradition and contemporaneity in performing arts will take place in Leitring bei Leibnitz, Austria on 17 - 21 December 2012. Presentation proposals are invited by performers, performing arts educators, teachers, artists, playwrights, theatre critics, journalists, theatre researchers and arts managers from all over the world. >>>

4.   AIR CELEIA - International Curatorial Residency 2012

The Center for Contemporary Arts Celje, Slovenia is organising the residency programme AIR CELEIA, which has been active since 2005 and is dedicated to both artists and curators. It is conceived on the basis of a reciprocal model that enables the residential artist / curator to get involved in the local artistic community, and at the same time offering local artists the possibility of establishing new connections. Interested candidates are invited to apply by 1 May 2012. >>>

5.   ARTErra Rural Art Residency

The ARTErra is a rural art residency structure in Portugal that supports and encourages artistic creation and production. Housed in a small rural village, ARTErra offers physical spaces and tools for the realization of a project proposal of an artist or collective of different artistic disciplines. >>>

6.   Doctoral Studies at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts

The Finnish Academy of Fine Arts has an internationally acclaimed Doctoral Studies Programme, with pioneering work in artistic research. Applications to this programme based on artistic research, where high-quality artistic work intertwines with theoretical studies, are accepted until 29 February 2012. >>>

7.   Master of Arts in Visual Art and Design

The Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design (maHKU) offers one-year Master of Arts programmes in Visual art or Design, consisting of seminars, workshops, and tutorials in which artists, architects, communication design professionals, curators, editorial designers, fashion designers, interior designers, philosophers, public space designers, and visual culture theorists share their knowledge, creativity, and professional and topical insights with maHKU students. Applications are accepted by 30 April 2012. >>>

8.   International Arts Professionals Summer School 2012

The International Arts Professionals Summer School, a joint initiative of the University of Kent School of Arts and ENCATC, is an intense week of inspirational learning for creative practitioners, arts managers and cultural project managers interested in engaging with the current debates and research in visual and performing arts management. Registration deadlines for the residential or non-residential Summer School are 15 March and 15 May 2012 respectively. >>>

9.   European Forum on Music 2012

The second edition of the European Forum on Music, entitled Transcending Boundaries - Building Bridges, will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, on 19 - 22 April 2012. Through workshops, plenary discussions and presentations, participants will explore the physical obstacles hindering musical exchange in Europe. >>>

10.   MOV-S 2012 - International Space for Dance and Movement Arts

The MOV-S 2012 meeting, to take place in Cádiz, Spain, on 14 – 17 June 2012, is a collaborative process about new ways of working in dance in the Latin-American contexts. It will culminate with an Ibero-American meeting for professionals, groups and organizations devoted to dance, motion arts and contemporary creativity. >>>

11.   Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI) Conference

The Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI) organizes its 17th International Conference to take place in Kyoto, Japan, on 21-24 June 2012. Scholars, business practitioners, consultants and policy-makers with an interest in the economics of culture and the creative industries are encouraged to attend the conference, which will hold theme-related special sessions. >>>

12.   International Conference on Cultural Policy Research

The 7th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR) will be held in Barcelona, Spain, from 9-12 July 2012. Organized by the Center for the Study of Culture, Politics and Society (CECUPS) of the University of Barcelona, ICCPR 2012 will address the challenge of rethinking cultural policy analysis from the broader parameters of the relationship between culture and politics. >>>

13.   European Theatre Convention Launches Young Europe 2 Project

The European Theatre Convention (ETC) launches the Young Europe 2 project on multilingual artistic education funded by the EU, which aims to increase access to culture through education and access to education through culture and linguistic diversity, enriching the lives of young creators in theatre and thousands of young people in Europe. >>>

14.   Re-tooling Residencies

The recent publication Re-tooling Residencies: A Closer Look at the Mobility of Art Professionals, published within the framework of the two-year project Re-tooling Residencies, one of European Commission's Pilot Programmes for Artistic Mobility, represents an important source of knowledge about artistic residencies as a cultural form of artists' and curators' work, whose relevance has been continuously growing in recent years. >>>

15.   In Pursuit of Cultural Dialogue - A Short and Incomplete History of the European Cultural Foundation UK

After some fifty years of existence, the European Cultural Foundation UK Committee (ECF UK) decided to mark the occasion with the publication of a brief record of its history, achievements, failures and diversions along the way: In Pursuit of Cultural Dialogue - A Short and Incomplete History of the European Cultural Foundation UK was written by its Director Rod Fisher. >>>

16.   Artists in Labs. Research and Creation in the Digital Era

Jean-Paul Fourmentraux's new book entitled Artists in Labs. Research and Creation in the Digital Era is concerned with the way in which the artistic creation and the technological research - areas that were historically separated - are now so entangled that any innovation within the one interests and forms the development of the other. >>>

17.   Intensive Culture. Social Theory, Religion and Contemporary Capitalism

Intensive Culture is a thought-provoking book. Contemporary culture, today's capitalism - our global information society - is ever expanding, is ever more extensive. And yet we seem to be experiencing a parallel phenomenon which can only be characterized as intensive. >>>

18.   Les politiques culturelles provinciales et territoriales du Canada

The book entitled Les politiques culturelles provinciales et territoriales du Canada. Origines, évolutions et mises en œuvre explores a range of questions surrounding the history, institutionalization and instrumentionalization of provincial and territorial cultural policies in Canada. >>>

19.   Travelogue: Mapping Performing Arts Mobility in Europe

This publication introduces the results of a research project whose objective is to map the collection of data on international performing arts mobility in Europe, and to test whether current national mobility mapping efforts can be harmonized and linked in order to provide a better view of transnational mobility in Europe. >>>

20.   Exploratory Mapping of Intermediary Organisations - Supporting Performing Arts Circulation in Europe

Meant to initiate a reflection on the sector's organisational models and dynamics, this report discusses the intermediary position and features a set of profiles of organisations active in the performing arts mobility, having the SPACE members as a case study, with a focus on the initiatives and tools put in place for mobility promotion. >>>

21.   Launch of the ENCATC Journal of Cultural Management and Policy

The European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centers (ENCATC) has launched the first issue of the ENCATC Online Journal of Cultural Management and Policy, aiming to stimulate the debate on the topics of cultural management and cultural policy among scholars, educators, policy makers and cultural managers. >>>

22.   The Arts Investment Forum Launches a Monthly E-Newsletter

The Arts Investment Forum, a non-profit organization based in Switzerland, working to strengthen philanthropy and investment in the arts and culture sectors, is offering a monthly e-newsletter called Arts Investment News. >>>

This free newsletter, produced and distributed by the Culturelink Network, is sent to over 1800 e-mail addresses worldwide. Please forward your relevant current information for publication in C-News to clink@irmo.hr.

Past issues of C-News are archived at http://www.culturelink.org/news/c-news/.
Please visit also the regularly updated Culturelink WWW Resource Centre at http://www.culturelink.org.

To unsubscribe click here, to subscribe send an e-mail to clink@irmo.hr with 'subscribe' in the subject line.

Culturelink/IMO, Vukotinoviceva 2, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; tel:+385-1-4877460, fax:+385-1-4828361
clink@irmo.hr, http://www.culturelink.org