From the Focal Point

The Loss of Values

These days Diane Dodd, Regional Coordinator for Europe, sent to the cultural policy community worldwide an announcement of the imminent closure of ConnectCP, the international who's who of cultural policy, planning and research, which was originally launched by IFACCA in 2006. Many of us still remember Diane's contribution to the Second World Culturelink Conference in 2005, when she explained the aims of this unique project - to mobilize human resources and knowledge, and help the flow of cultural policy information. ConnectCP became an indispensable, authentic database of experts, researchers, academics, policy-makers, practitioners and advocates with specialist knowledge in areas of cultural policy issues, from around the world.

To achieve this, great effort, knowledge and persistence were invested into ConnectCP. Which are now nullified with a single stroke. Of course do cultural networks represent a flexible model of communication, some are disappearing, others are transforming, while many new ones are appearing, always bringing new ideas and forms of exchange, participation and dialogue. These dynamics are innate to the nature of networks. Do we, however, ever ask ourselves about the values we are losing through their disappearance? ConnectCP offers a wealth of data on the basis of which important analyses could and can be made of the predominant cultural phenomena in the present-day world. This valuable cultural and human capital will soon, at best, be visible in archival traces. The European Union, which so nicely likes to state that an intercultural Europe is une affaire de reseaux, should support and make possible the continuation and further development of these international dialogue opportunities for over a thousand cultural policy professionals from 128 countries.

Biserka Cvjeticanin
Culturelink Director

1.   Historical Lab 5: Consistency of Inner and Outer Spaces in European Art

In the framework of the project Art Nouveau and Ecology, supported by the European Commission's programme Culture 2007-2013, the Réseau Art Nouveau Network, as a network of cities aiming to preserve, study and promote Art Nouveau at a European scale, is organising a one-day symposium on Consistency of Inner and Outer Spaces in European Art Nouveau Architecture, to be held in Riga, Latvia, on 5 September 2014. The call for papers closes on 10 March 2014. >>>

2.   Diverse Regions: Building Resilient Communities and Territories

The Regional Studies Association European Conference 2014 on Diverse Regions: Building Resilient Communities and Territories, to be held in Izmir, Turkey on 16-18 June 2014, presents an opportunity to discuss issues concerning diversity within regions, to establish the need and nature of future research imperatives, and to address the concerns and challenges confronting policymakers and practitioners. >>>

3.   Uneven Mobilities

The PanAmerican Mobility Network and the University of Chile are organising an international conference on Uneven Mobilities: Access to Activities, People and Places in Contemporary Cities, to be held in Santiago de Chile, on 13 - 16 October 2014. The deadline for abstracts is 31 March 2014. >>>

4.   Asian Studies in Africa

The international conference on Asian Studies in Africa: the Challenges and Prospects of a New Axis of Intellectual Interaction will take place in Accra, Ghana, on 15 - 17 January 2015. It is the inaugural and first biennial conference of the pan-African Association for Asian Studies in Africa (A-ASIA). The deadline for proposals for (institutional) panels, roundtables, papers and book presentations in the fields of Asian-African interactions studies is 1 April 2014. >>>

5.   The Useful Heritage: Efficiency and Excellence in the Public Memory Sector

The Best in Heritage is a two-day conference about professional excellence in public performances of heritage institutions. It will take place in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on 25 - 27 September 2014. This year, the organisers will add to this conference of excellence a one day symposium, to be held on 28 September 2014, on the theme of Efficiency and Excellence in the Public Memory Sector. The deadline for conference papers and presentations is 15 April 2014. >>>

6.   Open Call for Artists: Library Thoughts-4 Exhibition

Curated by Beata Szechy, the Library Thoughts-4 Exhibition will be open at Hegyvidek Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, from 26 August to 6 September 2014, as part of the AIR/HMC International Artists in Residency programme. The deadline for applications is 31 March 2014. >>>

7.   International Summer Academy on Peacebuilding and Intercultural Dialogue

An International Summer Academy on Peacebuilding and Intercultural Dialogue, organised by the Institute for Peace and Dialogue (IPD), will take place in Baar, Switzerland, on 17 - 27 August 2014, aiming to support institutional academic peace education and strengthen peace-building skills and intercultural dialogue of the international society. The deadline for submitting applications is 30 June 2014. >>>

8.   New Arts and Cultural Management Executive Course for Creative Practitioners

A new executive summer school programme for creative practitioners, arts and heritage managers at King's College London will explore themes such as innovation in audience development, new fundraising strategies and approaches to mapping and measuring culture. >>>

9.   Study Programme in Contemporary Visual Arts

Funen Art Academy, Odense, Denmark, is calling for applications to its five-year independent study programme in contemporary visual arts. The school strives to provide students with the best foundation possible for the development of a critical art practice in a globalized world. The deadline for submitting applications is 1 April 2014. >>>

10.   Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts

The 2014 Salzburg Summer Academy offers 21 courses of between one and four weeks, taking place between 21 July and 30 August 2014. The course subjects, the techniques taught and the teaching methods are widely diverse, but the link between them is the quest for contemporaneity - examining current aesthetic, political, social, and thus artistic, questions, and new forms of expression. The deadline for applications is 15 May 2014, and the deadline for grants is 1 April 2014. >>>

11.   The City as a Cultural Ecosystem

From 5 to 8 March 2014, the City of Bilbao will host the Forum d'Avignon for the first time, a prestigious forum to discuss culture in Europe, an international meeting in which art, architecture, politics and entrepreneurship professionals will analyse the different aspects of The City as a Cultural Ecosystem. >>>

12.   International Conference on Culture and Cultural Policies

The newly founded Centre for Research in Humanities and Social Sciences, Croatia is organizing an International Conference on Culture and Cultural Policies, to be held in Vienna, Austria, on 24 - 25 April 2014. >>>

13.   InASEA Conference: Cultures of Crisis

The international conference on Cultures of Crisis: Experiencing and Coping With Upheavals and Disasters in Southeast Europe will be organised by the International Association for Southeast European Anthropology (InASEA), to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 18 - 21 September 2014. >>>

14.   Access to Culture - Policy Analysis

The Department for Culture and Communication of the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO) participates in the project consortium Access to Culture - Policy Analysis, financed by the EU Culture Programme. The aim of the project is to examine the gap between the social reality and political normativity in the area of access to culture. >>>

15.   The Roberto Cimetta Fund: A Knowledge-Sharing Virtual Forum

Supporting transnational artistic and cultural mobility and collaboration in the Euro-Arab zone, the Roberto Cimetta Fund is establishing a knowledge-sharing virtual forum, to be set up by the beginning of April 2014. >>>

16.   Media Policies Revisited: The Challenge for Media Freedom and Independence

Nada Svob-Djokic and Pasko Bilic from the Department for Culture and Communication, Institute for Development and International Relations in Zagreb, Croatia have published a chapter in the book Media Policies Revisited: The Challenge for Media Freedom and Independence, edited by Evangelia Psychogiopoulou and published by Palgrave Macmillan. >>>

17.   Raymond Williams on Culture and Society

Edited by Jim McGuigan, this original and persuasives book will be of interest to anyone involved in theoretical and methodological modules within sociology, media and communication studies and cultural studies. >>>

This free newsletter, produced and distributed by the Culturelink Network, is sent to over 1900 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