From the Focal Point

UNESCO World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries

The third UNESCO World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries was held in Florence, Italy on 2-4 October 2014. The topic of the forum was Culture, Creativity and Sustainable Development: Research, Innovation, Opportunities.

This meeting followed the previous two World Forums on Culture and Cultural Industries, held in Monza in 2009 and 2011. This third edition of the Forum was organized in Florence in cooperation with the Italian Government and with the support of the Tuscany Region and the Municipality of Florence. Discussions at the Florence Forum focused on the need to ensure that culture is duly taken into account in international development policies and strategies, especially at a time when the post-2015 development agenda is being elaborated, which was highlighted by the Florence Declaration adopted at the end of the Forum.

Among other topics, participants discussed achievements of the 2013 Special Edition of the Creative Economy Report, co-published by UNESCO and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and reflected on the potentials of culture and creativity in promoting and achieving sustainable development. Discussions were held around several key topics:

• Culture and Creativity: A Double Commitment to the Future;
• Cultural Industries, Employment and Growth;
• Nurturing Culture for the Sustainable Development of Urban and Rural Areas;
• The Power of Culture for Inclusive Societies;
• Innovation, Technology and Know-How for Sustainable Futures;
• New Approaches to Measuring Change;
• Investing in Culture;
• Culture and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Mrs. Nina Obuljen Korzinek, member of the Culturelink team and researcher at the Institute for Development and International Relations, participated as one of the speakers at the Forum.

1.   GLOBAL YOUTH ESSAY COMPETITION: ARE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD SUCCEEDING IN LESSENING GLOBAL POVERTY?

The Gülen Institute Youth Platform is an international essay contest annually organized by the Gülen Institute at the University of Houston, and is open for high school students enrolled in public or private schools from all over the world. The deadline for submissions is 15 December 2014. >>>

2.   CALL FOR VENUE: 15th ELIA BIENNIAL CONFERENCE AND GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2018

The European League of Institutes of the Arts - ELIA will organize its 15th Biennial Conference in 2018 and is calling upon its members to nominate a venue. The deadline for nominations is 1 December 2014. >>>

3.   TRAVEL GRANTS TO THE UNITED STATES

The Terra Foundation offers Research Travel Grants to enable scholars outside the United States to consult resources that are only available within the United States. Application deadline is 15 January 2015. >>>

4.   OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS 2015

JmEvents announces the next Jeunesses International Music Competition "Dinu Lipatti", which will be held for violin. The deadline for registration is 1 March 2015.>>>

5.   CALL FOR MIT PROGRAM IN ART; CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY (ACT)

The MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT) is seeking applications. It is a rigorous two-year program for artist-thinkers who seek to advance their critical and production practices. Artists and cultural producers with diverse backgrounds and innovative transdisciplinary practices are encouraged to apply. Application deadline is 31 December 2014. >>>

6.   ERASMUS MUNDUS JOINT MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE IN MEDIA ARTS CULTURES

The call for applications for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master of Arts Degree in Media Arts Cultures, organized jointly by Danube University Krems (Austria), Aalborg University (Denmark), University of Lodz (Poland) and City University of Hong Kong (China) has been announced. The deadline for applications is 1 January 2015. >>>

7.   CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: ARTISTIC RESEARCH IN FILM (MA)

Every year, the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam offers a select group of film and media makers the chance to further develop themselves and their profession in a setting that is investigative, demanding and international. The deadline for the Master's Degree - Artistic Research in Film (MA) application is 9 January 2015. >>>

8.   CONTEMPORARY CURATING AND MUSEUM EDUCATION

The international conference Contemporary Curating and Museum Education will be held at the Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich, Switzerland, on 21-22 November 2014. The conference poses a central question: How does the integration of curating and education change the nature of museum work? >>>

9.   ART CART: SAVING THE LEGACY

A new study by the Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC) at the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA), Washington DC, USA, shows that artists are highly functioning members of society who experience less loneliness and depression than the general population. Art Cart: Saving the Legacy is an inter-generational, interdisciplinary project that matches aging professional artists with teams of advanced students in the arts, health and aging to help document their work and save national legacy. >>>

10.   MAPSI - MANAGING ART PROJECTS WITH SOCIETAL IMPACT

Managing Arts Projects with Societal Impact (MAPSI) refers to a specialization in management of artistic projects with societal impact, and aims to create an international network focusing on educating cultural managers and facilitators to manage and mediate artistic and cultural projects with societal impact. >>>

11.   THE AGE OF CULTURE

In Paul Schafer's new book, we find some clearly articulated questions that must be asked and answered if human well-being is to be a key concern of a cultural age, aiming at making it possible to address people's needs and requirements in a sustained, systematic, proactive, and egalitarian manner. >>>

12.   QUELLE POLITIQUE POUR LA CULTURE?

The History Committee of the French Ministry of Culture has just made public a collection of texts gathered and presented by Philippe Poirrier under the title: Quelle politique pour la culture? Florilège des débats (1955-2014). >>>

13.   SAMARKANDIANA: CULTURE LINKING THE WORLD

Samarkand, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, is represented in the cultures of many countries. This is the first book to catalogue in a systematic way the cultural representation of Samarkand - one of the most ancient cities of the world - in the sphere of modern communications. >>>

14.   HOME-COMING BY GAO XIAN

Culturelink is happy to publish a beautiful poem dedicated to the theme of returning home. Numerous poets and novelists use this symbolic image to express their état d'âme, their reminiscences and reflections, in a philosophical, critical or any other way. We may recall the Martinique poet Aimée Césaire and his poem Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (A Return to the Native Land), or the first chapter of D. Paul Schafer's new book presented above - Foundation for Life, and many others. Today, it is our great honour to present a poem by Gao Xian, member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and member of Culturelink from its very inception. After half a century, Gao Xian got a chance to return to, and stay in his Shanghai home for a few days. That short home-coming was an unforgettable occasion to him, and his emotions could not help but pour out in the form of a poem, although, as Gao Xian says himself, he is not a poet. The poem mirrors his personal experience, while also reflecting the state of mind of many Chinese intellectuals, and may be considered their cultural portrayal.

And here is the poem:

HOME-COMING

By Gao Xian

Half a century yearning,
Day and night longing,
I desire a genuine home-coming,
Not as someone touring,
Nor as a guest visiting,
But to turn true a dream long missing,
Back to the same old house my parents were living.
Now the day is coming.
Five day's stay could compensate fifty year's waiting.
I push open the door with most familiar "No. 41" marking.
I climb the worn-out staircase with age-old creaking.
I enjoy my blood brother's warm welcome and caring
And his beloved wife's thoughtful treating.
Even the cat likes my fondling,
Never takes me as a stranger frightening.
The cooperation in compiling and editing
Our grandfather's Collected Works for publishing
Gives us best mutual understanding
And a cultural outcome most rewarding.
So much at home without an outsider's feeling.
This is just what I am seeking.
Here on the very bed I am lying,
Where my mother spent her last years ailing.
Here at the desk with paint fading,
I see my father bent over writing.
Everything I touch bears memories ever-lasting,
Every moment I spend is full of nostalgic thinking.
Yet I do feel profoundly regretting
For much too late is my awakening.
Quietly in my parents room I am sitting
With tears in my heart I am pondering
Their most loving care and best teaching.
There is no way for repaying.
There may be some relief for them on seeing:
Love and care among Xin, Xian and Qing.
Over or near seventy we still keep fit in working and thinking.
We all enjoy happy family with nice offspring.
We contribute our part for a society of better living.
Thus I am concluding
At long last, a genuine home-coming.

(written in 2000, revised in 2007)

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