From the Focal Point

CONGRATULATIONS TO ARTERIAL NETWORK ON ITS 10th ANNIVERSARY

In early March 2017 Arterial Network celebrated a special Arterial Day that marked a decade of advancing Africa's creative sector (2007 - 2017). Arterial Day is celebrated every year during the week of 7 March - the anniversary of Arterial Network's inception on Gorée Island, Senegal - and it takes place across the African continent.

Arterial Network is a dynamic Pan-African civil society network of artists, cultural activists, entrepreneurs, NGOs, educational institutions, and donors active in Africa's creative and cultural sectors. Its key areas of arts and culture support include: Capacity Building, covering various topics such as fundraising, art marketing, and cultural management; Advocacy, which embraces artists rights and freedom of creative expression, as well as policy and institutional frameworks for culture; Research and Knowledge Management, where Arterial Network works towards becoming a hub for knowledge about the African arts and culture.

In today's digitalized, competitive and conflicting world, Arterial Network is best proof of how cultural networks can represent an authentic expression of change, a widening space for communication, dialogue and cooperation. As Mike van Graan, Arterial Network's first Secretary General writes in the book Networks - The Evolving Aspects of Culture in the 21st Century, Culturelink Joint Publications Series No. 15/2011 (PDF, 2.5 MB), "Arterial Network's vision is of a vibrant, dynamic and sustainable African creative civil society sector engaged in qualitative practice in the arts in their own right, as well as in a manner that contributes to development, the eradication of poverty, to human rights and to democracy... And the sustainability of our collective and respective futures lies not in creating a better Africa or a better Europe, but a different world".

The Culturelink Team congratulates Arterial Network on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, and wishes the Arterial Network's staff and members a successful continuation of their valuable work, developing and promoting future activities in the arts and culture, cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.

Biserka Cvjeticanin, Culturelink Network Director

To learn more, please visit Arterial Network's website at www.arterialnetwork.org

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The Regional Studies Association's Second Australasia Conference will be held in Sydney, Australia on 3 - 5 July 2017 under the title Fragmented Regional Worlds: Inequality and Populism in a Globalising World. The organizers encourage papers that consider antipodean perspectives of the recent social, economic and political developments in Australia, as well as those that seek to provide a broader understanding of contemporary processes of regional changes from across the globe. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 28 April 2017. >>>

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The 2017 STP&A conference on Creative Disruption in the Arts: Politics, Entrepreneurship and Social Impact will be held in Minneapolis, USA, on 12 - 14 October 2017. The theme for the 2017 conference is built around the multiple disruptive roles of the arts in foreseeing and responding to political dysfunction, reflecting the need for and enabling the attainment of positive social change. Proposal submission deadline is 15 May 2017. >>>

3.   INTERNATIONAL CITY AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS SUMMIT 2017

The International City and Civil Society Organizations Summit organized by Yildiz Technical University, 2010 European Capital of Culture Congress and Cultural Center Esenler will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 20 - 22 October 2017. The organizers invite NGOs, academics and researchers working on projects focused on urban life and civil society to contribute with papers, poster sessions, best practice presentations, video screenings, workshops and panels. The deadline for submissions is 15 May 2017. >>>

4.   REGIONAL POLARISATION AND UNEQUAL DEVELOPMENT IN CEE: CHALLENGES FOR INNOVATIVE PLACE-BASED POLICIES

The Regional Studies Association's Central and Eastern European Conference 2017 will be held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, on 10 - 13 September 2017. The organizers of the conference, held under the title Regional Polarisation and Unequal Development in CEE: Challenges for Innovative Place-based Policies, welcome inputs from researchers, policy-makers and practitioners working in all areas of regional development. The deadline for abstract submissions is 23 May 2017. >>>

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6.   ATELIER FOR YOUNG FESTIVAL MANAGERS

The Festival Academy, an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA), calls for applications for the Atelier for Young Festival Managers, to take place in Merano, Italy, on 17 - 23 November 2017. 45 participants will be selected for the 7-day training programme during which they will discuss artistic festival management with ten renowned festival directors. The deadline for applications is 14 April 2017. >>>

7.   VISA FOR MUSIC 2017

The 4th edition of Visa for Music, the first professional music market for Africa and the Middle East, will be held in Rabat, Morocco, on 22 - 25 November 2017. 30 artists or groups will be selected by a qualified jury to perform in front of music industry professionals from all over the world. The deadline for applications is 15 April 2017. >>>

8.   NICE AWARDS 2017 - INNOVATION IN CULTURE AND CREATIVITY

The Network for Innovations in Culture and Creativity in Europe (NICE) is holding its annual awards entitled Creating an Inclusive World - A Call for Transformative Innovation in the city of Essen, Germany, on 6 September 2017. This year people and projects from the cultural and creative sectors that propose surprising and experimental solutions for helping shape an inclusive society in this high speed world of digital and global disruption are invited to apply. The deadline for applications is 30 April 2017. >>>

9.   European Museum of the Year Award, EMYA 2017

The annual ceremony of the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) will be held in Zagreb, Croatia, on 3 - 6 May 2017. This year EMYA will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the event that highlights the new challenges and the public quality of museums in Europe every year. >>>

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The first Arts Rights Justice (ARJ) Academy will take place in Hildesheim, Germany on 24 - 31 August 2017, followed by the first international ARJ Conference on 31 August to 1 September 2017, both hosted and organised by the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy for the Arts in Development at the University of Hildesheim. >>>

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