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Network of European Foundations for Innovative Cooperation (NEF)
The Network of European Foundations for Innovative
Cooperation (NEF) is a non-profit making organisation created in 2002 and based in Brussels. NEF took over the activities of the Association for Innovative Cooperation in Europe (AICE) set up in 1996, which itself took over the activities of the European Cooperation Fund (ECF) set up in 1977.
NEF comprises eight European foundations: the European Cultural Foundation, the Fondation de France, the Charities Aid Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Compania di Sao Paulo, the Fundaçao Oriente, the King Baudouin Foundation, and the Riksbankens Jublilemsfond. The member foundations joined NEF in order to strengthen the cooperation between foundations at the European level. NEF provides its members with the ability to find common goals and to join forces with other European foundations with similar interests. It is a compact and flexible organisation which aims to act as a launching pad for new initiatives focusing on projects mainly in social and political areas.
NEF, as an organisation that fosters European research projects, has promoted one of the projects entitled Cultural Cooperation in Europe: What Role for Foundations? Its aim is to identify core policy trends and features adopted by foundations in the field of international cultural cooperation. The study was completed in the course of 2003. More information about NEF's projects and activities is available at their website.
For more information, please contact: Network of European Foundations for Innovative Cooperation, Résidence Palace, block C, 4th floor, office 4221, Rue de la Loi 155, 1040 Brussels, Belgium; tel.: +32 2 235 24 16; fax: +32 2 230 22 09; e-mail: raymond.georis@nefic.org or alexandre.kirchberger@nefic.org; http://www.nef-web.org
African Journals OnLine (AJOL)
The International Network for Scientific Publications
(INASP) launched the African Journals OnLine (AJOL) in 1998 with only 14 journals. By January 2004 it had over 175 African journals covering most subject areas. It is now being re-launched on its own website that continues to provide free access to tables of contents and abstracts for all titles but it also provides a number of additional facilities. AJOL offers a document delivery service and full (improved) searching and browsing facilities, as well as a new Email alert function. The service remains free to both users and participating journals.
The journals included in AJOL are scholarly in content with peer reviewed articles, and they publish a mixture of pure and applied research as well as review papers. The journals included cover agricultural sciences and resource management; arts, culture, language and literature; health; science and technology; and social sciences. An evaluation of the AJOL service undertaken at the end of 2002 showed that participating journals benefited from international visibility, with more international submissions and citations, and that the users valued access to African research that they had been unable to locate from other sources.
The new website now offers a greatly improved and more sophisticated search system and email alerting to identify new issues. Journals can also manage their own content online, giving them more control over their own work.
Please visit the new site at http://www.ajol.info
Asialink Arts
Asialink Arts has been working since 1990 to promote cultural understanding, information exchange and artistic endeavour between Australia and Asian countries. To date, Asialink Arts has worked with 19 countries in Asia including Bangladesh, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The support of sponsors and organisations in Australia and Asia is crucial for its work.
Asialink Arts offers a wide range of artistic and cultural programmes that enable Australians to develop their talents and experience by working in and with Asia, establishing personal contacts, on-going communication networks and further projects. The art form areas are Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Literature and Arts Management.
Through the Arts Residency Programme and advocacy, Asialink Arts increases the accessibility of Australian arts in Asia and encourages partnership between Australian and Asian organisations and individuals.
For more information, please visit: http://www.asialink.unimelb.edu.au/arts/index.html
Policies for Culture Programme Launches New Website
The Policies for Culture programme of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) and the ECUMEST Association has launched its new website www.policiesforculture.org.
After four years of implementing initiatives all over South East Europe, Policies for Culture provides a new online resource platform for cultural policy in the SEE region.
The site features the following services:
- Full index of action projects implemented so far within the framework of the programme, including project description, outcome, contact information and comprehensive background materials in English and other regional languages;
- E-Library featuring articles, research papers and other policy texts created within the programme framework, including links to further online reading material;
- Easily accessible publications archive, including free downloads of all periodicals and booklets produced within the framework of the Policies for Culture programme since 2000;
- News and updates section on the programme's activities and response to latest developments in the field of cultural policies in SEE;
- Search function.
For more information, please contact: e-mail: info@policiesforculture.org; http://www.policiesforculture.org
Botswana Society for the Arts (BSA)
The Botswana Society for the Arts (BSA), aimed at promoting Botswana culture, especially in the field of visual and performing arts, and developing it in partnership with other cultures, is presently working on the project of the National School of Arts. A National School of Arts would signify a necessary expansion of educational opportunities for Botswana artists in all artistic disciplines - from visual art, dance, photography, and film to music performance and recording, traditional craft production and drama. Although developed in collaboration with the Botswana Ministry of Education, the project is still seeking international donors.
Another activity of the Botswana Society for the Arts is the publishing of Artefacts, a monthly magazine for the arts in Botswana, whose March 2004 issue features articles on the present-day situation of Botswana artists, as well as a calendar of Botswana arts events and news about recent cultural projects in that country.
For more information, please contact: Botswana Society for the Arts, Private Bag BR201, Gaborone, Botswana, tel./fax: (267) 3952 949; e-mail: bsa@botsnet.bw; http://www.bsa.botsnet.co.bw
Cupore - Foundation for Cultural Policy Research in Finland
The Foundation for Cultural Policy Research was established in 2002 by the University of Jyväskylä and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation is to monitor the development of Finnish and international cultural policy and to promote research in the field. It maintains a Research Centre whose task is to produce and disseminate policy-relevant high quality research and contribute to the formation of an environment where such research and cultural policy expertise can flourish.
For more details, please visit Cupore's website at http://www.cupore.fi/
Arts Council Norway
The Arts Council Norway is a new English name of the Norwegian Council for Cultural Affairs. The Arts Council Norway acts in an advisory capacity to the central authorities and cultural operators in Norway, provides funding for artistic and cultural projects, and initiates cultural activities.
In its advisory capacity the Arts Council undertakes research within the cultural policy sphere. The results of that research are published in two publication series issued in the Norwegian language. Also in its advisory capacity, the Arts Council Norway serves as the official Cultural Contact Point for information and consultancy about the Culture 2000 EU framework programme in which Norway is an active participant.
As a fund provider, the Council administers Norwegian Cultural Fund. It provides funding for artistic and cultural projects that do not otherwise qualify for general local or central support schemes. The Council extensively supports experimental and individual projects both in regular disciplines and in selected priority programmes. The Council also supports projects that extend beyond, or cut across, traditional dividing lines between disciplines.
The Arts Council Norway initiates trail projects and holds conferences and inquiries in areas where it believes there is need for such activity. These initiatives must fall within an area emphasised in the Council's strategy. In its 2003-2005 strategy, the Council emphasises the following areas: cultural diversity, art production and art mediation, strengthening the position of producers, international cooperation and dissemination of knowledge and culture.
For more information, please contact: Norsk Kulturrad, P.O. Box 101 Sentrum, 0102 Oslo, Norway, tel.: +47 22 478330; fax: +47 22 334042; e-mail: post@kulturrad.no; http://www.kulturrad.no
Mfuko wa Utamaduni Tanzania - Tanzania Culture Trust Fund
The Tanzania Culture Trust Fund (Mfuko wa Utamaduni Tanzania) is an independent funding organization, established by the governments of Sweden and Tanzania with the aim to promote cultural actors, practitioners and activities throughout Tanzania by facilitating access to funds, sensitization, lobbying and advocacy.
The principal objective of Mfuko is to promote cultural development in the overall development process of Tanzania, with special focus on cultural projects and activities, as well as individual and organizational achievements.
Mfuko currently offers three types of grants:
- Institutional grants to support innovative pilot projects in the field of cultural training and networking;
- Production incentive grants aimed at enlivening creativity and innovation, while at the same time promoting cultural pluralism, public access and appreciation in culture;
- Cultural exchange grants intended for promoting regional and interregional cooperation in culture.
For more information, please contact: Mfuko wa Utamaduni Tanzania, 130A Drive-in Area, P.O.Box 23028 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, tel.: +255 22/266 6797; fax: +255 22/266 8899; e-mail: mut@cats-net.com; http://www.mfuko.org
Deutscher Kulturrat
The German Cultural Council (Deutscher Kulturrat), established as the umbrella organization of the federal cultural associations for the all-embracing promotion of German cultural life, has existed as a non-profit organization since 1995. The 210 federal associations within the German Cultural Council are divided into eight main sections: German Music Council, Arts Council, German Literature Conference, Performing Arts Council, Council for Building Culture, Design Section, Film and Media Section, Council for Socio-Culture and Cultural Education.
Diverse and in part diverging interests of cultural and media associations are thus brought together and developed along the lines of a common position. The main objective of these federal associations is above all to improve the framework for promoting the arts and culture, whereas the Committees of the German Cultural Council ensure support during the preparation of resolutions and offer assistance for research projects.
For more information, please contact: Deutscher Kulturrat, Chausseestr. 103, 10115 Berlin, Germany; tel.: 030 24 72 80 14; fax: 030 24 72 12 45; e-mail: post@kulturrat.de; http://www.kulturrat.de
Robert Bosch Stiftung
The German Robert Bosch Foundation (Robert
Bosch Stiftung), established in 1964, supports projects associated with health care, international understanding, social welfare, education, the arts, culture, the humanities, social and natural sciences, which are organized into the following programme areas:
- Science in Today's Society,
- Health, Humanitarian Aid,
- International Understanding, and
- Youth, Education, the Civic Society.
The Foundation practices an active policy of promoting the common good, allocating its resources to programmes which address important social issues. Depending on the nature of the task, the Foundation implements its own programmes or works together with partners from the public and private sectors. Its purposes are exclusively non-profit.
The Foundation supports projects of limited duration only. Programmes seeking support should be first submitted to the Foundation in the form of a two-page preliminary project outline, based on which the Foundation decides as to whether the project is feasible and a corresponding application can be submitted.
For more information, please contact: Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, P.O. Box 10 06 28, 70005 Stuttgart, Germany; tel.: 0711 4 60 84 0; fax: 0711 4 60 84 10 94; e-mail: info@bosch-stiftung.de; http://www.bosch-stiftung.de
American Capital of Culture 2005
The province of Saskatchewan, Canada, has been selected as the American
Capital of Culture (ACC) for 2005. Its designation as the ACC for 2005 will coincide with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of its constitution and its incorporation, on September 1905, as a province of Canada. Saskatchewan has a population of close to a million inhabitants over an area of 651,900 km2. More than a half of the province is covered with forest lands and its territory has more than a hundred thousand lakes. Saskatoon and Regina, its capital, are the two main cities.
Saskatchewan is the only province in Canada where the majority of its population is not of British or French descent. Immigrants from Germany, the Ukraine, Scandinavia, Poland and Russia, as well as many other non-European countries, make up the majority of its population. Fourteen percent of its inhabitants are of aboriginal descent.
The American Capital of Culture for 2005 follows a great cultural tradition. In 1948 the Saskatchewan Arts Board was established, the first of its kind in North America. The province also boasts of a significant cultural industry, especially in the editorial and audiovisual sectors, as well as in folk art and visual arts.
The planned activities for Saskatchewan as the American Capital of Culture 2005 include the presentations of many of its cultural aspects.
The American Capital of Culture initiative has three fundamental objectives: to act as an instrument for inter-American cultural integration; to promote inter-relationships among people within the Americas, respecting their national and regional diversity, and also highlighting their common cultural heritage; to promote the territories nominated in the American hemisphere within the rest of the world, building new bridges of cooperation with other continents which have established initiatives highlighting cultural capitals.
Merida (Mexico) became the first American Capital of Culture in 2000, followed by Iquique (Chile) in 2001, and Maceio (Brazil) in 2002. For 2003, Panama City (Panama) and Curitiba (Brazil) were nominated as the American Capitals of Culture. This year, 2004, Santiago (Chile) was named the ACC.
For more information, please visit: http://www.cac-acc.org
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