5th World Summit on Arts and Culture Wraps Up as Chile Takes the Baton for 2014

By IFACCA
Published October 11, 2011

The 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture concluded in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday, October 6, 2011 generating a range of international initiatives to support arts practice and policy-making in Australia and internationally.

Thursday also marked the official handover to the Chilean National Council for Culture and the Arts, the host of the 6th World Summit on Arts and Culture, January 13-16, 2014.

The 5th World Summit, co-hosted by the Australia Council for the Arts and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA), was held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, Australia, October on 3-6, 2011 and attracted 501 delegates from 72 countries.

The theme of the Summit, Creative Intersections, was explored by more than 80 speakers who provoked wide-ranging debate around the role of innovative government policy in facilitating intersections between the arts and other sectors for the benefit of the broader community, including health and well-being, education, environmental action, business, international aid, social inclusion and digital technologies.

“The Australian arts and culture sector has gained enormously from our hosting of the Summit both in terms of information sharing and the creation of international networks,” said Kathy Keele, CEO of the Australia Council for the Arts. “With the generous support of the Australian Federal Government, and our partners, Arts Victoria, the ABC, the University of Melbourne, the Asia-Europe Foundation, City of Melbourne, the Commonwealth Foundation, Creative New Zealand, and Tourism Victoria, as well as a range of other partners, we have created a unique and truly global event of which Australia can be proud”.

“The Summit has strongly reinforced the value of international networking between leaders in arts and cultural policy making,” said Alan Davey, Chair of IFACCA and CEO of Arts Council England. “It has also provided delegates and members of IFACCA with a myriad ideas for ways to better support partnerships and networking between artists, arts organisations and other sectors of society in Australia, the Pacific, Asia and the rest of the world”.

Publication of a final research report: Creative Partnerships: Intersections between the arts, culture and other sectors will be available in late 2011 as well as a compilation of the best practice case studies and papers presented at the Summit.