Editorial
Welcome to the first edition of the Global Alliance Newsletter. The Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity is a creative project at UNESCO that helps cultural industries produce and distribute cultural goods and services and gain access to international markets. It does this through innovative private-public partnerships, sharing know-how and promoting respect for intellectual property. 

Membership of the Alliance is growing ever more rapidly and the newsletter will keep you up to date with what we are doing. We have also launched a new website, with new features and tools to help you network better and keep up to date with developments in cultural industries around the world. 

We hope you find the newsletter a useful tool and an interesting read and we encourage you to take advantage of the newsletter to get networking, meet people and tell us how we can help you more.

The Global Alliance Team. 


New Website ! www.unesco.org/culture/alliance

The new look website is now online. The Members Focus section allows you to discover what other members are doing, announce your activities and promotes interaction with us and between yourselves.

It features a short ‘Interview With…’ to give an insight into the issues and challenges facing those involved in a broad range of cultural industries around the globe. 
The ‘Appeals’ board allows you to make contact with our readership of specialists and request help. Please get in touch with us if you want to feature events or activities in the ‘What’s On?’ section.
The ‘Features’ take a look at specific issues across a range of sectors, providing an introduction to trends or topics of interest (this edition we look at the concept of Creative Cities). Finally, the newsletter includes other sources of information,‘New Publications’ and ‘Useful Links.'

News Click on the links below to find out the latest news about what UNESCO is doing in the field of cultural industries:

	Participate now in our Festivals Project online questionnaire! As part of its strategy to strengthen the capacities of cultural actors in developing countries, the Global Alliance is developing a programme to support and create a network of festivals and cultural events in countries from the African, Carribean and Pacific region (ACP).
	International Conference on Cultural Industries to take place in India, February 2005 UNESCO’s Bangkok office is organizing an international conference in Jodphur, India from the 22-26 February 2005 to develop a 10 year Action Plan that will focus on promoting creativity and cultural industries as an instrument for poverty reduction and local economic development in Asia-Pacific countries.
	Role of culture in development stressed at Small Island conference, January 2005 UNESCO has sponsored a special panel on the role that culture can play in mainstream sustainable development policies during an international meeting on the ‘Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS),’ that was held in Mauritius, January 10-14, 2005
	The Global Alliance launches the Creative Cities Network The Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity has welcomed the City of Edinburgh as the first member of the new Creative Cities Network, a programme enthusiastically approved by UNESCO’s Executive Board at its 170th session that ended on 14 October 2004
	UNESCO launches book project in North Africa The ‘Study and Action Plan for the development of the book sector in North Africa’ has been launched by UNESCO’s office in Rabat, Morocco.
	Musicians in Burkina Faso launch Africa's first music cooperative The ‘Study and Action Plan for the development of the book sector in North Africa’ has been launched by UNESCO’s office in Rabat, Morocco.

Members Focus
The Members Focus allows you to find out what other members are doing. It features an interview with a member, a What's On? members announcement section and an Appeals notice board.

Interview with...:  

This month we interview Tom Aegeson , Executive Director of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, Sante Fe, New Mexico in the United States.With an MBA from Columbia University, USA, and professional experience in business, not-for-profit organisations, international development and museum management, Tom Aageson is Executive Director of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation. Following the hugely successful launch of the first annual Arts and Crafts Fair in Santa Fe earlier this year, which was supported by the Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity, Tom talks to us about the challenges and opportunities for promoting cultural enterprises in New Mexico and what he hopes to achieve in the coming years.

What’s On?
Click on the link above to the What’s On? section to find out the what other members are doing and announcements from members. Feel free to let us know of conferences, round tables, exhibitions, performances and other such activities you are undertaking that you wish to publicise.

	IMPALA – European independent music Association launches appeal against SonyBMG merger decision IMPALA has launched an appeal against the European Commission’s decision to allow the merger of Sony and BMG to go ahead.
	Shapeshifters Project Launch, April 2005, Jo'burg, South Africa Shapeshifters, an innovative new project endorsed by the Global Alliance and designed to promote increased creativity, productivity and trade in the creative industries across five continents, is being launched in April/May 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
	Rendez-vous France-Canada Music : When Music Talks Business! This is a professional meeting organised by the Canadian authorities to gather the Canadian and French music business before the MIDEM Fair.
	Ayam beirut al cinema'iya 2006, Arab film festival The latest edition of this film festival, which took place in September once again succeeded in attracting wide international interest and drawing attention to the works of Arab filmmakers.
	Hip–Life Music Seminar (HLMS) 2005 TRAK MASTAS INTERNATIONAL, UK would like to announce a special seminar called Hip-Life, targeting the Zambian Music Industry, which will be held in Lusaka in March 2005.
	A.M.I. (France/ Marseille) launches CAURI, a new 4-year project in the electronic arts, music and urban culture in Central Africa  A.M.I., « Centre National de développement pour les Musiques Actuelles » (France) has launched CAURI, a project consisting of several long-term training programmes for decentralised regional cooperation between Europe and Central Africa, in the fields of popular music, the electronic arts, and more broadly any aspects of innovative urban cultures.
	World Cinema Fortnight to take place in Côte d'Ivoire, May 2005 The city of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, will host the first bi-annual World Cinema Fortnight in May 2005, a festival of local and international films designed to promote understanding and dialogue between the different national communities found in the country.
	Bronitsky and Associates - Promoting indigenous culture Bronitsky and Associates is a firm with offices in New Mexico and Germany which works with Indigenous people around the world in international cultural marketing of traditional AND contemporary art, music, dance; fashion; film/video; photography; theater; and speakers and writers (Native languages and English).

Appeals
The Appeals section allows you to find help from members.  Do you have a technical question? Are you searching for specific guidance on how to set up an activity. Do you need expert advice on a topic? If so, send us an email and we might post it in our next e-newsletter.

Features This section offers an introduction to a topic or trend with direct relevance to the promotion of cultural industries and diversity.
	UNESCO’s ‘Creative Cities’ programme The Global Alliance for Cultural Diversity has welcomed the City of Edinburgh as the first member of the new Creative Cities Network, a programme enthusiastically approved by UNESCO’s Executive Board at its 170th session that ended on 14 October 2004.