Newsletter–May
2005
Editorial
The first few months of the year have been very busy for the Global
Alliance team, with trips to India, Colombia, Canada and elsewhere.
We have started planning our first Global Alliance Conference ‘Partnerships
on the Move’ which will take place September 12th in Paris. We are also
happy to announce that the Spanish government has decided to support
our financing, giving us additional resources to continue building our
efforts to support cultural industries around the world. You can read
about all this and more below. And don’t forget, please feel free to
get in touch with requests or suggestions.
The Global Alliance Team.
Website Now available in Spanish!
Our new
look website is now available in Spanish as well. We are constantly
updating the content so don’t forget to check it regularly. Send us
information about events you are organizing and we will post it on the
site.
UNESCO’s team active in the field
UNESCO’s team has been busy in the first few months of the year, travelling
widely to participate in international events and attend to the needs
of those involved in creative industries out in the field:
Milagros del Corral attended the Expert symposium “Creative Communities:
an Asia-Pacific development strategy for the XXI century” in Jodhpur,
India (22-25 February) which was organized by UNESCO’s Bangkok office
and mapped out some key policy prerogatives for the region with the
Jodhpur Initiatives for Promoting Cultural Industries in the Asia Pacific
Region.
Georges Poussin attended the 19th FESPACO (PanAfrican cinema
and television festival) 26th February – 5th March, where UNESCO supported
the main workshop ‘Training and the need for professionalisation.’
Alexander Schischlik attended the inauguration of the ‘Haiti
: Rediscovered’ exhibition organised by CREOS Inc in partnership with
the Global Alliance, in Toronto, 30 March. He also paid a visit to the
US National Commission to UNESCO in Washington.
Arian Hassani visited Edinburgh to gather valuable lessons from
this UNESCO City of Literature that has made great strides in bringing
together its stakeholders, from writers, to publishers, to literary
pub tours and the national library, the city‘s palpable literary buzz
cannot be ignored.
Melika Medici undertook a fact finding mission to Colombia 16-23
January 2005 to meet potential public sector and civil society stakeholders
as part of the pre-planning for a project designed to strengthen independent
industries that produce and promote local music in Bogota and Valledupar.
Mauro Rosi went to Senegal (10 – 16 February 2005 ) in the framework
of the programme to develop public book and reading policies in Senegal,
the Gambia and Guinea.
| News |
 |
12 September 2005 - Global
Alliance organizes international conference "Partnerships on
the Move"
To take stock of our achievements to date, to gain a better understanding of the particular modalities of Alliance projects and to exchange views and experiences between our members, the Alliance is organizing an international conference ‘Partnerships on the Move’ at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, on September 12th 2005. |
|
|
Spanish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to donate USD 250 000 annually to the Alliance A yearly contribution of 250.000$ to the dedicated fund of the Global Alliance has been incorporated into the Master Plan of Spain's development aid for the next four years (2005-2008). |
|
|
Artists in Development –
Phase II launched: Capacity Building for Cultural Enterprises Projects have now been selected for the second phase of the UNESCO/Norwegian Funds-in-trust project, Artists in Development. Eight initiatives will participate in the project and will run over a 2 to 3 year period ending in September 2007. |
|
|
The Creative Cities Network
is now accepting applications for membership of the programme The Network and objectives are described on a newly designed Creative Cities Network web page |
|
|
UNESCO and Radio France
International (RFI)- Partners at the Cannes Film Festival (11-22nd
May) Together with UNESCO’s International Fund for the Promotion of Culture, the Global Alliance is a partner of RFI, that, like every year, will broadcast worldwide live from the festival with news, interviews and features. |
|
|
Mediterranean heritage and
contemporary creativity project This two-year project has recently been launched in cooperation with the Association Cultures Sud (France) and will run until the end of 2006. It aims to encourage the reproduction of classic Arabic works of craft and pottery that are found in museums across the Mediterranean, North African and Middle Eastern region. |
|
|
Strategic partnership with
the Foundation for Globalization Cooperation, China The Global Alliance is happy to announce that is has signed a strategic alliance agreement with the Chinese ‘Foundation for Globalization Cooperation’. Established to promote communication between United Nations Agencies and Chinese enterprises in the framework of the UN’s Global Compact, the foundation wishes to develop long-term co-operation with the Global Alliance and promote its program in China. |
|
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 Dragos Nicolae Dumitru, permanent special prosecutor in the Romanian General Prosecutor’s Office responsible for the enforcement of the country’s recently modernized IPR legislation and the National Strategy for Intellectual Property. Dragos took part last year in UNESCO’s Anti-Piracy Training for Trainers project in Sofia, Bulgaria, and has since organized other seminars in his home country to pass what he learnt on to others involved in IPR enforcement. Dragos here talks to us about the challenges Romania faces in tackling piracy and counterfeiting and the efforts he is undertaking in making this area of law a priority for the country. |
|
|
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. |
||
|
|
International Festival of African Fashion
(FIMA) – Niger 2005 |
|
|
|
WOMEX 2005, Newcastle, UK, 26-30 October The 11th annual WOMEX event is travelling this year to the UK for the first time. The theme will be ‘A commonwealth of Music’ which will be reflected in all the expo events, features, showcases, conference, film market, umbrella stands and networking meetings alike. |
|
|
|
Jordanian Short Digi-Film competition The Jordanian Royal Film Commission is set to launch a Short Digifilm competition later this spring for filmmakers with a first prize of USD 5000, second prize of USD 3000 and third prize of a Sony DV 150 camera. Details of the competition and application forms are still being finalized and will be posted here as soon as they are made available. |
|
|
|
Art Handy: Linking handicraft to the
Word Market The Global Alliance is pleased to welcome as a new member the Open City International Foundation Inc. a leading US NGO which supports and coordinates other associate NGOs including Fundaçao Oasis Citade Aberta (FOCA), member of United Nations Economic and Social Council, and other entities which operate in Portugal, Italy, Mozambique, Angola and China and which have the same mission of Open City: to create development and quality of life in marginalized areas. |
|
|
|
Midnight Circus,
IV Edition Preparations for the IV Edition of Midnight Circus are now underway. |
|
|
Features |
|
|
|
Copyright,
Piracy and Cultural Industries With the rapid advances and falling costs of information technology of the last decade, piracy of cultural products such as music, films or computer software has become a growing problem in both developed and developing countries, with significant consequences for local cultures, creativity and economic development |
| Publications | |
|
|
Creative Industries – Contracts between
Art and Commerce’, Richard E. Caves. Havard University Press, 2000’ A detailed study of the economic organization of art and cultural organizations that are often called Creative Industries.. |
|
|
Creative Industries,’ Blackwell Publishing
Ltd, 2005, Edited by John Hartley, John Hartley traces the emergence of the creative industries and then leads the reader to discover what and where the creative industries are. |
|
|
“Dynamic Cities and Creative Clusters”
Weiping Wu, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3509, February 2005
Weiping Wu, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Geography School of World Studies Virginia Commonwealth University, uses nine cities, namely Boston, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Austin, Washington DC, Dublin, Hong Kong and Bangalore, as case studies in pinpointing similar dynamics of public policies that have successfully transformed these cities into hubs of creative enterprise. |
|
|
‘Certain legal problems related to the
making available of literary and artistic works and other protected subject
matter through digital networks,’ Pew Research Report
Dr. Silke von Lewinski, prepared for UNESCO Secretariat for the 13th Session of the Intergovernmental Copyright Committee, 2005 |
| |
|
Useful Links Visit the Useful Links section of the Global Alliance website which contains a growing list of useful websites for those involved in cultural industries. Site of the Month: Featured website:http://www.creativeclusters.com/ Creative Clusters is a conference and network for people working in the development of creative industries. It is interested in regeneration and development projects that deliver outcomes in both cultural and economic terms. |