The Nordic Culture Fund took part in UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT in Mexico
Kajsa Ravin, the Deputy Chair of the Fund’s board moderated a major side event about ‘Culture as a global public good: a human-centered agenda for cultural policies’ on the 29th of September.
The MONDIACULT 2022 Conference took place in Mexico City 28-30 September. During the event, representatives from around the world sought to find new ways to better incorporate the needs of culture into policy-making and investigate how culture can contribute to stimulate sustainability. The global conference looked also at the role of cultural policies in tackling global challenges as well as map current cultural trends, including the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic for arts and culture.
The conference paved the way for the full integration of culture as a global public good as part of the last decade of action for the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Kajsa Ravin, Director General at the Swedish Arts Council and Deputy Chairperson of the Nordic Culture Fund’s board moderated a side event at the conference, in connection with a newly established partnership initiative with the Nordic Culture Fund and UNESCO.
The side event took place on Thursday 29 September at 2-3 pm (Mexican time) and was organised by the Interagency Platform on Culture and Sustainable Development. The event gathered representatives from different UN-agencies and civil society stakeholders to discuss the topic ‘Culture as a global public good: a human-centered agenda for cultural policies’.
Kajsa Ravin provided opening remarks together with Mr. Ernesto Ottone R, Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO, whereafter the discussion moved on to debate ways to envision a more human-centered agenda for cultural politics, touching upon topics such as decent work, skills and innovation; educational models to redress inequalities within and beyond the cultural sector; a more effective human-rights based governance system; and the impact of culture across the development spectrum.
About Mondiacult
The UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2022 is centered around the cultural sector worldwide. The global conference is conveyed 40 years after the first MONDIACULT World Conference on Cultural Policies was held in Mexico City in 1982, and 24 years after the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies for Development held in Stockholm in 1998.
The conference brings together representatives from over 190 countries including ministries of culture, members of civil society, non-profit organizations, and other organizations. The hope is that participants can help to solidify culture as a global public good and promote its value and importance for the future of society.
You can read more about the side event on UNESCO’s webpage.
About the Nordic Culture Fund's partnership with UNESCO
In the framework of the MONDIACULT conference the Nordic Culture Fund has entered a partnership with UNESCO to jointly conduct a study on “culture as a public good to achieve sustainable development and to advance human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
The aim of the study is to define, illustrate and promote the concept of global public goods as applied to culture, as a stepping stone for a broader policy discussion in and beyond the MONDIACULT Conference. As part of the study concrete examples and good practices through UNESCO network of field offices as well as the Nordic Culture Fund existing projects will be brought to the fore
