curious patterns #15
Why the SDGs need a proper culture goal (or not), open government for arts and culture, and steps for consensus-driven CCI support.
curious patterns is a monthly email newsletter on all things culture, impact and development, written by Kai Brennert (Twitter | edge & story).
Over the last three weeks, I took part in the Global Cultural Relations Platform. Now, this wasn’t just your friendly neighbourhood virtual training programme. In fact, there wasn’t a training component at all (in the traditional sense). What made this programme really quite exceptional was the pool of 150k euros available to us fellows for projects that we co-designed in a hackathon-type situation. I am not going to tell you much about these projects yet as you will likely see them emerge over the next few months. But judging by the absolutely brilliant cohort, I have no doubt that some of these projects will be gamechangers. Really glad to have been part of this exercise and met so many beautiful people 🙏
And a warm welcome to all new subscribers at Singapore International Foundation 🇸🇬, Goethe-Institut 🇧🇪, Dounia in Contact 🇦🇹, Centro InterCulturaCidade 🇵🇹, EUNIC 🇳🇱, and ARTCENA 🇫🇷. Everyone else, please:
🇬🇧 When the Brits release a global agenda, proceed with caution. Not this time, or so I hope. Bright minds from around the world formulated 11 policy priorities for CCIs.
🇧🇸 Cultural policy is more than what’s written in a policy document. And policy without implementation is useless. Bahamas, we feel you. Stay strong, you’ll get there!
🚉 UNESCO throws a party and invites all the other UN agencies (plus some other guests), and they all discuss the potential of culture for sustainable development.
🏅 We all know that the Prince Claus Fund recently shifted more funding to individuals. Now, their Seed Awards are out. 100 of them, 5k each, no strings.
🕌 First of all, I must admit I didn’t know ICESCO even existed. Good on them! Now they’re launching a think tank on Culture for Rethinking the World. I’m all ear!
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso is paving the way for the mighty Culture|2030 Indicators. I’m also probably more excited for this six months data collection exercise than I should be.*
🚧 Alright, so the EU is pulling a Belt-and-Road-Initiative. Links, so they say, not dependencies. Better not forget the cultural dimension in your Global Gateway!
🐌 A distinct US-centric perspective, but Adrian Ellis does have some exciting ideas on how cultural organisations can lever partnerships for business model innovation.
*More about the UNESCO Culture|2030 Indicators here and right below 👇
🎯 Culture in the SDGs
It’s been announced. All eyes on Mexico City in September 2022, where the next UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development - Mondiacult will take place, 40 years after the first one. One might be tempted to assess what happened in that timeframe, but let’s not go down that rabbit hole and look forward instead. 2030 is not far away, and we are on track to fail the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) miserably. The cultural sector in the meantime is stuck somewhere between lamenting that culture is not included in the SDGs and churning out artistic commissions to deal with climate change and growing urbanism.
But while they may highlight the threats, these artworks don’t quite help us to imagine pathways to a sustainable future.
De Beukelaer, Breskvar and Christoff also highlight the unique position artists are in to translate complexity and create empathy. At the same time, the culture sector is campaigning hard that this time culture MUST absolutely be represented in the post-2030 SDGs to fully harness that potential of artists but also the wider cultural ecosystem.
There is no doubt - many of us want, and apparently need, a culture goal in the next SDGs. But as we're marching loud and proud, we forget a pretty essential question: What exactly do we want that goal to look like? I'm talking hard facts here. What indicators are relevant on a global scale? What even is measurable? What sub-goals even make sense so there is no conflict with other domains?
Don't get me wrong. Just for the global attention, the earmarked funding, the international cooperation, the investments, and that magic seat at the table, this would be a massive chance. For once, culture wouldn't need to prove what it can do for you, but what you can do for culture. To have these conversation, though, we need be clear in what we are asking and advocating for. And this, unfortunately, is where I see a massive gap.
To the best of my knowledge, there are no specific indicator frameworks that effectively measure culture as sustainable development. Current indicator frameworks often look like an inversion - trying to measure culture to make it fit an SDG, essentially making the case for culture NOT to be an individual goal.
UNESCO Culture|2030 Indicators: Maybe a bit top-down data heavy, but I like how comprehensive this framework appears. Yet, it only seeks to measure progress of culture’s enabling contribution. Each dimension is mapped to corresponding SDGs, establishing its support role.
Council of Europe Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy: Explicitly, this very technical framework looks at links between various indicators in the dimensions of culture and democracy. The very fact that it’s based on correlations might hint at the perceived stand-alone quality of culture in policymaking.
European Commission Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor: The two dimensions cultural vibrancy and creative economy measure what culture does in a city. Cultural infrastructure, tourism, job creation and a tiny bit of IP. Culture is feeding the city, there are no indicators on how culture in itself serves as a worthy goal. The enabling environment dimension is great for context but illustrates only further how culture is there for tourism and the higher education industry.
I am glad bright minds have sat together and worked on these indicator frameworks. They are important. However, it also illustrates how hard it is to nail down the intrinsic value of culture for sustainable development that does not clash with other SDGs. Surprise surprise, I don't have the answer, either. But I would love us to think more deeply what culture as a post-2030 Sustainable Development Goal could really look like. We also need to be honest to ourselves and accept that there is a distinct possibility that culture might be better off as a transversal consideration as opposed to a stand-alone goal.
Now, who is going to CDMX in September? 😍
IMPACT
🇵🇪 Open data and policymaking are the culture sector’s real wet dream. Or is that just me, Mauricio Delfín and a handful of others? If you don’t know what I am talking about, read Mauricio’s little teaser article for his latest research on the potential of open data for cultural governance. He’s making a compelling case that arts and culture need to be included in the open government agenda. Why? Because it’s not just self-serving but also important for sustainable development and the role arts and culture play in it. His study on Peru shows that local governments in particular are key players to push for open data in the cultural sector. If only…
📊 Fellow evaluators, data geeks, and impact ambassadors - we are no outliers! Susan Oman takes us on a brief journey to draw the historical links between culture and statistics, in the sense that institutions and philosophies were developed parallely, both in relation to well-being. As she makes the case that data, obviously, can only be part of the story, she also establishes that data in itself is cultural and comes with all kinds of baggage. Really enjoyed this eye-opening article, even though I disagree with data as plural - for purely aesthetic reasons. Sorry not sorry.
🧠 The impact of innovation is what they call it. You’ll see SDG alignment from many organisations these days. Naturally, UN agencies have to take the lead. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) put together this dossier on why IP is a critical incentive for innovation and creativity, which in turn are key to the success of the SDGs. Sometimes it’s just good to see services spelled out clearly, and thus introduce creative actors to the work of one of the more commonly overlooked UN agencies. Good job, WIPO.
A CLOSER LOOK
👀 ASEAN Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries (ACCCI)
Indonesia is the main sponsor of the current UNCTAD International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, the Philippines are in the process of approving a surprisingly comprehensive creative industries development act, and Cambodia just recently assumed its turn in the ASEAN chairmanship rotation and has great plans (apart from the questionable choice of inviting the Foreign Minister of Myanmar): Establish an ASEAN Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries (ACCCI), for which, if passed, Cambodia presumably also wants to host the secretariat.
Let’s take a quick look at the founding proposal, shall we?
Objectives
i. Promote research and innovation to enhance the cultural and creative industries across all ASEAN Member States and to highlight the significant contribution that culture-based creative industries make to ASEAN sustainable socio-economic development;
First observation is the use of the term culture-based creative industries. That’s a really curious way of framing it, don’t you think? Perhaps this is due to Cambodia’s strong heritage focus or the fact that Cambodia’s design and digital industries (at least I suppose that’s what’s meant by non-culture based) are way behind that of many ASEAN partners such as 🇮🇩🇲🇾🇹🇭🇵🇭 with creative economy agencies and sector development laws. It might also be a strategy to prevent mission creep and meddling with other government portfolios (in Cambodia’s case likely the catch-all Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation). Who knows? As long as the proclaimed sustainable socio-economic development does not turn out to be just economic development, we might just be fine.
ii. Establish a regional database hub for cultural and creative industries;
As you may have realised, I’m a bit of a data nerd. So, creating a database hub sounds pretty damn nice to me. Imagine that imaginary wonderland where regionally comparable indicators, a proactive supply of un-doctored data, and a strong data protection policy actually contribute to meaningful policy making beyond just economic impact. Wouldn’t that be nice 😍
iii. Stimulate cooperation within the cultural and creative sectors among ASEAN Member States and our Dialogue Partners;
In a political space that is generally defined by its distinct and unshakeable drive for consensus and harmony, CCIs are in a unique position to create a little friction and increase dialogue across borders. Yes, yes, yes to more cooperation!
iv. Support and share innovative policies and best practices undertaken in the cultural and creative industries among the ASEAN Member States and Dialogue Partners;
Even though ASEAN Member States are at very different points in their CCI development journeys (somewhere between preventing looting of heritage and facilitating NFTs), and despite rather different political motivations for CCI sector development, learning from peers always trumps blindly adopting certain European countries’ creative economy doctrines. There certainly are some impactful policy instruments out there in the ASEAN region as I was lucky to help explore not too long ago as part of this UNESCO research.
v. Build capacities and skills including business planning, marketing, and knowledge on financing options that can improve the outcomes of cultural and creative industries;
I would be absolutely delighted if knowledge transmission on financing options would come with actual financing options. Too far? 😬
vi. Create network/alliance among ASEAN’s cultural and creative industries; and
Not a big fan of transplanting concepts, naturally. But in this case it might be worth to sneak a peak at the EU funding for creative networks which has done tremendous development work for the sector over the years there. Could this work for ASEAN, too, to better connect regional civil society actors in the CCIs?
vii. Strengthen ASEAN Identity awareness.
ASEAN's prime cultural goal of 'prevention' (of radicalism; whatever that means in each country's context) is noticeably missing from the objectives. Instead, identity takes its place. Might Cambodia here be pulling its weight which admittedly has very little problems with radicalism of any sort? Also, has identity in the context of ASEAN already been defined?
Alright, enough analysis. Let’s see how ASEAN member states react to this proposal. I would say generally positive, but there will be a good deal of power play who will be taking the lead on that, what the final priorities and definitions will be, and how close such an agency would be to civil society. Bring on the 🍿!
RESEARCH | REPORTS | TOOLKITS | POLICIES
🇪🇸 Between indigenous peoples, cultural rights and built heritage. There aren’t all that many national development agencies that have a mainstreamed culture strategy. In Spain, culture became a priority for development cooperation in 1998, followed by its own strategy document in 2007. Yet, while the conceptualisation of culture in development recognises multiple dimensions, the actual monitoring and results indicators skew heavily in favour of cultural rights and cultural diversity of a more anthropological flavour. If you’re curious, skim through the fresh English translation of AECID’s Guide for Mainstreaming Cultural Diversity. (h/t Jordi)
🤳 What’s the difference between an artist and a creator? The lines are becoming increasingly blurry as many artists seek revenue streams beyond the traditional art sales, commissions and performance fees. This research on how the creator economy is experiencing a shift toward harnessing its own network effects is worth a look for artists. Creators are prone to exploit themselves as big platforms dictate what works and what doesn’t. Sounds familiar, right? There are significant opportunities for independent creators and artists without access to big markets to make a living, even with just a small base of loyal followers or a distinct niche. Of course, you still need to debate with yourself if you’re cool to commodify community and charge for it.
🌆 COP26 was a bit disappointing, wasn’t it? Here’s a little hope. The World Cities Culture Forum engages municipal governments in creating change for tomorrow. With regard to culture and sustainability, the key takeaways are: Cities’ culture departments should not outsource their climate responsibility, especially when it comes to cultural infrastructure (but not only!). Make sure budgets allow for cross-cutting action. Also, scale what works and don’t you forget good storytelling to get everyone on board. The findings are embellished with case studies from 🇦🇷🇨🇳🇵🇹🇳🇴.
LIMINAL SPACE
🤖 Who would have thought you can waste spend so much time with an AI art generator? If I did, this newsletter might have come out a few days earlier. Well, too late now. I have been exploring visual outputs of absurdities such as ‘melting mussolini’ and ‘ancient map of dumplings’ for way too long. WAY too long. The WOMBO Dream app is a generative art tool powered by artificial intelligence turning any language prompt into artsy visuals. It’s fascinating, stunning, and also a little disturbing at times.
🏛 Talking of digital art, Greece is having ancient Olympia preserved. Even though the trifecta of (the Greek) government, Microsoft and the metaverse might not sound super appealing, the potential of digitally preserving ancient cultural heritage, and potentially documenting contemporary art, culture and heritage, is certainly noteworthy. I’m immediately thinking of all the places threatened by armed conflict, rising sea levels, and those people who pay people with bulldozers.
🗽 Imagine how dictators would use cultural heritage in the metaverse. Personality cult on crack! If Facebook and Twitter weren’t already enough, am I right? Anyway, not the point here. This essay is an insightful analysis of how three former Arab dictators in 🇮🇶🇸🇾🇱🇾 used analogue cultural heritage in different ways to serve their political ambitions, occasionally bending the historic narrative or outright rebuilding it - both the narrative and the heritage.
OPPORTUNITIES
20 December: Post-Covid, Post-Growth, Post-Colonialism – What about Ante? (call for papers)
⏭ I think you all know by now how happy I am when academia realises its potential beyond the university campuses of the world. This conference invites not just academics but also artists, policymakers and intermediaries. Even better, the call for papers includes formats like FuckedUpAfternoon and Pitch your big idea. I’m so jittery, I almost forgot about the conference theme. It’s about the future, I think.
Ongoing (until Feb ‘22): Arts, Armed Conflict and Humanitarian Aid (MOOC)
🪖 Four weeks worth of self-paced course content to learn more about artistic practices in humanitarian emergencies. It covers the concept of art as care and both health and cultural approaches. There’s also a module on evaluation and accountability - good stuff. If you take this course, let me know what you think!
🙋 With such a title you don’t need much more introduction, do you?! The European Creative Business Network wants your input on how to improve consultation mechanisms at UNESCO for SMEs. Got an idea? Share it in the survey! First thought: Make the survey more accessible perhaps?
Please forward this newsletter to a friend, and do reach out: kai@edgeandstory.com