Arts and Culture

OVERVIEW

The ASEF, together with the German Commission for UNESCO, launched the publication "Mapping Cultural Diversity -- Good Practices From Around The Globe" at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris in November 2010. The launch took place alongside the meeting of the 4th Ordinary Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

"Mapping Cultural Diversity" features 39 projects that are helping to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions in different parts of the world, including 17 from ASEM member countries. The featured initiatives reflect the interplay of practice and policy in achieving the objectives of the Convention and highlight the role of culture as a key component of sustainable development. They cover diverse fields addressed in the Convention (such as policy measures, arts initiatives, capacity building, andinformation sharing) and operate at various levels ranging from the local to the international.

The idea of mapping good practices is based on the observation that carefully documented case studies can not only provide inspiration for networking and collaboration, but also aid planning and policy making.

ASEF's contribution is with the financial support of the European Commission.