Culture and Development: A New Paradigm

What would happen if culture were placed closer to the heart of decision making in society? And how might that happen? The Europeans, through reports and new organizations, have been working to creating a fundamental shift in the political and public consciousness of what culture is, and to analyze its relationship to development. They have been working to connect all of the different cultural policies and to consider them from a new point of departure.

This article analyses the meaning of the expression "cultural development" as it is currently understood in Europe following the publication of two seminal texts: Our Creative Diversity and In from the Margins, respectively produced by UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Culturelink is a Network of Networks for Research and Co-operation in Cultural Development, established by UNESCO and the Council of Europe in 1991, which reflects the ethos implied by the notion of cultural development.

In 1991, the General Conference of UNESCO created an independent World Commission on Culture and Development, chaired by the former UN secretary-general Javier Perez de Cuellar. The commission was formed with the aim of compiling a world report on some of the most pressing contemporary cultural issues, including the cultural and sociocultural factors that affect development; the impact of social and economic development on culture; and the ways in which cultural development influences individual and collective well-being. The report produced by the Commission, Our Creative Diversity, was submitted to the UNESCO General Conference in Paris in November 1995.

Around the same time the Council of Europe commissioned its own review of culture and development with the aim of analyzing European trends, providing a framework for European policy and debate and offering recommendations for a follow-up. In from the Margins was the product of the work of the European Task Force.

Common to both these influential reports is the emphasis placed on culture as a means of human growth and empowerment and the recognition that in order to achieve a sustainable development, economic, financial and social reforms have to be addressed from a cultural perspective. The notion of cultural development is based on the idea that culture and development are closely interlinked, since all kinds of evolution, including human and economic, are ultimately determined by cultural factors.

Central to this approach is the idea that culture constitutes the very basis of human development and it shouldn’t therefore be regarded purely as a means of promoting and sustaining material progress, nor as a commodity, but as a valuable aim in itself. "The commodification of culture and the creative arts decontextualizes and destroys the meaning of cultural practices." says Our Creative Diversity. "Equating the arts as income-generating products eliminates the spirituality, history and value of cultural practices, the central ingredient that maintains values and celebrate the traditions of disadvantaged communities."

While culture is regarded as the source of progress, the notion of development, based on the fostering and respect for all cultures, is employed in a broad, holistic sense to include universal, physical, mental and social growth. The term is here understood as the process that enhances the effective freedom of people, providing them with the opportunity to pursue whatever they value. According to this view, poverty is not simply defined by the lack of material goods and services but rather by the lack of opportunities and freedom of choice.

If development is to be understood as human growth, then policy and governance have to be based on global ethical values and agreed-upon democratic principles, such as the respect for diversity and the promotion of creativity, participation and cultural freedom.

Key to this approach is the idea that fostering respect for diversity and cultural pluralism is of crucial importance in the context of global culture, as the rapid spread of mass culture and its hegemonic tendencies are threatening the survival of traditional values and the tastes and interests of minorities. The need for respect for all cultures is particularly urgent at a time in which the uneasy acceptance of global culture and reactions against the alienating effects of large-scale modern technologies are reflected in the fast spread of religious fundamentalism and social intolerance.

Since culture represents a crucial means of self-definition, providing individuals with traditions and continuity with the past, cultural policies worldwide should aim at providing the maximum opportunities for all people, encouraging ethnic, cultural and individual diversity. This is a vital imperative at present. Traditional notions of national identities are disappearing due to intranational demographic changes and the rapid spread of the mass media.

Because diversity can be a source of strength, cultural policies should advocate and support cultural freedom, the very basis of a pluralist society. Our Creative Diversity notes: "Cultural freedom, by protecting alternative ways of living, encourages creativity, experimentation and diversity, the very essence of human development. Indeed it is the diversity of multicultural societies and the creativity to which diversity gives rise, that makes such societies innovative, dynamic and enduring."

In order to effectively accommodate a notion of cultural development that stresses the ethical values of cultural freedom, respect for diversity and the centrality of the creative processes as a means for social and cultural development, cultural policies worldwide need to develop a broader meaning rather than the current narrow focus on the arts, through promoting and fostering creativity in politics and governance and encouraging multicultural activities. The emphasis on a wider view of creativity, understood as a problem-solving ability and as a vital social force, highlights a shift of the perception of what art is, marking the end of the long-standing distinction between "high" and "popular" arts.

In the view of the Commission, the field of cultural policy long associated with the promotion of the arts, cultural life and the protection of cultural heritage, has to be broadened to promote diversity and creativity not just in culture but in every possible field, including politics, urban planning, education and leisure.

Time has now come to build a coherent new paradigm. This would be one in which society’s different actors together mold paths of human development that are sensitive to all the cultural issues and fully recognize them as such. This is what cultural policy must ultimately come to mean.

—Our Creative Diversity

Culturelink

In 1991, UNESCO and the Council of Europe established Culturelink, a Network of Networks for Research and Co-operation in Cultural Development, which aims to "strengthen communication among its members, collect, process and disseminate information on culture and cultural development in the world and to encourage joint research projects and cultural cooperation."

In June 1995, in Zagreb, Culturelink held its first World Conference on Dynamics of Communications and Cultural Change: The Role of Networks. The conference explored a series of interrelated themes, such as the new cultural identities within the context of contemporary cultural changes; communication and dialogue between cultures; cultural policy and international cultural cooperation; the role of networks in cultural change and development and, finally, the Culturelink Network.

Created with the aim of linking individuals with common interests and making projects, ideas and people accessible, the Culturelink Network reflects many of the contents implied by a cultural developmental perspective. The Network works on three levels: It brings together different cultures from different parts of the world, links different cultural institutions and organizations and brings together individuals in different professions. To this end, Culturelink has compiled the first directory of institutions and databases in the field of cultural development. It has developed three databases: the Cultural Policy database, the Cultural Development database and the Bibliographical Database of the Documentation Centre for Cultural Development and Co-operation.

The Cultural Development database was developed to store data about cultural institutions and record information about their fields of interest, projects and publications. It contains information on over 1,000 institutions active in the field in Europe and all over the world. Furthermore, it keeps data on the information facilities, such as databases, library and documentation centers, operating within those institutions, and it includes information on their educational and training opportunities. Culturelink also publishes a quarterly bulletin.

The Challenge

Culture and development are tightly interlinked. Arts in the broad sense provide a bedrock for education of the human mind, social skills, cohesion and long-term economic entrepreneurship. Bringing cultural policies into the center of social policies is a major challenge.

Cristina Losito is a research officer with the Centre for Creative Communities. Established in 1978, and based in London, the Centre for Creative Communities is an independent charitable information, advice and research organization with extensive national and international experience. It has worked in cultural exchange, urban regeneration, formal and informal education and in cross-sector-based community development. The Centre is committed to the building of sustainable and creative communities, communities in which creativity and learning have pivotal roles to play in personal, social, civic and economic development. CCC conducts research, publishes books and a quarterly newsletter, organizes conferences and seminars, stages exhibitions and maintains a Web site and a library. The library, open to the public by appointment, contains extensive material on the field of arts and education, health, community development and urban regeneration.

Centre for Creative Communities
118 Commercial Street
London E1 6NF
Tel (44-20) 7247 5385
info@creativecommunities.org.uk
www.creative.communities.org.uk

Original CAN/API publication: October 2000