EN Secretary General to take part in major forum on ‘Culture and Power’ in Avignon
‘Culture and Power’ is the theme of the 2013 Forum d’Avignon, which will be held at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France, on 21-23 November. The culture and creative industries represent 4% of the GDP of the European Union and 8 million direct jobs. Can businesses and governments build the future without this sector? Citizens, creators, producers, distributors or politicians: who holds cultural power? Is personal cultural data a new asset of power? Who is drawing up the new map of powers? Who truly benefits from culture? Six key debates, six studies and concrete proposals are to be the foundation for the sixth edition of the Forum d’Avignon. Europa Nostra’s Secretary General, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, is one of the speakers invited to contribute to this major forum, which will be attended by some 450 participants from 40 countries.
Palais des Papes, Avignon. Photo: Olga Pepe CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
After ‘Culture: Reasons to Hope’, the Forum d’Avignon think tank on the links between culture and the economy, and the international meetings on culture, economy and the media, wants to put culture at the heart of politics and business: firstly, by debating on the “Powers of Culture” in all their individual and collective dimensions, international and territorial, symbolic and commercial, technological and creative; secondly, by fuelling public debate throughout the year with a series of regular discussions, proposals and forums (cultural footprint, personal cultural data, mobilising for Culture in Europe, etc.).
Through the positions taken during the year and at the 6th edition of the international meetings in November, the Forum d’Avignon is working to contribute to the integration of culture at the centre of political thinking, especially at European level. The Forum d’Avignon will make strong proposals to influence the public debate around the European elections of 2014 and take part in the international agenda – renegotiation of the agreements of the WTO, UN 2015 and EU 2020 – so that culture is put at the heart of the discussions and desires of European citizens.
