Chris Torch, artistic director at Intercult, will moderate the international conference on Culture and the policies of change, organised by the Council of Europe (which comprises 47 countries of Europe to promote democracy and protect human rights and the rule of law in Europe), in partnership with the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), Culture Action Europe, the Budapest Observatory and International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA).

The conference will take place from 6 to 7 September 2010 at the EESC’s Headquarters in Brussels. It is being supported by the Communauté française de Belgique, Ministry of Culture and the Allianz Kulturstiftung. The Conference is one of a series of events being organised in the framework of the Council of Europe’s CultureWatchEurope initiative.

There has been limited debate on the practical implications for national and local cultural policy-makers and practitioners of the shifts that have been occurring and which may increase in relation to public policy for culture. The conference is dedicated to topics like the state’s role as a substantial provider of culture, the need to re-define certain current cultural practices, the changing roles of cultural institutions and the potential of alternative governance models, new forms of partnerships and multi-stakeholder approaches to help meet the ensuing challenges. Related topics include possible new responsibility paradigms for culture and new frameworks for public policy in the cultural domain. Given the importance of this issue in Europe, it seems appropriate to approach the subject both from a wide intellectual angle, with a mainstreaming approach to culture and cultural policy, and very practically in terms of measures and proposals that might be considered

The Conference is aimed at senior policy-makers, practitioners and researchers who operate at national, regional and local levels, and who are responsible for the content, management or implementation of cultural policies.

Chris Torch, artistic director at Intercult, will moderate the conference. / Chris Torch, artistic director at Intercult, will moderate the international conference on Culture and the policies of change, organised by the Council of Europe (which comprises 47 countries of Europe to promote democracy and protect human rights and the rule of law in Europe), in partnership with the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), Culture Action Europe, the Budapest Observatory and International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA).

The conference will take place from 6 to 7 September 2010 at the EESC’s Headquarters in Brussels. It is being supported by the Communauté française de Belgique, Ministry of Culture and the Allianz Kulturstiftung. The Conference is one of a series of events being organised in the framework of the Council of Europe’s CultureWatchEurope initiative.

There has been limited debate on the practical implications for national and local cultural policy-makers and practitioners of the shifts that have been occurring and which may increase in relation to public policy for culture. The conference is dedicated to topics like the state’s role as a substantial provider of culture, the need to re-define certain current cultural practices, the changing roles of cultural institutions and the potential of alternative governance models, new forms of partnerships and multi-stakeholder approaches to help meet the ensuing challenges. Related topics include possible new responsibility paradigms for culture and new frameworks for public policy in the cultural domain. Given the importance of this issue in Europe, it seems appropriate to approach the subject both from a wide intellectual angle, with a mainstreaming approach to culture and cultural policy, and very practically in terms of measures and proposals that might be considered

The Conference is aimed at senior policy-makers, practitioners and researchers who operate at national, regional and local levels, and who are responsible for the content, management or implementation of cultural policies.