1. A Global Movement?

Introduction

On 21 October 2005, during the final plenary meeting of UNESCO’s General Conference in Paris, one-hundred-forty-six nations voted in favor of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Two nations voted against it. During the negotiations leading to this vote the United Kingdom lead the European Union and a coalition of nations in favor of a new international treaty to protect and promote ‘cultural expressions’ while the United States steadfastly opposed it and essentially voted alone. (Appendix 1)

The vote on the Convention made news within the circles of international cultural policy.  Two years after the declaration of war on Iraq in which the United Kingdom and the United States stood shoulder to shoulder in defense of democratic values a shift in the centuries old alliance became clear on that Autumn day.

UNESCO is the United Nations agency responsible for fostering mutual understanding among peoples of the world through the “free exchange of ideas and knowledge” in the fields of education, science and culture. (UNESCO Constitution, 1945)  As the United Nations was being discussed in San Francisco, California in 1945 to provide a political mediation platform. The founding countries of UNESCO were meeting in London to create an organisation that viewed the wide diffusion of culture as a “sacred” and “indispensable” duty of all nations.

In order to avoid future conflict the founders of UNESCO recognized that wars of recent memory were due to a fundamental “ignorance of each other’s ways and lives.” By harnessing the power of mass communication technologies and promoting the “free flow of ideas by word and image” the founders envisioned a peaceful world based upon the “intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.” (Appendix 2)

Sixty years later in October, 2005 the United Kingdom argued that a new Convention on the protection and promotion of cultural expressions would advance the organization’s noble goals of increasing the international exchange of words and images. It was on that day in that conference hall that my research began on the effects of international, regional, national and local cultural policy on individual creative institutions.

• You Are Here
• 1. A Global Movement?
• 
  

• Step One

  The People
  Identify your creative sector, your public authorities and existing policy structure.

• Step Two

  Research
  Collect your thoughts, research existing models and start drafting your policy.

• Step Three

  The Engine
  Identify available space, financing options, your legal structure and export options. Then package.

• Step Four

  
  
  The Wheels
  Visit the London Design Festival to understand how its done. Contact the organisers for help in coordinating your own events to celebrate your creative sector.

• Step Five

  Start your Engines
  As your bus gains steam more people will join the movement. Don't look back!

• Now in the USA!

  

  The creative economy is spreading to the USA. A new research project has just been launched to gauge the state of the creative economy in America. It's an experimental crowd sourced and funded project. We Need You!
  
  

• Creative Policy Tool Box

  Start Creating Your Own Policy
  Download a sample of a London Creative Industry policy diagram to get started.
  
  

• Follow the Revolution