Article
The Tracker Culture & Public Policy | Special Issue n°5 : Regional Perspectives | Europe and North America
The solid cultural policies of the region have in recent years expanded in scope and areas of focus, becoming more inclusive and with more decentralized implementation modalities. Current work covers the safeguarding of cultural heritage, sustaining the creative sector, expanding access to culture, strengthening the professionalization of culture and the status of artists, as well as supporting intercultural dialogue. However, whilst the role of culture in sustainable development is widely acknowledged in the region, its effective integration in sustainable development planning and monitoring remains uneven. Enhancing and measuring the impact of culture on growth and employment, promoting sustainable patterns of cultural tourism and harnessing culture for climate action and peace building are among the core prospects to further anchor culture in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Furthermore, countries of the region express a need to design more inclusive cultural policies – engaging notably youth, diasporas, indigenous peoples and cultural minorities – particularly policies related to social and economic inequalities to foster inclusion, health and wellbeing.
Priorities:
- Strengthening synergies between culture and education to foster the appreciation of cultural diversity, expand professionalization, harness global citizenship and critical thinking.
- Supporting the adaptation of cultural policies to the digital transformation, by creating more systemic synergies between cultural and digital policies to foster investment in infrastructure and training, while strengthening the legal, normative and policy frameworks pertaining to intellectual property.
Recommendations/new directions:
- Strengthening legal, normative and policy frameworks for culture in the digital environment, notably for ensuring equitable access to online culture, strengthening intellectual property legislation to support fair remuneration, and safeguarding and promoting online cultural and linguistic diversity.
- Improving the framing and enacting cultural rights as an integral part of fundamental human rights to address increasing inequalities in pluralistic societies, including with regard to defining culture as a public good.
- Enhancing global policy dialogue on the pivotal role of culture to sustain multilateralism, international cooperation for peace with the aim of building common understanding and advancing universal standards.
