Framework document
Thematic Peer to Peer Regional Workshop for cultural practitioners
Broadening the base, working in the peripheries
Venue: El Mouradi HotelGammarth, Tunis, 9-11 September, 2015
In most of the countries participating in Med Culture programme, cultural activities are highly concentrated in big cities. Cultural initiatives emerging outside the hub of cultural life are often isolated and resources limited, and participation remains geographically restricted. This state of affairs makes it all the more essential to tackle the issue at many levels: how to maximise theresources that are available in terms of spaces and human capacities, including those of local communities; how to enhance cultural production; how to integrate culture to local development and social cohesion and promote good practice beyond the local.
Following consultations conducted with cultural stakeholders in the framework of the programme, a cycle of two workshops has been designed for the theme “Broadening the base, working in the peripheries”. One of the main objectives of these capacity development workshopsis to exploit and enhance assets and harness them to promote culture as a way to render target areas more dynamic locally, regionally and internationally.This first workshop will address three main topics:
-The role of municipalities in promoting the cultural scene
-Crossborder cooperation and public spaces
-Cultural spaces as strategic resources to mobilise practitioners and audiences
Two other capacity development workshops will run in parallel with this session. A round table inviting the different groups will allow all the participants of these initiatives to listen to different/opposite points of view from young practitioners, experienced cultural players from the independent scene as well as from representatives of the public sector, favouring mutual understanding and constructive debates about common challenges for the cultural field.
In terms of methodology, these workshops gather professionals coming from different backgrounds who share the wish and determination to play an active role in the cultural scene. Moderators/facilitators mostly from the South Med Region, who are also key cultural players, will contribute their deep knowledge and raise the issue of common challenges. These workshops arebased on peer-to-peer exchanges and rely on dynamic exchanges and interaction of both participants and animators addressing the issues on the agenda.
9th September 2015
The role of municipalities for promoting the cultural scene, Jordi Balta
In many countries, the contribution municipalities provide to the cultural scene is higher than the state’s contribution, and this tendency is increasing. However, this is not the case in most countries from the southern Mediterranean, where municipalities often play a limited role to foster a dynamic cultural life, with very few exceptions. In order to meet the needs of local players and promote cultural development in the regions, cultural policies should put more focus on local priorities as opposed to national ones. Thisimplies identifying the assets and specificities of an area in order to design ad hoc and grassroots cultural activities instead of standardised programmes;paying major attention to community based initiatives; transforming and /or opening cultural centres to cultural practitioners, including public spaces; as well as developing new audiences. These are key issues for promoting culture in the regions.
To do so, there is the need to establish a platform for dialogue between local authorities and civil society players. Cultural practitioners should break out of their isolation and raise awareness of the common interests they share with colleagues. They should also negotiatewith local authorities in order to put in place frameworks of interaction, reflection and participation on decisions regarding cultural policies at the local level.
Examples inspired by the Agenda 21 for culture initiative, promoted by a network of local authorities at the international level to foster culture as a key element for development, will be analysed as a growing practice and should inspire participants’ discussions. The objective is to identify what is at stake in terms of culture as a lever to promote sustainable development and to explore what could be done concretely and within the specific contexts of the region to work in this direction.
10th September 2015
Cross border cooperation and public space, Lassaad Ben Abdallah
Regions situated far from capital cities suffer from isolation and have little if no influence on decision-making in terms of cultural policies and cultural programmes that are promoted in the peripheries and relatively far from administration centres. Regions based next to borders meet additional obstacles in terms of mobility but also in terms of stability and even security, as these areas are prone to violent eruptions. Yet, andin spite of the existingborders, populations in these areas often share common dialects,traditions and artistic expressions, interacting and communicatingacross the borders. Also, practitioners working in these regions share common challenges, and it would be interesting and fruitful to address them in order to foster productive collaborations.
Public spaces are another asset that should be taken into consideration in these areas. Blocked from access to citizens by authoritarian governments during decades, they haveoften turned into stages of violent conflicts over the last years. These spaces should be re-appropriated by the communities as a place to gather, celebrate, and exchange. Artistic projects can contribute to make public spaces an elemental component of the democratic life, and to involve new and larger communities in the local cultural life.
This session will focus on three important issues: raise awareness about the potential value in developing cross border projects as well as organising activities in the public space; explore ways to advocate with local authorities for facilitating these processes; and give the opportunity to reflect about the role that municipalities could play to contribute to both these issues.
11h September 2015
Cultural spaces as strategic resources to mobilise practitioners and audiences
Ahmed El Attar and visits to cultural spaces from Tunis
Be they public or private,cultural centresplay a strategic role in the cultural scene at the local level. On the one hand, they are key assets for artists and cultural practitioners to work in or exchange views among colleagues, but also to use for training and to challenge their ideas and forms with an audience. Through proper management, private spaces may also be exploited to generate income that could be allocated to fund cultural projects. Last but not least, cultural centresare the place where citizens are invited to gather and take part in cultural programmes that are designed for them. Indeed, the participation of large and/or focussed groups is key to their sustainability.
However, in several countries in the region, many cultural spaces built by public authorities are now obsolete, badly equipped andbadly managed or they have fallen into disuse except for a few exceptions. Some initiatives led by private cultural practitioners have played an essential role in reviving these spaces incertain areas, but their initiatives are often fragile because they largely depend on landlords’ authorisation to use their spaces, or the authorities’ support to let them implement their programmes, or simply on limited financial means that counter all efforts to run these places properly.
This session will be dedicated to analyse different models of management of cultural spaces. It will address the potential of existing ones and explore ways to transform them into culturally viable and convivial venues for the use of communities. It will also reflect on strategies that could strengthen private spaces and foster their sustainability. This debate will be articulated around the issues addressed on the previous day, namely the role of municipalities to promote local cultural centres, and the links and synergies that should be created between existing cultural infrastructures and thepublic spaces to present artistic works.
The visit to cultural spaces from Tunis and its periphery in the afternoon will give the opportunity to witness concrete examples of how to manage spaces and maximise their production.
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