Funding Culture, Managing the Risk

UNESCO, May 2010, France

The UNESCO symposium held on 16-17 April brought together leading experts in development, cultural financing, decision makers and cultural entrepreneurs for a dynamic two days of discussion on the challenges and opportunities of investing in culture in developed and developing countries.

Messages
A number of messages were articulated. Panelists and participants called for innovative approaches to funding and financing the culture sector. It was emphasized that they would combine macro and micro levels. Decision makers need also to address the long-term infrastructural needs of the cultural and creative sector and increase investments in order to provide sounder foundations for growth and development. Actions such as: professionalization of entrepreneurs, long-term political will at national and international levels, increased coordination and partnerships between private and public sectors were expressed.

The webcast of the symposium and an execitive summary are available on UNESCO's website.

Participants
The symposium attracted over 100 participants. Lively exchanges followed each round table’s presentation between participants and panelists. The symposium benefited from the expert presentations of its panelists, who included Jean-Michel Debrat (Deputy Director-General at the French Development Agency, AFD), Ganiou Soglo, (Minister of Culture, Republic of Benin), Jean-Claude Boidin (Directorate General for Development, European Commission), Luciane Gorgulho (Brazilian Development Bank), and Frédéric Bouilleux (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie).

Next Steps
UNESCO intends to advocate the symposium’s messages at key policy meetings this year when the role of culture to development will be examined, namely the the International Seminar on Culture and Development (Gerona, May 2010), taking place under the Spanish Presidency of the EU, and the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (New York, September 2010).

Concept
Despite culture’s great potential for socio-economic development and poverty reduction, it remains marginalized in development policies and programmes. Furthermore, the sector suffers from a lack of access to funding, especially in developing countries, due to the perception, often based on false premises, that such investments are more risk-prone. More

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