This milestone year marks one quarter century since the genesis of the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies and since our first World Summit on Arts and Culture was held. It also marks 20 years since the adoption of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the principles of which we champion throughout our work. These milestones were accompanied by a calendar of significant gatherings and collaboration across the international cultural community, as we continue to work together to pursue shared goals.
In May, we hosted our 10th World Summit with Arts Council Korea (ARKO) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, where we welcomed 406 delegates from over 90 countries. The Summit addressed the theme Charting the future of arts and culture and built momentum towards the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development – MONDIACULT 2025, which took place in September in Barcelona, Spain. Our Summit Report includes key takeaways from discussions and informed the Dossier we presented for consideration at MONDIACULT, which addressed the position of culture in future United Nations global agendas. We take this opportunity to congratulate our colleagues at UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture of Spain on hosting MONDIACULT 2025 and commend their commitment to international cultural dialogue. These discussions made clear that culture is essential as we address societal issues and we must urgently position it as a priority, particularly as the cultural and creative sectors (CCS) continue to deal with persistent challenges including precarious working conditions, the need for investment, and the rapid evolution of AI and digital technologies.
With culture as our compass, as we look to 2026 and beyond, we have identified several key principles and priorities for the future.
Culture is an essential dimension of any liveable society; it is not simply secondary to sustainable development.
Our discussions this year emphasised the value of culture as essential, and primarily social, rather than economic or instrumental. However, this confirmed that culture also creates social capital, which is instrumental insofar as it is leveraged to create social cohesion, trust, wellbeing and mutual benefits. While the creative and cultural industries (CCIs) are often valued primarily in economic terms, the creative and cultural sectors – including not-for-profit, informal, public and commercial sectors – generate cultural and artistic expressions of social value, which may also hold instrumental, transformative and/or economic value.
Aligned to this, we welcome the MONDIACULT 2025 Outcome Document which advocates for culture as an independent goal within the next United Nations strategy; the adoption of the 2025 G20 – Culture Minister – KwaDukuza Declaration in South Africa in October, which calls for culture to be recognised, protected and included as a standalone goal in any post-2030 development agenda; and the release of the European Commission’s Culture Compass for Europe a Draft Joint Declaration to strengthen the European Union (EU) policy framework for culture, which outlines their long-term strategic vision and emphasises the importance of culture for individuals and communities, and cultural rights and principles.
Cultural rights are inseparable from the social and economic dimensions of culture and underpin our framework.
During the 10th World Summit, Dr Alexandra Xanthaki, UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, called for us to resist efforts to undermine diversity; to ensure that any definition of culture allows for evolution and plurality; to protect both culture and cultural rights; and to renew commitment to human rights-based approaches to culture. The elements of such a rights-based approach are set out in Dr Xanthaki’s July report on Artificial intelligence and creativity. In addition, in Spain the Ministry of Culture has launched its Cultural Rights Plan, which redefines cultural policies from a human rights perspective and recognises culture as a fundamental right and a common good linked to wellbeing, democracy and social justice.
Investment in culture is critical.
As stated in the UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies | Culture: The Missing SDG, ‘culture is a living system of meaning, belonging, creativity and wellbeing … like any system, it requires sustained investment, coordination and vision.’ This year, global activities related to financing culture were increasingly visible. In July, in Spain the fourth International Conference on Financing for Development adopted the Seville Commitment which includes landmark recognition of the contribution of culture and creative economy to sustainable development. In August, leaders from Asia-Pacific adopted a joint statement that confirmed the economic influence of culture and CCIs as catalysts for economic growth at the first APEC High-Level Dialogue on Cultural and Creative Industries. In September, Saudi Arabia hosted its first edition of the Cultural Investment Conference, which concluded with a path for long-term growth and new initiatives to advance cultural investment, and reinforced culture as an asset and a driver of sustainable growth; and the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) Summit was officially launched at the Intra-African Trade Fair in Algeria, which called for enhanced infrastructure and financing to unlock the sector’s economic potential, and for strong national policies to support creators and open markets for the CCIs.
At the national level, many have also continued to focus on greater investment for culture. In China, its cultural industry reached a revenue of over 19.14 trillion yuan in 2024, marking a 37.7 percent increase from 2020 with the government set to continue to encourage cultural creation in its upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030). In Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts co-commissioned the report Artworks: The Economic and Social Dividends from Canada’s Arts and Culture Sector, which shows that the arts and culture sector contributed $65 billion in direct GDP to the national economy in 2024, grew faster and supported more jobs per dollar of investment than other key sectors like oil and gas, manufacturing or agriculture. In Chile, in October the government announced that it will increase investment in culture by more than 11 percent, as a whole of government strategic priority. While in Norway, a recent survey by Arts and Culture Norway shows that 57 percent of the population believe in the importance of public investment in arts and culture and 67 percent would like to keep or increase the level of funding. In the United Kingdom, the government released a Creative Industries Sector plan that seeks to significantly increase investment in creativity and innovation by 2035. And in Viet Nam this was the first year of the Investment policy of the National Target Programme for Cultural Development (2025–2035) which includes a target for the CCIs to contribute 7 percent of the country’s GDP by 2030.
We must engage with AI, digital governance and data sovereignty as contested forces that are shaping the cultural landscape, and continue to unfold.
The potential and risks associated with these forces are underscored in the 2025 report by UNESCO's Independent Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence and Culture, which warns that AI is advancing faster than global governance. The digital realm is inherently cultural and requires governance frameworks that respect cultural values and rights and we welcome progress this year on the development of governance frameworks, resources on ethical AI regulation, and national AI plans that explicitly include culture. In Europe, the EU AI Act was implemented and expanded education and training for AI literacy in the cultural sector; while the European Commission released its AI Continent Action Plan in order to enhance competitiveness and safeguard and advance democratic values and cultural diversity. In Iceland, the Ministry of Culture, Innovation and Higher Education has published the country’s first AI Action Plan 2025-2027; in the Republic of Korea, the Cultural Korea 2035 plan outlines a long-term plan for national transition in the AI era; in Panama, the Ministry of Culture has examined the AI era and copyright law; in Solomon Islands the government has started planning for a future Inclusive Digital Economy; and in Zambia, the Ministry of Tourism hosted the inaugural 2025 Cultural Heritage Digitalisation Forum and committed to modernising cultural heritage through digital technology.
Data sovereignty is a critical concern, particularly regarding the protection of Indigenous knowledge systems in digital spaces, and we must conduct responsible research, respect the data of communities and cultural groups, and protect diversity of knowledge systems. This was emphasised during the 10th World Summit by Mr Michael Running Wolf, AI ethicist and co-founder of the First Language AI Reality who demonstrated that it is possible to take ethical approaches that ensure participants retain ownership and are fairly compensated. Government investment can support such approaches, as shown by a recent project funded by Aotearoa/New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment – Papa Reo – which developed a multilingual natural language processing platform that allows smaller Indigenous communities to create their own speech recognition and AI tools while retaining data sovereignty.
Working conditions in the CCS need urgent improvement.
The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 and Inter-American Development Bank's research on jobs both show that the CCS will face significant disruption and change as automation and AI reshape labour markets. In the past year, several governments have implemented new laws and formed interministerial and private partnerships to help improve working conditions for the sector. In Jamaica, a public-private collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and Guardian Life Limited, launched the Jamaica Entertainers and Creatives Insurance Plan (JECIP) which provides a new layer of protection for entertainers and creatives including comprehensive coverage for hospitalisation, surgery, diagnostic services, prescription drugs, maternity, dental care and visits to the doctor. In Malaysia, the Ministry of Human Resources introduced the Gig Workers Bill 2025, to extend legal rights and protection to workers in the arts, creative and cultural industries. In Paraguay, the government implemented Law No. 4199/2010 on Social Security for Artists, which represents an historic advance in cultural and labour rights for workers in the country, who have for the first time been incorporated into the social security system. And in Singapore, the National Arts Council has worked to expand its Artist Resource Hub (ARH) initiatives to cover issues such as improving working conditions for arts practitioners, legal issues including protecting intellectual property rights, and developing wellbeing resources.
Moreover, there has been progress on resources and tools related to the improvement of working conditions in the sector. During MONDIACULT 2025, the Fair Culture Charter was presented as a practical tool to promote fairness, sustainability, decent working conditions and fair remuneration of artists, creatives, and cultural workers worldwide. In Estonia, the government’s 2026 cultural budget will support a salary increase for cultural workers. In Malta, Arts Council Malta and the Ministry for Lands, Culture and Local Government, the People and Standards Division signed an administrative instrument to establish a unified salary structure across all cultural entities that manage and promote the arts, which provides a fixed salary base until 2029 to offer financial stability. And in Slovenia, the government adopted a decree on a minimum wage for the self-employed in culture to establish concrete protections for self-employed cultural workers.
Government research on cultural employment continues to reveal important trends in workforce growth and the realities of working conditions across the sector. In New Zealand, Creative New Zealand published research revealing market pay practices in the arts sector. In the Philippines, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) employment in creative industries increased to 7.51 million in 2024 from 7.23 million in 2023, indicating an annual growth of 3.9 percent. And in Spain, the Ministry of Culture reported cultural employment growth of 6.6 per cent in 2024, reaching 771,000 jobs, demonstrating the sector's economic resilience and expansion. While in Sweden, a recent report from Konstnärsnämnden - the Swedish Arts Grants Committee revealed that despite the challenges of the pandemic, artists' incomes increased between 2019 and 2022. And in the United Kingdom, a report from Creative Futures, Forging Freelance Futures, examined the challenges facing freelance cultural workers.
Data and evidence are vital for informed policy responses.
During MONDIACULT 2025, UNESCO launched its revised 2025 Framework for Cultural Statistics, developed by an Expert Working Group on which IFACCA served. After 16 years since the 2009 version, this much-anticipated revised framework addresses longstanding gaps in comparative data and provides governments and cultural agencies with improved tools to measure the social and economic contributions of culture. Elsewhere, the Caribbean Development Bank through its Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund, has placed data at the heart of its strategy to drive sustainable growth in the region’s creative economy.
Progress on cultural mapping has also accelerated around the world. In India, the Ministry of Culture has continued its comprehensive cultural mapping to develop robust data infrastructure for policymaking. In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy published the Creative Economy Data Mapping Report, a landmark study that provides a comprehensive overview of opportunities across the creative economy value chain. And in Rwanda, the Ministry of Youth and Arts carried out a nationwide mapping of artists to establish the country’s first comprehensive and current database of artists and creative institutions.
We have also seen continued initiatives to enable more nuanced policy responses. In Australia, Creative Australia has partnered on a landmark data and research project with several institutions, which aims to build data skills and digital infrastructure across the creative arts to enable more meaningful research, evaluation, and impact measurement; in Chile, the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage published its updated Cultural Statistics Framework (MEC) for 2025, a tool that helps organise data on the culture and heritage sectors; in Finland, the Arts Promotion Centre has reported increased support for public art; and in Italy, a national federation of cultural organisations released data showing post-pandemic recovery and growth in the cultural sector.
Peacebuilding and protection of artists and cultural heritage in conflict zones is a priority.
Attacks on the arts and cultural heritage – both tangible and intangible – are attempts to undermine cultural identities, expressions and traditions, and the recent UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies | Culture: The Missing SDG, highlights that the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property is part of global security and peacebuilding. In Europe last month, ministers from 26 European Union (EU) countries signed a Declaration on the necessity of culture and media as a safeguard for European democracies which highlights: ‘culture, cultural heritage and media policies must be a vital part… of European security in order to protect our democracies’. Moreover, this year, national governments have continued efforts to protect cultural heritage, which includes the Peruvian and Panamanian Ministries of Culture formalising a cooperation agreement for the protection and management of cultural heritage.
The protection of artists and cultural workers at risk also remained a critical concern, with ongoing conflicts requiring sustained international attention. Measures to protect vulnerable professionals have included both immediate support mechanisms and medium to long-term systems for displaced and at-risk artists. The EU released its third report on cultural heritage in conflicts and crises, Safeguarding the past, securing the future, which highlights its proactive approach to cultural heritage protection. While On the Move published its report Intersecting Temporalities: At-Risk and Displaced Artists in Transition, which examines the complex temporal challenges facing artists in crisis situations, and highlights the need for support that addresses both immediate safety and long-term professional sustainability.
Commitment to protect living cultures and Indigenous knowledge is building momentum.
This year saw strengthened commitment to protecting languages and Indigenous knowledge systems as anchors of cultural consciousness. In Australia, the First Nations Arts team at Creative Australia released a landmark report which highlights the need for long-term investment, support for cultural preservation, intergenerational knowledge sharing, skills development, career pathways, and infrastructure; in the Cook Islands, the Ministry of Cultural Development has focused efforts on saving Cook Islands Māori language; in Namibia, Indigenous leaders from around the world gathered in Windhoek to share ecological wisdom, preserve culture, and promote sustainable futures; in Papua New Guinea, the National Cultural Commission released its draft Pasin Ples Policy 2025–2035, a comprehensive roadmap to guide cultural institutions, local communities, and development partners in preserving and revitalising Indigenous customs, languages, and practices over the next decade; while in Peru, the government and eight organisations representing Indigenous and native peoples signed the Prior Consultation Agreement on the National Policy on Indigenous and Native Peoples to 2040, which includes more than 120 agreements covering key issues including the protection of traditional knowledge. And the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) celebrated the first anniversary of its historic treaty on intellectual property, genetic resources, and associated traditional knowledge, recognising Indigenous peoples' invaluable cultural contributions. Some progress has been made since its adoption. The Republic of Malawi became the first country to ratify the Treaty in December last year, with the Republic of Uganda becoming the second to do so in August this year.
Culture and climate action: a cross-cutting policy emergency.
The environment and the role of culture in climate action have been in the spotlight this year, with culture playing a pivotal role at the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. Notably, at COP30 culture was included for the first time within the official climate action agenda, underscoring increasing recognition of culture in climate discussions. This builds on the momentum from the recent Barcelona Declaration by the Group of Friends for Culture-based Climate Action at MONDIACULT 2025.
On a regional level, in Africa, the KwaDukuza Declaration adopted during the fourth G20 Culture Working Group Ministerial Meeting in South Africa positions the intersection of culture and climate change among its guiding principles for shaping global responses. In the Asia-Pacific region, at the Indonesia-Pacific Cultural Synergy 2025 gathering participants adopted the joint statement A Shared Vision for Sustainable and Resilient Pacific, which reflects a commitment to address global challenges including climate change and digital disruption. And Culture Action Europe has highlighted how cultural and artistic social enterprises lead in the sustainable climate transition, demonstrating practical models for sector transformation.
National initiatives have also demonstrated diverse approaches to culture and climate action. This year in France, the Ministry of Culture reported progress in the ecological transition within the cultural sector; in Norway, Arts and Culture Norway established a climate and environmental programme for the cultural sector; and in the Philippines, Senator Loren Legarda called for climate-vulnerable nations to champion integrated approaches that protect culture, identity, and history alongside lives and livelihoods.
This year also saw the publication of key documents and resources, including UNESCO’s thematic paper Culture and climate action: from margins to mainstream, which makes the case for a fundamental shift to put culture at the heart of climate action. In Ireland, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport released its Climate Action Roadmap 2025 which outlines actions to further reduce its climate and environmental impact. In Jordan, the Ministry of Culture published its Recommendations for a Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Policy, which presents a roadmap for placing cultural heritage at the core of climate action and sustainable development and calls for practical measures to embed culture and heritage in national climate policies and initiatives. In Spain, the Ministry of Culture has published a Green paper on the Sustainable Management of Cultural Heritage. And in the United Kingdom, Julie's Bicycle published climate risk mapping for London's cultural venues and insights from its Transforming Energy programme, which accelerated decarbonisation across the cultural sector.
Looking ahead: Charting the future to action
As we enter the next quarter of the century, we must urgently tackle global challenges, and international cooperation and multilateralism will be key. As Assistant Director General of UNESCO Ernesto Ottone declared at the 10th World Summit, a future for arts and culture ‘is a shared responsibility – no single government, institution, or community can achieve it alone. All actors in our cultural ecosystem must work hand in hand.’ Moreover, UNESCO Global Report on Cultural Policies | Culture: The Missing SDG affirms that ‘culture is already driving sustainable development. What is missing is a unified, visible and adequately resourced framework to support this momentum at scale.’
We take hope from the momentum generated in 2025, towards a future in which culture is unequivocally treated as an essential dimension of any liveable society. Culture is at the heart of who we are and how we envision our shared future: culture is our compass. The path ahead demands that we secure public and private investment, address structural barriers faced by cultural institutions, and support legal, institutional and financial plans, including better protections for cultural workers, cultural rights and traditional knowledge. Culture has always shaped the future and in 2026 and beyond we must continue to build the scaffolding to support and sustain it. The intensity of dialogue in the last twelve months must now transform into concrete actions.