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International Meetings and Conferences

Year 2004 Events

Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities

Honolulu Hawaii, USA, 8-11 January 2004

Call for papers: Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, 8-11 January 2004, Renaissance Ilikai Waikiki Hotel, Honolulu Hawaii, USA

Web address of the conference: http://www.hichumanities.org/
Contact: humanities@hichumanities.org

Visual Studies in the 21st Century

Madrid, Spain, 15-16 February 2004

The First International Visual Studies Conference, organised by the Amigos de ARCO Association in collaboration with the Centro Párraga de Murcia, will be held during ARCO'04, on 15th and 16th February 2004 in Madrid. The conference will feature a series of plenary lectures presented by distinguished academics and historians who have been doing internationally recognised work on Visual Studies and Visual Culture.

The conference will be organised in six panels:

• Panel I: 'New Art History' / An epistemology for visual studies
• Panel II: Art Policies and Visual Culture
• Panel III: Visuality / Technology / Knowledge Society
• Panel IV: Visual Culture / Artistic Practices
• Panel V: Visuality and Identity
• Panel VI: Visual Studies and the University.

The conference is open to teachers, advanced degree students, researchers, and other members of the art and university communities who are interested in participating. Presentations should fall within one of the six working panels.

The attendance fee for all of the Conference activities is 60 euros. The registration also includes free admission to the ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair during the Conference. The Amigos de ARCO Association may provide a limited number of grants for attending the Conference to universities or other educational programmes in the Visual Arts field.

The conference is being directed by Jos‚ Luis Brea, Professor of Contemporary Art Theory at Spain's Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM).

For more information about the conference, please visit the website www.visualstudies.net or send e-mail to: org@estudiosvisuales.net

Almost Real

Utrecht, The Netherlands, 11-14 March 2004

Almost Real is an international conference exploring diverse and innovative ideas on artistic strategies in a rapidly changing Europe. The conference will take place in Utrecht, The Netherlands, 11-14 March 2004. It is intended for artists, researchers, producers, policy makers, cultural theorists, activists, pioneers, and students who are interested in witnessing and discussing proposals concerning artistic practice and social transformation. Almost Real has chosen 'participatory media' and 'rural interventions' as its two main topics.

For more than five years, the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) has invested in the Art for Social Change programme that enabled thousands of young people to participate in creative projects, challenged many professional artists to engage in communities and develop and promote participatory work on a local, regional and European scale. Almost Real offers an encounter with the vivid results of this programme and an opportunity to share related idea with a larger international audience. Almost Real is co-ordinated by Marijke Hoogenboom and Vincent de Boer, in collaboration with the Amsterdam-based Art for Social Change team and the Centraal Museum Utrecht.

For more information, please visit: www.artforsocialchange.org or www.almostreal.org

3rd Open Workshop MUSICNETWORK

Munich, Germany, 13-14 March 2004

The third edition of the Open Workshop of MUSICNETWORK will focus on music notation/representation requirements, music protection and distribution, and music description. The aim of the workshop is to make a further step toowards standardizing a music notation/representation model and a decoder integrated into the MPEG environment, that presently can be regarded as the most active and powerful set of standard formats for multimedia consumers.

As the event is supported by the European Commission, participation is free.

For more information, please see: http://www.interactivemusicnetwork.org

US/ICOMOS Symposium

Natchitoches, Louisiana, USA, 18-20 March 2004

The Seventh US/ICOMOS International Symposium will be held in Natchitoches, Louisiana, 18-20 March 2004, with the co-sponsorship of the National Park Service National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) and the Cane River National Heritage Area. The overarching theme will be conservation and management of cultural landscapes, cultural itineraries and heritage areas. The scientific committee will be looking for a broad and balanced selection of thought-provoking papers and applicable innovative experiences that will be representative of all heritage categories and all regions in the world.

For more information, please visit: http://www.icomos.org/usicomos/

Media, Immigration and Diversity: Informing Public Discourse or Fanning the Flames of Intolerance?

Ottawa, Canada, 30 March 2004

The Metropolis Project, an international forum for research and policy on immigration, diversity and changing cities, will devote a meeting to the topic of Media, Immigration and Diversity: Informing Public Discourse or Fanning the Flames of Intolerance?, to be held in Ottawa, Ontario, on 30 March 2004.

A panel of experts from Canada, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom will explore specific case studies of the media's role in moments of crisis related to immigration and diversity. Each will address how the media shaped public opinion during, and immediately following, a specific incident. With an emphasis on best practices that may be applicable in the future, presenters will consider how other sources of information like civil society organizations and governments sought to contribute to informing the public debate through the media and other approaches.

For more information, please contact: Marie Lebel-Racine, marie.lebel-racine@cic.gc.ca

Creative Space

Leicester, UK, 5-7 April 2004

The Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, UK, organizes Creative Space, an international conference that will explore museum and gallery space as a creative medium. The conference will be held in Leicester, 5-7 April 2004. Through an exploration of recent museum developments and a focus on the practices and decision-making processes of museum building and exhibition design, Creative Space will focus on the nature, character and potentialities of museum space. By bringing together the voices of museum professionals, architects, designers and academics, this conference will provide a dynamic forum for thinking about museum space, recognizing the significance and malleability of museum space, and reflecting strategically upon recent developments in museum space.

For more information, please contact: Suzanne MacLeod, Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, 105 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7LG, United Kingdom; tel.: +44(0)116 252 3963; fax: +44(0)116 252 3960; e-mail: sm100@le.ac.uk; http://www.le.ac.uk/museumstudies/about/new.htm#creative

World Assembly of the International Artist Managers' Association (IAMA)

Genoa, Italy, 15-17 April 2004

The 14th International World Assembly of the International Artist Managers' Association will take place between 15 and 17 April 2004 in Genoa, Italy. The International Artist Managers' Association (IAMA) is the only worldwide association for classical music artist managers and concert agents.

For more information, please contact: Joeske van Walsum, International Artist Managers' Association (IAMA), 23 Garrick Street Covent Garden, London WC2E 9BN, UK, tel.: +44 20 7379 7336; fax: +44 20 7379 7338; e-mail: info@iamaworld.com; http://www.iamaworld.com/iamaworld.htm

Tokyo International Book Fair (TIBF) 2004

Tokyo, Japan, 22-25 April 2004

Tokyo International Book Fair (TIBF) is the gateway to the world's second largest publishing market - Japan. The TIBF includes many kinds of events with 6 specialized fairs. It will take place in Tokyo, 22-25 April 2004.

For more information, please visit: http://www.reedexpo.co.jp/tibf

Broadcasting and Civil Society in the Digital Age

London, UK, 26-27 April 2004

Voice of the Listener & Viewer (VLV) continues to provide a top-level forum for informed, international debate about the changing media environment and the contribution that public service broadcasting can make to the quality of cultural and democratic life in the information society.

Supported by the BBC, Channel 4, Ofcom, ITV and S4C, VLV’s 9th International Conference will focus on the implications for civil society of the increasingly rapid convergence of communications technologies and the proliferation of new pay-services which digital technology makes possible.

Aimed at specialists in civil society and the information society, media professionals, policy makers, academics, regulators and technologists, the conference programme will include:

• The Spectres at the Feast - The international world, the threats from major players, their potential power to restrict and manage the industry. The obligations put onto major media players, especially public service broadcasters, after WSIS.
• Europe without frontiers - a step too far? - European update on TV Directives; effect of WTO, GATS and GATT; and future debates post WSIS and the effect of enlargement of EU.
• Global Glitz - a threat to good governance? - Putting the new potential of digitalisation to effective use in our society today. Developing good governance to protect the citizen and the consumer, to ensure their voice is heard and to protect local cultures and voices.
• E-democracy - a spider’s web or genuine participation? -Can the digital world really make our societies more democratic? Does the lack of access to technology in the developing world hinder the very countries who need help?
• Bridging or deepening the digital divide? - What are the real benefits - and to whom? Will the consumer and citizen miss out again? Who will control the gateways and costs?
• Media serving people - young and old - The vulnerability of the young and old in the new digital world. How do we use the new opportunities to their benefit?
• Beyond broadcasting - new directions in learning and communication? - A core value of PSB - how do major broadcasters ensure that they spread the benefits and create opportunities, based on the potential of interactive learning. When and how will the benefits reach the developing world? and Finding the way forward.

For up-to-date information and booking form please look at VLV’s website on www.vlv.org.uk

Urban Mindscapes of Europe

Leicester, UK, 29 April 2004

De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, will organize an international conference entitled Urban Mindscapes of Europe, to be held in Leicester on 29 April 2004. The conference will focus on interdisciplinary research into the nature and role of the city (within a specifically European context) as a mindscape and as a cultural text.

The participants will examine city images and identities in literature, music, cinema, the visual arts, mythology, sports, humour, and other aspects of popular culture. Papers examining the uses of cultural images in city marketing and urban policy, or the construction of cultural identities of European cities, are also welcomed.

For more information, please contact: Dr. Godela Weiss-Sussex, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, United Kingdom; e-mail: godela@dmu.ac.uk; http://www.dmu.ac.uk

Creative Clusters

Brighton, UK, 28 April - 1 May 2004

Creative Clusters is a conference and network for people working on the development of creative industries. Creative Clusters is interested in regeneration and development projects that deliver outcomes in both cultural and economic terms.

Creative Clusters explores and advocates the idea that strategies for growth in this sector should address the whole creative ecology, challenging traditional boundaries between art, business, education and science, between for-profit and non-profit enterprise, between economic, social and cultural policy.

The second Creative Clusters Conference takes place in Brighton, UK, 28 April to 1 May 2004. The conference will bring together those who have delivered successful projects, and the organizers will encourage them to be as open as they can about their successes and failures. The programme includes case studies from across the industry and around the world, cutting-edge speaker presentations, discussion sessions, project visits, workshops, master-classes, and networking events.

Case studies for the 2004 conference:

• Area and sector development agencies
• Cultural quarters and cluster projects
• Advocacy and reputation-building initiatives
• Business support, incubators and managed workspaces
• Networking and resource-sharing projects
• Mentoring, training, education and professional development programmes
• Investment, funding and commissioning schemes
• Partnership brokering and building
• Vision and strategy formulation
• Research and data collection
• Venue and exhibition spaces
• Marketing, distribution and sales support programmes.

Discussion papers:

• A Sense of Place: Cultural Tourism and Cultural Industry
• Social Inclusion and the Rise of the Creative Class
• European Enlargement: Cultural Opportunity or Threat?
• Cultural Value and Economic Value
• Asia-Pacific Creative Industries
• Financing Creativity.

If you have been involved in a ground-breaking project in any part of the world, or you have a compelling contribution to make to policy, then please see the Call for Presentations at www.creativeclusters.co.uk

For more information, please contact: Creative Clusters Ltd, The Workstation, Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX, United Kingdom, tel.: +44 (0) 144-249 4334; fax: +44 (0) 144-249 2205; e-mail: info@creativeclusters.co.uk; http://www.creativeclusters.co.uk

Comuniarts: Festival of Social Communications

Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, May/June 2004

The Yugoslav Performing Arts Centre (Yustat), Belgrade, and the Foundation for Social Communication, Warsaw, announce their new project - a festival of social marketing under the name of Comuniarts.

This three-day international, multidisciplinary and multifunctional gathering, and a series of events within its framework, is to be held in Serbia and Montenegro in May/June 2004.

Comuniarts is a new initiative and a radical departure towards the improvement of wide-ranging and varied performances that we call social communication. Comuniarts will include and connect all the participants of this complex process: government and non-government sector, donors and sponsors, artists and agencies, media and universities, experts and users, associations and political bodies, etc.

The important segment of the social communications corpus are, of course, issues linked with arts and with culture in general, involving different participants in cultural activities, such as cultural institutions, artists, cultural managers and producers, informal artistic groups, etc.

The programme of Comuniarts 2004 includes a wide range of activities and contents: festival, education, networking, competitions, publications, and working sessions of relevant groups. This event will demonstrate, evaluate, initiate and summarize, as well as systematize and link a great number of various civil campaigns and their actors. Within the framework of this international assembly, different projects, strategies and plans directed towards the improvement of social communication and development will be presented and discussed. The five-day event will gather all the participants in the chain of social marketing who recognize, initiate, finance or carry out the process and activities within the cycle.

The projects will be evaluated according to the defined criteria, illustrated and presented appropriately, in publication, CD, multi-media, etc.

For more information, please contact: Yustat - Performing Arts Centre, Dositejeva 20, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, tel.: 381 11 631 928/ 620 415; e-mail: office@yustat.org

Interacció 2004

Barcelona, Spain, 4-6 May 2004

Before the official opening of the Universal Forum of Cultures Barcelona 2004, its organizers invite you to Interacció 2004, a meeting and reflection point for politicians and cultural managers working within the local context.

The gathering will discuss six main topics: economic growth and cultural development; the discontents of cultural identities in a diverse world; mass media and cultural context; arts: dilemmas and limits; participation in cultural life; and the impact of globalisation on the cultural dimension of the cities. The discussion on the draft of the Cultural Agenda 21 will take a prominent role in this meeting.

Activities will include plenary sessions, conferences, workshops and an open forum in which initiatives and projects can be presented by the participants.

For further details, please contact: Cultural Studies and Resources Centre of the Barcelona County Council, Montalegre 7, 08001 Barcelona, Spain; tel.: +34 934 020 630; fax: +34 934 020 631; e-mail: ac.interaccio@diba.es, or register at http://www.diba.es/interaccio; http://www.agenda21cultura.net/agenda21/

Journeys of Expression III: Tourism and Festivals as Transnational Practice

Call for Papers
3rd annual CTCC Tourism & Festival Research Conference
Innsbruck, Austria, 5-7 May 2004

Journeys of Expression III: Tourism and Festivals as Transnational Practice is a small three day academic conference to be held in Innsbruck, Austria from 5 to 7 May 2004. Coorganised by the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change at Sheffield Hallam University (UK) and the Institute for European Ethnology and Folklore at Innsbruck University, the conference aims to present and discuss a selection of case studies and theoretical approaches focusing on the relation between tourism and festivals in the context of the contemporary world(s).

Within this context, this conference aims to discuss academic meanings of the relation between tourism and festivals in a transnational context. Why do tourists go to festivals? How do they participate? What do they experience and through which forms of symbolic or semiotic frameworks do they make this experience meaningful? Do festivals become social nodes of a transnational culture, of a 'global village'? What is the meaning of the economic and symbolic exchange processes involved? Are there meta-narratives, and what is their ideological grounding, and their vision of the world?

The conference welcomes case studies and theoretical explorations that address such questions. Themes for the conference include:

• tourism and festivals as transnational social phenomena;
• tourism as a global geographical extension of ritual processes;
• heritage, culture and nature as sacred spaces;
• festivals as transnational relations and exchange systems;
• cultural festivals as international institutions, utopias and doctrines;
• festivals as expressions of power;
• tourist participation in 'cultural' festivals and the communication of experience;
• the challenge of internationalisation to cultural values and organisation patterns.

Critical contestations and discussions of such themes and particularly papers based on research data are welcome. Please send a 250 word abstract to Dr David Picard (d.picard@shu.ac.uk). The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 5 March 2004. The conference convenors are Mike Robinson, David Picard, Oliver Haid.

For more information, please contact: Centre for Tourism & Cultural Change, Sheffield Hallam University, Howard Street - Owen Building, Sheffield SW1 1WB, United Kingdom; tel. +44 (0) 114 225 3973; fax: +44 (0) 114 225 3343; e-mail d.picard@shu.ac.uk; http://www.tourism-culture.com

Cultural Heritage

Córdoba, Argentina, 6-9 May 2004

The Second International Cultural Heritage Conference will be held in Córdoba, Argentina, 6-9 May 2004. The conference is organized by Centro Cultural Canada Córdoba and Museo Histórico de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

The conference theme is Cultural Heritage and will be organized around 4 sub-themes:

• Aborigine Heritage
• Jesuits Heritage
• Immigration Heritage
• Scientific Heritage.

The call for papers (Primera Circular) on the event, will be available in April 2003.

For further information, please contact: Prof. Elsa Zareceansky: zarecean@esl.unc.edu.ar; Arq. María del Carmen Franchello de Mariconde: mfranche@faudi.unc.edu.ar

Group Dynamics

Zagreb, Croatia, 6-9 May 2004

As part of the Zagreb – Cultural Kapital 3000 project, an international interdisciplinary symposium entitled Group Dynamics will take place in Zagreb, Croatia, from 6-9 May 2004. It will explore aspects of research and presentation related to the phenomenon of artist groups and different aspects of collective work and collectivity. The symposium is conceived as a first step in long-term addressing of issues of organization and self-organization, grouping, collectives and widely related to the field of cultural production.

As this is a very heterogeneous phenomenon a number of eminent theatre scholars, but also theoreticians from the fields of philosophy, architecture, art history, and artists who practice in specific types of organized groups, are invited to participate in the symposium. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• affects and relations in group work
• self-organization and non-hierarchical forms of public presence
• group politicality
• group as an event
• collectivism
• group utopias
• production of common
• group as a market of interests, etc.

The symposium foresees a variety of forms of participation including moderated discussion panels with presentations by theorists, curators or artists in the form of 10-minute statements, longer presentations of artistic projects, papers of up to 30 minutes (followed by a discussion), performances, workshops, and additional off-topic slots for participants to form interest groups or collaborative presentations.

The Project Zagreb – Cultural Kapital of Europe 3000 is a collaborative platform initiated by four independent cultural organizations in Croatia: CDU - Center for Drama Art (performing arts), mi2 - Multimedia Institute (new media), Platforma 9,81 (architecture and media), WHW - What, How and for Whom (visual arts). The project was developed together with the German partner project relations, and with the financial support by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes. Throughout a three year period (2004-2006) the project plans to develop manifold collaborative practices within the local and international cultural scene, thus drawing attention to the inadequacy of dominant cultural models to meet the challenges in a changed setting for cultural action.

For more information please contact: Ms. Ivana Ivković, Project Coordinator, Center for Drama Art, e-mail: cdu@zamir.net, or visit the web site: www.projekt-relations.de

Celebrating Innovation, Creating the Future

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 6-10 May 2004

American Association of Museums 2004 Annual Convention
e-mail: annualmeeting@aam-us.org

The Universal Forum of Cultures

Barcelona, Spain, 9 May - 26 September 2004

A new event is being shaped that seeks to address one of the main challenges of the twenty-first century - to ensure dialogue of cultures. The First Universal Forum of Cultures (See Culturelink no. 27/April 1999, pp. 25-27.) will be held in Barcelona in the year 2004. It is to be a new type of world event, of spirit and scale similar to the Olympic Games and International Expositions, but based on the cultures of the world. From 9 May - 26 September 2004, numerous debates, discussions, thematic exhibitions, and the World Art Festival will take place.

The Forum aims to facilitate dialogue between peoples, cultures and civilisations. It is an attempt to respond to the challenge posed by the globalisation of all human activities; it is also a contribution to the principles of tolerance and the culture of peace promoted by UNESCO. It hopes to provide an opportunity to show the world the best of each culture, to learn from each other, and to pool together everything that favors solidarity, human rights and sustainable development.

Three major issues will be the subject of debate: cultures and diversity, cultures and peace, and cultures and sustainability.

The Forum will bring together cultures from all over the world and it will offer each an opportunity to show its own creative skills. The Forum invites everybody to an exchange of experience, contrasting ideas and beliefs, in the spirit of tolerance and respect and stimulating cooperation. It hopes to be a meeting of community spirit, in which everyone will participate from the perspective of his or her own identity.

The participants will not be nation-states, but rather different groups of people interested in the problems raised at the Forum and willing to join in. Besides UNESCO, different non-governmental organisations, universities, multinational corporations, as well as major political and trade union organisations will take part. The Forum will encourage the presence of young people, the university and scientific communities, professionals, intellectuals, artists and creators.

The Forum hopes to leave behind a legacy of knowledge, expertise, relationships and documentation on the subjects dealt with, to contribute to the continuity of the event, and to pave the way for the cities wishing to host similar events in the future.

The Forum is an initiative of the Barcelona City Hall, supported by Generalitat de Catalunya and the Spanish Government, as well as UNESCO. The first two months of the Forum will feature activities and seminars focusing on cultural diversity and on the celebration of differences among communities. Analysis and debates will follow on issues concerning environmental sustainability and human progress and development. The Forum will provide a unique occasion for the reflection and debate of the great social and cultural challenges of living in the new century, as well as offering the opportunity to celebrate different cultures and cultural values.

For up-to-date information on the programme, please contact: Universal Forum of Cultures - Barcelona 2004, Torre Mapfre, C/ de la Marina 16-18, Planta 29, E-08005 Barcelona, Spain, tel.: +34 93 401 2004; fax: +34 93 402 3912; e-mail: forum@barcelona2004.org; http://www.barcelona2004.org

Managing Cultural Dynamics within the Renewed Europe

Krakow, Poland, 13-16 May 2004

The next ENCATC Annual Conference and General Assembly on Managing Cultural Dynamics within the Renewed Europe, will take place in Krakow, Poland, 13-16 May 2004.

This first international event in the cultural field in Poland after its accession to the EU (01/05/2004) has the ambition to create a unique international environment for information exchange, know-how sharing, debate amongst the representatives from the cultural and educational sectors in Western, Central and Eastern Europe on managing cultural dynamics within the renewed Europe.

The timing for this conference is very appropriate. It will enable the representatives from the cultural and educational sectors to examine the new role of culture in an enlarged Europe, as well as the new place of culture in the draft Constitutional Treaty. With the biggest enlargement ever, the EU citizens need a deep understanding of the sense of building the European society and feeling of belonging to Europe without losing their national, regional and local ties.

More precisely, in the context of the work of the European Convention and the discussions on the future Constitutional Treaty of the European Union, this event reflects the ENCATC desire and commitment to support and foster discussions among its members (networks of institutions, including civil society organisations in the field of culture and education). The discussion concerns the responsibility of the culture and education sector for building Europe as a continent open to culture, learning and social progress. In addition, intercultural dialogue within Europe and beyond focuses on the importance of the cultural inheritance of Europe for the life of society.

For more information, please contact: ENCATC, European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres, Square Sainctelette 19 - 1000-Bruxelles, Belgium, tel.: +32 2 201 29 12; fax: +32 2 203 02 26; e-mail: info@encatc.org; http://www.encatc.org

Performing Africa: Politics, Development and Practice in African Theatre

Leeds, UK, 15-17 May 2004

The Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS) will be holding a conference May 15-17, 2004, at Weetwood Hall, Leeds. The conference will centre on the crucial role of theatre and related art forms in contemporary Francophone and Anglophone Africa as a vehicle for political debate, development and cultural identity.

The conference will feature performances, workshops and papers exploring the nature of performance created to make the arts a major source of information and change throughout the continent.

For more information, please contact: Michael Medley, e-mail: African-Studies@leeds.ac.uk

Ethnic Communities in Democratic Societies

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 20-23 May 2004

The Fourth MESEA (Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies) conference on Ethnic Communities in Democratic Societies will be held at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 20-23 May 2004. Proposals for workshops and papers may cover the following topics, among others:

• Negotiation of culture, language, religion within (non-)territorial communities
• Parochialism and globalization
• Community and fragmentation in global cities
• Communitarianism vs. rights
• Literary and artistic productions within transnational democracies
• Aesthetic concerns of ethnic subjects in democratic societies
• How literature reflects democratic concerns
• Negotiating ethnic exceptionalism and participation in a larger collectivity
• Nation states and imagined communities
• Nationalism and transnational loyalties
• Nativism and racism in democratic contexts
• Ethnic press and transnationalism
• Ethnic community vs. local law / (Il)legal immigration
• Transnational identities
• Fragmented identities
• Political agency, political choices
• Balkanization of mentality
• Bastions of ethnic tolerance
• Citizenship and ethnopolitics
• Civis and civility
• Ethnic anxieties
• Ethnic discrimination and affirmative action
• Ethnogenesis and ethnostasis
• From confrontation to cooperation
• Internal colonialisms
• Mythologized nationalisms
• Xenophobia / xenophilia.

Deadline for proposals: 20 December 2003.

Send a one-page proposal and one-paragraph bio on the same page as your e-mail submission to Dr. Heike Raphael-Hernandez.

For more information please contact: Dr. Heike Raphael-Hernandez, University of Maryland in Europe, Im Bosseldorn 30, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany, e-mail: raphael-hernandez@mesea.org; http://www.mesea.org

Reaching Communities through the Arts

Edinburgh, UK, 30 May – 5 June 2004

Organized by the British Council and supported by the Scottish Arts Council, the international seminar entitled Reaching Communities through the Arts, to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 30 May – 5 June 2004, will examine the various contexts in which arts are used within communities.

Over the past 40 years, community arts has achieved recognition at the highest level. However, its grass-roots nature has meant that opportunity for international networking and sharing of ideas between cultures has been limited and ad hoc. By offering this unique opportunity for organisations and individuals from all over the world to come together and discuss their experiences, arts within communities will be able to develop beyond current national boundaries - without compromising the essential local focus of the work.

This seminar is aimed at policy-makers and senior managers in ministries, local government and arts agencies/councils and other bodies implementing or influencing arts policy. It will offer participants the opportunity to explore issues of quality, sustainability, and partnership in community arts projects, using examples from Scotland as case studies.

Topics will include arts in urban and rural contexts, arts used for social inclusion and regeneration, arts and health, arts in the workplace, arts used for consulting communities, arts as a tool for developing personal and social skills, and arts facilitating lifelong learning, training and inclusive routes into education.

For more information, please contact: British Council Seminars, 1 Beaumont Place, Oxford OX1 2PJ, United Kingdon; tel.: +44(0)1865 302720; fax: +44(0)1865 557368, 516590; e-mail: yellowteam.seminars@britishcouncil.org; http://britishcouncil.org/seminars

Seoul International Book Fair 2004

Seoul, Korea, 4-9 June 2004

Organized by the Korean Publishers Association (KPA), this annual book fair invites participants from Korea and other countries. It will take place in Seoul, Republic of Korea, 4-9 June 2004.

For more information, please contact: e-mail: moon@kpa21.or.kr; http://www.sibf.co.kr

Audience Development: Sharing Practices and Experiences in the Region

Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania, 10-12 June 2004

Balkan Express, the Balkan Performing Arts Network, is organizing a meeting to be held in Sfantu Gheorghe, Romania, on 10-12 June 2004, under the title of Audience Development: Sharing Practices and Experiences in the Region. During the meeting, an artistic workshop for young directors and a training session for cultural operators will be held, along with the 'exploration' of the host country's performing arts sector.

The BE encounter is organised by the ECUMEST Association (BE contact point for Romania) in partnership with the League for Theatre Foundation and Arcus Cultural Center, and will take place in the framework of the ATELIER International Unconventional Theatre Festival (9-13 June 2004).

For further details, please contact: ECUMEST Association, 14 Batistei St., 701314 Bucharest, Romania; tel./fax: +40-21-21 22 100; e-mail: oana.radu@ecumest.ro; http://www.ecumest.ro or http://www.ietm.org

New Challenges in a World Longing for Peace

International Congress on Intercultural and Interfaith Dialogue
Bilbao, Spain, 14-18 June 2004 (tentative dates)

General Features of the Congress

Organisers: Barandiaran Kristau Alkartea – Pax Romana (International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs) and UNESCO Etxea

Patrons: UNESCO, The Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue of the Catholic Church (being contacted), United Nations (pending confirmation), The World Council of Churches, The World Jewish Congress, and The Parliament of Religions

Intellectual Foundations of the Congress

The promotion of dialogue among different communities and civilizations is, at present, a priority for the international community. It is only in dialogue that communities can truly meet and understand one another.

Choosing the route of dialogue however, involves facing a number of difficulties and challenges. First of all, throughout history there have been clashes between groups of people bearing different 'truths' or worldviews. This difficulty is ingrained in the centuries-long history of every group and its own self-understanding and, therefore, can be eliminated neither quickly nor through pure will power. Overcoming it implies facing anew this history of clashes and engaging with the 'other' in a process of mutual recognition and understanding, altering thereby the resilient patterns of fear, suspicion and mistrust towards the 'other'.

There is no consensus concerning the nature of the triggering factors of historical conflicts is. In the Western world, and especially since the wars of religion of the 16th and 17th centuries, a current of thought has developed which cites religion as the main source of such conflicts. The proponents of this current claim that religion must be deprived of all public dimensions and reduced to the private realm, thus sometimes falling into a sort of fundamentalist secularism. In response to such tendencies, there has been a deepening affirmation of the public value of religion in large groups of the world population, which, in certain cases, has led towards forms of religious fundamentalism.

Due to such a conflict of interpretations with regards to religion, different strategies of dialogue have been developed. For some, dialogue among cultures or civilizations must take place on a strictly cultural level, such as to avoid the dangerous symbolic-affective worlds of the different religions, worlds with vast sentimental and historical burdens. For others, the dialogue among religions is paramount, precisely because they affect the core values and motivations of every civilization. Leaving them out reduces any dialogue to a certain superficiality.

Another difficulty is the division that exists at the heart of the international community. There is no shared authority beneath which a strategy can be established to forestall possible conflicts between countries and between different visions of the world and society. The barrier, raised in the 19th century, which divided the world along the lines of two ideological blocks, has all but disappeared after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. A new and wide range of 'identity' factors (anthropological, cultural, historical, religious) have become the nucleus of new blocks that struggle for self-affirmation, for international recognition, and for an adequate level of power in the concert of nations. For the countries that are better positioned in said concert, the movements produced by these factors are seen as potentially destabilizing, whilst for the actors themselves they are a means of liberation from previous impositions and are, therefore, necessary for survival and development.

This question leads to the underlying one of how to understand 'identity'. It is by no means clear whether any human group can have a totally separate identity of its own. History teaches that civilizations and religions have intermingled constantly throughout the centuries, and that, therefore, the identity of any given culture or civilization should be construed as an ongoing and complex process during which several 'identities' never cease to interact. From this point of view, clinging to a sort of identity or value-based essentialism seems to be just the expression of fear before those who are somewhat different, not taking into account the many commonalities with them. This, in turn, may take the form of a dangerous exclusion of all those who are different, thus justifying war against them.

A relatively new phenomenon may help overcoming this danger. The vast migratory movements across countries and continents must be treated as an essential part of any modern-day dialogue. Many countries (mainly developed of fast-developing ones) face the reality of culturally and religiously pluralist societies, a reality which they must learn to manage. Such societies provide the possibility of new perspectives on the meeting of civilizations by producing vastly promising cultural and religious interactions at the heart of countries that, until recently, were rather homogenous in terms of culture. Daily interactions are converting those homogenous identities into identities marked by diversity and are also making essential the construction of a shared social project, capable of accommodating and protecting minorities.

Today debates about such issues focus on how we are to advance from the fact of multicultural and multi-religious societies towards intercultural and inter-religious societies on both a local and a global level. This is a debate of great conceptual complexity which requires patient and genuine dialogue founded on mutual respect. Two things seem to be clear in this debate. The first is that only the mutual recognition between different groups and individuals can lead towards the construction of an effective dialogue. The second is that respect for difference does not entail the creation of societies populated by enclosed ghettos.

The fact that different groups clash on the basis of difference (whether political, cultural, religious or other) usually masks an important truth, i.e., that they share in many spiritual resources and values, which may ultimately be essentially similar.

The conference will stand as a platform for the exploration of these key themes, taking into account the outcome of other conferences and the different declarations concerning these or similar issues, such as the 1995 UNESCO declaration concerning tolerance, the 2000 UNESCO declaration concerning cultural diversity and the 2001 Global Agenda for Dialogue among Civilisations with its Programme of Action, among others.

Outline of Conference Content

Objectives:

• Affirm and promote dialogue as the road to a peaceful and just global coexistence in which diversity is enriching
• Base the dialogue on each party’s faithfulness to its own tradition on the one hand, and on a sincere openness to other traditions on the other
• Discern the similarities and differences of the spiritual roots of each culture in order to foster mutual understanding among cultures
• Recognise encounters and conflicts among traditions throughout history
• Identify the risks and opportunities posed by present day migratory movements

Central points:

• Interdependency among religions and cultures
• Causes for violent conflicts and opportunities for reconciliation among different groups
• The way forward to live with justice and peace in a global and intercultural world

Questions to be dealt with:

• Self-understanding of each tradition
• Plurality and the related problems within each tradition
• Plurality of traditions and cultures
• Encounters and conflicts among traditions
• The experience of present day migrant communities and strategies for interculturalism
• Constructing a future for everybody
• Paths towards inter-religious dialogue
• The need for the incorporation of the cultural factor
• Universality in difference
• Educational factors
• Concrete proposals for the present day situation.

For more information, please contact: Ms. Molly Stevenson, Organising Committee, e-mail: info@unescoeh.org

The Economics of Culture

Training Course for Arts Managers
Madrid, Spain, 14-25 June 2004

The Subdirectorate-General for International Cultural Co-operation of the Spanish Directorate-General for Cultural Co-operation and Communication offers twenty grants of 1,400 € each to arts managers of the EU candidate countries for participation in a Training Course for Arts Managers on the topic of The Economics of Culture, to be held in Madrid, Spain, from 14-25 June 2004.

The programme will discuss the bases of international co-operation and financial co-operation, cultural co-operation nowadays, concepts and instruments, financial resources, Spanish cultural co-operation, and current bases of economic analysis of culture.

The course is tailored for civil servants in cultural administrations linked to economic and financial services and/or international co-operation, for civil servants in cultural administrations in charge of drawing up policies, and for professionals in companies and foundations in the cultural sector. In all cases, applicants must be in possession of a university degree.

Proposal submission deadline is 23 April 2004.

For more information, please contact: Ms. Paz Canto, Subdirectorate-General for International Cultural Co-operation, Plaza del Rey 1, 28001 Madrid, Spain; tel.: 34-917017106; fax: 34-915232573; e-mail: paz.canto@dgcc.mcu.es

Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations

Moscow, Russia, 18-21 June 2004

The Centre for Civilizational and Regional Studies, in cooperation with the Institute for African Studies (both under the Russian Academy of Sciences), be hosting the Third International Conference on Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilizations, to be held in Moscow, 18-21 June 2004.

The working languages of the conference will be Russian and English.

For more information, please visit http://civreg.ru or contact Prof. Dmitri M. Bondarenko and Dr. Igor L. Alexeev, preferably by e-mail: civ-reg@inafr.ru or by fax: + 7 095 / 202 0786, phone: + 7 095 / 291 4119, or ordinary mail: Centre for Civilizational and Regional Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30/1 Spiridonovka St., 123001 Moscow, Russia.

The Summer Shift 2004

CPR International Programme of Performance Workshops
Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, 19 June - 25 July 2004

Whether you are a performer, designer, writer, director, choreographer, artist or a lecturer/teacher in performance/scenography dance and theatre, under the title Summer Shift 2004, the Centre for Performance Research (CPR) summer school offers the perfect opportunity to explore your own creative practice and meet like-minded participants from around the world.

The Summer Shift offers an opportunity to:

• experience and learn new training methods;
• devise work that embraces the voice, physical and visual theatre;
• explore your creativity and your imagination; and
• enjoy the beauty of the landscape in West Wales.

CPR has created a workshop programme aimed at revitalising bodies and minds with an energizing blend of practical training and creative inspiration. Throughout June and July, Aberystwyth will host some of the most talented and inspiring theatre and performance artists, including:

• Carol Brown and Dorita Hannah, dance & scenography summer school, 19-25 June
• Elevator Repair Service, 27 June - 1 July
• Beyond the Border festival, 2-4 July
• Aida Redza, Butoh/traditional Malay dance, 3 -8 July
• Taal-Fusion, Bollywood dance workshop, 10-11 July
• Motiroti, video & photography to create performance, 12-16 July
• Joan Mills, voice retreat, 17-18 July
• Mike Pearson, performative expedition, 20-21 July
• Richard Gough, performativity of food, 22-25 July

For further information, please contact: Centre for Performance Research (CPR), Unit 6, Science Park, Aberystwyth SY23 3AH, Wales, UK; tel.: +44 (0) 1970 622133; fax: +44 (0) 1970 622132; e-mail: cprwww@aber.ac.uk; www.thecpr.org.uk/summershift4.htm

13th International Conference on Cultural Economics

Chicago, USA, 22-25 June 2004

The Association for Cultural Economics International (ACEI) is organising the 13th International Conference on Cultural Economics, to be held in Chicago, USA, on 22-25 June 2004. The areas that will be covered by the conference include the following:

• industrial organization and competition in the cultural industries
• arts labour markets
• counterfeiting, copying and other property rights issues for artists
• international trade in the arts
• pricing and marketing strategies for arts, organizations and museums
• public policy for the arts
• cultural tourism and economic development
• investing in the arts
• economic history of the arts.

ACEI is a scholarly society that includes academic scholars, government officials, foundation officials, managers of arts and cultural organizations, and artists, all of them united in their interest in furthering our understanding of the economic aspects of the arts and culture. It holds international research conferences every two years.

For more information, please contact: Neil Arper, Department of Economics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115 USA; e-mail: acei@neu.edu; http://web.econ.uic.edu/tsmith/index_cultural.html, http://www.dac.neu.edu/economics/n.alper/acei

Preserving the Audiovisual Heritage - Transition and Access

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 24-26 June 2004

The sixth technical symposium to examine issues of concern to audiovisual archivists will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 24-26 June 2004. The symposium will be organized jointly by the participating members of the CCAAA (Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations) and AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists).

The three-day event will be held on the theme Preserving the Audiovisual Heritage - Transition and Access.

Each of the preceding conferences developed themes relating to conservation and preservation from the viewpoints of the major types of collections: film, television and sound.

More details can be found on the website: http://www.jts2004.org

Asia-Europe Seminar on Cultural Policy

Bangkok Thailand, 24-27 June 2004

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), with the Ministry of Culture of Thailand and the support of the Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, and the International Intelligence on Culture, London, is organising the Asia-Europe Cultural Policy Seminar, to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 24-27 June 2004.

Although stages of development differ from country to country in Asia and Europe, the need for governments to respond with appropriate policy solutions to safeguard and promote culture has become more and more evident. Ministries with responsibility for culture are often positioned at the heart of policy challenges. They will know that developing cultural policies is an increasingly complex business. What policy options do they have? How can ministries assess that what they are doing is effective? What can the countries of Europe and Asia learn from each other?

Addressing these questions, the Seminar is aimed at senior civil servants, cultural policy analysts and researchers from Asian and European countries, giving them an opportunity to exchange information and experiences and engage with some leading international cultural policymakers and policy analysts. The objectives of the seminar are to:

• look at innovative policy solutions to common cultural policy dilemmas;
• examine the drivers for change and policy shifts occurring in cultural policy;
• learn how ASEM countries implement and put their cultural policies into practice;
• look at ways cultural policy objectives can be measured and attained;
• promote comparative and inter-cultural dialogue among ASEM countries on cultural policy; and
• encourage and foster good understanding and cooperation between Asia and Europe in the field of culture.

The program will include topics of government support for culture, ensuring a policy balance between the heritage and the contemporary, cultural planning and effective policy delivery, culture and development policies, and policies for international cultural cooperation. The ultimate output could be a comparative study of cultural policies carried out in ASEM countries, which would provide the best practical input in different cultural aspects for policy makers.

To find out more, please see http://www.asef.org/project.asp?projcode=274&deptcode=1

Contact: Ms. Marie Le Sourd, Project-Manager, Cultural Exchange, Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), 31 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 119595; tel.: (65) 6874 9723; fax: (65) 6872 1207; e-mail: marielesourd@asef.org; http://www.asef.org/dir/ce

Policing the Crisis

Fifth International Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference
Urbana, Illinois, USA, 25-28 June 2004

The Fifth International Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference, the Official Conference of the Association for Cultural Studies, will be held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 25-28 June 2004. In keeping with the Crossroads' mission to provide an open forum for all topics that interest the heterogeneous international cultural studies community in a time of global uncertainty, the Conference's main theme in 2004 will be Policing the Crisis within the following areas of human activity:

• Critical Pedagogy and Cultural Studies,
• Political and Cultural Studies
• Globalisation, Postcolonialism, and Pedagogy
• Race, Identity, and Representation
• Performative Cultural Studies
• Cultural Studies/Critical Methodologies
• Neo-liberalism, Governmentality and Cultural Studies
• Asian/Asian-American Studies
• Medial/Cultural Studies
• Cultural Innovation at the Crossroads.

For more information, please contact: Norman K. Denzin, Director, Institute of Communication Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 228 Gregory Hall, mc-463, 810 S. Wright Street, Urbana, Illinois, 61801 USA; e-mail: info@crossroads2004.org; http://www.crossroads2004.org

World Culture Forum Brazil 2004

São Paulo, Brazil, 26 June - 4 July 2004

World Culture Forum Brazil 2004 will take place in São Paulo, 26 June - 4 July 2004. It is an initiative which seeks to promote culture as a fundamental dimension of contemporary life, involving different aspects of human existence, focusing especially on the relation between culture and social development. The Forum attaches to the arts and culture an important role in economic development, education, and in cultivating diversity. The idea to create the World Culture Forum was conceived during a consultative meeting organised by the Ford Foundation in 2000, and was further elaborated in consultations between the Ford Foundation, Texaco Foundation, Prince Klaus Fund and Prince of Asturias Foundation.

The main objectives of the Forum are:

• to create a platform for joint actions that promote culture and development;
• to form an information network about themes related to cultural and economic development;
• to research, identify and monitor the state of the arts and culture on a regional and global level;
• to manage new mechanisms for supporting cultural entrepreneurship;
• to develop and promote access to the cultural market;
• to support regional and international cultural initiatives that promote intercultural understanding, peace and development;
• to serve as a point of reference for cultural actions and debates.

At the centre of the World Culture Forum Brazil 2004 there will be an international symposium which will provide an opportunity to reflect on the world's cultural prospects and social realities. It will provide an open platform to discuss and exchange ideas, experiences and knowledge. The symposium will comprise six general themes:

Culture and Social Development: Dividing Responsibilities
• Identity and Autonomy: Designing new Maps
• Knowledge, Education and Solidarity: Cultural Dimensions of a New Time
• Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity: Patrimonies and Paradigms of Humanity
• Culture and Economy: Production and Circulation of Values
• New Concepts of the World: Articulation and Administration of Culture.

The Forum will also include a rich artistic programme and cultural fair. A permanent virtual forum will also be established that will serve as a gateway to arts, culture, economic and social development, providing access to information and virtual markets, global communication and networking. The Forum will invite artists and professionals from all fields of arts and culture, scientists, politicians and journalists from all over the world to participate in the Forum.

Preparations for the Forum are under way and a preparatory conference of representatives of cultural networks was held in Salvador/Bahia in conjunction with the fifth Mercado Cultural in December 2003, during which discussions were held to reflect upon the ideas and content of the Forum.

For more information, please contact: Fórum Cultural Mundial Brasil 2004 - World Culture Forum Brazil 2004, Escritorio - Office Rio de Janeiro, Rua Eng. Pena Chaves 95/202, Jardim Botanico, CEP 22460-090 Rio de Janeiro R.J., Brazil, tel.: +55 21 25298760; fax: 22594765; e-mail: info@forumculturalmundial.org; http://www.forumculturalmundial.org

Region and Demography – Depressing Peripheries or New Opportunities?

6th European Summer School for Sustainable Regional Development
Germerode, Germany, 27 June - 3 July 2004

The annual European Summer School for Sustainable Regional Development is an institution of the Department of Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape Planning of the University of Kassel. It's 6th session will take place from 27 June to 3 July 2004 in Germerode, Germany.

The purpose of the curriculum is to provide further education in regional development in Europe. The Summerschool aims to bring regional managers and planners, public administrators, scientists and politicians in contact with each other through creative and active learning training. The latest information, new methods and clarifying theories and practice will be used to design and discuss visions and concepts of future regional development.

The European Summerschool will provide participants with a forum to satisfy their need for exchange of practical experience, theory and methodology. At the same time, the participants own experience will be integrated into future study programmes and research projects.

For more details, please contact: University of Kassel,European Summerschool for Sustainable Regional Development, Mönchebergstraße 17, 34109 Kassel, Germany; tel.: ++49 (0)561 804-3505, fax: ++49 (0)561 804-2485; e-mail: summerschool@uni-kassel.de

The Second International Museology Conference

Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece, 28 June - 2 July 2004

The Second International Museology Conference will be held in Mytilene, Greece, 28 June - 2 July 2004. The central theme of the Conference will be the use and application of New Technologies in the recording and presentation of Cultural Heritage, as well as in the promotion of the social role of the Contemporary Museum. The Conference will be structured around three major cycles:

• Collections Management: museum documentation, preventive conservation, environmental parameters in modern museums, digitization of cultural heritage: policies and strategies, organization and management of the museums, virtual libraries, virtual museums.
• Education: new technologies and educational activities in museums, production of educational material, and evaluation of applications.
• Communication: Internet, promotion strategies in contemporary museums, public relations, evaluation of museum practices, cultural heritage, globalization and the museums, the museums and local communities, museums and identities, cultural heritage in urban environments: communication and promotion strategies, museums and the natural / cultural environment, archaeological sites and monuments, open-air museums, museums as cultural industries, cultural heritage and tourism.

For more information, please contact: Ms Sophia Bakogianni, tel.: + 30 2251 036637; e-mail: sbak@ct.aegean.gr; http://www.aegean.gr/culturaltec/museum/2004/

Development Summer Workshops

Ottawa, Canada, July 200

Aiming to provide innovative solutions to development issues, Mosaic.net International Inc. announces Summer Workshops to be held in Ottawa, Canada on the topics of Results-based Management, Appreciative Inquiry and Open Space (12-16 July 2004), Participatory Development Concepts, Tools and Application in PLA/PRA Methods (19-24 July 2004) and Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (26-31 July 2004).

The workshops are designed for international development practitioners; NGOs and aboriginal facilitators; policy, programme and project officers; and consultants.

For more information, please contact: Mosaic.net International, Inc., 705 Roosevelt Avenue, Ottawa, Canada K2A 2A8; tel.: (613) 728-1439; fax: (613) 728-1154; e-mail: workshop@mosaic-net-intl.ca; http://www.mosaic-net-intl.ca

International Understanding Through Arts: Living on a Bridge

InSEA 7th European Regional Congress
Istanbul-Cappadocia, Turkey, 1-6 July 2004

The International Society for Education through Art (InSEA) organizes the Seventh InSEA European Regional Congress, in Istanbul and Cappadocia, 1-6 July 2004. This year's congress theme focuses on the ways of learning and understanding the differences, as well as the commonalities of different cultures through art and better international understanding of arts and art education.

For more information, please contact: The Conference Committee InSEA 7th European Congress - Vedat Ozsoy, Gazi Eglitimi Fakültesi, Güzel Sanatlar Egitimi Bölümü, Teknikokullar, Ankara, 06 500, Turkey; e-mail: vosoy@gaz.edu. and
Olcay Kirisoglu, Mustafa Kemel Universitesi, Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi, 31 040 Antakya / Hatay, Turkey; e-mail: okiris@mku.edu.tr; http://www.insea.org

The International Festival of Theatre Methods 2004

Malpils, Latvia, 5-11 July 2004

The International University Global Theatre Experience (IUGTE) invites professional actors, directors, dancers, choreographers, teachers of theatre methods, and senior students in theatre departments to take part in the International Festival of Theatre Methods 2004 (http://www.iugte.com/projects/Festival_Methods_2004.php) which will take place in Malpils, Latvia, 5-11 July 2004.

The festival programme includes lectures, master classes, workshops, work demonstrations, video, performances and a discussion club.

The object of the Festival is participation in group work, presentation and exchange of contemporary methods and approaches in the performing arts. Besides the main events of the programme, each participant will have the opportunity to demonstrate his or her methods of work in the form of master class, performance, video or lecture, as well as to become acquainted with the works offered by their colleagues from different countries.

Among others, a master class on Seni Pencak Silat in the Training of Theatre Practitioners will be held under the direction of Dr. Haji Zainal Abdul Latiff (Malaysia). Seni Pencak Silat (SPS) is the art of self defense of the Malays whose name means the Art or Knowledge of Systemetically-Trained Movements in Self-Defense. Like any other martial arts and movement training, it helps the actor achieve awareness (of himself, others, space and tempo), concentration and focus, body-mind coordination, precision and intensity, body posture, control and balance, self confidence and agility. During the workshop, participants will be introduced to the basic SPS movements through basic warm-up movements, basic hand movements and movement patterns.

More detailed information about Seni Pencak Silat for Dancers & Actors is available at http://www.iugte.com/projects/Dr.Zainal.php.

Registration deadline for presentations is 1 March 2004. For registration, please send the detailed CV to info@iugte.com.

For more information, please contact: Inga Ryazanova, Chief Executive, International University Global Theatre Experience (IUGTE), http://www.iugte.com

Address: 24 Kugu Str., Radisson SAS Daugava Hotel, Magnet Business Centre, Riga, LV-1048, Latvia, tel.: +371 6403999; fax: +371 7061800; e-mail: info@iugte.com; iugte@mail.ru

Language and the Future of Europe

Ideologies, Policies and Practices
Southampton, UK, 8-10 July 2004

With the accession to the EU of ten new member states on 1 May 2004, the process of social transformation within and across national boundaries throughout Europe will be given a new impetus. At the same time, the accelerated process of unification has renewed and heightened the tension between national and supra-national interests. One of the most tangible manifestations of this tension between the promotion of, and resistance to, social, economic and political unification is in conflicting language ideologies, policies and practices. At this decisive moment in contemporary European history, the Centre for Transnational Studies at the University of Southampton, UK, invites contributions to debates on these issues at a conference to be held in Southampton on 8-10 July 2004.

The conference will give an opportunity to look behind political rhetoric and consider both the attitudes that lie behind policy and the specific practices with which effective policy must be compatible. It will also consider the impact of European policies and practices on the wider world, including the consequences of colonial and neo-colonial legacies. Papers are invited on all aspects of this European theme, but proposals which analyse the relationships between language ideologies, policies and practices will be particularly welcome.

Please send proposals for papers by 31 January 2004 to lipp@soton.ac.uk

The conference website can be found at http://www.lang.soton.ac.uk/lipp/

Christopher Brumfit, Professor of Language in Education
e-mail: cjb1@soton.ac.uk

Michael Kelly, Professor of French
e-mail: mhk@soton.ac.uk

Clare Mar-Molinero, Reader in Spanish sociolinguistics
e-mail: cmm@soton.ac.uk

Patrick Stevenson, Reader in German sociolinguistics
e-mail: prs1@soton.ac.uk

The Symposium of the International Musicological Society

Melbourne, Australia, 11-16 July 2004

The 2004 Symposium of the International Musicological Society (SIMS) will be held in Melbourne, Australia, 11-16 July 2004. This event will be co-hosted by the International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), the International Society for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), and the Musicological Society of Australia (MSA). The 2004 MSA conference coincides with SIMS 2004.

The symposium themes will include the following:

• Music commemoration including - Modes of commemoration - Traditional and contemporary ritual events - Centenaries of musicians - Critics and scholars in 2004
• Music commodification - Music and business - Indigenous law and music - Changing copyright law - Music as a global trade commodity - World music - Virtual technology
• Music communication - Analysis - Border crossings - Diasporas - Crossover music - Narrative theory.

SIMS 2004 will bring together musicologists, ethnomusicologists, popular and traditional music specialists, academics in interdisciplinary fields, professional musicians, students, teachers and others to present their research and interact with each other.

For more details, please contact: Margaret Kartami, School of Music - Conservatorium, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Australia, fax: +61 3 9905 3241; e-mail: sims2004@arts.monash.edu.au; http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/music/sims2004/

Sharing Cultures

Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 12-14 July 2004

Within the framework of the Dutch EU Presidency and the Informal Councils of Culture and Education Ministers, the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) is preparing a conference entitled Sharing Cultures on a new cultural policy for Europe. The conference will be held in Rotterdam, 12-14 July 2004. It is a major event in the ECF's 2004 calendar, largely shaped by the fact that 2004 is the year of the EU's enlargement, which is appropriately reflected in its priority topics. The topics are as follows:

Mobility beyond frontiers: Individuals and cultural/intellectual capital
• Civil Society in Europe: Cooperation of stakeholders in cultural policy making
• Enlargement of Minds: The wider European cultural space
• Diversity in a global context: The need for a cultural component of a European foreign policy
• A new practical tool: A Laboratory of European Cultural Cooperation.

For more information, please contact: European Cultural Foundation, Jan van Goyenkade 5, 1075 HN Amsterdam, the Netherlands, tel.: +31 / 20 676 02 22; fax: +31 / 20 675 22 31; e-mail: eurocult@eurocult.org; http://www.eurocult.org

Exploring Cultural Perspectives

Fourth Biennial Conference of the ICRN
Florence, Italy, 12-17 July 2004

The Fourth Biennial Conference of the International Cultural Research Network (ICRN) will take place in Florence, Italy on 12-17 July 2004. The main aim of the conference is to promote cultural understanding in the 21st century, with a special focus on Exploring Cultural Perspectives within the following topics:

• Childhood and Youth - history, health, crime, drug abuse
• Culture - theory, music, art, religion, media, politics, language
• Education - primary, secondary, tertiary
• Policy - public, professional, national, global
• Women - rights, poverty, family, war.

ICRN requests multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary papers for presentation at the Conference.

For more information, please contact: International Cultural Research Network (ICRN); e-mail: icrn@telusplanet.net; http://www.telusplanet.net/public/icrn/callforpapers2004.html

8th International Conference on Information Visualisation

London, UK, 14-16 July 2004

The Eighth International Conference on Information Visualisation, organized by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, will be held in London, 14-16 July 2004. Information Visualisation, with its wide scope of application in an information and knowledge driven society, uses techniques, concepts and theories from a wide range of disciplines. Hence, this conference is oriented towards presenting diverse works of art signifying how new technology stretches the boundaries of creativity.

For more information, please visit: http://www.graphicslink.demon.co.uk/IV04/

Planning Models and the Culture of Cities

Barcelona, Spain, 14-17 July 2004

The 11th Conference of the International Planning History Society (IPHS) will take place in Barcelona, 14-17 July 2004. The theme, Planning Models and the Culture of Cities, places emphasis on Planning Models and Ideals, contrasting with the diversity of cities and urban situations. The conference will seek to encourage the analysis of the relations between Planning Theory, Urban History and Urban Studies. Furthermore, it will seek to respond to the strong call made for some time now, by all those involved in understanding the nature of planning and urban processes, for the adoption of an inter-disciplinary and integrated approach.

The conference will address the following subjects or sub-themes:

• Cultural Heritage and Planning Models
• Innovations and Infrastructures
• Planning and Environment
• Society and Space
• Urban Spaces, Landscape and Planning
• Planning Cultures and Planning Theories.

It will encourage the participation of urban researchers from different parts of the world, especially from Latin America and 'Latin' countries in Europe. It should be recalled that this will be the first IPHS conference to be held focusing specifically on this cultural area of planning and urban history, and that to date participation from such 'Latin' countries in the Society's activities has been minimal.

For more details, please contact: MANNERS, C/Manresa 8, 1r 1a 08003 Barcelona, Spain, tel.: +34 93 3196323; fax: +34 93 3163377; e-mail: iphs2004@manners.es; http://www.iphs2004.com

13th International Summer Academy for Arts Management (ISAC)

ICCM Kolleg, Salzburg, Austria, 19-31 July 2004

Organized by the International Centre for Culture & Management in cooperation with Fitzcarraldo Foundation, Turin, Italy, the Columbia College, Chicago, USA and the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

The two week cultural management course is addressed to young leaders and project managers from all over the world working in the arts, culture or media fields on national and international levels. The ISAC prepares young project leaders for new tasks and trends in project management, marketing, financial management, fundraising and networking.

An international experts team from the most reputable arts managment organisations and training centres will assist and consult in developing participants’ projects. During the Academy, each of the selected projects will be discussed and further developed paying special attention to the leading methods of project and arts management, to funding, marketing and international relevance.

At the end of the course, participants will receive a diploma awarded by the ICCM. A condition for this award is active participation in the entire course and positive assessment by the tutors for the results achieved in the workshops.

Course Language: English

Participation Fee: EURO 2.500. The amount includes course fee, accommodation and catering.

Registration: online at http://www.iccm.at/Application.68.0.html

Application Deadline: 30 April 2004

Contact: ICCM, International Centre for Culture and Management, Gyllenstormstrasse 8, 5020 Salzburg, Austria; tel.: 0043 662 45 98 41 10; fax: 0043 662 45 98 38; e-mail: office@iccm.at; http://www.iccm.at/ISAC_-_International_Summer_Ac.23.0.html

Hong Kong Book Fair 2004

Hong Kong, 21-26 July 2004

This annual book fair, to be held in Hong Kong, 21-26 July 2004, includes books, printed materials, printing services, and multimedia education products.

For more information, please visit: http://www.hkbookfair.com

Tourism & Literature: Travel, Imagination & Myth

Call for Papers
Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK, 22-26 July 2004

The second Call for Papers has been launched for the forthcoming research conference on Tourism & Literature, organised by the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change at Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom. The conference will take place from 22-26 July 2004. It will run in tandem with the Harrogate International Festival and the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.

Tourism and Literature is part of an ongoing annual conference series built around the problem of touristic constructions and experiences of time, space and otherness, and the challenge these represent to the way we communicate and exchange in the contemporary world. This raises a number of fundamental anthropological, sociological, geographical and political issues to be discussed through different historic, ethnographic, aesthetic, cognitive-psychological and socio-linguistic perspectives.

Tourism & Literature, the second academic conference in this series initiated with Tourism & Photography last year, emphasises on literature which, through both texts and authors, has been a major 'inspiration' for tourists and travel. The inter-relationship between tourist, tourism and literature will be at the heart of this international conference. The event aims to further develop the discussion on 'perception' and 'cognition' in tourism and encourage paper presentations by neuro-scientists, philosophers, linguists, aestheticians and psycho-analysts. From a social anthropological perspective, the conference will continue the critical debate on the meaning of tourism as an international social phenomenon. The conference themes include the following:

• sight-seeing - encounters with literately enchanted worlds,
• from the Bible to Lonely Planet - literature as travel liturgy,
• representing places, peoples and pasts in fictional texts,
• diaspora and localities: negotiating collective identities through travel narratives,
• production of literary spaces and the poetics of literary landscapes,
• recreating the world - travel, cosmogony and myth,
• 'intangible heritages' - narrative traditions, storytelling and oral histories,
• literary pilgrimages and the celebrity of authors, and
• alternative literatures and tourist experiences.

Please send your abstracts of around 250 words with full address details as an electronic file to Dr. David Picard (d.picard@shu.ac.uk) by 1 March 2004 at the latest.

Executive Producer: Frederic Revaz. Conference Convenors: Mike Robinson, David Picard, William Culver-Dodds.

For more information, please contact: Centre for Tourism & Cultural Change, Sheffield Hallam University, Howard Street - Owen Building, Sheffield, SW1 1WB, United Kingdom; tel. +44 (0) 114 225 3973; fax: +44 (0) 114 225 3343; e-mail d.picard@shu.ac.uk; http://www.tourism-culture.com

The Wealth of Diversity - The Role of Universities in Promoting Dialogue and Development

IAU's 12th General Conference
São Paulo, Brazil, 25-29 July 2004

The International Association of Universities will hold its 12th General Conference and business meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 25-29 July 2004. The Conference will be hosted by the University of Sao Paulo together with four other public institutions of higher education in and around Sao Paulo. Higher education leaders, policy and decision-makers in university organizations and government, researchers and other interested stakeholders, including student representatives and business leaders will debate the theme of the conference, The Wealth of Diversity: The Role of Universities in Promoting Dialogue and Development. The theme will be addressed from a variety of perspectives, focussing on three key concepts - diversity, development and dialogue - in a general fashion, before the participants are asked to question and examine whether and how higher education can contribute to their safeguarding or enhancement.

Theme 1: Dimensions of Diversity

Starting with the broadest interpretation of diversity, the first plenary sets the overall context by examining diversity in the natural and physical world, in demographic terms and in higher education. Diversity endows humanity with tremendous potential. However, as the complexity that comes of respecting different ways of doing things is swept aside in the name of efficiency, such diversity comes under threat.

Theme 2: The Role of Higher Education in Promoting Development

The expectations and responsibilities faced by higher education are great and growing. Often seen as key to national competitiveness and as central to meeting the needs of economic development in the era of the knowledge society, universities are urged to demonstrate most particularly how they contribute to the economic dimensions of development, leaving aside the much broader concerns of sustainable development. But the broader goals of sustainable development and the moral impossibility of disregarding the persistent gulf between industrialized and developing nations, all demand that higher education institutions should address numerous, interconnected problems. Calls for more inter- or trans-disciplinary approaches and problem solving on the part of higher education, as well as the need to educate citizens, aim to ensure that universities can continue to teach and conduct research enabling them to meet the social as well as economic development needs of society. This is true of both highly industrialized and developing nations.

Theme 3: The Role of Universities in Promoting Dialogue

Dialogue is a two-way flow of ideas, understanding and learning. As learning, teaching and research organizations, higher education institutions need to be fully engaged in a variety of dialogues within and without. Dialogue within a more culturally diverse higher education community - students, faculty and staff - is one example. Another internal dialogue has to do with the need for cross-disciplinary fertilization of ideas and interdisciplinary searches for solutions. A third example is dialogue with the external stakeholder community - the corporate sector, local communities, policy makers, and others. This delicate and complex task of protecting cultural diversity and promoting inter-cultural dialogue and understanding, while deeply embedded in the values and the mission of higher education, is more important now, in the context of globalization and internationalization, than ever before.

The preliminary programme with more details on invited speakers, social and cultural events and registration forms is available at: http://www.unesco.org/iau/gc-brazil/index.html

Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualisation

Penang, Malaysia, 26-29 July 2004

Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualisation, an international conference geared towards users and designers of hardware, software and systems, will take place in Penang, Malaysia, 26-29 July 2004. The conference will cover state-of-the-art developments and outline future directions in the domain of visualisation and graphics.

For more information, please visit: http://www.graphicslink.demon.co.uk/cgiv04/

Voices: Dialogue Across Nations

Zimbabwe International Book Fair 2004
Harare, Zimbabwe, 31 July - 7 August 2004

The Zimbabwe International Book Fair 2004 (ZIBF), the largest and most important book and publishing fair in Africa, will be held in Harare, Zimbabwe, 31 July - 7 August 2004. The theme for Indaba 2004, an international conference where topical issues relating to and affecting the African book and publishing industry are debated, is African Studies in and outside Africa. ZIBF 2004 will also feature performances by artists, poets, musicians as part of The Live Literature Centre, as well as The Writers' Workshop.

For more information, please contact: ZIBF Head Office, P.O. Box CY 1179, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, tel.: + 263 4 702104/8; fax: + 263 4 702129; e-mail: information@zibf.org.zw; http://www.zibf.org.zw

The Narrative of Modernity: Co-Existence of Differences

Pamplona, Spain, 2-7 August 2004

The International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI) organizes its Ninth Conference in cooperation with the University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, 2-7 August 2004. The overall theme of the conference is The Narrative of Modernity: Co-Existence of Differences.

The Narrative of Modernity is, in a sense, an attempt to save the idea of Individualism from its esoteric background, without falling into moral Nihilism. The articulation of Self in the context of coexistence with Others is the great challenge facing the European Mind, or simply, facing Europeans. The Western civilisation must meet the challenge of the legend of the disappearance of Self. For this central issue it is imperative to rearticulate the unity of theory and practice on the one hand, and to break down the barriers within Humanistic Studies on the other.

The conference is divided into five sections:

• History, Geography, Science
• Economics, Politics, Law
• Education, Women's Studies, Sociology
• Art, Theatre, Literature, Culture
• Language, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion

For more information, please contact the conference co-Chairs:

Enrique Banús, University of Navarra, Centre for European Studies, E-31080 Pamplona, Spain, tel.: +34-948-425634; fax: +34-948-425622; e-mail: ebanus@unav.es

Ezra Talmor, Kibbutz Nachshonim, D.N. Merkaz 73190, Israel, tel.: +972-3-9386445; fax: +972-3-938-6588; e-mail: ISSEI@nachshonim.org.il

Emotions and Aesthetics in Literature and Media

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 3-7 August 2004

Emotions and Aesthetics in Literature and Media, is a panel to be held during the 9th biannual conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL), on 3-7 August 2004, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Participants in the panel will explore the reverse conclusion: if emotions are inherently social and communicative, is it also true that communication - specifically literary communication and media communication - is inherently emotional? The organizers propose to investigate communication as a process of exchange, mutual influence, coorientation, and normative control of emotions. They argue that the approach to communication through the concept of emotion does not mean the exclusion of the concept of cognition.

For more information, please contact: Anne Bartsch at anne.bartsch@gmx.de and/or
Susanne Huebner at huebner@medienkomm.uni-halle.de; http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/igel/

JALLA - Jornadas Andinas de Literatura LatinoAmericana

Lima, Peru, 9-13 August 2004

JALLA - Jornadas Andinas de Literatura Latino Americana (Andean Days of Latin American Literature) will be held at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru, 9-13 August 2004. Since its first edition in 1993 and through its biennial organization, JALLA has become a place for debating Latin American literature, with special focus on the Andean region. The topics for this year's event include the following: literature and discourse in the Andean region, popular literature, oral literature, theoretical and methodological issues in literature studies, migrations and migrants' discourses, local and global knowledge, comparative issues, etc.

For more information, please contact the organizers: Departamento de Literatura, Facultad de Letras y Ciencias Humanas, Ciudad Universitaria, Av. Venezuela s/n, Lima 1, Peru; fax: (51-1)448-6353; jalla2004@unmsm.edu.pe; http://www.unmsm.edu.pe

Knowledge + Dialogue + Exchange, Remapping Cultural Globalisms from the South

Res Artis Conference 2004
Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, 10-16 August 2004

Res Artis is an international organisation of residential centres. Res Artis is one of those rare and essential organizations which creates peaceful bridges of cultural exchange and understanding between artists of all nations. Each year, members from around the globe meet in a designated city for an annual general meeting and conference programme. The 9th General Meeting of Res Artis will be held in Sydney and Melbourne, 10-16 August 2004.

Knowledge + Dialogue + Exchange, Remapping Cultural Globalisms from the South is a conference project about the remapping of global orders, histories and cultural production from the perspective of a critical matrix positioned geographically south and outside the dominant hegemonies of European and North American traditions. This conference is positioned at the very edge of the politics of difference and will focus on four key issues:

• The postcolonial space is a site where the experimental cultures of the periphery converge to define new modalities for cultural inclusion. The Conference functions as a set of dialogues between civilisations, in a project that begins with the assumption that the margins are redefining and transforming the worlds of the centre.
• The Conference will explore the new globalisms and mobility of the South through ways of shared living, representation and the experience of contemporaneousness in art, theory and cultural production.
• The South is now permanently visible, present and active in overcoming the borders that once operated as mechanisms of exclusion and limit.
• By focusing on Asia and the South Pacific rim, the Conference will provide a space for the rigorous examination and analysis of the processes and contexts that differentiate the ideas of what we mean by the term periphery.

For more information, please visit: Artspace, The Gunnery, 43 - 51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woolloomooloo NSW 2011, Australia; tel.: +61 (0)2 9368 1899; fax: +61 (0)2 9368 1705; e-mail: artspace@artspace.org.au; http://www.artspace.org.au/2004/resartis

Innovative Strategies in International Cultural Cooperation

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 19-21 August 2004

This Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University (AMSU) course is designed for cultural operators, civil servants, artists, and foundation staff members. It will examine models, preconditions and parameters for developing productive forms of international cooperation in a bilateral and multilateral frame, taking into account the roles of public authorities, private foundations, and commercial sponsors. Participants will leave with access to the latest information on trends and working methods, and insights which can be directly applied own situations.

Course leaders: Steve Austen, Permanent Fellow, Felix Meritis, and Dragan Klaic, President, European Forum for the Arts and Heritage.

The deadline for application is 2 August. You are advised to apply before 20 July if you intend to apply for a scholarship. Scholarships are available for participants from Central and Eastern Europe. Travel grants are also availabe for applicants from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, and Mongolia.

Other AMSU courses on the topics of Cultural Policy and Management, Arts and Economics, Art History and Performing Arts include Development and Management of Autonomous Creative Spaces in Europe and International Theatre Production Management. Further information can be found on the specific course pages at http://www.amsu.edu/courses/cultural/artm12004.htm.

For further information, please contact Alana Henry, tel.: +34 605811578 or the Office Manager at the Amsterdam Maastricht Summer University, tel.: +31 20 620 0225, e-mail: office@amsu.edu; http://www.amsu.edu/

IFLA Congress: Libraries - Tools for Education and Development

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 22-27 August 2004

The next World Library and Information Congress will focus on Libraries as Tools for Education and Development. The congress will be held 22-27 August 2004 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Information and knowledge are fundamental for education and development, as well as essential requirements to improve the quality of life for people living in regions where the population has not reached a high level of economic and social development. In Latin America this demand for information requires that libraries accompany the educational process of all individuals by cooperating as mainstays of the education system and paving the way for knowledge, culture and social development.

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and its Management and Marketing Section, in collaboration with the Library and Information Science Department of the School of Communications and Arts, University of São Paulo, and the collaboration of the École de Bibliothéconomie et des Sciences de l'Information, Université de Montréal, are organizing a pre-Conference in São Paulo (Brazil), 18-20 August 2004.

The theme of this meeting will be the virtual customer and its implication for libraries and information services.

For more information, please visit: http://www.eca.usp.br/iflamkt/versaoingles.htm and http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla70/cinfo-e.htm

Congress on Cultural Rights and Human Development

Barcelona, Spain, 23-27 August 2004

The Congress on Cultural Rights and Human Development, organised by Interarts with UNESCO and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Human Development Report Office of UNDP, will be held in Barcelona, Spain on 23-27 August 2004.

The Congress is expected to be a major encounter of experts, international organizations and networks from different fields related to cultural rights, human rights, cultural diversity, policies and human development. By bringing together these agents from a great number of fields and countries, the event aims to have a lasting impact on the ongoing debates on cultural rights and cultural indicators for human development.

Major objectives of the Congress include the following:

• identifying core elements in the redefinition of the right to take part in cultural life: the UN's Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, whose chairperson w