Reshaping cultural policies

Abstract

This Report presents the work of fourteen independent experts, as well as the Secretary of the Convention and the Principal Editor, who have analysed the implementation of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Its purpose is to move forward the process of monitoring the Convention’s implementation that was put in place by a mechanism of Quadrennial Periodic Reports (QPRs) approved by the Convention’s Conference of Parties in 2011. The contributors have consulted the 71 reports submitted by Parties, but have also used data derived from other, non-official sources and have drawn upon their own expert experience. The Introduction by the Secretary of the Convention explains the objectives of the Report, presenting the guiding principles and values that underpin the Convention as well as the main lines of a methodology to monitor its long-term impact. The Introduction is followed by a contribution from experts that places the present exercise in the context of five decades of cultural policy research and evaluation, beginning with UNESCO’s efforts in the late 1960s, and considers that the Report ‘is likely to be a milestone in the advancement of cultural policy research across the world’. The second chapter proposes a conceptual framework for an indicator system to monitor the implementation of the Convention. It proposes the following four implementation goals, each derived from the Convention’s guiding principles: ➊ Support sustainable systems of governance for culture ➋ Achieve a balanced flow of cultural goods and services and increase the mobility of artists and cultural professionals ➌ Integrate culture in sustainable development frameworks ➍ Promote human rights and fundamental freedoms The order of the sections that follow corresponds to the above. The first and paramount goal being to support sustainable systems of governance for culture; this challenge is addressed in the four chapters that make up the first section. The first of these chapters focuses on policies and measures to promote the diversity of cultural expressions. It underlines that Parties increasingly aim to strengthen the value chain of creation, production, distribution, dissemination and enjoyment of cultural goods and services. Technology is opening up channels for new voices and talent as well as new forms of citizen participation that are redrawing the boundaries between these links in the value chain and raising new questions for the design of new policies and measures. Yet many Parties also continue to report on policies and measures on domains that do not fall within the remit of the Convention, such as heritage. While many have reformed or revisited their cultural policies and have created new measures and mechanisms as a result, still more progress is required if the ambitious goals of the Convention are to be achieved. In particular, the establishment of participatory models between civil society and public sector officials to produce solid evidence for policy monitoring and impact assessment. Chapter 2 is devoted to the public service media as producers, commissioners, distributors, disseminators and mediators of high-quality cultural content. There can be no media diversity without media freedom. Hence, freedom of information laws and their effective implementation are crucial. With the rise of digital networks and online platforms, fostering freedom online becomes vital as well. The quantum leap in access to media outlets and greater choices does not mean that the media content available via those outlets is necessarily freer, nor is a large number of platforms in itself a guarantee of diversity of content and expressions. Technology is opening up channels for new voices and talent, including those of citizen journalists and amateur film producers, who are redrawing the boundaries of journalism, and these need to be encouraged. Women are among these many voices, but gender equality has not increased in either media content or decision-making, where women remain excluded to greater or lesser degrees; it is therefore essential to take steps to remedy the situation. 4 2005 Convention 2015 Global Report Executive summary The technological revolution has had profound impacts on the media as well as all aspects of the cultural value chain, hence Chapter 3 explores the implications of the rapidly evolving digital environment. Developing countries still have a long way to go before they reach the levels of digital access enjoyed by developed countries. However, over the last decade, there has been remarkable progress, particularly in terms of mobile connectivity. An increasing number of creators are using new technologies to generate online content. E-commerce is growing very rapidly – this can be an advantage for local cultural industries, but is also a risk for small and medium-sized players, given the advance of the big platforms. The boom in social networks since 2004 constitutes an opportunity for civil society participation, especially when it comes to sharing cultural content. The Convention is a pioneer treaty for the importance it attaches to the contribution of civil society actors to its implementation. Chapter 4 analyses this dimension. The key finding is that a clear majority of Parties include civil society organizations in the policy making process. Yet there are insufficiencies in the capacity of both governments and civil society organizations to cooperate effectively. While many civil society organizations did participate in the preparation of the Quadrennial Periodic Reports, more civil society voices need to be involved. The ‘cultural watchdog’ role of civil society remains underdeveloped but the national Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, which already operate in 43 countries, could become a driving force to fill the gap. The second section of the report relates to the goal of a balanced flow of cultural goods and services and increase the mobility of artists and cultural professionals worldwide. The mobility of artists and other cultural professionals (Chapter 5) is crucial to maintaining a heterogeneous world of ideas, values and worldviews. Access to international markets for artists and cultural professionals is also crucial to the promotion of sustainable cultural and creative industries and their potential contribution to human, social and economic development. Yet there is a big gap between the principles and ideals of the Convention and the reality as regards the mobility of artists and cultural professionals from the global South. The obstacles include increasing security, economic and political constraints, particularly in the global North. The Convention needs to be used more effectively in overcoming these constraints. Chapter 6 analyzes the flows of cultural goods and services and argues that an equitable balance has not yet been achieved. However, from 2004 to 2013, the share of developing countries in the export of cultural goods increased continuously, especially in the visual arts, in which field the share imported from developing countries to developed countries almost doubled from 2004 to 2013. While fewer musical and audiovisual goods were imported, the share of books and press imported from developing countries increased during the same period. Flows of cultural services such as audiovisual media are still largely dominated by developed countries. The United States ranked first and accounted for 52.4% of global exports of cultural services in 2012, slightly lower than in 2004, at 58%. The remaining countries in this category are all developed countries in Europe and North America. The share of US exports of audiovisual and related services and reproducible rights to developing countries increased from 11.34% to 20.28% between 2004 and 2013. Over the same period, there was a slight increase in the intra-group export of cultural goods among the Andean Community (ANDEAN) member countries (12.3% – 18%) and a significant increase in trade among countries that are member of the Pan-Arab Free Trade Area (PAFTA), from 15% – 58%. But there was little exchange of cultural goods and services among members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) or the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). Protecting and promoting the diversity of cultural expressions must also rely on the influence of the Convention on other international legal treaties and agreements, notably in the trade arena. The subsequent chapter (Chapter 7) underlining this dimension finds that seven trade agreements concluded by the European Union since 2005 incorporate one or more explicit references to the Convention. There has also been an increase in the use of the ‘cultural exemption’ measure to exclude some cultural goods and/or services from trade agreements. Furthermore, the Protocols for Cultural Cooperation annexed to trade agreements have recognized the specificity of cultural goods and services (and also provide for preferential treatment as regards artists and cultural professionals, especially from the global South). Beyond the trade arena, since 2005 the Convention has been referenced in over 250 texts in dozens of international, regional and bilateral organizations. Executive summary 5 Chapter 8 analyses how the Convention has had a positive impact on policies, plans and programmes for the benefit of culturally sustainable development: while clear progress has been made, many challenges remain with regard to integrating a cultural dimension in sustainable development frameworks. The chapter argues that the cultural and creative industries should be a major target for policy leading towards development that is both economically and culturally sustainable. There is considerable scope for donor countries to promote this objective through their Official Development Assistance (ODA) strategies and programmes. Every effort needs to be made to persuade planners to recognize the cultural context within which development plans are put into effect, as well as the dynamic role that the cultural and creative industries can play in meeting national economic and social objectives. An essential principle of culturally sustainable development is equity in the treatment of vulnerable groups in society; attention to this principle requires not only specifically targeted strategies to overcome disadvantage in access to cultural participation, but also vigilance to ensure that cultural policies in other areas do not have unintentional adverse side-effects. The final section of the report is devoted to an integral principle of the Convention that has not been foregrounded in its implementation so far, namely the promotion of human rights and the protection of the fundamental freedoms of expression, information and communication. Gender equality is a key dimension here, for the Convention is unambiguous in calling for policies and measures that promote gender equality and that recognize and support women as artists and producers of cultural goods and services. As Chapter 9 on gender equality argues, while women are strongly represented in the creative sector in most parts of the world, they remain poorly represented in a number of cultural professions and in decision-making positions. This situation diminishes cultural diversity and deprives everyone of unhindered access to the creative potential of the female half of the artistic community. Many countries have taken steps to improve opportunities for women and even leverage women’s contributions to the creative economy. However, the need to ensure gender equality in the cultural sector has not yet been adequately addressed. A major stumbling block is the paucity of sex-disaggregated data. Equally important is a holistic approach that recognizes the symbiotic relationship between gender equality, cultural rights and cultural diversity. Finally, Chapter 10 is devoted to artistic freedom, which is germane not only to the being and creative practice of artists themselves but also to the rights of all cultural producers. It is a dimension of fundamental freedom that is essential to the wellbeing of citizens and societies at large. The chapter analyses the factors and forces, both governmental and non-governmental, which lead to restrictions to freedom of artistic expression and/or access to it. It reviews some of the measures cited by Parties in this domain, as well as other initiatives, both public and private, that bring succour to artists at risk. It also notes that the freedoms indispensable for artistic expression and creativity were the subject of the first UN Special Report on Freedom of Expression published by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2013. The Report’s Conclusions recapitulate the key findings of the report and chart out ways forward. Clearly, the 2005 Convention has enriched the panoply of policy making for the benefit of the diversity of cultural expressions, even in the case of Parties that already had well-defined cultural policy frameworks in place before it entered into force. Yet the imperatives of implementing the Convention have undoubtedly led to the development of new frameworks and/or mechanisms. These advances and innovations are promising, but they are insufficient. Considerable progress needs to be achieved. Such progress is well within the grasp of all the stakeholders, provided the lessons learned through the present exercise are applied, in particular the proposals put forward for data collection and indicator building that will make possible in the near future ever more meaningful monitoring, assessment and evaluation.