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Compendium: Latest developments and complementary Intercultural cities work

Cities participating in the Intercultural cities programme initially undergo expert and peer reviews of their policies, governance and practice. This review takes the form of narrative reports and city profiles – a form which is very rich in content and detail but relatively heavy as a monitoring tool to communicate progress and results.

The Intercultural Cities Index, newly available on the Compendium information system, is a complementary tool, capable of visually illustrating the level of achievement of each city and its progress over time, therefore enabling comparison with other cities. This tool makes it easier to identify and communicate where a city stands in relation to intercultural integration, where effort should be focused in the future and which other cities could be a source of good practice in these particular areas.

Any city, regardless of whether it is a member of the Intercultural cities network or not, can reply to the Index questionnaire and have its results analysed.

In addition, four new countries joined the Compendium and work on their policy profiles is underway: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andorra, Cyprus and Belarus. Therefore the Compendium will soon comprise all Council of Europe member states. With the introduction of an international expansion (known under the label "World-CP System") the result of European intergovernmental cultural co-operation proves to be a success.

As for 2011 priorities, the system will focus on data quality control, optimal collaboration of the expanding community of Compendium experts, through a revised recruitment procedure (e.g. call for interest to become a Compendium expert) and the elaboration of the thematic space on ethics and cultural rights. As in previous years, adequate financing of the system is key.

In 2010, member states provided substantial resources to the project in the form of voluntary contributions. It is hoped that this trend can be maintained in 2011.

World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue

The Government of Azerbaijan is organising a "World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue", to be held in Baku from 7 to 9 April 2011. The initiative has the support of the Council of Europe, including the North-South Centre, UNESCO, the UN Alliance of Civilizations and ISESCO. Building on previous events on this theme held in the Azerbaijani capital - known as the "Baku process" - and on the corpus of work developed by the stakeholder organisations in recent years, the Forum highlights the fact that intercultural dialogue is one of the most pressing challenges in the world today.

The Forum will address the conceptual, governance, policy and practical aspects of the challenge of intercultural dialogue. It will tackle issues such as the barriers to dialogue and the diverse contexts in which it can be pursued. It will also provide an opportunity to share good practice and launch new initiatives. A wide range of practitioners and experts in the field of culture will attend the Forum, from global leaders and public figures to prominent intellectuals and activists. The synergy between political leaders and officials, experts and practitioners will be encouraged by the scope for informal networking organised around the event.

CultureWatchEurope 2011

The CultureWatchEurope event 2011 will follow-up on the work of 2010 and focus on issues of good governance in times of increasingly restricted resources for the cultural sector. The 2011 event will be held in late autumn, hosted by Slovenia and targeting European cultural policy makers in decision making positions.

SPARDA: 1st Coordination meeting of the new joint CoE/EU programme

SPARDA (Shaping Perceptions and Attitudes to Realise Diversity Advantage) is a new joint programme with the European Union focusing on the most effective strategies for changing the often negative perceptions of migrants. On 21 and 22 February, a SPARDA coordination meeting took place in Strasbourg. This meeting was held with six participating cities namely: Coimbra (Portugal), Had-Dingli (Malta), Limmasol (Cyprus), Lyon (France), Patras (Greece) and Reggio Emilia (Italy). The roles and responsibilities of partners in relation to conducting opinion surveys; organising media diversity training workshops and production sessions; as well as elaborating an information and communication campaign on diversity, were discussed.

Video: Art since 1945

Interview of Mr Henry Meyric-Hugues, General coordinator of the Art since 1945 exhibition and Prof. Dr. Monika Flacke, Chief Curator of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin