The international and interdisciplinary conference “Participatory Governance in Culture: Exploring Practices, Theories and Policies. DO IT TOGETHER!” will be held in Rijeka from 22 to 24 November.
It is organised by the “Kultura nova” foundation in partnership with Rijeka 2020 and in cooperation with the European Cultural Foundation. The conference is a part of the “Approaches to participatory governance in culture” project supported by the UNESCO International fund for cultural diversity. The conference has been selected as an ENCATC labelled event.
The topic of participatory governance has become very important because traditional public or market-oriented governance models are proving to be inadequate for finding solutions for the complex challenges of creating policies, changes in socio-economic environment, and the needs of workers in culture, artists, audiences and local communities. The conference programme will include a wide range of topics related to the challenges, limitations, paradoxes and perspectives faced by cultural research, practices and policies in participatory governance in culture. In order to understand the significance and role of participatory governance in culture it is important to explore changes in social and political contexts, the cultural and socials role of new organisational models, the decision-making process participation levels and models, and the (re)organisation and relevance of their roles.
The aim of the conference is to explore the field of participatory governance in culture through various aspects and approaches, including the following topics:
1. Implications of participation in the promotion of democratic values in the area of (cultural) policies
2. Complexity of the relationship between power and transfer of governance to multiple stakeholders
3. Differences between private, public and joint interests of all relevant stakeholders
4. Ethics of participatory processes
5. Institutional changes and innovations, and policy changes and innovations
The participants of the conference will include students, researchers, theoreticians, workers in culture, artists, representatives of cultural and artistic organisations, activists, policy makers from around the world and various disciplines – anthropology, architecture, arts, management in arts and culture, cultural policy studies, cultural studies, development studies, economy, law, philosophy, political sciences, urbanism and spatial planning, sociology, etc. The conference therefore represents an interdisciplinary attempt to gather information and discuss different practical, theoretical and political approaches to participatory governance in various social and geopolitical contexts, as well as to generate new ideas for integrating these practices into the existing framework of cultural and other relevant policies.
Detailed information on the programme can be found on the conference website.
