UNESCO invite you to participate in an online discussion dedicated to "Funding Culture, Managing the Risk: limits and opportunities for development cooperation" that will take place from 16 March to 6 April 2010.

Organized by UNESCO’s Culture Sector, the discussion is part of a series of initiatives conceived to further the culture and development agenda in the area of international development policy and programming, and to catalyze and help develop the international community’s policy, advocacy and action in this critical area.

This online discussion will focus on a specific area of concern within culture and development the perception of risks involved in cultural investments. Themes and questions will be provided to participants who will be invited to discuss 1) reasons for (mis)perceptions of the risks involved in investing in culture, 2) means to demystify and challenge such (mis)perceptions; and 3) strategies to increase the culture and development agenda’s visibility in development circles.

The discussion will be organized around the following three themes.

Week 1 (16 - 22 March) - Risk of Funding Culture: A Myth or a Reality?

Week 2 (23 - 29 March) - Dealing with Risk: What Works?

Week 3 (30 March - 6 April) - How to encourage investments in the culture sector?

All participants are encouraged to contribute their expertise, experience and research on these questions. A two-day symposium on this same theme will be held at UNESCO Headquarters on 16 and 17 April, during which key messages from the discussion will be shared with symposium participants to inform their debates. The ideas captured from the discussion will be reflected in a final report that UNESCO will publish on its website.

How to Register ?

Participants must register in order to contribute to the discussion. Registration is open to all interested individuals. To register, please send an e-mail to the Moderator, Ms Keiko Nowacka (k.nowacka@unesco.org) or visit: https://communities.unesco.org/wws/info/culturedev and click « subscribe ».

More information on how to register can be found on the Symposiums’ web page:

www.unesco.org/culture/en/funding-and-risks.

How to Participate ?

Once your registration is confirmed, you will be able to participate in this moderated discussion by sending an e-mail in English, French or Spanish to culturedev@sympa.communities.unesco.org. Please note that all discussions will be moderated in English only.