In March 2005 the second donor conference on Culture and Development was organized in Oslo, with policy makers from Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland.
The trade agreements made by the World Trade Organisation, including the GATS are oriented toward liberalisation of the global market. These agreements also apply to the cultural sector. This makes it increasingly difficult for countries to support their own artists and cultural institutions with subsidy funding or other measures.
In November, three Islamic thinkers were awarded the Erasmus Prize 2004. They are Sadik Jalal Al-Azm from Syria, Fatema Mernissi from Morocco and Abdulkarim Soroush from Iran. The theme of this year's award was 'Religion and modernity'. The prizewinners are all very involved in the modernisation processes going on within Islam.
The Phenix Foundation, an organization that worked to strengthen the cultural diversity of the available art, is being disbanded. The financiers are not satisfied with the results achieved to date. the Phenix Foundation was established in October 2001.
