The Power of Culture

In recent years, the debate about immigrants has become increasingly negative in tone, with a focus on crime, unemployment and ethnic conflict. However, there are positive aspects to migration and asylum too, as discussed by three academics and 'hands-on' experts who gave a lecture on this subject recently. Their conclusion: 'Immigrants are here to stay.'

In July and August 2004 the second round of Context, a relay project with artists from different countries, took place in Mexico City. This time the theme was water.

The bi-annual member meeting of the worldwide network of artist-in-residence centres, Res Artis, will be held in August of 2004. The theme is the role of the South or ‘the periphery’ in the global art world.

Each citizen must be able to decide for himself what language he speaks, what religion he practices, and how he dresses. That is the message of the Human Development Report 2004.

People from the international theatre world will gather in Burkina Faso for three months to share knowledge about their craft. A multinational Richard III will also be staged.

The Informal European Theatre Meeting (IETM) wants to use a meeting at the end of August in South Africa to build a bridge between the European and African modern dance world.

What do Argentina, South Africa, Madagascar, East Timor, New Zealand and Samoa have in common? Which way is the 'South' going? The South Project, a four-year art project, wants to answer these questions by 'bringing together and celebrating the creative energies of the Southern hemisphere'.

With reference to the Unesco World Cultural Diversity Day, the German Bertelsmann foundation and the Chinese International Culture Association organised a forum dealing with cultural similarities and differences.