3rd Rolling Workshop on Cultural Policies in Learning Cities held in Pécs in May 2015

Clearly there is an issue around sustainable development and we share this in Glasgow. A strong message that I picked up from the Pecs workshop that we should all consider more closely is the level of engagement we have with our publics; for example the lack of trust cited, the erosion of citizen’s interest because of a lack of active involvement by cultural institutions – ie the difference between working with communities rather than for them. I also sense a challenge to manage the associated bureaucracy of partners and planning/assessments which can be difficult to align with a more open and organic network of activity that supports grass roots development, the volunteer sector, and co-production methodology. I think this is crucial in supporting a wider view of cultural learning and engagement beyond the formal curriculum based structures and major institutions. Also, how do we join up the dots between different audiences and life stages, eg children who come in a family group developing into independent young adult visitors? Clearly for many of our countries poverty is also a critical issue and I would support work on this as we move forward, but sustainable development has to be supported by consistent political and financial support.

Victoria and Henrik, I found your comments on the Pecs report vey interesting and pertinent, raising things that we should carry forward.

The question of the role of cultural policies in sustainable development clearly raises issues such as those you have comented on Victoria. Outcomes such as the lack of trust and erosion of citizen's interest are areas where cultural institutions can make a contribution through the way they operate and the partnerships they form, especially at the local and regional levels. There is a link here to the learning neighbourhoods pilot projects that Cork and Taipei are undertaking and which East Pecs may possibly join.

I was interested in re-reading Henrik's report on the Ostersund workshop to see that the contribution of museums in this area was raised by Professor Peter Aronsson in the following terms.

     " Museums are recognised as places where identity is constantly created, negotiated and renegotiated and reshaped. Museums are specialists in creating confidence in society through shared ownership in heritage and therefore confidence between people and politics."

It would be very useful if these questions could be taken up by the PASCAL Cultural Policies Network so as to explore some practical examples of cases of cases where museums and libraries have acted to foster a sense of common interest in a community. This would be most interesting in multicultural contexts and communities with considerable diversity such as Glasgow.

The question of confidence and trust between people and the political system has attracted considerable comment in Australia recently with comments (including several books) that argue that there has been a decline in public confidence and trust in the political process that needs to be reversed. I wonder if there are opportunities for cultural institutions and policies to contribute to a necessary process of building identity, trust, and confidence. Can we come up Henrik with some ideas that might be taken up Henrik by the PASCAL Cultural Policies Network with implementation in Ostersund, Glasgow, and other members of the Network. I hope we can maintain a dialogue on these important issues.

Dear Peter,

We’ll see what’s realistic to do. The planning for the coming NCK conference has probably come too far at this moment. I think we should look for an alternative way forward. Let’s put our minds to that. Here we are preoccupied with applications and papers beside running the business as such.

We look forward to our Australian visit in two weeks’ time and just two weeks later the directors of open air museums in Europe meet in Oslo for our bi-annual conference. I’ll certainly see what inspiration can come from that to the Cultural Policies Workgroup.

All best

Henrik