Leaders from 190 countries convene for one goal: To transform global arts education
It goes without saying that the world has changed dramatically since the last global gathering to discuss culture and arts education was held in Seoul 14 years ago.
As policymakers, ministers and international delegates convened in Abu Dhabi for the Unesco World Conference on Culture and Arts Education, there were several new variables to contend with – as well as a more ambitious goal.
“It is the first time that ministers of education and culture have come together to join forces and endorse a vision, a framework,” Stefania Giannini, Unesco’s assistant director general for education, tells The National.
The goal was to bring the pillars of education and culture together “in policies which can shape the future”.
The inaugural conference was held in Lisbon in 2006. The second, in Seoul four years later, resulted in international goals being agreed on. This time, at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, where 190 international ministers of education and culture met this week, the aim was also to agree on a framework that can be put into action.
“Culture is, by definition, what and how we are, where we come from and where we are going to,” Giannini adds.
“It’s about shaping our identity. It’s about the sense of belonging. Education is a cultural process. It is a transmission of knowledge, bringing awareness, whatever the topic. They really naturally go together. Both have a real transformative power, very much more than we think.”
The former Italian education minister notes that although the two sectors have similarities, they are often viewed as separate and aloof entities. This conference aimed to bridge that divide.
“Having Unesco, which is a global platform, gather all these ministers together gives me hope,” she says.
“We are not starting from scratch. We are building on robust ideas and visions: The idea that creative industries and the creative economy, broadly speaking, should benefit more from educational processes.
“They should include new pedagogies in their systems. They should be open to the educational systems from early childhood to university and beyond.”
The notion of consolidating arts and culture within school curriculums has been discussed in recent years. But this conference sought agreement from member states about the action that should be taken, while taking the new geopolitical landscape into account.
Giannini says climate change emerged from the conference as “the big issue we have to address”. The other was generative artificial intelligence.
She adds: “The digital side of the world is demanding that politicians take action to embed a vision for using technologies including generative AI, broadly speaking, responsibly and ethically. To drive the technological revolution and not to be driven by it.”
Both are new talking points since Seoul. Other goals delegates highlighted include making culture and arts education equitable, providing lifelong learning in cultural diversity and incorporating digital technology and artificial intelligence into arts and culture education.
Giannini hopes the framework set out at the conference, which ended yesterday, will be endorsed by the member states. It will then be put into practice by worldwide.
Giannini says that will be done by data collection and, for the first time, monitoring what is being done by each member. She adds that Abu Dhabi has been the optimal place to bring it all together.
“There is the ambition and capacity in this part of the world, especially in Abu Dhabi, to connect people through cultural diversity and the valorisation of cultural diversity,” she says, adding the emirate is also a conducive place “for innovating, finding new solutions and addressing some of the big challenges that we face”.
Climate change and artificial intelligence also emerged as new issues to address