A review on the Regional Studies Associations 16th Annual International Conference 2010

With about 600 delegates from 50 countries this years International Annual Conference took place from May, 24th till 26th. The conference was hosted in the European Capital of Culture 2010 Pécs, Southern Hungary.

The Regional Studies Association (RSA) is an international learned society concerned with the analysis of regional and urban issues. The organisation represents an authoritative voice and research network for academics, students, practitioners and policy makers. It organises events and conference, publishes journals, a newsletter and a book series and funds related research networks.

The discussion of the conferences main topic »Regional Responses and Global Shifts: Actors, Institutions and Organisations« aimed at a better understanding of the complex array of those actors involved in todays regional development agendas.

Between 11 and 16 July the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) in cooperation with the European Cultural Parliament gathered more than 30 participants at its European headquarters in central Berlin. Some participants had come from as far as Mexico, the US, Canada and Swaziland to meet with like-minded graduates and post graduates as well as young professionals in order to learn more about cultural diplomacy by following a week-long intensive programme while experiencing the summer heat in buzzing Berlin. Berlin, having become an international melting pot with an outstanding cultural offer and a compelling history and a place which is sought after by many as a conference and meetings location, did certainly further underline the case for the arts and cultural diplomacy.

Hundreds of top arts marketing and development professionals will gather on October 21-24, 2010 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles for the Arts Reach National Arts Marketing and Development Conference Fall 2010. Empower Yourself and Your Team with the Most Successful, Cost-Effective Ways to Boost Audience & Donor Growth is the theme of the event.

In light of the economic downturn, this conference is designed to help organizations focus their precious resources in the most effective ways to maximize the achievement of their organizations mission. The faculty includes leaders from such prestigious organizations as the Center Theatre Group, the Autry National Center of the American West, the Pacific Chorale, and many others.

Following a very successful launch in Brussels in July 2010, the outcomes of the European Capitals of Culture Policy Group's work have been presented in a final report. The document is the result of the international group made up of representatives from Liverpool, Stavanger, Turku, Marseille, Essen for the Ruhr and Kosice working together for one year to produce a research framework, including recommendations for future European Capitals of Culture.

The National University of Mar del Plata and the Argentinean Graduate Cultural Managers Association are glad to inform you about the realization of the First International Congress of Cultural Management New Paradigms in the context of the Bicentenary, which is going to take place in Mar del Plata on October 21-22-23, 2010.

The main aim of this congress is to create a place where ideas, experiences and reflections on cultural management may be exchanged. Moreover, the new sociocultural paradigms of management will be analyzed.

The symposium Economics of the Visual Arts is intended to bring together experts from the field of cultural economics, to discuss key issues of economics of the visual arts: arts markets and art auctions, copyright in the visual arts, economics of museums, policy and non-profit issues in the visual arts, labor market in the visual arts, etc. The topics will form guidelines for the lectures, performed by renowned experts from the field, coming from all over the world, mostly from countries where cultural economics has gained prominence in the past decades.

Apart from the invited speakers, the symposium will also host two panels, one with presentations of good practices in financing visual arts in Slovenia, and the other with presentations of selected young researchers.

The four Member State expert working groups established in the 2008-2010 Workplan for Culture have published their final reports on:

1. mobility of culture professionals;
2. cultural and creative industries;
3. synergies between culture and education;
4. museum activities,
5. Eurostat ESSnet-culture.

These groups have worked through the "Open Method of Coordination", exchanging good practices, comparing policies and making recommendations for action at national or European level. Their work is feeding into Member State discussion of the next Workplan from 2011.

The European Cultural Foundation organised with the British Council and the DOEN Foundation, the first Conference on cultural policies in the Arab region in early June. The event, which took place in Beirut, marked an important step in gathering research and setting out recommendations to support planning and cultural cooperation in the Arab region.

The Creative City Network of Canada (CCNC) released a toolkit on public art today. The Public Art Toolkit was developed to assist local governments, arts, cultural and heritage organizations with the management of public art. The Toolkit is intended as a how-to guide when planning a public art program or evaluating an existing one, and contains resources for the management of public art projects.

An Op-Ed Letter to the Editor in Support of Arts Education

Dear Mr. Anderson:

The recent coverage by The Salt Lake Tribune of Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Beckers proposal to eliminate YouthCity Artways ("Artways program appears doomed", June 6) and ("Parents, kids beg Becker: Dont stamp out Artways", May 23) as well as the Tribunes Editorial ("YouthCity Artways Only one good reason to kill it", May 26) suggests to me that the Mayor and the Salt Lake Tribunes Editorial Board are in need of a good arts education.

From Boston to Oakland, from New York to Dallas, city mayors across this country have found arts education to be both good policy and good for the economies of their cities. Early learning in the arts that a city sponsors increases arts demand that helps all arts organizations in a city and contributes to the citys creative economy. A vibrant creative economy is good economic policy. Cultural participation, which begins with arts education, leads to greater community engagement.

Boards of nonprofit organizations decide on the compensation of the CEO. But with increasing negative press coverage and growing demand for talented CEOs, how can a board balance due diligence while retaining and motivating their leader? The following is my advice.

In the framework of the summer courses 2010 of the University of Zaragoza, the Department of Documentation Science and History of the University of Zaragoza and the Documentation Centre on Culture and Employment Infoculture organize a course Management on information and cultural policies in Jaca, Huesca, from 21 to 23 July. Addressed to information and documentation experts; students and graduates in social sciences, humanities and management; responsibles for management and administration units of business and cultural institutions and cultural professionals in both enterprises and public administrations, the course aims at presenting documentary techniques of collection, processing, recovery and information transfer needed for cultural and heritage management.

Published by the Council of Europe, the study Making culture accessible was officially launched in May 2010. The author, Annamari Laaksonen, researcher on cultural rights and project coordinator at Interarts, asserts that the enjoyment and fulfilment of the right to participate in culture requires an enabling environment and a legal framework that offers a solid basis for the protection of rights related to cultural actions. According to Laaksonen, a society that demonstrates an interest in nurturing cultural and spiritual needs in conditions of liberty has a greater chance of developing a sense of social responsibility among its members.

Neighbourhood Impacts is a longitudinal research study into the impact of the Liverpool European Capital of Culture (ECoC) on local residents. It explores what local people felt about the Liverpool ECoC, their levels of cultural participation, and their perceptions of their city and some of its individual neighbourhoods.

Tourism and the business of culture: the views of small and medium-sized tourism businesses on Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008 is the result of in-depth interviews and an on-line survey of small- and medium-sized enterprises within Liverpool and Merseysides visitor economy.

The Economic Impacts of Visits Influenced by the Liverpool European Capital of Culture in 2008 sets out to understand the visitor economy in 2008, and estimate how it was affected by the Liverpool ECoC. Student Perceptions of the European Capital of Culture: University Choice and Liverpool 08 considers the influence of the Liverpool ECoC on student choice, through 35 focus groups of first year undergraduates across all faculties of the University of Liverpool.

This project underscores the critical role of our nations museums and libraries in helping citizens build such 21st century skills as information, communications and technology literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, civic literacy, and global awareness.

At a time when increasingly advanced skills are required for success in life and work, people of all ages are seeking a diverse range of learning experiences to inspire, guide, and enhance their personal and professional lives.

Libraries and museums can embrace this opportunity to build on past achievements and chart promising new directions. One of these critical new directions involves developing a comprehensive, purposeful approach around 21st century skills. With 17,500 museums and 123,000 libraries across our nation, every community in the United States stands to benefit from the leadership of these institutions.

The European Cultural Foundation is delighted to announce that the Board of ECF has appointed Katherine Watson as the Foundation's new Director. The decision was taken during ECF's Board meeting in Brussels on June 1st. Katherine has been ECF's Acting Director since November 2009. During this period, she and the ECF staff have successfully implemented ECF's new content programmes. Katherine looks forward to continuing to lead the Foundation with her unique energy and vision.

The 1st Kufstein Summer School in Greece (August 22-28, 2010) focuses on the significance of sport and cultural management as one combined subject-area in which, over recent years, new synergies and challenges have emerged. Throughout the countries of Europe, terms such as identity, integration and cultural representation are being discussed extensively, thus revealing the increasing importance of sport and culture as integral parts of social encounters and intercultural exchanges. The Summer School reveals the historic lines of connection between the two, stemming from ancient times and continuing into the 21st century, which raise questions of the relationships between identity, the human body, and social representation. This also includes the impacts and challenges which make up sport and culture management. Organisational aspects as well as the historical, economic, and political issues that influence the staging of the various events will be discussed.

AMA conference 2010

Royal Armouries Museum and Saviles Hall, Leeds UK

20-22 July 2010

The age of mass collaboration is upon us and critical trends are turning the world of work on its head. The social, interconnected world (on- and offline) in which we live is opening up new opportunities and new ways of engaging with the public.

It's simply no longer enough to create the most persuasive message, send it to the right target audience and expect them to make a rational decision to attend.

At the European Museum of the Year Award Ceremony on Saturday 22nd of May, in front of an audience of more than 160 museum professionals from 22 European countries, the Ozeaneum Museum in Stralsund, Germany was announced as the winner of the European Museum of the Year Award for 2010.