Last week, we hosted the first of our
Cultural Age Seminars. It addressed education for the cultural age. We've put a transcript of the opening speech on the website - it's available for download
here.
The
next seminar will be held on 23rd June and will address Integration and Cohesion in the Cultural Age. Speakers include Rushanara Ali Associate Director of the Young Foundation, Kim Knott - Head of the AHRC Diasporas, Migration and Identities Programme and Moira Sinclair - Director of Arts Council London
Online and in the streets, we encounter a more diverse range of cultures than ever before. Mass immigration, the permanent settlement of diaspora communities and the global media have brought different cultures into greater proximity; even those not living in the places of highest immigrant population encounter new levels of diversity and difference. With cheap air travel and mass communication, diaspora communities themselves are able to stay in closer touch with friends and relatives at home. Such changes add new layers of depth and complexity to senses of identity.
In the second seminar in our series, we will be asking how cultural practitioners and academic thinkers can work with policy-makers to come to terms with the challenges that an intercultural world throws up, and develop the opportunities for integration that it offers? The Commission for Cohesion and Integration flagged up the potential role for culture, but how do we make this a policy reality?