Asia-Europe Compendium of Cultural Policies

Overview

In the field of cultural policy, Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) aims to stimulate analysis and engagement that reflect current political debates in Asia and Europe, as well as demonstrate verifiable alignment with priorities of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Towards this end, the Asia-Europe Compendium of Cultural Policies programme was launched in 2011 in partnership with an international consortium of partners led by the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA).

This programme supports the WorldCP-International Database of Cultural Policies, a central, web-based and continuously updated database of country-specific profiles of cultural policies modelled on the highly-regarded Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe.  WorldCP was launched at the 5th World Summit on Arts and Culture (October 2011, Melbourne).

WorldCP-Asia, a central component in the development of WorldCP, is a major new initiative to document the arts and cultural policies of countries in Asia, with specific focus on ASEM member countries. The Secretariat for WorldCP-Asia will be located at the Asia-Europe Foundation in 2012. Cultural policy profiles of South Korea and Vietnam have been commissioned in 2011. Completed cultural policy profiles of ASEM countries will be made available in the Countries section of culture360.org.

The programme is significantly enhancing access to current information and analyses on the cultural policies and trends of ASEM countries, while also promoting exchange and dialogue on policy making. A series of Experts’ Meetings on Cultural Policy, organised as part of the programme, facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue on issues of mutual relevance in arts and culture for Asia and Europe. Two Experts’ Meetings have already been organised in Seoul, South Korea and Melbourne, Australia in 2011. A third meeting is scheduled to be organised in Vietam in 2012.

Our Goals

• Support research on arts and cultural policies of Asian ASEM countries
• Stimulate comparative and inter-cultural dialogue on cultural policies among ASEM countries through online & people-to-people exchanges
• Facilitate policy dialogue on arts and culture between ASEM governments and cultural professionals
• Build a community of practice among policy researchers in Asia and Europe