20th Anniversary of the Culturelink Network

The Third World Culturelink Conference under the title "Networks – The Evolving Aspects of Culture in the 21st Century" was held from 13th to 15th November 2009 in Zagreb, Croatia. The event marked the 20th anniversary of Culturelink, Network of Networks for Research and Cooperation in Cultural Development that was established in 1989 by UNESCO and the Council of Europe. In the past 20 years, Culturelink Network’s community has grown to over 1 500 members coming from 105 countries world-wide, that participated in Culturelink’s activities - from conferences and seminars to research projects and publications. The Institute for International Relations (IMO) in Zagreb, Croatia is the focal point of the Culturelink Network since its inception.

The conference was opened by the representatives of UNESCO Office in Venice, the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, and the City of Zagreb, who indicated the importance of the work of the Culturelink network in the last twenty years. In the following two days over one hundred Culturelink Network’s members, researchers and professionals discussed the pertinent issues of the role and relevance that cultural networks have for cultural development. Special emphasis was given to issues regarding the position of cultural networks within cultural policies structures, as well as to the effective usage of innovative ICT and networking applications that considerably develop the modes and scopes of activities of cultural networks. The event included debates on the promotion and affirmation of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue through networking processes with the case studies from all regions of the world. The conference gave the plethora of new approaches to the changing dynamics of cultural networking, and indicated the need for a more detailed research of these changes.

More information on the conference can be found at the conference web page

For further information please, write to the author Jaka Primorac:

jaka@irmo.hr