Thousands of cultural policy makers will gather in Barcelona between 29 September – 1 October to set the global agenda for culture in the years ahead.
Arts Council of Wales and Wales Arts International will be putting the spotlight on culture and language as part of community well-being, including the work undertaken as part of the UN Decade of Indigenous Languages, thanks to the presence of poet, author, academic and archdruid Professor Mererid Hopwood and Head of Wales Arts International, Eluned Hâf.
Eluned Hâf said, “MONDIACULT is a hugely important cultural conference where ministers and cultural leaders from across the world gather to set the global agenda for culture and make commitments. Here in Wales, the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 enshrined in law that all public bodies in Wales must work to achieve 7 well-being goals as our shared legal responsibility towards a sustainable future, and one of these is a vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language.
“With a decade of experience as leaders in recognising culture and our Indigenous language, Cymraeg, as central to sustainable development and our well-being, we are looking forward to meeting, listening and learning from Indigenous leaders whilst sharing our language expertise which is in demand internationally.”
Prof. Mererid Hopwood will be chairing an official event with the Canada Commission for UNESCO ‘Listening to the Land: Indigenous Knowledges in Policy’, which will explore how including Indigenous voices, languages (including Welsh), places, cultural expressions and knowledge passed down through communities and generations can make research more inclusive and help create policies that work in the long-run. Fellow Panellists include Barbara Filion, Arts, Culture & Indigenous Policy Practitioner, Damien Serre, Professor of Geography, Université Paris Saclay-UVSQ, France and Tom Johnson, Chairperson, Hawiⱡkini kiⱡkiⱡwiy ka·kⱡukaqwaⱡaʔis - CCUNESCO’s Working Group on Indigenous Languages and Executive Director, Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife Commission (Nova Scotia, Canada).
Prof. Hopwood said,
“In 2020, by dedicating a decade to focus on indigenous languages, UNESCO opened up a space that invites us not only to make audible the 7000 + languages of the world, but to listen to them. The MONDIACULT conference is a further UNESCO opportunity that will enable us to explore the role of language in culture and to consider how nurturing the linguistic diversity of the world can improve the peaceful well-being of all who live in it. I very much look forward to listening to and learning from the participants on the panel and to offer a Welsh voice to the discussions.”
Eluned Hâf will represent Wales as part of the International Federation of Arts Council and Cultural Agencies (IFACCA) and take part in the event ‘Sustainable pathways for charting the future of arts and culture: In conversation with public agencies’ in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Spain as well as various other sessions where she will be able to share knowledge and experience from Wales.
Eluned Hâf
Dafydd Rhys, Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Wales, “Wales Arts International’s work to integrate culture into public policies and institutions is being used as an example of good practice by our European colleagues, and rightly so. This event will identify the concrete actions UNESCO and partners could take to in the second half of the UN Decade to support, revitalise and transmit the world’s Indigenous and minoritised languages for the benefit of future generations.”