Tony Bennett, Differing diversities - Council of Europe

Differing diversitiesiii. that the Council of Europe and its member states work to broaden and extendthe range of constituencies that need to be involved in the development of culturaldiversity policiesIt cannot be stated too strongly that cultural policies for diversity cannot be justarts policies, or even arts plus media policies; they must encompass the muchwider range of issues and policies that have to be addressed if the promotion ofdiversity is to take account of the many and varied ways in which culture is implicatedin the organisation of everyday life. This perspective needs to be fully articulatedand embodied in the terms of reference for future cultural diversity initiativesundertaken by the Council.iv. that the Council of Europe and its member states support and resource thedevelopment of international information networks on the development of culturaldiversity policiesThere is undoubtedly a useful role to be played here through the establishment ofan information network that would improve the circulation of information regardingcurrent cultural diversity policies and the literature and examples of good practicethat are available within different national jurisdictions.v. that the Council of Europe and its member states facilitate the establishmentand co-ordination of national and international research networks able todevelop and conduct longer-term transversal research projects into the development,implementation and effectiveness of cultural policies for diversityConsiderable long-term benefit is likely to flow from the facilitation of researchconcerned with the civic, administrative, social, economic, and conceptual contextsof cultural diversity policies in different jurisdictions, and with assessing therelative effectiveness of different cultural policy instruments. Research of thiskind is rare, and transversal studies are even harder to come by. The CanadianCultural Researchers Network and CIRCLE offer important examples of the valueof research networks that are able to draw on the perspectives of cultural policypractitioners, academic researchers and community representatives. The developmentof an international research network with a specific focus on diversity, andinvolving researchers, practitioners and policy makers, could valuably add to andcomplement the activities of both.Priority themesIt is important that, in taking these steps, the Council of Europe should be guidedby the perspective of cultural democracy as elaborated earlier in this section, andthat the steps it takes should contribute to the further elaboration and developmentof the principles of cultural citizenship which that perspective requires. At thesame time, it is important that these matters should be pursued concretely, withclose reference to the detailed aspects of cultural policy formation and implementation,to help develop and share policy templates that will contribute to fruitfulinternationally collaborative approaches to cultural policy development. For this66