Tony Bennett, Differing diversities - Council of Europe

Transversal study on the theme of cultural policy and cultural diversitypurpose, five priority themes are proposed in view of their capacity to bringtogether a range of the issues canvassed in the two previous sections. They are:i. Decentralisation and cultural planning approaches to diversityThis should focus on the creation of local, regional, municipal, and communitystructures and strategies for the development and implementation of cultural policiescommitted to the pursuit of cultural diversity objectives.ii. Cultural entrepreneurship and diversityThe issues to be considered here concern the developing interface between culturalproducers and electronically mediated markets, with especial reference to therole that government can play in assisting new forms of cultural entrepreneurshipthat will create new markets and distribution routes for local, indigenous and diasporiccultural producers.iii.Culture and the management of conflictThis should concern the role that the promotion of cultural diversity can play as ameans of fostering greater civic dialogue between the members of culturallydiverse societies and so serve to reduce the prospects of conflict within such societies.iv. Cultural diversity in everyday lifeThe need here is for a closer examination of the implications of extending the traditionalremit of cultural policy (encompassing arts, heritage and media policies)to embrace a wider definition of cultural resources and their relevance to culturaldiversity objectives.v. Majority/minority public spheresThe issues to be considered here concern the balance between, on the one hand,policies directed at the reform of existing public cultural and media institutions tomake them more responsive to the agendas of cultural diversity and, on the other,the need to support differentiated public spheres related to the specific culturalneeds of different social groups.ReferencesAdorno, Theodor, 1991, The Culture Industry. Selected Essays on Mass Culture,London: Routledge.Anderson, Benedict, 1983, Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin andSpread of Nationalism, London: Verso.Appadurai, Arjun, 1996, Modernity at Large. Cultural Dimensions ofGlobalisation, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Bennett, Tony, 2000, Acting on the social: art, culture and government, AmericanBehavioral Scientist, Vol. 43, No. 9.67