Global Conversations: Dialogue of Networks

Held during the Annual AAAE Conference, this Global Conversations challenged participants to explore the questions: Through your lens as a cultural management/policy educator and researcher, what are the current challenges you face? How can we view this challenge as an opportunity for our field?

In four parallel groups, academics and educators from Europe, Asia, and the United States brainstormed and prepared their discussions to present to the group in a plenary session. 

Some of the main outcomes from the discussions included: 

• There is a need to address ongoing tension between live experiences, those mediated by technology and changing nature of work with increased automation in arts dissemination and related work (e.g. unions, stage setting etc.);
• As a field, value added approach of collectively identifying what contextual factors we need to be aware of in terms of arts and culture and how we can contribute to larger societal debates and public policy problems;
  
• Intercultural and cultural relations skills need to be built into programmes to prepare students to navigate change, build trust and engage with their communities and the world from a place where they are grounded in their own culture and identity;
  
• There is a need for cultural relations skills: (build trust, respect, engage in reciprocal collaborations based on listening, learn and willingness to change). This is not necessarily a nation-based construct but rather should be designed to bring together those representing different perspectives across multiple sources of identity and communities e.g. race, religion, education, language, gender, sexuality, political position etc.).