World Creativity Summit 2007
Release: World Creativity Summit 2007
Between the 23rd-25th of July 2007, the International Association of Drama/Theatre and Education (IDEA), International Society of Education through Art (InSEA) and International Society of Music Education (ISME) that make up the World Alliance of Arts Education convened their first World Creativity Summit at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. It was the World Alliance's first collaboration since the presentation of its 'Joint Declaration' on March 6th 2006 at the UNESCO World Congress of Arts in Education held in Lisbon, Portugal, and was institutionally launched by a historic shared keynote by the presidents of the 3 world organisations on July 21st during the 6th IDEA World Congress, in Hong Kong.
Hosted by the Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong (SAR) government and organised in collaboration with the Hong Kong Institute of Contemporary Culture, the Summit gathered more than 120 internationally-renowned scholars, practitioners, cultural producers and policy-makers from more than 40 different countries to begin strategic discussions around three principal aims: to design and launch a sustainable and effective World Creativity Summit; to understand the relationships between human creativity and the cultivation of knowledge-based societies built on the practice of sustainable development, global solidarity, cooperation and human rights; and to stimulate and develop strategic partnerships which influence how civil societies and their governments throughout the world understand and create such a future.
Following an afternoon of preparation through participatory storytelling and an evening of music performed by Noridan from South Korea on instruments built from recycled industrial waste, the Summit was formally opened on the morning of July 24th by Mr Tsang Tak-sing, Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Dan Baron Cohen (President of IDEA, Chair of the World Alliance and Director of the WCS), Dr Liane Hentschke (President of ISME) and Dr Ann Kuo (President of InSEA). Their welcoming addresses were concluded by a ceremonial exchange of gifts and the launch of two public dialogues between 24 keynote speakers who addressed two searching questions: 'Arts Education: from pedagogy to sustainable futures?' and 'Technological convergence: globalisation or cultural democracy?'. During 3 hours of focussed exchanges, the 12 keynote speakers involved in each dialogue identified key questions and concerns of our time, building a global perspective on the challenges and potentials specific to each region of the world. The public dialogues were followed by an afternoon of 20 roundtable presentations involving the 120 invited experts, each of which identified projects, resources and collaborations that might serve to define the strategic aims of the World Alliance. The first day concluded with a powerful dance narrative performance of memory and healing by young performers from Vichama Theatre of Peru.
The second day of the Summit was structured to focus the institutional needs and map the strategic priorities of the World Alliance. The Summit Director had appealed in his opening address for participants to lay visionary but realistic foundations so that the Alliance could build a sustainable infrastructure and integrated research and advocacy projects. On the second day, he recommended the participants see this first step as a one-year process that would span until a 2008 Summit hosted in Taiwan by InSEA. Following an exquisite traditional lunch prepared and served by students of the culinary arts, participants presented the recommendations of their focus groups, identifying areas of common interest for future collaboration. The first Summit concluded with an open-air farewell dinner at which the Summit Director congratulated the participants for their support for an innovative methodology and their first contributions, and closed with a formal invitation to the 2008 World Creativity Summit in Taiwan.
Dan Baron Cohen, Director of the WCS 2007
President of IDEA
Chair of the World Alliance for Arts Education (2006-2007)
Dr Ann Kuo President of InSEA
Dr Liane Hentschke
President of ISME
Further information is available from the WCS website: www.worldcreativitysummit.org