Making creative cities: the value of cultural diversity in the arts

In March 2008, the British Council joined with the Australia Council for the Arts to present a one-day forum in Melbourne, Making Creative Cities: The value of cultural diversity in the arts. The forum was envisaged as a platform in which arts practitioners, policy makers and commentators from around the East Asia region could interface with their UK counterparts to address key issues around interculturalism in creative and urban contexts.

Combining panel discussions with facilitated roundtable workshops amongst small groups of participants, the forum stimulated debate around three core areas: the intersection of interculturalism with creative leadership and with creative expression, and the role of interculturalism in the production of creative cities.

The main section of this paper attempts to summarise the day’s wide-ranging discussions. The final outcomes page maps a number of areas that both the Australia Council for the Arts and the British Council are interested in investigating further.