About Programs Fellowship News Calendar
Fellows come up with an action plan to use cultural diplomacy to shape a better world
From July 4 to 8, 2022, Salzburg Global Seminar hosted Currents of Change: Redefining Cultural Diplomacy for the Future we Need.
Salzburg Global brought together over 60 artists, diplomats, policymakers, and academics, representing 30 countries. Together, they considered the potential for art as a force to improve the world and provide recommendations for reimagining the role that cultural diplomacy and relations can play in bringing us closer to the future we need.
Following this session, Fellows have drafted a Salzburg Statement, in which they set out the priorities and recommendations for the future of cultural diplomacy identified at this meeting. The statement brings key issues to the attention of key stakeholders, acting as an advocacy tool for groups lobbying for change.
Download the Salzburg Statement as a PDF
Read a Ukrainian translation of the Salzburg Statement (Provided by Ukrainian Institute)
Read the full Salzburg Statement below:
Read an excerpt of the Salzburg Statement below:
CASE FOR ACTION
Given recent geopolitical conflicts, the rise and subsequent mistrust of globalization, contentiousness of borders, the climate crisis, and the global pandemic, there can be no more pressing time to assess, recalibrate and identify new approaches to address shared problems and challenges. The arts and culture can offer new imaginaries and hope when the unimaginable transpires. Cultural diplomacy and relations can be used as conduits for change and unifiers to connect peoples. However, we must move beyond a superficial instrumentalization of the arts and culture to pursue shared understandings and shape a better world.
RECOMMENDATIONS
For cultural diplomacy and cultural relations to be leveraged to their fullest potential and for cultural diplomacy to offer long-lasting impacts towards attaining the futures that we want to see, important changes are needed in the ways governments and artists think about and engage in these practices. To this end, the purpose and design of cultural diplomacy and relations should focus on:
Bridging Divides: Authentic connections require recognizing the different ways in which artists, cultural producers, and government and non-government officials view the world. It is thus necessary not only to talk across cultures, but across professions. While the worldviews of artists and officials may differ, both can use cultural diplomacy and relations to promote a more just and peaceful world. All stakeholders share responsibility in creating the necessary networks to ensure that multiple viewpoints and participants are engaged in the process.
Valuing Integrity: In the past, as well as in today’s world, cultural diplomacy has been misused to achieve adverse, aggressive, or harmful foreign policies, and to advance disinformation and manipulation of public opinion. It is crucial that governments and independent agents refrain from practices that affect integrity of cultural diplomacy as a discipline and a profession.
Centering the Artist: Cultural diplomacy must serve the arts while responding to contemporary values of society, preserving cultural heritage, and engaging with contemporary art-making practices. For art to reach its potential as a tool for cultural diplomacy, we must not only look at the role of the art itself but also ensure that artists are centered within the conversation. To do so requires creating inclusive spaces in which artists can openly create without the fear of their art being misused. Centering artists can help the power of art flourish and expand cultural relations.