G20 Culture Ministers call for culture to be included in national and international post-pandemic recovery strategies

G20 Ministers of Culture attending the July 29-30 meeting in Rome Colosseum (Pic: G20)

By Emmanuel Legrand

G20 Culture Ministers, gathered for the first time, have agreed to a platform that calls for culture, cultural heritage and the creative sector to be included in national and international post-pandemic recovery strategies. The Ministers also agreed to a wide range of principles related to the culture sector.

  During the meeting held in Rome on July 29 and 30, 2021, under Italy’s 2021 Presidency of the G20, the Ministers of Culture of G20 countries, whose combined economies represent 80% of global GDP, and nine representatives of intergovernmental organisations, looked at ways to build the cultural sector back stronger in a post-pandemic environment. 

  "We know that support for culture is a crucial part of relaunching our economy," said Mario Draghi, Prime Minister of Italy. "When the world looks at us, they see art, music, and literature above all else."

Contribute to recovery

  In particular, Ministers looked at ways to support the ability of culture, one of the sectors most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, "to contribute to recovery as a driver of long-term socio-economic development, resilience and well-being."

  “Empty squares, shuttered museums, cinemas, theatres and libraries have made our cities sad and disconnected,” said Italy's Minister of Culture Dario Franchescini. "For this reason, we now know that culture will be the key to restarting, the engine of an innovative, sustainable and balanced growth."

Make culture central to public policies

  Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, said the G20 ministerial meeting is "reinforcing a commitment to make culture central to public policies in one of the main forums for international cooperation."

  In her G20 speech, Azoulay highlighted the need for improving the status and social protection of creators. "This  is  essential  because innovation, cultural  diversity, and the creative process are inherently precarious  –notably for emerging artists – and fragile during crises."

  Azoulay also talked about "increasing the accountability – includingthe financial accountability – of major digital players." She noted that the pandemic has been an accelerator of digitization in all fields of society, including in culture, but it also "highlighted the unequal distribution of value between creators and digital platforms."

 Founding principles

  In a document unveiled at the end of the meeting, the parties present (see list below) have adopted a five point Declaration covering the following founding principles:

  1. Culture and Creative Sectors as Drivers for Regeneration and Sustainable and Balanced Growth;  

  2. Protection of Cultural Heritage;  

  3. Addressing Climate Change through Culture;  

  4. Building Capacity through Training and Education;

  5. Digital Transition and New Technologies for Culture.  

Memory and vision

  “The G20 Culture Declaration has the capacity to conjugate memory and vision,” said Draghi. The G20 Ministers of Culture Declaration aims to incite G20 Leaders to recognise the need to scale up investments in the culture sector in the Final Declaration of the G20 Summit. 

  The Declaration calls for the following action: 

  1. Affirm culture’s transformative role in sustainable development, helping address economic, social, and ecological pressures and needs and call for the full recognition and integration of culture and the creative economy into development processes and policies

  2. Urge Governments to recognise culture and creativity as an integral part of wider policy agendas, such social cohesion, employment, innovation, health and well-being, the environment, sustainable local development and human rights.  

  3. Recommend to include culture, cultural heritage and the creative sector in national and international post-pandemic recovery strategies. 

  4. Urge Governments to ensure that cultural and creative professionals and firms have due access to employment, social protection, innovation, digitalisation and business support measures. 

  5. Urge Governments to develop and maintain conditions that lay the groundwork for all cultural and creative actors to work in a free, inclusive and safe environment, preventing all forms of discrimination and highting against professional and artistic discrimination of any kind in the culture sector. 

  6. Support initiatives taken to protect endangered cultural heritage and restore destroyed or damaged cultural heritage. 

  7. Recognise that the misuse and misappropriation of Indigenous and local communities’ art and cultural expressions. 

  8. Develop multilateral efforts, with UNESCO at the core, for safeguarding and promoting culture. 

  9. Reiterate concern for the growing looting and illicit trafficking of cultural property and threats to intellectual property, including through digital and social platforms, and other organised crimes committed globally against cultural heritage and cultural institutions. On this point, G20 Culture Ministers call on the international community "to take strong and effective measures," including the ratification of relevant international agreements and Conventions.

  10. Recognising that the illicit trafficking of cultural property and threats to intellectual property are serious international crimes that are linked to money laundering, corruption, tax evasion and terrorist  nancing and also highly affects all countries’ cultural identity.

  11. Encourage the reinforcement of dialogue, structured cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary cooperation and synergies among cultural heritage and disaster-risk management stakeholders at the local, national, regional and international level.

  12. Raise awareness of the importance of global action on climate change and its impacts on cultural heritage and cultural diversity. 

  13. Recognise culture’s role and its potential in leading to solutions to address climate change. 

  14. Recognise the importance of mobilising society at the local level towards achieving urban sustainability and contributing to the goals of the Paris Agreement. 

  15. Encourage investments in technical and vocational training in culture-related employment – both in formal and non-formal contexts – to adapt labour skills towards a sustainable digital and ecological transition, including the knowledge in traditional crafts and materials.

  16. Explore the establishment of a G20 network of Cultural Business Management Training institutions, to strengthen the managerial capacities of cultural professionals to foster culture-driven economic and social development.

  17. Encourage cooperation, research, sharing of information, tools and products on the use of new digital technologies and technological infrastructures and networks aimed at protecting, studying, preserving, digitising, promoting and accessing cultural heritage, including advanced, remote sensing and related ICT and digital technologies, Articial Intelligence, earth observation systems and use of image similarity recognition, to achieve cost-effective solutions for risk prevention and management. 

  18. Support the review and adaptation of cultural policies, including in the digital context, to foster the creation and access to diverse cultural contents, advance the status, rights and working conditions of artists and creatives online and offline, including their Intellectual Property Rights, and guarantee fair remuneration of creators and persons belonging to Indigenous people and local communities. 

  19. Call for the adoption of safeguards to ensure a healthy digital ecosystem to protect users from risks posed by disinformation, misinformation, hate speech, online harm and piracy, to promote mutual trust among all users including artists and creators. 

  20. Recognise the importance of sustainable cultural tourism for affirming the value of culture as a resource for dialogue and mutual understanding among people, for the preservation and appreciation of cultural diversity, the conservation of cultural heritage and the sustainability of local communities. 

Contribution of culture to sustainable economies

  The G20 also adopted the G20 Culture Working Group Terms of Reference and tasked the G20 Culture Working Group, with the support of the OECD, UNESCO and other relevant International Organisations, "to build a strong evidence base regarding the contribution of culture and creative sectors to sustainable and balanced growth, to inform policy action at international, national and local levels."

  The G20 Culture Working Group has also been tasked with working on recommendations and actions aimed at advancing the contribution of culture and cultural heritage in addressing climate change and promoting climate-focused cultural action. 

  The declaration will be submitted to the G20 Leaders’ 2021 Summit and the G20 Culture Ministers will advocate "the introduction of Culture in the G20 workstream, given its strong economic and social impact at the national and global level."

  G20 member countries include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States.