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The cultural sector, more than any other policy domain, has the capacity to adapt across time, building on the dynamic essence of culture itself. In a fragmented, volatile and uncertain world, multilateral dialogue is needed more than ever before to address issues that transcend national borders. Culture is the bridge between peoples and countries, the platform for inclusive and collaborative problem-solving, and the key to unlocking mutual understanding and reinforcing global action based human rights and respect for diversity. This is the essence of MONDIACULT 2022.

Forty years after the first MONDIACULT World Conference, gathered Ministers of Culture in Mexico City, MONDIACULT 2022 is a time to pause, take stock of progress, reflect on challenges and chart a new course. During those intervening decades, the global cultural policy landscape has evolved profoundly. At the international level, a new broader definition of culture was adopted, and new normative instruments have been developed, providing updated policy guidance for living heritage, underwater cultural heritage, creativity, the role of museums, culture in the urban landscape and, crucially, the vital importance of cultural diversity. At the national level, unlike the situation in 1982, a great number of countries have now established culture ministries or institutions and enacted cultural policies. The undisputed social and economic value of the culture sector has led to evolutions in its role as reflected by the growing policy investment in cultural tourism or cultural diplomacy or novel approaches such as cultural literacy. While the State remains central to devise public policy, guarantee fundamental rights, and regulate the cultural sector, other stakeholders engaged in cultural policy-making – from local governments and civil society organizations, to subregional and regional organizations, as well as private sector actors hold an equally crucial role.

Furthermore, over the past few years, culture have become more firmly embedded in broader sustainable development policy frameworks and debates, at global, regional and local levels. Culture underpins all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, reflecting its impact across the public policy spectrum, from social inclusion and economic growth, to education, climate action and urban policies. High levels of participation in the UNESCO Forum of Ministers of Culture in 2019 demonstrated a deep desire on the part of countries to reinvest in global policy dialogue on culture for sustainable development. The unprecedented inclusion of culture in the G20 between 2019 and 2021, under the respective presidencies of Saudi Arabia and Italy, marked a major step forward, leading to the first ever G20 ministerial Declaration on culture in July 2021. In addition, regional and sub-regional organizations also proved instrumental in amplifying this momentum, notably through supporting regional culture ministerial dialogue, data collection, policy monitoring and evidence-building, as well as joint advocacy efforts. A strengthened UN Resolution on Culture and Development () further reflects and amplifies countries’ commitment across public policy domains and culture is increasingly integrated as a crosscutting dimension in the work of UN agencies, funds and programmes.

MONDIACULT 2022 has two specific aims:

• to draw a future roadmap for cultural policies, which integrates country priorities and promotes the role of culture for sustainable development;
• to anchor culture as a global public good in the public policy agenda and support its recognition as a sustainable development goal in itself, as well as consolidate permanent multilateral dialogue and promote efficient data collection.

In the lead-up to MONDIACULT 2022 Member States and other stakeholders have clearly voiced the need to develop innovative governance models, public policy and business schemes, partnerships and alliances, as well as funding mechanisms within the culture sector to adapt to changing realities towards greater adaptability and agility. Strengthening civil society engagement in cultural policy was highlighted, as well as stepping up the involvement of regional intergovernmental organizations, development banks and local authorities.

A number of key priorities emerged:

The importance of cultural heritage for identity, social cohesion, peace and security, particularly as culture is increasingly caught in the crossfire of conflicts. Member States highlighted the need for concerted transnational measures and coordinated actions to address threats to tangible and intangible cultural heritage, particularly the looting and illicit trafficking of cultural property, as well as the destruction and misuse of cultural heritage and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples.

The need to adapt cultural policies to the digital transformation. This includes harnessing the opportunities of the digital transformation across all cultural domains, including for promoting access to culture, supporting the documentation and safeguarding of cultural heritage, and promoting innovation in creative fields, as well as addressing challenges to online cultural and linguistic diversity, the fair remuneration of artists and intellectual property frameworks. Member States and other stakeholders have called for the adaptation of norms and regulation frameworks, within and beyond cultural policies, at the national, regional, and international levels.

Greater systematization of technical and vocational education and training for the professionalization of cultural stakeholders, building on the UNESCO Culture Conventions and through policy advice mechanisms and methodological guidance on institutionalizing education and training in culture-related employment and in curricula, in order to strengthen heritage and creative sectors.

Expanding investment in data collection, production, and analysis to inform public policies and demonstrate the contribution of culture to sustainable development. This includes strengthening cultural statistical instruments – including globally comparable – fostering systematic data collection and monitoring of key areas such as cultural employment (including in the informal sector) and fostering research and knowledge building on culture and sustainable development.

Despite mounting evidence over recent decades attesting to the power of culture across the public policy spectrum, cultural policies have tended to remain relatively isolated from other policy areas. During the consultative process, countries have referred to the progressive transversal integration of culture across public policies notably education, climate action, disaster risk reduction, tourism, employment, and urban planning, but have requested greater dialogue and support to ensure stronger policy coherence, both at the national and regional levels. Having entered the last Decade of Action for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, the transversal nature of culture and its transformative impact will be instrumental to fill implementation gaps and shape sustainable development pathways.

Highlighting culture as a global public good will be a vital to ensure human-centered development, based on trust and moral solidarity. A shift in the focus of public policies towards global public goods – an imperative recently advocated by the UN Secretary General in the 2021 Our Common Agenda report – cuts across all policy domains but is particularly relevant to culture. One of his recommendations is the preparation of a Summit of the Future in 2023 to nurture multilateral cooperation and dialogue. This is an ideal juncture to promote culture as a global public good, in view of its multifaceted social, economic and environmental benefits, as well as its transformative impact on societies as a whole.

Beyond major conceptual evolutions, the role of culture in several key public policy areas was highlighted:

Leveraging culture to foster inclusive economic growth and address inequalities, notably through the creative economy and cultural tourism, particularly for vulnerable groups. Beyond supporting the rights of professionals directly employed in the cultural sector, countries are also designing policies to foster inclusive, socially and environmentally responsible cultural tourism patterns. Culture also contributes to greater societal wellbeing, through upholding cultural rights and benefits linked with decent work and the full participation and enjoyment of culture.

Strengthening the linkages between culture and education for all in order to support the rise of the knowledge society and shape global citizenship. In addition to strengthening competences needed within the cultural sector itself, culture provides opportunities to expand quality education by enriching educational contents and bolstering skills for the 21st century, including creative thinking and intercultural dialogue. In the context of increasingly interconnected and multicultural societies, culture and arts education also contributes to an appreciation of cultural diversity as a force for dialogue, peace and stability. Member States are particularly interested in the educational role of non-formal education spaces and institutions, such as museums and heritage sites in developing competences and behaviours for sustainable development.

Harnessing culture for climate action, through cultural, natural and intangible cultural heritage as untapped reservoirs of climate responses, as well as through creativity for shaping discourses and action on climate change. Whilst the effects of climate change on culture is well publicised, Member States are requesting further guidance to capitalise on UNESCO-designated sites – World Heritage properties, biosphere reserves and geoparks - as laboratories to test climate adaptation and mitigation, as well as on disaster risk preparedness strategies. Further guidance is also requested to be able to incorporate living heritage, in the form of local and indigenous knowledge, into transversal public policies on topics such as resilience and adaptation strategies that incorporate traditional food security mechanisms and water and land management techniques.

1– Renewed and strengthened cultural policies

This thematic session will address the structural issues related to the adaptation and implementation of cultural policies in the face of contemporary challenges. Among the strategic directions of a sector marked by the unequal impact of the digital transformation, is the need to reaffirm the urgency of protecting and promoting cultural diversity, placing cultural rights, equal access to culture, social cohesion and inclusion at the forefront. In a context where the cultural sector has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the session will address policy frameworks, measures and tools to strengthen the resilience of the sector, in particular regarding the socio-economic conditions of artists and cultural professionals and to reinvest in the cultural sector, diversifying funding sources. An integrated approach, encompassing all these priorities, could help reposition culture as a public good.

2 – Culture for sustainable development

The cross-cutting approach to culture – which is the subject of this thematic session – invites to revisit cultural policies in favour of coordinated legislative and operational frameworks and more agile and cross-cutting governance, as well as to strengthen, document and measure the links between culture and other areas of public policy, such as education, climate action, or urban development. Such a multidisciplinary approach also feeds into international advocacy for the mainstreaming of culture in public policies and its transformative role for social, economic and environmental development. Increased international and multilateral cooperation through permanent dialogue will be essential to achieve these objectives.

3 – Heritage and cultural diversity in crisis

Heritage and cultural diversity are subject to increasing threats, notably in situations of crisis, conflict and natural hazards, whose combined impact leads to a weakening of cultural ecosystems. These challenges call for the strengthening and adaptation of cultural policy frameworks and tools, including through the UNESCO's Cultural Conventions, in order to ensure the effective safeguarding of cultural heritage in the service of communities, to strengthen the fight against illicit trafficking in cultural property, to support dialogue for the return and restitution of cultural property, to prioritise risk management and prevention and to systematise the documentation of heritage - including through new technologies - or to address the challenges of cultural and linguistic diversity, and to promote the active participation of communities and indigenous peoples.

4 – The future of the creative economy

The creative economy, whose accelerated growth opens up considerable prospects in terms of employment, in particular for young people, offers a springboard for innovation by creating the necessary conditions for the development of cultural and creative industries, from the safeguarding of tangible and living heritage, for the promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions and for the development of sustainable cultural tourism. In this context, investing in education and adapting the skills of cultural professionals - especially in the digital environment - but also strengthening national and international frameworks and mechanisms, are priority axes in the context of cultural and public policies with the aim of ensuring an equitable redistribution along the value chain of the cultural sector.