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ASEF Report now available: “Linking the Arts to Environment and Sustainable Development Issues”

This post comes to you from Cultura21

In 2010, ASEF commissioned research to investigate good practices connecting the arts to initiatives tackling environmental sustainability issues in a number of Asian countries. Titled Linking the Arts to Environment and Sustainable Development Issues,  the research project aimed to carefully document case studies that can not only provide inspiration for networking and collaboration between Asia and Europe in this area but also aid policy making and planning.

The researchers examined initiatives by the cultural sector as well as by civil society organisations working on environmental issues in nine Asian countries: India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Mongolia.

Direct link to the final report (PDF file): Click here

Read more on the ASEF (Asia Europe Foundation)  website: click here

Cultura21 is a transversal, translocal network, constituted of an international level grounded in several Cultura21 organizations around the world.

Cultura21′s international network, launched in April 2007, offers the online and offline platform for exchanges and mutual learning among its members.

The activities of Cultura21 at the international level are coordinated by a team representing the different Cultura21 organizations worldwide, and currently constituted of:

– Sacha Kagan (based in Lüneburg, Germany) and Rana Öztürk (based in Berlin, Germany)
– Oleg Koefoed and Kajsa Paludan (both based in Copenhagen, Denmark)
– Hans Dieleman (based in Mexico-City, Mexico)
– Francesca Cozzolino and David Knaute (both based in Paris, France)

Cultura21 is not only an informal network. Its strength and vitality relies upon the activities of several organizations around the world which are sharing the vision and mission of Cultura21

Go to Cultura21

Hacking together a project

In a blog a couple of weeks ago, Matthew Taylor called for ideas for a new RSA project on manufacturing. Given the RSA’s commitment to practical project work, he suggested that heavy industrial projects would be impractical for us and that worthy reports on the future of manufacturing in the UK are two-a-penny.

The rise of hacking (see this paper published by the RSA’s Design team in 2009) provides food for thought, but the practical project isn’t yet clear… Anyway rather than go over the same ground again, I thought I’d do something more constructive, like make a map of the Hackspaces that are springing up around the UK. This one (click on it to go to the actual map) shows the Hackspaces listed on the Hackspace Foundation website as of today.

I’d be interested to know what factors contribute to the forming of a hackspace. Is it a university near by? More diverse or tolerant communities? Concentration of creative or high-tech industry? What do you think?

Map of UK Hackspaces – data taken from http://hackspace.org.uk/

Go to RSA Arts & Ecology