The aim of this pocketbook is to set out the main cultural statistics comparable at European level. Selected tables and graphs describe different areas of the cultural field for the 27 EU Member States, the candidate countries and the EFTA countries: cultural heritage, cultural employment, enterprises in some cultural sectors - publishing, architectural activities and cinema -, external trade of cultural goods, households cultural expenditure, cultural participation and time spent on in cultural activities. The book, which is the first of its kind, is intentionally modest in scope and does not claim to be exhaustive. A short commentary on the data and methodological notes complete this initial snapshot of cultural statistics, mainly based on the findings of existing harmonised surveys and former work carried out within the European Statistical system.

You can download this pocketbook from the Internet site of Eurostat .

Cultural statistics © All rights reserved.European Communities All rights reserved.RMN / Hervé Lewandowski and Thierry Le Mage.photos cover

A new website for creative industries in Europe

The first European information platform on cultural and creative industries has just been put online. It gathers news on cultural policies and industries from across Europe and the whole world and publishes them in three languages. The portal is based on a Europe-wide authors’ network: The authors provide information on current facts and trends in their respective countries.
A newsletter with the latest headlines and links to the recently published news is sent out every two weeks

http://www.european-creative-industries.eu

A Soul for Europe

The documentation on the 2006 Berlin Conference is now complete and available here .

Truth or Dare: Art and Documentary

Increased experimentation by film-makers such as Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock means that the walls between art and documentary are collapsing, generating innovative ideas and attracting an entirely new audience. Intellect's new release, Truth or Dare: Art and Documentary, is the innovative product of a Whitechapel Gallery conference, bringing together renowned artists, film-makers, writers and curators. The ethics of this new wave of documentary are probed when authenticity of documentary clashes with the entertainment and imagination of art.

Truth or Dare explores the blurred boundaries between documentary film and contemporary art, extending discussion to new technological developments that allow for crossover and opportunities for collaboration. This is a unique and timely collection of reflection and analysis by documentary makers and artists about where they position their art forms in relation to each other and the shape of
film-making to come.

Publisher Contact Information Sam King Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Rd., Fishponds, Bristol BS16 3JG, UK Published November 2007 Price £19.95

The Intercultural City: Planning For Diversity Advantage By Phil Wood and Charles Landry

‘This book reminds us - with both proof and passion - that there can be no truly creative or competitive cities without first having curiosity, compassion, conviviality and cooperation.’
Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class

In this new book, Phil Wood and Charles Landry ask ‘when will cities stop complaining about cultural diversity and start seeing it as one of their greatest assets and sources of advantage?’

Published to coincide with the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, the book offers new techniques such as the intercultural lens aimed at helping professionals make the most of cross-cultural interaction and diversity advantage. Policymakers looking to drive forward such new priorities are offered indicators of openness and interculturalism to gauge how far they have come and what lies ahead. Drawing on effective policies the authors have looked at in various cities, they end the book with 10 steps to an intercultural city.

Several western nations have a policy of ‘multiculturalism’ under which those things that differentiate us became prominent, and people drift towards parallel lives. More recently, perhaps in reaction to the terrorist threat, the talk is of security, cohesion and integration. The authors argue that neither approach is right for the long term, and that we need a society in which we not only live together but interact, co-operate and co-create. They call it The Intercultural City

To order, click here

Interarts website

The Interarts Foundation has put online its new website. In addition to a new look and site design, it offers a lot more information than before on past, current and future projects. The site will be updated regularly.

EUROSTAT - pocket book on cultural statistics

The economy of Culture and cultural activities in the 27 countries of the EU

Eurostat has just published a document that provides many facts and figures on the economy of culture and cultural activities in the EU. Much of the information exists already and Eurostat has still to develop a specific methodology for collecting this data for the cultural sector.

The Budapest Observatory provides its comments on this publication in its November newsletter

MemoNov

Updating of 2004 Evaluation report on ECOCs

The European capitals of Culture programme is probably the most successful cultural programme of the EU. A growing number of cities are entering the competition and the need for information is vital. This report gives an updated evaluation on the report published in 2004 for the European Commission by Robert Palmer, Greg Richards and other experts. It is available in English from ATLAS ( Association for Tourism and Leisure Education).

To order

Website of Culture Europe International

The Culture Europe International, magazine that provides a wealth of information on cultural policies and projects in Europe, has become an online newspaper, which is free and available at www.culture-europe-international.org .

You can submit your own texts to the editorial committee directly on the website.

Culturelink Publication on UNESCO's Convention Online

The book UNESCO's Convenion on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions : Making it work, edited by Nina Obuljen and Joost Smiers and published in the Culturelin Joint Publications Series, would certainly find its place on a list of the most sought after books in 2007. From the beginning of January, when the book appeared, to just about the end of the year, the book met with an enormous demand and numerous orders, in addition to the over 1000 issues sent to Culturelink Network members. Such an interest is not surprising as the book not only talks about the activities preceding the adoption of the Convention and the reasons and strategies for its effective implementation, but also takes a look at the struggle for cultural diversity on the theoretical level and in daily practice. Recently made available online, the book is now truly accessible to the entire world community.

Available on www.culturelink.org

Intellectuals and Cultural Policy

This collection of papers presented at a conference hosted by Centre for Cultural Policy Studies by an international group of scholars has recently been published, edited by Jeremy Ahearne and Oliver Bennett.

For more information click here

Ecumest Association, Interarts Foundation and the European Cultural Foundation have launched the publication of the Guide to Citizens' Participation in local cultural policy development for European cities.

The guide is available in electronic format in English, Spanish and French at the following websites :

www.ecumest.ro

www.policiesforculture.org