Highlights:

Vol. 3, No. 3, March 2005

Spanish Coalition to Host Fourth International Meeting
of Cultural Professional Organizations May 9-11 in Madrid

Leaders of organizations representing artists, creators and other cultural professionals from more than 75 countries around the world will be invited to gather in Madrid, Spain, on May 9 th to 11 th for the Fourth International Meeting of Cultural Professional Organizations.

The Madrid Meeting is being held on the eve of the third—and possibly final—intergovernmental session at UNESCO to negotiate the proposed convention on the protection of the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions.

With the UNESCO negotiations sessions set to get underway in Paris May 23, the dates for the Madrid Meeting have been deliberately chosen to focus maximum media and political attention on the meeting, and to ensure that the voice of artists, creators and all cultural professionals is clearly heard at this critical moment in the negotiations process.

The Meeting’s panel discussions will feature leaders of organizations representing cultural professionals from around the world, experts on the trade and culture debate, and key negotiators engaged in the UNESCO talks. Political leaders and government officials responsible for the culture, foreign affairs and trade portfolios from several countries will also take part.

Invitations will be sent out within the next week, accompanied by a preliminary program for the three-day meeting. Invitations will be sent to representatives of professional organizations representing actors, writers, directors, composers and musicians, visual artists, publishers, and independent producers and distributors of film, television and music.

As with its predecessors, the Madrid Meeting will be truly international in scope. Leaders of key cultural professional organizations from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Pacifica will all take part.

The Fourth Meeting is being hosted by the Spanish Coalition for Cultural Diversity, and is being organized by SGAE, the Spanish rights society representing authors, composers and publishers, with the collaboration of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for cultural diversity.

The meeting has been made possible by financial support from the Government of Spain’s Department of Culture, the Department of External Affairs and Cooperation, and from SGAE.

The Madrid Meeting will build on the momentum generated by the three previous international meetings of cultural professional organizations, which were launched in September of 2001 in Montreal . The second meeting followed in Paris in February of 2003.

The most recent meeting was held less than a year ago in Seoul , Korea , and was the largest yet. Hosted by the Korean Coalition for Cultural Diversity, the Third Meeting brought together more than 400 representatives of cultural organizations from more than 50 countries.

More information on the Madrid Meeting will be available in the coming days at: www.coalicionedc.org

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