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Associated Networks

Prospective Members

The International Council serves communities, NGOs, governments, and inter-governmental organizations by locating and bringing together national networks/associations of community cultural centers to get to know one another and partner around the shared belief that local intangible cultural heritage and cultural diversity can holistic sustainable development through inclusive voluntary arts. I3C is based on the voluntary participation of associated networks - so far, a form of non-financially-based membership - organized in two ways:

1. Pro-active invitation of associated networks:

In this case I3C locates through research and other information relevant networks and associations suitable to be invited to join as an associated network. I3C also invites to its Research Advisory Group (RAG) relevant research institutions, academics, and individual researchers with proven contributions to the field of community-based arts as bridge to social transformation. The above mentioned associated networks and research bodies are expected to complete a candidature dossier with description of their work and renew their entitlement to membership in the Council by submitting a report on activities every two years.

2. Open acceptance and revision of applications for membership:

National networks of cultural centers (state-funded or non-governmental), formal or informal associations, institutions who themselves have helped create networks, and individuals (scholars, experts, and practitioners) with proven contributions to the field of community-based arts are encouraged to approach I3C and apply for membership.

All accepted associated networks of community cultural centers and Research Advisory Group members become members of the General Assembly of the International Council of Cultural Centers, which will meet every two years, with a projected first General Meeting/World Summit of Community Cultural Centers in May 2011 in Bulgaria, the headquarters of the Council. All members have the right to vote and set the major programmes, activities and strategies of the Council, to be carried out by the Executive Council, which is currently composed of its founding members - artists, scholars, experts and cultural practitioners from Bulgaria - but which will be renewed with the election of an International Board at the first formal meeting of I3C's General Assembly in 2011. Until then, the goal of the Council is to grow as a family of the relevant networks and associations of community cultural centers existing around the world and the related research bodies.

Our main principle is unity around shared values and shared community service mechanisms, not the formality of the network and its administrative structure, which will be developed as a collaborative process as we grow within the family.

Overall, I3C's mission is to promote the cross-pollination of centers (houses) and creative people, which we can summarize as a Movement to Connect The "Home-less" Artists and The "Art-less" Homes (in the cases when the community cultural centers are not very active), which is a collaborative process when professional and non-professional artist work together by pro-actively approaching such community spaces where they exist or organize movements to create centers where there is no access and work towards local cultural vitality and richer social life. This is why I3C would work closely with organizations like the UK Voluntary Arts Network and AMATEO, the European Network of Amateur/Voluntary Arts, to link people and spaces.

All accepted members become members of the General Assembly of the International Council of Cultural Centers, which will meet every two years, with a projected first General Meeting in May 2010. All members have the right to vote and set the major programmes, activities and strategies of the Council, to be carried out by the Executive Council, which is currently composed of its founding members - scholars, experts and practitioners from Bulgaria – but which will be renewed with an international board at the first formal meeting of the General Assembly.

1. AFRICA

National Networks:

  • Kenya, Bomas of Kenya Cultural Center - IFACCA member (http://www.bomasofkenya.co.ke/)
  • Kenyan Network of Cultural Centers, Ministry of Culture of Kenya
  • Burkina Faso, Networks of Maisons de la Culture et de la Jeunesse (youth) and Maisons de la Femme (for women's artisan products), funded by local municipalities but part of national cultural policy; I3C is developing a project with the Maison des Cultures du Monde to soon be open in Burkina to begin a Program for the Unification and Animation of the two national networks through an itinerant cultural program on a Mobile Cultural Center housed in a bus
  • Mozambique, Network of municipally funded Casas de Cultura, connected as a model to the Brazilian Casas de Cultura and the Portuguese model
  • Morocco, Maisons de la Culture in major cities
  • Rwanda, Ishyo Arts Center, Mobile Cultural Center Project (within a former Mobile Library books bus from Belgium) traveling around Rwanda to develop smaller local focal points cultural centers (Contact person, Carole Karemera, ishyoasbl@yahoo.fr)
  • South Africa, GOMACC, Gauteng Organisation of Community Arts and Culture Centers (http://www.gomacc.org.za , Contact Person Director Dennis Sehlabane, gomacc@mweb.co.za ) The Gauteng network partners with the Johannesburg City Dept of Culture (Contact Person, Steven Sachs, stevens@joburg.org.za) to further develop vibrant city-wide arts centers network and set the foundation to revive the National Federation of Community Arts Centers launched in 2003. Currently, the Department of Arts and Culture (www.dac.gov.za) sees the community arts centres as “focal points to make an impact at the local level” as nodes in the Sustainable Rural Development Programme and the Urban Renewal Programme. Recent portion of the budget is to be allocated to the renewal of the National Federation was announced at the IFACCA World Summit on Arts and Culture, Johannesburg (September 2009)
  • Sudan, Rashidiab Arts Centre (http://www.rashidiabartscentre.net)

2. ASIA

CENTRAL ASIA

EAST ASIA

  • Japan, Shizuoka National Cultural Festival (of Community Arts and Heritage Groups) (http://www.city.numazu.shizuoka.jp/living_in/english/pdf/e091001-1.pdf)
  • Japan, Tokyo Wonder Site, http://www.tokyo-ws.org (Institute for Contemporary Arts and International Cultural Exchange, contact person Yasuku Imamura, imamura@tokyo-ws.org) and Power Point Project: developing “points of culture”/cultural centers, where “points create lines, lines create surface and surfaces house people and relations” to promote sustainable development through local culture and arts.
  • South Korea, Sarangbang Culture Club Network (Contact persons, Mr. Ryu, Seongnam Foundation Project Coordinator, zoasis@naver.com, http://www.sncf.or.kr, and Dr. Yunju Kang, Professor in Arts & Cultural Management, Kyunghee Cyber University Seoul, artkang@khcu.ac.kr)
  • South-East Asia Community Learning Centers (CLCs) Network,

    • initiated by UNESCO in 1998 in Thailand (UNESCO Bangkok): set up in both village and urban areas in 24 countries in the Asia and Pacific region with definition: “Local educational institutions outside the formal education system, for villages and urban areas usually set up and managed by local people to provide various learning opportunities for community development and improvement of people quality of life” (UNESCO Bangkok Appeal Training materials for Educational Personnel: ALP-CE, 1995)
    Read more in Manual for the Implementation of CLCs, published by UNESCO Bangkok (available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001211/121155eo.pdf),
    The Ban Nai Soi Community Learning Center pilot model (http://www.naisoi.org/about.html)

  • Vietnam: Houses of Culture
  • India: Khoj Workshops, International Artists’ Association (http://www.khojworkshop.org)
  • Indonesia, Jakarta Arts Council (contact Marco Kusumawijaya, marco.kusumawijaya@dkj.or.id), National Green Map Project

3. AUSTRALIA and the PACIFIC

4. EUROPE

National Networks:

5. LATIN AMERICA

National networks:

6. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (ARAB STATES)

  • Multi-purposes Community Learning Centers (MCLC) Network,

    • UNESCO Pilot Project in Lebanon, Syria, Palestinian Camps, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, and Yemen: MCLCs are “local centers organized and managed by local community to provide various learning opportunities to all community members in order to empower the local community individuals and improve their life quality.”

  • UNESCO Network of Multi-purpose Community Learning Centers (MCLC)

    • in more than 12 countries (http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001529/152905mb.pdf)

7. NORTH AMERICA

RELATED NETWORKS OF CULTURAL CENTERS

These centers are often more oriented toward professional arts showcasing, performances, and professional artists residencies, but their overall mission and community outreach programs intersect on many levels with the mission and work of the smaller, more voluntary arts oriented community cultural centers I3C represents.

More membership applications and requests for information are welcome!

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