[caption id="attachment_5115" align="alignright" width="387" caption="Asia-Europe Dialogue on Arts, Culture & Climate Change 2008, Beijing (organised by ASEF on occasion of 7th ASEM Summit)"][/caption]

On 2-3 October 2010, the 4^th Connecting Civil Societies of Asia and Europe Conference takes  place in Brussels as a preparatory event for the Summit meeting of Heads of State of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). This conference includes a workshop on Sustainable Creative Cities – the role of the arts in a globalised urban context.

Thirteen years in development, the ASEM forum today is a broad range of dialogue channels and activities that continue to respond to the changing challenges facing Asia and Europe.

As it goes forward, the ASEM process could benefit from clearer, more focused objectives and a more defined agenda.

• What should ASEM’s priorities be for the next few years?


• What are the most pressing concerns shared by governments and civil societies across Asia and Europe, especially those concerns that could benefit from concerted policy attention and sustained grassroots action from citizens?

As the only permanent ASEM institution, ASEF plays a vital role in connecting reflections on the ASEM level with the concerns of civil societies in the two regions. Taking place on the eve of the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 8 Summit), the 4th Connecting Civil Societies (CCS4) aims to take stock and analyse some of the current trends and issues that define the Asia-Europe dialogue to date, identify the most constructive areas for civil society cooperation, and forecast emerging issues that could have an impact on future ASEM dialogue and directions. The conference will have seven workshops where civil society participants are invited to contribute recommendations to leaders at the ASEM 8 Summit in Brussels, outlining the main concerns of civil society that could contribute to the ASEM agenda in the next two years and beyond.

This conference will include a workshop on the theme: Sustainable Creative Cities – the role of the arts in globalised urban context. Invited experts will address the roles of artists and creative workers in the evolution of globalised cities across Asia and Europe, assessing how an “artistic mode of knowing” can contribute to a transition from creative cities to sustainable creative cities.  The aim is to facilitate the emergence of local urban processes of social change in partnerships between artists, cultural practitioners and communities, as opposed to top-down urban planning.  The workshop outcomes will include recommendations for the ASEM Summit and will be of relevance for local governance and for ASEM cultural policy.

The results of the Sustainable Creative Cities Workshop will be published on Culture360.org in October 2010.

In 2008, ASEF organised the Dialogue on Arts, Culture and Climate Change in Beijing, on the occasion of the 7th ASEM Summit.

For more information please contact: Anupama.sekhar [at] asef.org