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May 25, 2020
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development — Message from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
Photo: Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), briefs journalists following a Security Council meeting on the maintenance of international peace and security. 30 November 2017. United Nations, New York. UN Photo/Kim Haughton. [File Photo]
• World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
• Message from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO
21 May 2020
This year’s World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development comes at a time of uncertainty and anxiety.
For many, the closure of public spaces, cultural institutions, and performance and concert halls has led to a constriction of cultural space and increased seclusion.
Fortunately, the technical means we have at our disposal today make it possible for those who can benefit from them to compensate for the narrowness of confined spaces. We have thus seen initiatives blossom that has renewed interest in cultural practices around the world and highlighted their abundant richness. By dint of coordinated action, initial efforts, and creativity, this imposed downtime has made it possible to see what is one of humanity’s riches: our diversity.
Although COVID-19 has not succeeded in curbing dialogue among cultures, the long-term consequences of the crisis, especially in economic terms, might inflict severe damage on diversity, as periods of crisis are conducive to concentration and standardization. It is this insidious threat that looms.
Without significant support, structures will disappear. We would miss the opportunities to stimulate and hear different ways of seeing and feeling. Cultural diversity may get diminished, and humanity would be the poorer for it.
We must, therefore, protect diversity without delay before it is too late. That is why UNESCO has launched the ResiliArt movement, whose purpose is to find ways of fostering the protection and promotion of cultural diversity in these difficult times. By bringing together artists, cultural professionals, governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to reflect on the pandemic’s impact, we are developing the future of cultural diversity through collective intelligence and joint cultural building.
The current crisis must lead to new awareness and new efforts to ensure the development and continuation of varied cultural forms and flourishing cultural structures. The crisis has brought to light difficulties that were often already present.
On this 21 May, World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, UNESCO appeals to all: together, let us celebrate and support cultural diversity, the symbol of our humanity.
Source: UNESCO
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Edited & Posted by the Editor | 12:22 AM | Link to this Post
