We galvanise support among Commonwealth governments and civil society groups to promote healthy homegrown cultural crafts, trades and industries.
Government policies and regulatory practices shape the environments in which writers, poets, visual artists, filmmakers and other cultural practitioners are able to develop, create and perform.
Sound cultural policy enables both the arts to flourish and creative industries to stimulate economic and social development. Unsympathetic or ill-informed policy in turn can throttle cultural capacity, innovation and tradition.
We lend our support to initiatives that expand arenas and operating environments for cultural practitioners by influencing policy makers and the public at local, national and international levels.
Emboldening practitioners
We promote dialogue between civil society and government on the ratification and implementation of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
We seek to enhance the skills of civil society organisations in the cultural sector, supporting training and skills sharing exercises across film, music, literacy and other arts.
Drawing on our landmark 2008 research report, Putting Culture First, we support the formation of national, regional and international collaborations so as to engage the cultural sector with governments, civil society and international processes.