As a follow-up to this international indaba, the Arterial Network's working group on the convention is carrying out a survey to determine the level of civil society engagement with the UNESCO policy document - especially among individuals and organisations within the arts and culture sphere.
Participants are requested to log on to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W27CHCY? and complete the survey (anonymously, if desired) before Friday, 30 March 2012. The information collated will be
used to inform the working group's report to UNESCO on behalf of the South African cultural sector.
Says Mhlanganisi Masoga, a SAMRO representative in the 2005 Convention Working Group: "As we commemorate Sharpeville Day and celebrate Human Rights Day, may we remember that access to one's arts, culture and language is a basic human right enshrined in our Constitution."
Similarly, the UNESCO Convention aims to, inter alia, protect diversity of cultural expression, foster cultural interaction, promote respect for different cultures, and reaffirm the importance of the link between culture and development, particularly in developing countries.
