Consultation of Pacific Cultural Directors, Wgtn

Consultation of Pacific Cultural Directors, Wellington 26-29 March 2001

The New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO and the UNESCO Office for the Pacific States are hosting a meeting of cultural directors from government cultural agencies and non-government cultural institutions from around the Pacific in Wellington from 26-29 March.
Participants come from Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

This meeting presents an interesting range of story possibilities, photo opportunities for print media, radio and television.

Aim

The aim of the meeting is to develop a network of those in the cultural policy area in this region and to identify how UNESCO can best assist cultural development in the region. UNESCO is currently developing its Medium Term Strategy for 2002-07 and this meeting will contribute to that Strategy.

Programme Highlights

Cultural Policy in the Pacific
Monday 26 March 9.30am – 12.30pm
A brief 5 minute presentation is to be made by each UNESCO Member State on the cultural development needs of their country. Presentations will be followed by an open discussion to identify areas where UNESCO can assist and the opportunities for co-operation between countries to promote access to information and expertise in the field of culture and development.

Creating Living Local Cultures in an Age of Globalisation
A presentation by Michael Volkerling of Victoria University
Tuesday 27 March 8.30 – 9am

Memory of the World
A UNESCO programme to safeguard endangered documentary heritage
Tuesday 27 March 4:00pm
A presentation from Ray Edmondson of Australia who is involved at the Australian, regional and international levels of the project.
As UNESCO’s well known World Heritage programme aims to preserve archaeological sites and buildings of significance, the Memory of the World is a relatively new programme to preserve documentary heritage and history: books, manuscripts, audio-visual material, computer files, and all the ways in which human history is recorded.
The programme is creating an international register of international documents of world wide interest. It operates through an international committee, two regional committees and national committees. Although NZ does not have a national committee, the Treaty of Waitangi and 19th century material around NZ women getting the vote are on the register.
The programme also aims to raise awareness of how important this very fragile material is, what has been lost, what is being done. While much documentary heritage is lost through natural decay or accidents, the most grievous losses have generally been the result of human action, whether through neglect or willful destruction eg the bombing of the National Library in Sarajevo.

Film Archive Development in the Pacific
Wednesday 28 March 9am – 12.45pm. NZ Film Archive, Rialto Cinema 3

This Cultural Directors Meeting is focussing on film archive development.
A keynote address will be given by Ray Edmondson who is President of the The South East Asia/Pacific AudioVisual Archive Association, followed by an address from Frank Stark Chief Executive of the NZ Film Archive

UNESCO and the New Zealand Film Archive have recently completed a co-operative venture to restore a collection of 23 Pacific Island films. The films ranging from amateur home movies to commercial productions, dating from the 1920s to the late 1950s and shot in Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji and the Solomon Islands, make a unique record of island life. The project consisted of three stages: conservation of the films; production of new negatives and prints; and the generation of video copies to supply Pacific institutions. A grant from UNESCO Headquarters covered laboratory costs while the Film Archive covered conservation and video duplication costs.

A selection of the films will be shown and discussion will examine the role of overseas institutions such as the Film Archive in assisting Pacific nations with preservation of their film heritage and practical ways of making that stock accessible.

Film footage can be made available for television or print media.

Visit to Waiwhetu Cultural Centre of Excellence
Tuesday 27 March 1-2pm (powhiri 1.00 pm)

Venue
(e)Vision Centre, corner Blair and Wakefield Streets unless otherwise stated.

Ends

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