“Diversity unites.”

The Arts and Intercultural Dialogue in European cities:

- Experiences, concepts, perspectives -

The international congress Diversity unites. The Arts and Intercultural Dialogue in European cities: Experiences, concepts, perspectives will be taking place in Dortmund from 3rd to 5th September 2008. It will be organised by the Cultural Office of the City of Dortmund and the State Chancellery of North-Rhine Westphalia with the support of the foreign office and in cooperation with the German UNESCO Commission,the Cultural Politics’ Society, RUHR.2010 – European Capital of Culture, EUROCITIES and the Council of Europe.

The Diversity Unites congress will present and discuss concepts, structures, models and core projects from different cities and regions in Europe, cultural circles and social formations; all these can be seen as prime examples of local intercultural work. 37 speakers and presenters coming from more than 10 countries and all deeply involved in cultural and political activities either in Germany or in Europe, will therefore provide a comprehensive overview of the current debate on comparisons between local authority cultural work across Europe. Among them are: Dr. Claus Leggewie (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut, Essen), Julie Hervé (EUROCITIES, Brüssel), Dr. Gerhard Langemeyer, (Lord Mayor, City of Dortmund), Nuri Colakoglu, (Istanbul 2010), Dr. Roland Bernecker (German UNESCO-Kommission), Svetlana Acevic (Forum der Kulturen Stuttgart e.V.), Irena Guidikova (Council of Europe) or Asli Sevindim, (RUHR.2010).The congress is open to interested experts from Germany and abroad and will be held in German and English.

At the same time (4th to 7th September) the Festival and NRW State Contest creole NRW 2008 will be taking place in Dortmund: This fledgling festival of world music made in Germany was recently awarded the CECEL logo by the Council of Europe. A limited number of tickets are reserved for participants of the congress.

The Diversity Unites congress is taking place in connection with:

• the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008;
• the successful call for applications for a competition entitled Action plans and strategies for intercultural work at local authority level, initiated by the State Chancellery of North-Rhine Westphalia;
• the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010, and its central intercultural theme; the City of Cultures.

The congress venues are the Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte (Museum of Art and Cultural History) and the Dietrich-Keuning-Haus, both located in the centre of Dortmund.

Congress fees: 90 Euro; members of the Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft:75 Euro, Students: 50 Euro.

Information on the congress and registration up to August 20th 2008:
http://kultur-macht-europa.de/283.html?L=1

Contact: kongress@stadtdo.de, Tel: (+49) 231-50-25576

Congress Advisory Board:

Meral Cerci, State Office of Data Processing and Statistics, NRW

Ulla Harting, Head of Division for Affairs of Intercultural Arts and Culture at the State Chamber of NRW

Christine M. Merkel, Head of Division for Culture and Communication, German Commission for UNESCO

Asli Sevindim, Artistic Director “City of Cultures” at RUHR.2010, Essen

Norbert Sievers, Managing Director of the Society of Cultural Politics

Jörg Stüdemann, Deputy for Culture, Sports and Leisure Time, City of Dortmund