Cultural Debates

The Cultural Debates: A Vision for an Egyptian Cultural Policy (The 4th Workshop)

Within the framework of the Support to Cultural Diversity and Creativity in Egypt program, and in line with the Tanta International Poetry Festival, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) is organizing the fourth workshop under the theme of “A Vision for an Egyptian Cultural Policy”. The event will be held between the 31^st October to 1^st November at Tanta Cultural Palace.

The event acquires its significance from being the fourth in a series of workshops which aim to draft a cultural policy for Egypt, to be presented to the concerned authorities for discussion and adoption. As the Support to Cultural Diversity and Creativity in Egypt program nears completion, the drafting of a national cultural policy for Egypt emerges as one its main assets; brought to fruition by the Cultural Debates activity which discusses ways of improving the cultural sector in Egypt, and where experts and policy makers are invited to discuss and make recommendations regarding drafting a national cultural policy.

Through its scheduled 12 debates, which examined various themes from the Egyptian cultural scene, the Cultural Debates project successfully managed to create a think-tank consisting of young and senior intellectuals, cultural operators, artists, ministry officials and public authorities, to assess the current cultural situation; the main players in the country and the challenges to be addressed. Whilst these debates form the main activity of the Cultural Debates, the workshops emerge as a key-element in the project and as an important follow-up to what has been achieved, as they are specifically designed to discuss and analyze the results of the cultural debates; with each of the four scheduled workshops focusing on examining three previous debates. Taking the results of the debates into account, participants at the workshops engage in a structured dialogue to make their suggestions for the policy. Furthermore, a final workshop will be held to review and finalize the proposed draft.

Focusing on the status of poetry in Egypt, the fourth workshop will address various pertinent issues in the field of poetry, including the relationship between geography and poetry, and the challenges of translating poems into foreign languages. As part of the ongoing goals of the Cultural Debates, participants will be encouraged to offer comprehensive recommendations on the topics that will be discussed to be incorporated in the policy paper.