21 May 2009/ Secretariat of Culture of the Nation of Argentina
The Secretariat of Culture of the Nation of the Republic of Argentina organized an information campaign on the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
The poster illustrating this note is part of that campaign.
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21 May 2009/ NICH Belize
Mrs. Diane C. Haylock, Chairperson of the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH) of Belize included special remarks on the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development in her Opening Address of the Belize National Commission – UNESCO 1st Working Meeting.
In her address, Mrs. Haylock highlighted the importance of recognizing and promoting cultural diversity, especially for nations like Belize, characterized by a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic society, and based precisely on that rich and diverse mix.
Remarks by Diane C. Haylock ( BACK )

25 May 2009/ Ministry of Cultures of Bolivia
Create a new space for reflection and debate among researchers and activists of African-American descent from ten countries was the main objective of the IV International Meeting of the Barlovento Group. The event held colloquiums that were open for the general public on May 18 to 24 at the National Museum of Ethnography and Folklore (MUSEF) in Bolivia.
Participants from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela were also active and spoke in the event: “Generating Knowledge from Within, African South Americans Talk About Their Peoples”.
Juan Angola from Bolivia, Irma Bautista Nazareno from Ecuador, Sheila Walker from the United States, Juan Pedro Machado from Uruguay and Marta Salgado from Chile, among other representatives, presented the other side of the history to the citizens.
For seven days, participants debated and shared views on the knowledge and wisdom the African ancestors contributed to South American countries, thus closing the gap of historic illiteracy.
The Foundation Pedro Andavérez Peralta, the Programme for Strategic Research in Bolivia (PIEB) and Afrodiáspora Inc. jointly organized the event, which was sponsored by MUSEF, the Inter American Foundation and the Ministry of Cultures of Bolivia.
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28 May 2009/ Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean and MinC
The Ministry of Culture of Brazil (MinC), through its Secretariat for Identity and Cultural Diversity, together with the Division of International Affairs, announced the I Seminar on Cultural Diversity – Understanding the Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, on June 3 and 4 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.
The objective of the Seminar was to explain the scope and contents of the Convention. Several international agencies participated, namely the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the American University of Paris and the International Network for Cultural Diversity. Also several other national organizations attended, such as the Observatory of Cultural Diversity, the Brazilian Coalition for Cultural Diversity, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Foundation for the Arts (FUNARTE). Similar seminars will be held during July, August and September in other regions in Brazil (North East, North and South), in coordination with the State and Municipal Secretariats of Culture.
Africa Week in Brazil
On May 25, Brazil launched the III Festival of Arts of Black Peoples in Salvador de Bahía. The Brazilian president, His Excellency Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attended the ceremony with the President of Senegal, His Excellency Abdoulaye Wade, as well as the Ministers of Culture of both countries, the Chairman of the Fundación Cultural Palmares, Zulu Araújo and other cultural authorities. Well-known Brazilian artists, among them Margareth Menezes, Carlinhos Brown and Gilberto Gil, exhibited their artworks in the ceremony. The III Festival will also be held in Dakar, Senegal, on December 1st to 14 under the theme “The African Renaissance,” when a special tribute to Brazil. Africa Week to be held from May 25 to 31st in Salvador will include a comprehensive program including film screenings, lectures and music shows.
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21 May 2009/ UNESCO Santiago de Chile
Celebrating the World Day for Cultural Diversity, for Dialogue and Development (21 May), UNESCO’s Regional Bureau of Education for Latin America and the Caribbean, together with the National Forum of Education for All, and the Chilean National Commission for UNESCO, organized a meeting at the Chilean National Library, last Thursday, 14 May, where the book, Education and Cultural Diversity: Lessons of Innovative Practices in Latin America, published by this Office, was launched.
During the meeting a video was also presented to share an innovative experience of a school placed in a vulnerable area of Santiago, Chile, where the majority of its students come from neighboring countries (Children immigrants from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador), so that the main scope of this school is to build intercultural competences to live in a multicultural context, and to provoke reflection on cultural diversity issues, such as migration and human rights.
Consult the abstract of the book
Additionally, this Office is also preparing, in joint collaboration with the Chilean National Council for Culture and Arts and the Chilean National Commission for UNESCO, a forum that will take place next week in the city of Valparaíso, with the participation of experts from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UNESCO Santiago Office, and the Coalition for Cultural Diversity, to discuss policies to improve cultural diversity awareness.
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22 May 2009/ Press Minculture Colombia
On May 20, the Minister of Culture of Colombia, Her Excellency Paula Marcela Moreno Zapata, launched the campaign ‘Colombia, Colombias’, in recognition to the identities integrating the country, melting pot of integration and inclusion for development.
Beginning this week, a series of 25 one-minute videos and TV commercials will be broadcasted by public and private TV channels and in the Website: www.mincultura.gov.co, to encourage new forms to learn about the Colombian identity.
Colombia celebrates Diversity
On Thursday May 21, after an initiative of the Division in charge of Populations of the Ministry of Culture, more than 180 celebrations were carried out in several cities to commemorate the World Day for Diversity, proclaimed by UNESCO in 2001, and the National Day of African-Colombian identity, as a tribute to the exact date when slavery was abolished in Colombia, in 1851. (Program)
On that day, Minister Moreno and the Vice-President of the Republic, Francisco Santos Calderón, went to Cali to present the agreements established by the inter-sector Commission for the Progress of the African-Colombian, Palenquera and Raizal Peoples.
Another important action related with Cultural Diversity was the submission to the Congress of the Republic of Colombia on May 12 of the Bill adopting the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the country.
According the 1991 Constitution, Colombia is a multi-ethnic, multicultural nation. Some 1.400.000 indigenous persons of 87 autochthonous peoples live in the country according to the figures provided by the 2005 census; 4.311.000 African Colombians and 4.800 gypsies or rom. Furthermore, the country enjoys a huge linguistic diversity which includes 68 languages spoken by minorities and other autochthonous groups divided into 13 linguistic families. ( BACK )

22 May 2009/ Cuban National Commission of UNESCO and UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean
May 21, declared by UNESCO as the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, has been an opportunity for cooperation between the Ministry of Culture of Cuba, the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Cuban National Commission of UNESCO (CNCU), in the organization of a comprehensive and diverse program for the celebration.
This time, all the Houses of Culture in the country participated in the program with art exhibitions and the awards of the contest The Cultural Diversity for children and teenagers who attend the courses for drawing, painting and creativity of the National Library José Martí.
The activities also included the exhibition of several films of the Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase, the opening of the exhibition Playing With Art at the Museum Library Servando Cabrera and the presentation of the catalogue “Red Ribbon to Live With HIV” which included exhibitions of paintings, installations and sculptures made by the SIDACULT-San Alejandro Art School Working Group, followed by a concert focused on the Cultural Approach to HIV-AID. There were also plays, cultural galas, presentations of magazines and other activities.
On May 19, Herman van Hooff, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean based in Havana, read the Message from Koichiro Matsuura, UNESCO Director-General on the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, and presented the program prepared to celebrate the date. The latest issue of the digital publication Cultura y Desarrollo a journal published by the Regional Office was also presented. This issue includes a CD on the “Economic Dimension of Carnival in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
The Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean (www.lacult.org), a project of the Forum of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies of Latin America and the Caribbean, coordinated and funded by the Regional Office dedicated a special issue of its Newsletter to the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
Program ( BACK )

23 May 2009/ Ministry of Culture of Ecuador and UNESCO / Quito Office
The Ministry of Culture of Ecuador, together with the Ministry for Cultural and Natural Heritage, UNESCO, the National Institute for Higher Studies (IAEN), the Canadian Embassy and the Fundación Azúcar, joined efforts in the development of a program in Quito as part of the celebrations for the World Day for Cultural Diversity.
Thus, the Ministry of Culture celebrated the “Symposium for Cultural Diversity in Ecuador” on May 20 to 22 2009, which included a series of cinema forums with short films and documentaries on cultural diversity that were discussed later in round tables with the participation of specialists in the field.
Several other artistic events were also carried out focused on cultural diversity and aimed at raising awareness mostly among the young people on the importance of respect and understanding inter-cultural issues in the entire world.
Arts and letters are included as part of cultural diversity, as are ways of life, system of values, traditions and beliefs. The protection and the promotion of diversity is a challenge: defending the creative capacity through multiple tangible and intangible ways while ensuring peaceful coexistence at the same time.
Diversity is essential to reduce poverty and to attain the goal of sustainable development, thanks, among other things, to the normative action in the cultural field and currently complete.
The Symposium began on May 20 at 9:00 am at the National Institute of Higher Studies (IAEN), and was in session until 3:30 pm. Several short films were exhibited, among them Esmeraldas para sí, Deliberando Sucumbíos and Carchi verdes pastos. An artistic gala by the group Azúcar closed the symposium.
The program on May 21, from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, included a forum on Public Radio broadcasting system with the Minister of Culture, His Excellency Ramiro Noriega; the opening of the Symposium of Interculturalism was held at 10:00 am at the Ministry of Culture (auditorium Agustín Cueva). The short film Serie Open a Door was exhibited followed by the panel “Identity and Cultural Diversity,” with participants from IPANC, IAEN and the Centro Cultural Esmeraldas.
On Thursday there was also a short-film festival that began at 6:00 pm at the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO) with the exhibition of the films Cualquier ciudad, Moi Je, Antiguos Sueños de Mujeres Kichwas, Tikinakan, Este Maldito País. Activities on Thursday concluded with cinema forum “Montecristi, Ciudad Alfaro” and “Ibarra”.
On May 22 there was an exhibition of film son African theme, with the films Alpachaca and Puente de Tierra, at the Fundación Azúcar, and at 6:30 pm the panel “Cultural Diversity and Gender” with participants from the Universidad Andina, Women’s Movement and the director of the film Alpachaca. ( BACK )

21 May 2009/ Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Guyana
On 21 May, the Cooperative Republic of Guyana celebrated the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Diversity with a comprehensive program aimed at highlighting the rich cultural diversity of the Caribbean nation.
Celebrations began reading the Message by UNESCO Director-General in all ministries, institutions and schools in the country. The festivities, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports together with other national institutions and agencies, proceeded with ecumenical services in the entire country and a Round Table on the Guyana’s Rich Cultural Diversity and similar actions in universities, cultural institutions and schools.
There were also fashion shows and culinary art festivals and a Concert at the National Cultural Center.
Program ( BACK )

21 May 2009/ UNESCO / San José Office
The Secretariat of Culture, Arts and Sports of Honduras, through the Joint Creativity and Identity Programme for Local Development, presented the photography exhibition Interculturality. Honduras: Crucible of Cultures, as part of the celebrations for 21 May, World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
The exhibition, organized jointly with the UNESCO / San José Office, Costa Rica, opened at the Manuel Bonilla National Theater in the Honduran capital.
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21 May 2009/ UNESCO Office/ Mexico
As every year since 2003, Mexico celebrated on 21 May the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on December 20, 2002 based on the mandates of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, which acknowledges pluralism of languages as a wealth shared by all humanity.
As part of the celebrations, the Group for Inter-Institution Coordination* that promotes the National Campaign for Cultural Diversity of Mexico organized the festivities for 2009 to make inter-cultural issues and contribute to make the Mexican society aware of diversity and in general acknowledge it.
On Thursday 21 May, the official ceremony for the celebration was held at the National Museum of Popular Cultures with the participation of Ma. Antonieta Gallart, General Director of Popular Cultures; Ciro Caraballo, Official of Culture and Heritage of the UNESCO México Office; Rafael Segovia, member of the International Network for Cultural Diversity; Dr. Gloria Artís, National Coordinator of Anthropology of the National Institute of Anthropology and History and Fernando Salmerón, General Coordinator of Intercultural and Bilingual Education of the Secretariat of Public Education.
The ceremony included psaltery music by quartet Dos siglos and the group Mayo from Etchojoa, Sonora. The ceremony was broadcasted live by EDUSAT and via Internet on the radio station “Ecos Indígenas. La voz de la diversidad”, through the Internet channel of the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (http://ecos.cdi.gob.mx).
* National Institute of Indigenous Languages (INALI); General Division of Popular Cultures (DGCP-CONACULTA); General Coordination of Intercultural and Bilingual Education (CGEIB-SEP); General Division on Indigenous Education (DGEI-SEP); National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Education (UNESCO-Mexico); National Pedagogic University (UPN); General Secretariat of the National Council for Population (CONAPO); Center of Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS); Tlalpan Delegation (GDF); Attorney General’s Office of the Federal District (GDF); Division of Traditional Medicine and Intercultural Development (DGPLADES-SS).
Program
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25 May 2009/ UNESCO Montevideo Office
On May 20 to 22 2009 was held in Asunción, Republic of Paraguay, the I Meeting of MERCOSUR Coalitions organized jointly by the National Secretariat of Culture of Paraguay and the Paraguayan Coalition for Cultural Diversity.
The UNESCO Office in Montevideo, Cluster Office for MERCOSUR and the UNESCO Office in Paraguay also sponsored the endeavor together with the Cultural Commission of the Honorable House of Senators of Paraguay; the National Foundation for Culture and Arts, FONDEC; the Division of Culture and Tourism of the municipality of Asunción, promoting Asunción American Capital of Culture; the Spanish Cultural Center “Juan de Salazar” and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development, AECID; the Organization of Ibero-American States, OEI; and the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity.
The Meeting offered a space for dialogue at the regional level with the participation of guest speakers also members of the Coalitions in the Region who made presentations in round tables with the Paraguayan cultural community. The meeting was at the same time one of the preparatory activities for the World Congress of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity to be held in Brazil.
During the meetings, participants debated on the outreach and implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and on the actions that Coalitions, together with organizations and associations of professionals of culture and State institutions can adopt to implement the Convention through a state cultural policy.
Delegates from all the countries members of MERCOSUR and other associated countries, all of them significant cultural beacons in Latin American culture, participated in the event. Other guests were outstanding intellectuals in the region: José Pérez Nella and Octavio Getino (Argentina), Alfonso Alem Rojo (Bolivia), Geraldo Moraes and Débora Peters (Brazil), Mane Nett (Chile), Bernardo Jaramillo (Colombia), Elizabeth Vásquez (Ecuador), Luis Repetto Málaga (Peru), Sergio Navatta and Claudia Pissani (Uruguay) and Alejandra Medina (Venezuela).
Mr. Frédéric Vacheron, Culture Programs Specialist at the UNESCO Office in Montevideo, and Mr. Jean Luc Pilon, of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity also participated.
More information
Contacts:
Mr. Frédéric Vacheron
Culture Programs Specialist
UNESCO Cluster Office for Argentina, Brazil Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay
Edificio MERCOSUR
Dr. Luis Piera 1992 piso 2
11200 Montevideo, Uruguay
Tel.: (+ 598 2) 413 20 75
Fax: (+ 598 2) 413 20 24
E-mail: fvacheron@unesco.org.uy
Web: http://www.unesco.org.uy/cultura
Paraguayan Coalition for Cultural Diversity
Tel.: + 595.971.128.660
E-mail: coalicionpy@gmail.com; inscripciones.coaliciones@gmail.com
Web: http://www.diversidadculturalparaguay.org
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23 May 2009/ UNESCO / Montevideo Office
As part of the actions to celebrate the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development in Peru, the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, together with the UNESCO Office in Lima, the Canadian Embassy in Peru, the Spanish Cultural Center in Lima and Asociación Nómadas, sponsored the presentation of the traveling showcase Miradas Cruzadas (Crossed Views) in the Andean nation.
The showcase presents audiovisual works by Latin American and Canadian indigenous peoples developed under the “North-South” cooperation as a way to “praise” Latin and North America with materials representing autochthonous cultures that at the same time show ancient traditions and the current life of those communities.
The showcase is a non-profit project aimed at relating the visions of Indigenous Latin American audiovisual works with the works of Canadian natives and beyond.
The program included films Taina Kan, La Gran Estrella, from Brazil; Dulce Convivencia, from Mexico; La Senda del Danzante, from Peru, and Antiguos sueños de mujeres kichuas, from Ecuador.
Among the Canadian films exhibited were Tikinakan, by Wapikoni Mobile, Le pacte, by Erica Pomerance and Yvon Dubé, and Moi Je, by Evelyne Papatie.
All the exhibitions took place in a park of the Miraflores district in Lima, on 21-23 May and then at the Plaza Mayor of the María del Triunfo disctrict of the Peruvian capital on 27-29 May.
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23 May 2009/ UNESCO / Montevideo Office
As part of the celebrations on the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development in Uruguay the Colloquium “Cultural Diversity - Multiple Visions” was held at the Montevideo City Council.
The event was organized by the Division of Culture of the UNESCO / Montevideo Office, together with the Montevideo Municipal Council, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay, the Project Viví Cultura and the United Nations Population Fund among other national and international agencies.
Cultural Policies and Cultural Industries for Cultural Diversity and Population was the major topic debated in the Colloquium. (Program)
Previously, on May 14, the photography exhibition “Living Heritage: Exploring the Intangible” opened in the cultural space "A cielo abierto" at Parque Rodó in Montevideo which is accessible 24 hours. The exhibition was also part of the celebrations for the World Day for Cultural Diversity and will remain open until June 26.
This exhibition is a glimpse into the myriad of ways which intangible heritage can adopt, and offers a unique opportunity to reflect about the values of cultural diversity and about the assessment and respect to intangible heritage as the necessary condition for mutual respect and social coexistence. (Triptych)
Contact:
Mr. Frédéric Vacheron
Culture Programs Specialist
UNESCO Cluster Office for Argentina, Brazil Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay
Edificio MERCOSUR
Dr. Luis Piera 1992 piso 2
11200 Montevideo, Uruguay
Tel.: (+ 598 2) 413 20 75
Fax: (+ 598 2) 413 20 24
E-mail: fvacheron@unesco.org.uy
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21 May 2009/ Ministry of the People’s Power for Culture of Venezuela
A comprehensive program was held on 21 May on the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development at the Quinta Micomicona de Los Rosales.
This oasis in Caracas, venue of the Center of Cultural Diversity –under the Ministry of People’s Power for Culture of Venezuela – prepared among other activities, a concert, an exhibition, a culinary arts tasting and a colloquium on Cultural Diversity to celebrate the 8th anniversary of the universal declaration made by UNESCO on the 21st of May 2001.
The institution, together with the UNESCO National Commission had an outstanding celebration on the 21st of May.
Admittance to all the activities, as with is the case with all the activities carried out by the Center of Cultural Diversity in various parts of the country, was free and for the general public.
Also, as part of the Day of African-Venezuelan Heritage, the Fundación Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Rómulo Gallegos (Celarg), also an institution under the Ministry of the People’s Power for Culture of Venezuela, organized several activities.
Program:
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