Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The paper seeks to gain an understanding of how and why official agencies and NGOs of the field of international cooperation promote cultural development or art-based development initiatives by researching the practices and assumptions of organisations working in the field in Switzerland. The first part provides definitions of the key concepts and a discussion on various theoretical approaches to culture and development, the relationship between cultural development and social change, the issue of impact evaluation and the relevant policies and institutions internationally and in Switzerland. The second part presents the conclusions of the analysis of the interviews to employees of three Swiss organisations working on cultural development projects in the Global South and the East regarding their practices, the features of their programmes and their motivation. Cultural rights are elaborated in a considerable number of international conventions and national policies. Nevertheless, explaining and justifying initiatives of this kind and evaluating their social and intrinsic impacts is one of the main difficulties experienced by the implementing organisations, as well as the strong dependency on external funding, achieving project sustainability and the limited control over the outcomes of artistic projects. Personal experiences and convictions of the employees play a key role in the involvement of organisations in this field.