The International Institute for Art, Culture and Democracy (IIACD) was started in May 2008 by an inter-disciplinary group with expertise in design anthropology, new media art, technology and art history. The group shares the common vision and agenda of programmatic advocacy for cultural democracy.

In several developing economies, the top-down policies of market-led regeneration of cultural capital need scrutiny. The rhetoric of social inclusion manifests as token co-option of the marginalized bearers of culture and what is required instead is an agenda that actively promotes democratic participation and communication.

In the context of India we see state, international funding agencies and NGO recipients focus on creative industries as a developmental strategy addressing livelihood concerns of communities. This focus has translated to a number of “designer” interventions as well as “corporatization” of NGO led entrepreneurial programs. The empowerment and entitlements of indigenous craftspeople and their communities, the bearers of the creative cultural assets, have been largely ignored.

Another related consequence of the “creative industries” focus of the more empowered stakeholders has been a massive emphasis on indiscriminate digital archival and documentation of art and cultural heritage of India. As with other arenas of traditional knowledge there needs to be much more critical debate on the impacts of such archival viz., critical enquiry as to who the beneficiaries of such documentation, the quality and accuracy of curation and the social consequences of exposure of traditional intellectual property that has been protected by traditional means.

In summary, IIACD will dedicate itself to furthering the cause of genuine cultural democracy through intellectual activities (think tanks, educational programs, white papers, workshops), communicative action dialogues (intra and inter cultural), and programs that directly contribute to the empowerment and entitlement of the bearers of art and culture.

Write to us at info@iiacd.org

August 2008