By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK The Head of the College of the Arts leaves for Britain next Tuesday to formally represent the Arts Department of the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture at the third World Summit on Arts and Culture. The two previous summits were respectively held in Singapore and Australia. “I am really looking forward to the summit with its varied programme on arts and culture promotion in developing countries,” said an excited Ervast Mtota, the Head of the College of the Arts. He has earlier this year also represented the same ministry at a Unesco summit in arts education in Lisbon, Portugal. The five-day international summit in Newcastle, Gateshead, is being staged by the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA). “It will be my first time to attend such an august gathering of arts and culture experts, but I am looking forward to the many interes-ting topics to be discussed under the theme, ‘Transforming Places, Transforming Lives,’ Mtota, himself a visual artist, said in an Art/Life interview this week. The summit will be officially opened by the British Secretary of Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowells, on Wednesday. Some of the topics to be discussed by the general assembly of the organization include: the works and functions of arts councils and government agencies, cities, and the benefits of diversity, public and private partnerships, craft development and exports, the media and the impact of arts and culture on societies. Mtota will be back in the country next Monday.
2006-06-092024-04-23By Staff Reporter