Practical steps

Proposal for an Exploratory International Conference (Part #4)

(a) Identification of a core group: A group of 5-10 people needs to be identified who are committed to exploring the "cognitive marriage" between the aesthetic arts and policy- making. This could include people with skills and experience in one area but not the other. However it would be important that such people should not endeavour to de-emphasize the area with which they are least familiar -- for this would create unnecessary tensions within the group. Such a group might be formed into a preparatory committee, with appropriate letterhead, etc.

(b) Identification of policy-makers with a commitment to poetry: It is important to develop a list of policy-makers, especially heads of state and government ministers, with a strong interest in poetry, music or the arts in general. It is this list, with an indication of the nature of the interest of each, which gives credibility to the initiative. In effect the event is designed as a friendly challenge to such people to clarify and build on the two seemingly incompatible activities in which they engage. At some stage it would be important to contact such people, explaining the nature of the project, and looking to ways in which they might offer their support, notably by agreeing to be on some form of supporting or honourary committee.

(c) Development of a project proposal: This document would clarify the scope of the project with a few to sponsorship. Of special important is the size of the event, or series of events. Options are:

(a) a preliminary workshop style meeting, with the objective of clarifying the issues and potential of the approach;
(b) a lecture-panel style presentation by distinguished speakers, with the objective of ensuring the credibility of the initiative (possibly in association with (a));
(c) a multi-track event to enable people with different kinds of interest (see Annex) to participate.

The first two could be organized with relatively little effort. It is possible that the initiative could be limited to one or both. But these could also be seen as preparatory to the larger event outlined in (c).

(d) Involvement of international organizations: There is much scope for involving key international organizations in such an event. UNESCO is a good example (especially since it is in the middle of a Cultural Development Decade), but cultural bodies associated with the Council of Europe, such as the European Cultural Foundation, are another. But again it is important to ensure the right kind of involvement so that the event does not acquire the image of an artistic indulgence through association with bodies who have been criticized for their response to development issues.

(e) Relevance to development and community building: There is a possibility that this approach may also be relevant to the challenges of community building and unemployment, namely situations where new ways need to be found to enable people to "get their act together". Work chants and war chants are out of fashion, except in their sporting form, but they have important clues to major breakthroughs. But there is more to it than simply singing together as is done in "community building" contexts. It is the cognitive and action oriented dimensions which need exploration.

With the increasing resignation in the face of the problems of Africa, it is worth exploring rhythm as the key to organizational breakthroughs there. Accepting the inappropriateness of much conventional management thinking in response to the dramatic developmental situation in Africa, this approach effectively opens the discussion of more radical frameworks compatible with resources in African cultures which are not taken seriously by the North. It is worth confronting the question as to whether insights into rhythm and harmony cannot be used to catalyze the emergence of new forms of organization and management, whether at the grass-roots or strategic level. It is hypothesized that by giving legitimacy to skills common in aural cultures, notably those associated with song, new insights may emerge which place African cultures at an advantage (notably in comparison with Northern countries) in navigating through the turbulent periods of future decades. There is some probability that such insights are more readily accessible, as an unexplored developmental resource, at many levels of African society than in other cultures. This approach would also challenge the tendency to view any appreciative evaluation of African skills in this respect as a subtle form of disparagement.