“We must never forget that the places of creative production, places that cradle the meaning of a community, are important to development. They are the places where today’s reality, difficult, crisis-ridden and violent as it may be, can be transformed in the imagined future”. This was the comment by Under-Secretary Mario Giro, speaking at the opening of the 3rd UNESCO World Forum on Culture and Cultural Industries in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The Forum, which will focus on the cultural and creative industries, will end on 4 October 2014 with the adoption of the Florence Declaration on “Culture and Sustainable Development”.
“Culture should be given the task of opening up opportunities for political dialogue between governments and peoples, and of driving and promoting a new vision of development. During these 3 days of discussion and debate, we will be taking the power of the imagination and creativity seriously. In a world that seems to be degenerating into extremism or crises, the escape routes from the idea of an inevitable clash and decline are culture and creativity”.
