Interview with Diane Dodd, Co-ordinator of ConnectCP – The International Who’s Who in Cultural Policy, Planning and Research.
Is there a profile for cultural policy experts? Is this a recognised profession?
ConnectCP’s first problem was to identify who we meant by cultural policy experts. ConnectCP is not limited to cultural policy researchers but rather includes to a wider community of people with knowledge in cultural policy, planning and research. The key was to find people with useful information to be shared, including professionals recognised in the field of arts and cultural policy holding senior research, policy, teaching or management positions or that have demonstrated expertise in research, analyses or commentary. Our aim was to build a bridge between research and policy-making and to stimulate an exchange of knowledge in the sector.
Why ConnectCP database was it set up, what is the objective and why is it useful?
ConnectCP has two main aims: increase the international flow of ideas, skills and knowledge about developments in cultural policy and to improve the quality of cultural policy debate by increasing access to and interaction between experts in the field.
After two and a half years of operation, ConnectCP was an increasing community of experts, totalling at the time of this interview, 657 experts from 93 countries world-wide. It was originally conceived that ConnectCP would help with any task that involves providing or finding information on a cultural policy expert, or searching for people with particular expertise. For example to help conference organisers find world class speakers, and locate biographical information on speakers; or to help government agencies, management consultants and arts organisations to find research partners or analysts from diverse backgrounds on a diversity of issues; or to help journalists find experts to comment on cultural policy issues in the media etc. and to date we have significant evidence that ConnectCP is being used for these purposes.
Furthermore, many experts have sent thanks as the database has given visibility to their commissioned reports, published books and articles. And, they will have more visibility soon as we intend to develop a search function specifically for the books, reports and conference papers currently listed in all our experts profile pages.
The database has created a community of experts that support and aid each other in a variety of ways.
Who set up the database?
The database is a project of IFACCA – the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies and it has a growing number of partners. Financial support from the Boekman Foundaton until the end of 2006 allowed the database to be developed. A regional partnership with the The Canada Council to maintain ConnectCP Canada supports French language functionality for ConnectCP. We have also established a regional partnership with the Organisation for Iberoamerican states for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) to produce ConnectCP Iberoamerican and this partnership has resulted in Spanish and Portuguese language functionality for ConnectCP.
IFACCA welcomes any offers of support from other parties interested in contributing to the maintenance and development of ConnectCP.
How diverse are the profiles currently contained in the database?
93 countries are represented and roughly 45% of all profiles are female experts. A greater share of experts come from Europe, the USA, Australia and Canada however this balance is being addressed with the database functionality now available in French, Spanish and Portuguese. We are now seeing a significant increase in profiles submitted from Africa and Latin America.Profiles are as diverse and interesting – here are few examples:
Juliana Naumo Akoryo - Uganda
Ana Mayda Álvarez - Cuba
Enrique Banús - Spain
Marcos Barreto Correa - Brazil
Isabelle Brianso - France
Melissa Butcher - Ireland
Alfonso Castellanos - Mexico
Cheruiyot Changwony - Kenya
Jennifer Craik - Australia
Biserka Cvjeticanin - Croatia
Luca Dal Pozzolo - Italy
Suan Hiang Lee - Singapore
Milena Dragićević Šešić - Serbia
Peter Duelund - Denmark
Carlos Enrique Guzmán Cárdenas - Venezuela
Yudhishthir Raj Isar - France
Joan Jeffri - United States
Colin Mercer - United Kingdom
Arturo Navarro - Chile
Saliou Ndour - Senegal
Emmanuel Négrier - France
Robert Palmer - France
André Francisco Pilon - Brazil
Greg Richards - Spain
James Rose - Guyana
Clarisa Ruiz Correal - Colombia
Mayuko Sano - Japan
How can experts join the database?
People with the required experience and qualifications are invited to submit a profile for publication. Once you have registered you will be able to submit and modify your profile using your own chosen username and password. Your profile will remain hidden from public view until you have accepted the terms and conditions and your profile has been approved.
To be considered for inclusion on ConnectCP, a person needs to be recognised in the field of arts and cultural policy as holding a senior research, policy, teaching or management position and/or having demonstrated expertise, at national and international level, in research, analysis or commentary. Experts also need to be prepared to periodically provide and update information about themselves and their work for ConnectCP. The full criteria are described here.
LabforCulture est une initiative partenaire de la Fondation européenne de la Culture.
LabforCulture aimerait remercier ses investisseurs pour leur soutien.