International Symposium “International Cultural Exchange in a Fragile World: Views from Germany, the UK, and Japan”

Event Details & Panelist profiles
Contributed article

Banner of International Symposium Co-organizers: Goethe-Institut Tokyo, British Council

As the pandemic and war have thrown the world into total uncertainty, what kind of role can/should be played by international cultural exchange? Representatives from cultural organizations from Germany, the UK and Japan, as well as some cultural leaders in Japan will discuss possible directions for future cultural-exchange activities. Who should be the key players and partners in cultural exchange and how should they be engaged? What are the optimal ways to have diverse voices represented in cultural-exchange activities? Were there any positive lessons to be drawn from digital-driven challenges during the pandemic? How can cultural exchange empower local citizens and communities? Through these questions and the discussions that follow, we hope to identify a few key concepts that could symbolize international cultural-exchange activities in a post-pandemic world.

Summary

Date	Thursday, October 27, 2022 ※This symposium has been closed.
Time	14:00~16:30 (Doors open at 13:30)
Venue	Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, The International House of Japan *This event will be held in person.
Language	English and Japanese (simultaneous interpretation available)
Admission	Free (registration required) / 100 seats https://forms.gle/uXACccip6javQfeu5（Japanese）
Organizer	The Japan Foundation
Co-organizers	Goethe-Institut Tokyo, British Council

Program

Session 1: Japan-Germany-UK Leaders Forum: "International Cultural Exchange in a Fragile World"

Representatives from cultural organizations from Germany, the UK and Japan will discuss possible directions for international cultural-exchange activities in a post-pandemic world.

Moderator:: Mr. Jonathan McClory, Partner, Sanctuary Counsel
Speakers:: Prof. Dr. Carola Lentz, President, Goethe-Institut
Mr. Matthew Knowles, Director, British Council Japan
Amb. UMEMOTO Kazuyoshi, President, The Japan Foundation

Session 2: Panel Discussion: Key Concepts for Future Cultural-Exchange Activities

Cultural leaders from the fields of arts, education, and social inclusion will discuss the challenges and opportunities posed in the ever-changing landscape of exchanges beyond national borders and try to identify key concepts that could guide practitioners through uncharted waters in the future.

Moderator:: Mr. Jonathan McClory
Speakers:: Ms. NAKAMURA Akane, CEO precog co., LTD. / Performing Arts Producer
Prof. FUJI Hiroshi, Artist / Director, Akita City Cultural Creation Center / Professor, Akita University of Art
Ms. MORI Mariko, Officer for Advancement of Cultural and Arts Plans for Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Profile of Panelists

Jonathan McClory

Partner, Sanctuary Counsel

Jonathan McClory is a globally recognised expert on soft power, public diplomacy, and foreign affairs. He has advised governments across four continents on matters of policy, reputation, branding, and strategic communications. Before joining Sanctuary Counsel, Jonathan was General Manager for Asia at Portland, where he built up and oversaw the company's work across the Indo-Pacific from Singapore. He also served as a Partner in the Government Advisory practice of Portland in London and is the creator of the annual study: The Soft Power 30. Prior to his time at Portland, Jonathan oversaw place branding strategy at Winkreative (the sister company of Monocle magazine). While at Winkreative, he led the development and launch of a new nation brand and global campaign for Thailand, commissioned by the then Prime Minister. He also worked as a consultant in the London office of the Boston Consulting Group. Before working in the private sector, he was a Research Fellow at the think tank Policy Exchange and a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government (IfG). While at the IfG, Jonathan developed the world's first composite index for measuring the soft power of countries. This earlier work informed his eventual creation of The Soft Power 30.

Carola Lentz

President, Goethe-Institut

Carola Lentz, born in Braunschweig in 1954, studied sociology, political science, German and education at the University of Göttingen and at Freie Universität Berlin. In 1987 she earned her doctorate at the University of Hanover and qualified as professor (Habilitation) in 1996 at the Freie Universität Berlin. From 1996 until 2002 she was professor of anthropology at Goethe University Frankfurt, and from 2002 until 2019 at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, where she is currently senior research professor. She served as president of the German Anthropological Association (2011-2015) and vice-president of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2018-2020). Visiting professorships and fellowships have taken her to France, the Netherlands, the United States and South Africa. As a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Study Berlin) she led a focus group on the subject of Family History and Social Change in West Africa (2017-2018). Her research interests include ethnicity, nationalism, colonialism, politics of remembrance, middle classes in the Global South and labour migration. She conducted field research first in South America and, since 1987, regularly in West Africa. Her publications include Land, Mobility and Belonging in West Africa (2013), Remembering Independence (2018) and Imagining Futures: Memory and Belonging in an African Family (2022).

Matthew Knowles

Director, British Council Japan

Matt Knowles has 20 years of expertise in international cultural and education exchanges. After his university studies in Edinburgh and a year-long scholarship to the U.S.A., Matt began his career as Policy Officer in the Scottish Government's Education Department in 2002. Matt joined the British Council in Edinburgh in 2003. He has held a range of senior roles in Europe and Asia. Moving to Shanghai Matt served as the East China Area Director (2015-2019), before his appointment to the post of Director, British Council Japan/Cultural Counsellor, British Embassy Tokyo in January 2020.

UMEMOTO Kazuyoshi

President, The Japan Foundation

Umemoto Kazuyoshi joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1977 and served at the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty Division, North American Affairs Bureau, Northeast Asia Division, Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Embassy of Japan in Malaysia and in the UK, among others. Various positions he held include Deputy Director-General, Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau (2004), Director-General, North American Affairs Bureau (2009), Ambassador to Switzerland (2011), Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary (2012), Ambassador (Deputy Permanent Representative) to Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nation (2013), Ambassador to Italy (2014), Chief Negotiator, and the Government Headquarters for the TPP, Cabinet Secretariat (2017). Umemoto assumed his current position in October 2020.

NAKAMURA Akane

CEO precog co., LTD. / Performing Arts Producer

Born in Tokyo in 1979, Nakamura Akane became involved in performing arts while she was an undergraduate in the College of Art at Nihon University. She handles tasks in a wide variety of areas, such as production activities for contemporary theater and dance artists and companies inside and outside Japan, holding site-specific festivals, executing programs for interdisciplinary human resource development. She founded precog co., LTD. in 2006, during her stint as program director at the NPO ST Spot Yokohama (2004 – 2008), and has been its Representative Director since 2008. From 2016 to 2018, she stayed in Bangkok and New York after receiving a grant from the Asian Cultural Council. precog has produced the works of artists in Japan and other countries, including OKADA Toshiki's chelfitsch and YANAIHARA Mikuni's Nibroll, and handled international tours and co-productions in 70 cities in 30 different countries. Awardee of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists (development of the arts) in 2022.

FUJI Hiroshi

Artist / Director, Akita City Cultural Creation Center / Professor, Akita University of Art

M.A. in fine arts from Kyoto City University of Arts. After teaching at Papua New Guinea National University Arts Department and working for a consulting company for urban and construction planning in Tokyo, Fuji Hiroshi has developed his cross-genre, creative projects with "local resources, appropriate technology, and collaboration (artistic expression through materials acquired on the spot, using methods suitable for the place, with people present at the time)" as his artistic concept. In 2012, Fuji moved his base of operations to the northeastern region of Japan and founded NPO Corporation Arts Center Akita in 2018. Also serves as Vice Chairman of Plus Arts NPO, the awardee of the Japan Foundation Prizes for Global Citizenship 2014.

MORI Mariko

Officer for Advancement of Cultural and Arts Plans for Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

After working at the Performing Arts Center of Kyoto University of Art and Design, Mori Mariko began freelancing in 2006, producing art and performing arts productions across a variety of genres. Since 2009, she has been the director of "Maizuru RB" in Maizuru City, developing art projects in collaboration with the local government, schools, and welfare facilities. She has also worked as the project director of "Saitama Triennale 2016" and as the producer of "True Color Festival" at The Nippon Foundation DIVERSITY IN THE ARTS since 2017, an art festival with the theme of diversity. She has been in her current position since June 2022.

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