The Power of Culture

Nicaragua is the second poorest country of Latin America and the structures of cultural policy are still barely visible.

The country's first national congress on culture policy was held in Lima early in December 2008. The closing document compiled during the first national conference is being discussed by parliament. It is to serve as the basis for the future Ministry for Culture.

In the past year the Angolan government has made progress in sustaining cultural heritage. Now it has launched some new and ambitious projects.

Afghanistan's arts are slowly emerging from the ruins left behind by the Taliban regime.

They were turbulent years for South Africa's National Arts Council (NAC). Scarcely ten years after it was established in 1997, the art fund was completely disbanded.

Papua New Guinea is known to be the most culturally diverse country in the world. More than eight hundred different population groups with their own language live in the archipelago. The country's government faces a complicated challenge: which language will unify the country?

A national identity that celebrates and promotes Fiji's cultural diversity and traditional culture. With this vision the government of Fiji, an archipelago of three hundred islands in the Pacific Ocean, in 2003 gave a new boost to art funding.

The Latin American country along the bay of Honduras – the Maya name of which means “muddy water” – has a relatively well organised cultural policy that is institutionalised in the National Institute for Culture and History (NICH) in Belmopau.

Like in many Latin American countries, culture proved to be an excellent remedy for the traumas of the military dictatorship that oppressed collective memory and the freedom of expression for years in Argentina. Today the cultural policy balances between contributing to social development and promoting cultural industries.

The government of El Salvador believes that culture is important. Even a national responsibility, because "the growth and the self confidence of a nation are so valuable", according to the country's cultural policy.