In the past few years, I’ve grown more and more interested in policy making and have had discussions with politicians in Germany, Denmark, Iceland, and Ethiopia; with UN officials, with mayors and city planners, and with people who believe in the European Union and seek to revitalise it as a shared project; with climate scientists, who are addressing the fundamental changes the world needs to make to curb climate change; with economists, contemplative specialists, and compassion trainers; with the business sector and people working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.
I have been pushing for art to act on its responsibility and for others to understand its potential. My motivation is simple: I think art and culture are incredibly robust and have so much to offer, also outside the cultural sectors.
There is ultimately no space in which art cannot work. Culture has consequences for how we see the world and how we make the world. It is crucial to our feelings of being connected and of global responsibility, and it can build bridges between local and global contexts. The arts embrace diversity, often generate a sense of trust and inclusion, and even cultivate feelings of empathy and compassion. And we need more of that. read more