Vivendi

Divina Frau-Meigs, media sociologist (Sorbonne Nouvelle University) and expert for UNESCO, the European Union, and the Council of Europe
(ASRD 2010)

Cultural diversity, a challenge for the 21st century

« Cultural diversity is one of the challenges of the 21st century, where it will be necessary to invent a way of living together globally despite the fact that we don’t share the same culture, and – to the possible extent – promote reciprocity between cultures at very different levels of creativity and participation. This heavy task of building cultural pluralism must not fall solely on the shoulders of the public authorities. It should also be shared by public, private, and civic partnerships, wherein the various participants work for the benefit of young audiences by offering them rich content to support their need for expression and creation with total independence.
The social and cultural responsibility of major international groups, therefore, is engaged; it consists in ensuring that creative industries’ talent pool, made possible by digital technology, provides opportunities for expression, creativity, and employment for everyone. To play their part in sustainable development, the new generations need to understand that culture is a means of promotion that can benefit from the enlightened facilitation by media professionals. The latter will benefit from the returns of a mode of cultural consumption that will not be only guided by marketing, but also by an educated curiosity sensitive to the value of works of the mind in the full richness of their manifold linguistic and media facets.»