The Cayman National Cultural foundation (CNCF), which Martyn Bould chairs was invited by the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies (IFACCA) to attend a world summit of culture held from 18th to 21st October 2016 in Valetta, Malta whose theme was “At the Crossroads- Cultural Leadership in the 21^st Century”.

This theme sought to investigate the role of the cultural sector and government arts funding agencies in addressing current global issues and to understand the conceptual frameworks related to the new models of cultural management and development.

Martyn had a great opportunity to interact with Owen Bonnici Minister of Justice, Culture and Local Government of Malta(see enclosed photograph), and discuss both cultural challenges and development issues in Malta which has a land mass of similar size to Cayman but with a population four times as large.

Some 400 delegates from 80 countries worldwide enjoyed extensive presentations and networking opportunities.

This was the seventh global IFACCA event at which CNCF was represented, the previous events being the inaugural Ottawa World Summit in 2000, the World Summit in Newcastle Gateshead, England in 2006, the Adelaide Summit in 2008 and the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2009, the 5th World Summit in Melbourne, Australia in 2011, and the 6^th World Summit in Santiago, Chile in January 2014.

IFACCA was established in 2000 to facilitate resource and knowledge exchange between the world’s cultural organizations. It currently has some 70 member countries and 50 affiliate members.

Mr Bould considered the Malta Summit provided an invaluable networking exchange between the world’s leaders in cultural policy making and management.

A pre summit leadership seminar for CEO’s explored best practice for Arts organizations and an opportunity for CEO’s to hear from world experts on leadership in arts funding, the changes being bought about by the digital revolution, to reflect on the challenges of being leaders of government agencies that support the arts/culture, and to share learning about their success and failures.

At the Summit representatives and invited speakers debated the Summit theme through consideration of intercultural dialogue in a globalised world, environmental sustainability in the cultural context, cultural diversity in peace and conflict and challenges in addressing cultural differences and synergies through support for the arts.

Delegates represented a broad range of countries with many different cultural issues, including Indonesia, the Pacific Islands, Australia, Spain, France, Luxembourg, USA, Canada, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Greece, Argentina, Cambodia, Korea, Singapore, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Philippines, England, Scotland, Wales, Chile, Sweden, Finland, Africa, and the Cayman Islands.

The next World Summit is scheduled for Kuala Lumper in 2018