ABU conference celebrates culture as a force for unity
ABU Media & Culture Days 2022
6-8 December

Almost 50 broadcasters, from 12 countries across the Asia-Pacific and Europe, including 18 presenters, gathered in Indonesia to demonstrate how culture – far from dividing – can be a positive force for uniting people within nations and between countries and continents.

In a keynote address to delegates at the second edition of ABU’s Media & Culture Days, in Bali, Dr I Hendrasmo, President Director of host Radio Republik Indonesia, said that culture should be interpreted in a broad sense, namely about the role of media in developing our civilisation. In the partner keynote, Dr Dan Santa, Director of International Relations for Radio Romania said it is our duty as public media to support, to promote and create culture and to encourage cultural dialogue.

Among the highlights of the conference were showcases from the ABU as well as ABU members and delegates about cultural projects and programs that made an impact on their audiences. This included presentations of ABU’s children’s drama series, the ABU TV Song Festival and documentary co-productions;  a presentation from Voice Of Vietnam of the ABU Prize-winning Digital Media Project “The Alley”, which chronicled the lives and daily struggles of families during Covid; Thai PBS’s newest cross-cultural children’s project “Kid Rangers” which used STEAM education to promote fun and participative travelogues by young people across the ASEAN region; Radio Romania’s work with the younger generations as well as a book fair project which became the largest event in the cultural calendar of Bucharest; Sarawak Media Group’s journey to create a television channel that reflected and celebrated the region’s unique cultural and ecological identity; the Ukraïner digitalisation project established to identify and promote culture and help small-to-medium enterprises leverage income from cultural assets and activities; NBT Thailand showcased the innovative Three Takeaways social media project that promoted local economy after the pandemic; and a special presentation from LEMHANNAS Indonesia about how the traditional art of puppetry changed the social and economic landscape of Indonesia during the Covid period by helping citizens understand and rise to the challenges of a prolonged pandemic.

Akim Mogaji of UK’s New Media Networks, picked up on the key issues covered by the different presenters and demonstrated how to harness new platforms to make great cultural programs. Through a number of practical Workshop Challenges, he led the delegates on a learning journey of how to plan and realise a cultural program exchange supported by a cross-platform co-production. The conference then proposed creating an ABU Culture Group to drive such projects year-round.

The conference ended on a high note with a brilliant interactive presentation by NHK’s Senior Producer Taro Kunimi, and Program Director Shinji Suzuki, about the Cultural Heritage in 8K project, a collaboration between NHK and the Tokyo National Museum.

ABU’s co-partner in the Media & Culture Days initiative, Radio Romania, announced that the 3^rd edition of the conference will be held in Romania in 2023 and extended an invitation to all delegates present to join.

DATES
6-8 December 2022

VENUE
Mercure Kuta Bali

Programme
Click here to download programme
CONTACT DETAILS
Olya Booyar
olya@abu.org.my

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