CLI 2011's leadership workshop took place last week in Istanbul - gathering 47 cultural innovators from 18 countries to meet, inspire and share ideas in cultural policy, social justice and digital technology.

Culture Matters: Exploring the role of culture in changing times
Cultural Leadership International (CLI) 2011
23-27 October, 2011 - Istanbul, Turkey

What’s the role of culture in our complex and rapidly changing societies? Can culture play a leading role in wider social issues such as international relations, economic regeneration and social conflict and inclusion? And how can the sector’s future leaders develop the ideas, skills and networks to ensure its relevance in rapidly changing and unstable times?

For five days (23-27 October 2011), 47 emerging leaders from the creative and cultural sector around the world met in Istanbul to explore key issues in cultural leadership, in terms of both individual and collective responsibility. As the participants of the British Council’s 2011 Cultural Leadership International (CLI) programme, they examined their personal leadership development through common challenges related to cultural policy, social justice and technological development.

The workshop
The workshop brought all CLI participants together for the first time, so that they could meet, learn more about each other’s work, identify common interests and challenges in their work and explore future collaborations.

• The event took place during the 11th International Istanbul Biennial, one of the most comprehensive and prestigious visual arts events in the world.
• Sessions took place at the amazing new SALT Galata, housed in the former 19th century Imperial Ottoman Bank’s headquarters, who kindly hosted the workshop. (many thanks to them again!)
• Facilitated by UK and international experts, participants and speakers addressed key cultural leadership issues in panel discussions followed by smaller working groups where they got to share their views and discuss particular ideas, challenges and solutions.
• During the afternoons and evenings, the group learnt more about culture’s wider social and political role in Istanbul by visiting innovative local initiatives, taking part in tours that traced Istanbul’s recent urban growth and its impact on the city’s different cultural communities, and by attending special talks, exhibitions and events as part of the Biennial’s programme.

Click on the links below to find our more about the programme, the specific discussions and to listen to participants and speakers:
Programme: click here to download the workshop's programme, here to find out about this year's 47 CLI participants and here to listen to them discuss and share their overall experience in Istanbul.
How can policy-making support culture's development? Read more about the first day's programme here and click here to listen to the speakers. 
What's the role of culture in social development? Find more about the second day here and listen to the speakers discuss some of the day's issues.
How is digital technology transforming the cultural sector? Learn more about the final day here and check these interviews to some of the speakers.

Cultural Leadership International (CLI) is a British Council programme that seeks to engage the new generation of cultural leaders around the world in the discussion and development of common strategies to tackle global cultural issues. The programme is supported by the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation and HIVOS. The Istanbul 2011 leadership workshop was kindly hosted and supported by SALT.