Free registration is open to attend the International Roundtable “Perspectives on Art for Cultural Diplomacy”, a hybrid event that will take place on July 15.

Free registration

PROGRAMME

18.00 h Welcome

• Maria Ubach Font, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Andorra.
• Message of Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.

18.05 h ArtCamp and Resiliart

18.15 h Roundtable. Perspectives on Art for Cultural Diplomacy

• Moderator: John Zvereff, Universitat d’Andorra, Rector’s Delegate for Internationalization.
• Panelists: Leonie Aquilina, Director, International Development, Economic Affairs, European Institutions and Cultural Diplomacy, Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs, Government of Malta; Daniel Bausch, Vice Dean of the Accademia Teatro Dimitri, Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana, and Executive Council member of the International Theater Institute; Eugeni Bregolat, Former Spanish Ambassador and former Special Ambassador for the Universal Forum of Cultures Barcelona; Pierre Buhler, Former Ambassador and former President of the Institut Français; Mark Donfried, Director General of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, Berlin; Enrique Márquez, Mexico Foreign Ministry’s Executive Director of Cultural Diplomacy, Coordinator of the Iberoamerican Network on Cultural Diplomacy; Hedva Ser, Artist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Cultural Diplomacy; Maria Lourdes N. Tiquia, President of the Universidad de Manila; Toussaint Tiendrebeogo, Secretary of the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions; Anthony Vella, ArtCamp 2021 artist, Malta.

19.45 h Keynote Address

• Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Former Director-General of UNESCO.

19.55 h The Andorra Declaration on Cultural Diplomacy

• Miquel Nicolau i Vila, Rector of the Universitat d’Andorra, President of the Network of Universities of Small Countries and Territories.

20.00 h Closing remarks and acknowledgments

• Sílvia Riva González, Minister of Culture and Sport, Government of Andorra.

Contact: info@unesco.ad

Physical  attendance at the Congress Center will be limited due to COVID-19 safety measures and will be assigned on a first-come first-served basis. Should no seating be available, you will be encouraged to follow the event online and will be provided with the corresponding link.
We encourage you to regularly check the official Government of Andorra website https://www.govern.ad/covid19_newsletter/en/ for updates on safety requirements.

MEET THE PANELISTS

Leonie Aquilina. Upon graduating with honours in Communications and History of Art from the University of Malta in 2002, Ms. Leonie Aquilina held a number of executive roles in public relations for international brands and national companies in the private sector before joining the public service in 2005. Between 2009 and 2017, Ms. Aquilina served as Malta’s contact point, manager and coordinator of EFTA states’ and EU funding programmes, during which she oversaw the implementation and completion of several important structural projects for the Maltese Islands, including the conservation of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum that was inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1980, and the presentation of a masterplan for the restoration of the Cittadella, Gozo’s fortified city that is on the UNESCO tentative list. In June 2017, Ms. Aquilina joined the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs, taking a deputy role as Director for International Development, Economic Affairs, European Institutions and Cultural Diplomacy, until her appointment as Director of the same title in February 2020. Ms. Aquilina is an avid art lover and has also exhibited works of her own.

Daniel Bausch. After graduating from Accademia Teatro Dimitri in 1995, Daniel Bausch completed  a training in the Feldenkrais method while acting in several productions. Daniel worked as an actor in several theatres throughout Europe and toured the world for five years with the tour company Ton und Kirschen Wandertheater. In Berlin he worked with the Berliner Ensemble and the Deutsche Oper, also with director Achim Freyer. He acted at the Teatro Stabile in Brescia under the direction of Italian director Cesare Lievi. He has also made numerous stagings of musical plays in collaboration with the University School of Music in Lugano. Daniel was Head of BA programs from 2009- 2014. For the 2014/15 season he was responsible for the programming of Teatro Dimitri. Since 2016 he is responsible for Advanced Studies at Accademia Dimitri, and  teaches improvisation in the 1st year Bachelor’s program. Since 2014 Daniel Bausch is member of the Executive Council of International Theatre Institute (ITI) and president of Swiss ITI.

Eugeni Bregolat. Eugeni Bregolat is Ambassador of Spain, and former Ambassador for the Universal Forum of Cultures, Barcelona 2004. Born 1943 in Seu d’Urgell, Spain, Mr Bregolat was three times Ambassador of Spain in China (1987-91;1999-2003;2011-13),  Ambassador in Indonesia (1982-87), Canada (1991-92),Russia (1992-97), and in Andorra (2006-11).

Pierre Buhler. Pierre Buhler is an alumnus of the French business school HEC and of Sciences Po Paris. He graduated in 1982 from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA, Paris), and then joined the diplomatic service, and served in Warsaw, Moscow, Paris (as deputy head of the Policy Planning Staff), Washington and New York (as head of the Department for culture and education). Ambassador Buhler was seconded for four years to Sciences Po Paris, as an associate professor teaching international affairs. He returned to the diplomatic service, first as ambassador of France to Singapore and then as ambassador of France to Poland. In 2017, he was appointed Executive President of the Institut français, a position he held until August, 2020. He teaches as an adjunct professor at the Paris School of International Affairs (Sciences Po). Pierre Buhler authored, among other publications, “Power in the XXI^st Century”, published in French in 2011 (CNRS Editions), which was awarded, in 2012, the Anteios Prize of the best book of the year in geopolitics. The third, updated, edition appeared in 2019 in paperback.

Mark C. Donfried. After completing his undergraduate studies in European History and French at Columbia University, Mark Donfried  pursued graduate research at the Freie Universität Berlin and at the Institut des Études Politiques where he wrote his thesis on “la diplomatie du jazz.” In 2001 he founded the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD – www.culturaldiplomacy.org), a non-partisan, independent, international, and non-profit and non-governmental organization in New York City. In 2002, he moved the International Headquarters of ICD to Berlin, Germany. Over the past decade the ICD has grown to become one of Europe’s leading cultural exchange organizations with programs extending to every continent of the world. Donfried is author of numerous academic works in the  field of Cultural Diplomacy, including Cultural Diplomacy Dictionary, Cultural Diplomacy in the Private Sector, and the book “Searching for a Cultural Diplomacy (Berghahn Books, Nov 2010). Since 2017 Donfried has created and developed the company “Culture Hotels” in Germany, which has been successfully managing and developing hotels across Germany.

Hedva Ser. Hedva Ser is an internationally recognized artist, UNESCO Artist for Peace, and Goodwill Ambassador for Cultural Diplomacy of UNESCO. Hedva Ser’s work includes tapestries, watercolors, and jewelry. She is best known for her powerful sculptures, and her monumental bronzes have become symbols of peace, of tolerance, and of intercultural outreach around the world. Hedva Ser is one of Europe’s pioneers using art to create social progress, and education for peace. Over the years, her work has provided focus and physical connection to her efforts to build peace through art.  As part of her struggle for intercultural dialogue, Hedva has been traveling the world since 2007 to unveil  her sculpture the Tree of Peace on numerous world sites.  She also inaugurated her Garden of Hope with 4 monumental sculptures about Destruction and Rebirth in Krakow, Poland. Hedva speaks through her art with an eloquence that has placed her among the rare artists that has successfully brought people together to reflect and discuss some of the most challenging issues of our times, and continues to use her art to transmit the message of peace and tolerance to new generations. The French government honored Hedva Ser for her work with the prestigious Legion d’Honneur and the Officier des Arts et des Lettres. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, similarly honored Hedva Ser, naming her a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2011,. and Goodwill Ambassador for Cultural Diplomacy in 2017.

Maria Lourdes N. Tiquia. Maria Lourdes Tiquia has been since 2019, President of the Universidad de Manila,  the largest local degree-granting and skills learning institution in the City of Manila and in the entire Philippines. “Malou”  as she is also known, is a lobbyist by training and a political strategist by experience, combining politics and policy in her over 25 years’ professional career ( 15 years in the public sector, including  the Executive and Legislative branches of the Philippine Government, and one year in both chambers of the 100th U.S. Congress). In 2003 Prof. Tiquia  founded PUBLiCUS Co., Ltd, now PUBLiCUS Asia Inc., thus  pioneering in the region’s nascent industry of lobbying and political management. “Malou” was also a TV host for 15 seasons of the public affairs show Agenda, over CNN Philippines. In 2014, Malou was conferred the title of Associate in Public Relations (APR) by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, and  is the Lead Convenor and Secretary General of the Association of Political Consultants in Asia (APCA).  She is currently also a columnist in The Manila Times, as well as an online columnist on GMA News Online. Maria Lourdes Tiquia  has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of the Philippines (1985),  a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of the Philippines (1990) and a Master’s of Arts in Political Management from The George Washington University (2002).

Toussaint Tiendrebeogo. Over the course of his career, M. Toussaint he has held positions in the cinema and audiovisual sectors. He has also worked as an expert for several international organizations including the European Commission and as an adjunct professor in the Culture Department of Senghor University in Alexandria. He has more than twenty years of professional experience in designing and implementing policies and strategies for the development of cultural industries and in building cooperation networks with professionals, governmental, and non-governmental institutions in the cultural sector. From 2010 to 2018, he worked as Coordinator of cultural industries development policies at the International Francophone Organization. Since joining UNESCO in October 2018, he has been Head of the Programmes and Stakeholder Outreach Unit in the Diversity of Cultural Expressions Entity. In December 2019, he was appointed Head of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions Entity and Secretary of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the Cultural Sector of UNESCO.

Anthony Vella. Born in Malta in 1948, Anthony Vella’s experience with art began at age 14, and, under the tutelage of Mr. Theodore Degiorgio, he won first prize with distinction in a National Child Art Competition organised by the then Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce in the 14 -17-year age group. After  studying  Drawing at the Malta School of Art under the late Esprit Barthet Mr. Vella  obtained a Diploma in Fine Arts with Distinction at the Malta School of Art. Since graduating, Anthony  Vella has taken part in numerous collective Art Exhibitions all over Malta, and has featured in TV art shows, radio interviews and in local papers. In 2019, Tony represented Malta in a UNESCO-organised Art Camp on the sister island of Gozo. Tony’s painting style ranges from realism to abstraction , and his preferred mediums are oils and acrylics;  he has recently begun experimenting in realistic art with colour pencils.