International Policy

Virtueel Platform has been a key player in the coordination and implementation of international e-culture policy since 1997. Along with a network of media labs and support organisations across Europe and further afield, Virtueel Platform has organised international meetings, drawn up policy recommendations and been involved in advocacy activities.

The aims of these activities were two-fold: on the one hand to raise awareness of the cultural component of digital media developments, and secondly, for recognition of new media experiment within the arts and culture.

During this period a number of policy recommendations were published, which can be found here as PDF files.

Amsterdam Agenda (1997)
This document is the first result of the conference "From Practice to Policy: Towards a European Media Culture" (P2P) held in October 1997 in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The conference was held under the auspices of the Council of Europe and with the support of the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The conference is part of the programme of the Project Group for New Technologies: Cultural Co-operation and Communication of the Culture Committee of the Council of Europe.

The P2P Conference brought together expert practitioners in media culture from 22 organisations in 12 European countries. Their work exemplifies what "good practice" in media culture can be, in a variety of fields: art, design, music, video, cultural theory, virtual reality and the Internet. Organisations at the conference work in a variety of innovative ways and on a variety of operational scales.

This Agenda identifies several themes which are of shared pragmatic interest to these communities. It is not a statement of high principle with which all artists - or policy makers in government and industry - are asked to agree. It is from future discussion of these themes, among all parties, that a media culture for Europe will emerge. This document is one part of that process.

Helsinki Agenda (2004)
The Helsinki Agenda is a strategy document on international development of new media culture policy. Proposed by the International Expert Meeting on Media Arts and Media Culture Policy, Helsinki, August 22-23, 2004.

This document was produced in dialogue between international experts in new media cultural policy. The meeting convened during ISEA2004, the 12th International symposium on Electronic Art in Helsinki. It was co-hosted by IFACCA, International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies, the Arts Council of Finland and m-cult centre for new media culture.

Delhi Declaration of a New Context for New Media (2005)
The Open Networks Agenda for International Collaboration in Media and Communication Arts January-June 2005. By Shuddhabrata Sengupta and Tapio Makela.

The discussions that gave rise to this document took place at a meeting of an 'International Working Group on New Media Culture' hosted by the Open Cultures Network - a network created by the Waag Society, Amsterdam, Sarai-CSDS Delhi and Public Netbase, Vienna.

The meeting, which featured contributions by artists, theorists, critics, curators, arts administrators, researchers, social scientiests and software programmers from India, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Finland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and Canada took place at Sarai-CSDS, Delhi in January 2005. This text is a draft of a declaration ('The Delhi Declaration') that emerged from this meeing. This draft of the Delhi Declaration is written by Shuddhabrata Sengupta from Sarai CSDS & Raqs Media Collective, Delhi and Tapio Makela, m-Cult, Helsinki based on the inputs and contributions made by the members of the working group during the course of their deliberations.

Singapore Mini Summit on New Media Policy and Practice (2008)
The Mini Summit on New Media Arts Policy and Practice, held in Singapore on 24-26 July 2008, brought together an international group of New Media art and policy experts. Both report and policy recommendations are available as PDF download.

The Asia Europe Foundation (ASEF) and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) published the Report and the Policy Recommendations developed from the Mini Summit on New Media Arts Policy and Practice held in Singapore on 24-26 July 2008.

The Mini Summit, staged in partnership with ISEA2008 (International Symposium for Electronic Arts), brought together 54 artists, researchers and policy makers from 26 countries to develop an overview of the key issues impacting on new media arts practice and to create a policy framework and some key points for action.

The Policy Recommendations also encompass the dialogue that has taken place over the past decade between policy makers, artists and practitioners. While taking into consideration of diverse political realities, they call for concrete research and action. One of the main recommendations is to establish or support an existing transnational media arts practice & policy platform to share, promote and inform developments in media arts practice.