THINK CULTURE

QandA "Representations of culture in a multicultural society"

Presented by Just Gold under the banner “Think Culture” the innovative Multicultural Museum trail curates an open dialogue between the Immigration, Chinese, Hellenic, Jewish, Islamic and Italian Museums “discussing” the ways museums invite everyone to participate, engage, understand, and respect different cultures and traditions.

Spanning across 3 days, the event consists of a Museum Trail over the weekend of the 26th to 27th of November and wraps up with an exclusive Q&A event on Monday the 28th featuring a discussion regarding representations of culture in our multicultural society.

PANELISTS

Esther Anatolitis

Writer. Incoming Editor, Meanjin. Creative practice, policy and precincts strategy at Test Pattern. National Gallery of Australia Governing Councillor. Hon. A/Prof, RMIT School of Art.

Dr Joseph Lo Bianco, AM, FAH

Professor of Language and Literacy Educationat the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, and serves as Immediate Past President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (the first educator elected to this role). In 2012 he was appointed Research Director of the UNICEF Language and Peacebuilding initiative in Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand

Erfan Daliri

Systems Thinking for Social Change Consultant | Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion | Race Equity Specialist | Founder of Newkind Social Justice Conference

Representatives of Melbourne's Multicultural Museums

FILMED IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE, by participating you consent to being filmed and give permission to Just Gold to use your image for the purposes of Think Culture.

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION

The discussion about representations of cultures in a multicultural society refers to societies characterized by people of different races, ethnicities, and nationalities living together in the same community. In multicultural communities, people retain, pass down, celebrate, and share their unique cultural ways of life, languages, art, traditions, and behaviours. Cultural representation is an incredibly important exercise that allows for people of different ethnic backgrounds to be represented in ways that highlight their cultures.

In a postmodern and a culturally pluralistic society it is harder to perceive culture as a coherent whole. Instead, is like a jigsaw puzzle whose parts are re-arranged into variant pictures, each suiting the eye of the variant beholder, and to which new parts are consistently being added as the compositions of the society alters. Indigenous, ethnic and women’s groups are paying increasing attention to how organisations represent culture and need them to address their concerns in a holistic approach, mainly by amplifying their voices.

Cultural organisations play an important role in channelling and promoting the arts to the public, contributing significantly to the production of cultural goods thus celebrating, preserving, and sharing traditions in many ways. The methods and ways the cultural organisations utilise towards that goal need to be constantly revised and followed by the changes that occur from the technological/digital evolution of this modern era, due to the rapid changes in all areas of human activity but also to the needs of the time.

By bringing awareness to the public and by showcasing the cultural differences, it is often proven at the same time, that many more things connect us and although apparently different, we all share the same dreams and aspirations for justice, a better life, future, and place to live.