Culture, in its broadest sense, can be defined as "a set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and affective features which characterize a society or social group [and which] include, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, basic human rights, value systems, traditions and beliefs" and, even more generally, as "a set of values providing humans with grounds for being and acting". From a narrower and more classical point of view, culture can also be considered as a whole comprising not only art and literature, but also sciences, heritage, cultural industries and a large part of the communication networks, namely radio, television and other media, as well as information technologies, insofar as all of them are used for cultural purposes.

      Defined in this manner, culture can be viewed as that part of human activity which produces tangible representations of the value systems, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles that constitute culture in its broadest sense. These tangible representations make the value systems, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles obvious in the very eyes of those who share them, allowing them to be known to other cultures. Value systems, beliefs, traditions and lifestyles can be developed and transmitted by family, interpersonal relations and education, but it is only when they appear in the form of works that they become tangible and can be circulated throughout the intercultural exchange networks.

      Globalization poses new challenges to cultural diversity. While several important cultural products either require the actual presence of the artists at every presentation, such as in performance or representative arts, or else acquire a specific value due to their unique character, like objets d’art, many goods that stem from cultural industries may require considerable effort to produce but are easily reproduced and distributed. If the lifestyles, values, traditions and beliefs were mainly embodied in concerts, plays or sculptures, international trade would probably not pose such a great challenge for cultural diversity. However, in our contemporary world lifestyles, values, traditions and beliefs are mostly embodied in films, television programs, recordings, printed matter and other cultural goods that are expensive to produce, but not to reproduce and distribute. It is mainly through these types of cultural goods that people learn about the rest of the world. Through them they also learn what they need to know about their own culture, provided of course their own society produces these goods. If their society does not produce them, experience reveals that people are then laid open almost exclusively to the cultural goods of other cultures, and that the usual paths by which they would normally develop and transmit their lifestyles, values, traditions and beliefs may well be insufficient to keep their own culture alive. The smallest and less affluent a culture is, the bigger its risks of being unable to produce industrially the cultural goods it needs to develop and communicate with others. When this is the case, the response to what is perceived as an invasion can lead to conflict.

      One of the major challenges of cultural policy in a context of globalization is therefore to ensure that individuals have access to their own culture; this concerns creative artists as well as spectators and consumers. This challenge is rendered even more complex because of the fact that within each country, access to cultural goods, be they local or foreign, is generally differentiated as a result of pre-existing inequalities. Access to culture thus varies according to ethnic origin, sex, age, income or education level, as well as according to the place of residence.

      UNESCO Member States have adopted recommendations that they should help their governments develop policies enabling them to deal with these problems. However, an important question remains: what kind of data and statistics are needed in order not only to evaluate and concretely guarantee individuals access to their own culture, but also (and more fundamentally) to help define and to measure the effectiveness of the policies? This is a difficult question.

      The UNESCO Institute for Statistics is currently undergoing a renewal of its culture statistics programme, commencing with the drafting of a framework for culture statistics in the upcoming year. As such, we would like to hear from a broad spectrum of users of culture statistics from academic institutions, national government agencies and international organizations regarding current research work in the area of culture and/or perspectives on the emerging needs regarding cultural statistics and indicators with a view to informing national or cross-national policies. The input from this symposium will be used in the drafting of the aforementioned framework and eventually the launching of updated or new international and/or regional data collections.

      Thus, the aim of this symposium is to draw together researchers and practitioners who inform policy, as well as other users of international or national culture statistics data, inviting them to talk on one of the following five broad themes :