Perspectives on International Cultural Relations

Please join us for this event exploring different perspectives on international cultural relations.

RSA Fellows and guests, along with EUNIC members wherever located, are most welcome to register for this event, the third in a series on international cultural relations. Our event will be chaired by Dr Rupert Graf Strachwitz, a bilingual RSA Fellow based in Berlin. The panel will each offer a perspective, which may also be something of a provocation to engender questions and dialogue, and each will speak briefly at the outset. Rupert will then engage in dialogue with them, thereafter turning to the audience for questions, and there is also an option to submit a question in the registration process.

Please note It is anticipated there will be at least one more panel member

Event chairman and speaker biographies, which demonstrate a true diversity of expertise and experience, are, in alphabetical order;

Professor Gayle Mc Pherson FRSA:

Gayle is Professor of Events and Cultural Policy and Director of the Research Centre for Culture, Sport and Events at the University of the West of Scotland. She has worked closely with the British Council and other organisations examining the contested nature of the role of arts and culture in international cultural diplomacy and soft power. She has used a theory of change and logic models to demonstrate impact and evaluation and demonstrate social value. She has presented a broader international understanding of the impact and evaluation of the role of culture in conflict resolution in countries such as Syria, Colombia and Rwanda and she has contributed to the UK’s FCDO and British Council’s International Development Strategy consultation and Integrated Review Refresh.

Dr. Rupert Graf Strachwitz FRSA:

Rupert is founder and CEO of the Maecenata Foundation, a think tank based in Berlin. A political scientist, he served at the Sovereign Military Order of Malta’s headquarters, as regional director for the OM German Relief Service, and as President of the Duke of Bavaria’s administration. Since 1989, he has been involved in research and public policy on civil society and philanthropy. He has approx. 700 publications to his name, teaches and lectures at home and abroad, and serves on boards of philanthropic institutions, including the German-British Society and the International Rescue Committee. He was a Member of Council, Europa Nostra between 1992-2012.

Sylwia Spooner, Head of Public Diplomacy, Polish Consulate Scotland;
Sylwia Spooner spent ten years as Head of Cultural Affairs at the Polish Consulate in Edinburgh, where - since 2020 - she has held the role of Head of Communications, Diaspora Funding and Public Diplomacy. Sylwia has worked with the RSA on events in Scotland in the past.

Dr Inês Fialho Brandão, Head of Mediation and Digital Strategy at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon, Portugal);
Inês’s interests focus on the interplay between museums and sensitive histories. She curated Multiple voices on art and Islam; Collecting for the Res Publica; and Deconfined Histories: World War II refugees in Cascais. Her Ph.D. thesis focused on the lives and experiences of refugee artists and art dealers in Portugal between 1933 and 1945. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Sousa Mendes Foundation and of the Scientific Committee of the Observatory for History Teaching in Europe.