European inventory of
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Delfín, M. (2022). Opening up cultural governance through civil society participation. In: Re|shaping Policies for Creativity: Addressing Culture as a Global Public Good (pp. 117–137). Paris: UNESCO.

This book chapter offers an overview of topics concerning civil society participation connected to UNESCO’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Partnering with civil society is seen as central to achieving the objective of this Convention, and this chapter examines the operating environment of civil society organizations (CSOs) in culture. The aim of the chapter is to assess and highlight civil society’s impact on building participatory cultural governance.
The conclusion is that in cultural policy-making and monitoring happens mainly through a diversity of dialogue mechanisms, allowing public authorities to inform and consult civil society organisations. However, according to the author, co-creation processes involving civil society organisations in decision-making remain rare. This may be symptomatic of a legislative and regulatory environment that users perceive as insufficiently enabling, and it should therefore be improved.