Global Literacy at Cultural Institutions featuring Sascha Priewe

[AI Generated] TRANSCRIPT:

“We need to know how these audiences actually tick. We need to understand what music they listen to, what food they eat, what news they follow, what concerns them. And so it's substantial for us to understand how these global connections manifest in their lives.”

Let's talk about global literacy for cultural institutions. With me today is Sascha Priewe, who is the director of collections and public programs at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, which is dedicated to cross-cultural, pluralistic dialog through the arts to advance more inclusive and peaceful societies. I think there is nobody better to be with us today for this high five about global literacy. Thank you so much for being here, Sascha.

Thank you so much Heather. It is such a pleasure to be with you on High Five today and to talk about one of my favorite topics: Five reasons why cultural institutions should be more globally literate.

Now, we do live in a local global world. I come to this from the perspective of museums, and we are inherently local because we are physically locked into a corner of the world by having a building, and I think this is shared by many cultural institutions.

So we thereby often have only focused on the local. However, what happens globally doesn't pass us by at all. And so I've been looking at work by scholars. If Darian Smith and Phillip McCarthy, who Rogers terrific book called The Global Turn, who speak of the local global continuum. And in this they talk about the way in which global issues have manifestations at the local and many other levels simultaneously. And this is a wonderful way to think about the way in which we become more globally literate as cultural institutions, but also how to think through the processes to get us there.

And as a second item, global solutions can solve local problems. There are many specific challenges that we are facing as institutions that demand a broader perspective to tackle them.

We need to benchmark what we do with what's happening elsewhere in the world and bring this to the Canadian museum context, but also sharing what Canadian museology has to offer globally. And then thirdly, global literacy helps us to understand our audience. A much better audience are not isolated at all from world events, especially in a place like Toronto, where many of us have a clear in-between status.

Many of us are newcomers or otherwise are connected to their, as well as to a here. We need to know who these audience actually tick. We need to understand what music they listen to, what food they eat, what news their follow, what concerns them. This is especially relevant in places that have large diaspora and migrant audiences. And so substantial for us to understand how these global connections manifest in their lives and then figure out is there for us to play in this, and how does this open up new possibilities to foster new forms of creativity.

And global literacy may open doors to new partnerships. Having a global outlook and a global mindset encourages us to find partners beyond the borders. We might want to. And for some of us, if we come as completely as a sort of a set, as a reflex already to want to engage in joint exhibitions, co-productions and research with partners from different parts of the world, because we will not just enrich our own program and work, but also their programing at work and work.

Because this is a global, mutually constitutive benefit. And this is very much the frame of mind that we embody by way of DNA at the Archive Museum, which is involved in this huge network of global relationships to advance our work but also advance the work of our partners. And finally, global literacy will help us to navigate global challenges if we understand the issues better, are literate in the issues.

We need to have some sort of fluency in what the issues are, how to think about them, how to articulate them. If you may not have all the answers, but at least we can have a lot of the questions. Climate change, for example, is a key global issue that we may want to have a role in what is not only incumbent us as a sector to be involved there, yet ways that we have a huge role to play in, for example, of facilitating awareness education around this topic, but also maybe push for action or to think differently.

And here at the Aga Khan Museum, for example, we hosted a World Water Day event earlier this year, and this was organized in collaboration with York University's Global Water Academy, which is actually run by the United Nations Institute of Training and Research Unit. And there we brought together Muslim and Indigenous perspectives on water, because both share a more unified understanding of the world.

In Western thinking, we make a heart divide between culture and nature, which has led to this very extractive relationship between us as humans and nature. Out there. We can change the way we approach the world around us as think about nonhuman kin. Think about what a unified perspective think. This will benefit all of us.

And I think we all need to think differently.

Thank you. Sasha. Now, before we tie up, I think that you have this incredible exhibition going on right now at the Aga Khan Museum. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that?

Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Heather. Now, the museum is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2024. And as a gift to everyone, we organized an exhibition called Light Visionary Perspectives, which is up right now, running until April.

Light is the key metaphor we bring to bear on discussions about shared humanity, pluralism, what brings us together. Because light is the founding principle of the way in which the whole architecture of the building was designed.

The work that I keep hearing from people that have been to the show is that is really an awe inducing experience. So it's a prepare for, so prepare for an emotional right? Yeah, I can speak to that. It's so it's such a gorgeous, gorgeous show. So yes, I hope everybody comes to see it. And where would you like people to find you and your work online?

People can find out about the exhibition on Aga Khan Museum’s website. There's more about me on cultural diplomacy initiative.com as well as on Icom Canada.

Fantastic. And I think some of us will also connect with you on LinkedIn as well. Absolutely. You go find me there all the time.

Thank you so much, Sasha.

Thank you very much for having me on Heather.

Reflecting on the insights that Sascha just shared about global awareness and literacy. I think some of the takeaways for us as arts leaders and creative entrepreneurs are thinking about our work globally and locally, and the relationship between the two. We know that so many of our arts leaders and creative entrepreneurs often function in an international cultural relations role, and we're also working hyper locally in our communities and with global international audiences.

Being aware of these global perspectives within our organizations and within our communities is something that we can work with and think about going into our work in this new year.

I'm Heather Kelly, thank you for being here, and please join me again next week for another High Five for arts leaders and creative entrepreneurs.