ARTS & CULTURE

Photo: Austrian Mahayana Temple in Lumbini, Nepal. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne IDN | INPS.

Mega Development Project at Buddha’s Birthplace

Might Become Dalai Lama’s New Home

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 36th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous articles.

LUMBINI, Nepal (IDN) – Tens of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from Asian countries, especially Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar, visit Buddha’s birthplace Lumbini to pay homage to its teacher who preached a philosophy of eradicating greed and being contented with what you have. But, recent construction activities here, mainly fuelled by Chinese investments, to attract more tourists run contrary to this philosophy and some argue may have a sinister motive.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 06 November 2019

Photo: Canadian author Margaret Atwood (left) and British author Bernardine Evaristo (right) have split the Booker Prize, after the judging panel ripped up the rule book and refused to name one winner for the prestigious fiction trophy. Source: Screenshot of YouTube of CBC/Radio-Canada.

Anglo-Nigerian Writer Awarded Major Literary Prize

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - England’s most prestigious literary prize has been awarded to Bernadine Evaristo, an Anglo-Nigerian writer, for her eighth work of fiction, to be shared with Margaret Atwood, author of “The Testaments” in a surprise double award approved by the judging panel.

Of Nigerian and British parentage, Evaristo is the first black woman to win the Booker Prize, which honors the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.

: Global Information Network; ARTS & CULTURE; 30 October 2019

ACP-EU Culture Programme Launched in Niger

NIAMEY (IDN | ACP) – The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, in partnership with the European Commission (EC), launched a new Programme to support the cultural sector, ACP-EU Culture.

Themed, "Towards a sustainable cultural industry", the programme was officially launched and presented by Léonard-Emile Ognimba, Deputy Secretary-General of the ACP Group, at the 5th meeting of ACP Ministers of Culture, which was held in in Niamey, Niger from October 19 – 20, 2019.

: Admin; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 19 October 2019

Photo: ACP Group’s ministers of culture. Credit: ACP.

ACP Group Re-affirms Commitment to Cultural Sector

NIAMEY (IDN | ACP) – Senior Technical Officials of some 50+ ACP countries will meet over the next two days at the Palais de Congrès in Niamey, Niger to prepare for the 5th Meeting of ACP Ministers of Culture and assess the implementation of the 32 commitments made at the 4th ACP Ministerial Meeting in Brussels, Belgium in November 2017.

“Strengthening and Diversifying Partnerships for ACP Cultures” is the main theme of the meeting from October 17-20. The meeting also aims to explore viable financing mechanisms for culture and reach a strong ACP Group position on culture's contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

: Admin; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 17 October 2019

ACP Ministers of Culture Meet in Niger to ‘Strengthen and Diversify Partnerships’

BRUSSELS (ACP Press) – Cultural Ministers throughout the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States will meet at the Palais des Congrès in Niamey, Niger from October 19 to 20 for the 5th Meeting of ACP Ministers of Culture. The Ministerial meeting will be preceded by a two-day preparatory technical meeting of ACP Senior Officials in charge of Culture.

The main theme of the meeting will be Strengthening and Diversifying Partnerships for ACP Cultures. The meetings will help to assess the implementation of the commitments made by ACP Ministers in Brussels in 2017 and to reach a strong ACP Group position on culture's contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 25 September 2019

Photo: Musicians perform on the streets of Maputo, Mozambique, on International Jazz Day 2019. Photo: Mauro Vombe

Peace Through Jazz Music

The Trumpet Is a ‘Cool’ Instrument to Unite People

By Franck Kuwonu from Africa Renewal

NEW YORK (IDN) – Each year, on April 30, music lovers around the world celebrate International Jazz Day to “honour jazz and its enduring legacy, as well as its power to bring people together,” says Audrey Azoulay, the director-general of the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which works to promote global peace, justice and rule of law.

Jazz events held each year in different countries around the globe culminate in the International Jazz Day, a star-studded musical concert in a major city. This year it took place in Melbourne, Australia. Other cities have hosted the event since 2012, when the UN headquarters in New York City hosted the inaugural.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 August 2019

Photo: Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Great Novelist Ben Okri Explains Why Nigeria Has Become a 'Literary Factory'

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – “In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.”

This must be one of the best opening lines ever penned by a novelist. It’s the work of the Nigerian novelist, Ben Okri, who won English literature’s premier annual award, the Booker prize, for his book, The Famished Road.

: Jonathan Power; ARTS & CULTURE; 27 August 2019

The Unique Sights & Sounds of Sri Lanka Come Alive in America

By Nandasiri (Nandi) Jasentuliyana

The writer is Former Deputy Director General, United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), Director, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, and President Emeritus, International Institute of Space Law & Policy.

NEW YORK (IDN) – When the annual Sri Lanka Day was celebrated in the historic city of Pasadena, Sri Lanka took its rightful place among the ethnic festivals held in America. The featured event of the day was the 'Pageant of Lanka', a miniature Kandy Perahera. It took the breath away of the onlookers who filed along the historic route of the annual New Year's Day Rose Parade, the most prestigious parade in America.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 August 2019

The 'Roof of the World' Festival Keeps Tajikistan's Traditional Culture Alive

By Alisher Kukanbekov

KHOROG, Tajikistan (IDN) – In this mountainous Gorno Badakhshan region with around a third of the population estimated to be unemployed, the exodus of the people for greener pastures abroad has gathered momentum in the past decade. To protect the colourful traditional culture from disappearing along with its population, the ‘Roof Top of the World” annual cultural festival was launched 12 years ago.

It now has the added objectives of attracting both its expat population to come back for a summer cultural break as well as to attract tourist to the region.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; CENTRAL ASIA; 13 August 2019

Times Pummeled Over Job Posting Called Offensive by Africans

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The New York Times is still recovering from the verbal bashing it received from Kenyan writers shocked and angered by the paper’s outdated references to Africa in a recent ad for the job of Nairobi Bureau Chief.

How far has Africa come, wondered educator Alice Wairimu Nderitu, since the day when posters portrayed wild animals with the title “The Highlands of British East Africa as a Winter Home for Aristocrats”?