Justin O’Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy at Adelaide University, a global policy expert, author and academic, will present a lecture on the role of art and culture in contemporary society on 14 May at 6 pm in Leuven, Belgium. He will discuss themes from his recent work, including "Culture is not an Industry: Reclaiming art and culture for the common good" (2024) one year after its publication, focusing on the impact of the creative industries and the need for a shift in how culture is understood and valued.
The topic of this online lecture is very related to our DE-BIAS project, now concluded, whose goal was to detect, analyse, and create recommendations to deal with harmful and discriminatory language in cultural heritage descriptions - a fundamental practice to reflect on public history, inclusivity, and dealing with uncomfortable pasts.
This event is organised by the Faculty of Arts, KU Leuven, hosted by DigitGLAM in cooperation with the European Heritage Hub. It will also be streamed online.