ValuesQuest; Culture, Creativity and Values Launched at Ise by Olav Kjørven, Assistant Secretary General of the UN

See photos from the Ise event at the ARC Flickr page.

Today Olav Kjørven, Assistant Secretary General of the UN launched an exciting new initiative called The Culture, Creativity and Values programme, at the Ise ARC/Jinja Honcho Celebration in Japan.

Led by ARC and the Club of Rome, The Culture, Creativity and Values programme, is a key project of ValuesQuest, an important and unique initiative designed to examine and focus the values and narratives that instill the world with meaning in order to enrich and stimulate the creation of the kind of world we want to live in.

The Culture, Creativity and Values programme will support the creation of the UN’s Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, which will take over from the Millennium Development Goals in guiding the earth’s communities towards a safe and sustainable future for all.

Traditionally, the goal of a sustainable future has been approached from the perspective of economics and politics. These draw their authority from essentially emotionally-divorced data, The Culture, Creativity and Values programme will make a vital shift towards examining and working with values and narratives in order to involve a wider audience in the process of working towards a sustainable future.

Speaking of the The Culture, Creativity and Values programme Olav Kjørven, Assistant Secretary General of the UN has written: “this initiative seeks to mobilize the key values-based and shaping constituencies of the Arts, Faiths, Media, Science and Sports to engage in the global conversation about the next development agenda and enrich the discussion around its content and how to turn it into reality.”

Secretary General of ARC, Martin Palmer, welcomed the initiative enthusiastically. “Never before has the UN explicitly asked the major values and story telling cultures of the world to help it think through, not just what should be done to create a better world, nor just how that can be done, but more fundamentally why.”

Drawing on these major values-based sectors of society, the Arts, Faiths, Media, Science and Sports, the initiative will work with key representatives of each to better understand their underlying values and how to use these to inspire communities towards the positive changes needed to ensure a safe and prosperous 21st century.

This launch at Ise is the first of many exciting events from The Culture, Creativity and Values programme, where the different sectors will come together to share ideas and insights, and together plan for the world we want.

ValuesQuest Booklet

Club of Rome