The Pacific Community (SPC) is institutional custodian for the Pacific Regional Culture Strategy (PRCS) and the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC).
SPC has fulfilled the role of Culture Secretariat since 1975 with the establishment of the South Pacific Arts Festival Council. In 1981, the name changed to Pacific Arts Council, and in 2008, the decision taken to rebrand as the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture (CPAC). Since the 1970s, SPC, through the then Culture desk, offered technical support to countries for the hosting of the Festival of Pacific Arts. Over the years, the scope of work by the Council expanded to reflect increasing development interest in culture, the arts, and traditional knowledge. Likewise, the SPC role has grown to include the biennial Meeting of Pacific Culture Ministers which has convened since 2002.
Ministers of Culture endorsed the first Pacific Regional Culture Strategy (PRCS) 2010 – 2020 and the Pacific Culture and Education Strategy (PACES) 2010 – 2015 with SPC taking on the lead role of coordination. The second and current, PRCS 2022 – 2032, was endorsed by Culture Ministers in April of 2022, and launched at the Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting, in Suva, in July of the same year. The Culture for Development Programme is the only dedicated regional culture focused programme within CROP. It leads regional level implementation of the PRCS working with other CROP and relevant international agencies and organizations on culture related development efforts. The secretariat works closely with Council of Pacific Arts and Culture (CPAC) to support country implementation of the PRCS and the hosting of the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC).
The PRCS covers five priority areas: Cultural policy frameworks, cultural heritage, cultural wellbeing, cultural innovation, and cultural statistics. Cross-cutting priorities include youth, research and capacity strengthening for cultural development. These priorities will guide culture interventions at the national and regional levels over the next decade.
Objectives and indicators are limited to a select number of up to three core areas, which will help to tell the story of culture development over the next 10-years. National indicators are driven by national goals and interests. The strategy does not contain an exhaustive list of all national cultural priorities and indicators for all our countries. Rather, it includes a select number of national indicators under each priority. These select indicators focus on issues that are considered to be foundational to achieving sustainable cultural development. An improvement or growth in these areas will provide direct and indirect benefits for other aspects of culture development. This flexibility allows for countries to focus on the five PRCS priorities while working towards national culture goals of their respective national culture policies and development plans.
Regional indicators also focus on those key aspects of culture development that will drive the shift in culture in the direction that we want to see. The PRCS is designed as both a living document and as a guide that allows for country flexibility in focusing on those indicators that support and are in line with national culture priorities.
The PRCS is closely aligned with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, People Centred Development Pillar, Goal 3: “The Pacific’s diverse cultures, traditions, spirituality, and languages are visible, valued, safeguarded, and inform all national and regional development actions.”
Implementation of the PRCS will take place in two 5-year phases, reflected in PRCS Five Year Implementation Plans. Other supporting documents within the PRCS suite include the PRCS Communications and Visibility Plan, PRCS Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan, and a Guide for Culture Resource Mobilisation.
Read the Pacific Regional Culture Strategy (PRCS) 2022-2032
Other key documents include the:
- Pacific Regional Culture Strategy: five-year implementation plan 2022–2027
- Communications Plan for the Implementation of the Pacific Regional Culture Strategy: The Pacific culture decade – towards Sustainable Cultural Development.
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Plan for the Implementation of the Pacific Regional Culture Strategy 2022-2032: the Pacific culture decade – towards sustainable cultural development
Find out about the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC13)
