The idea of cultural democracy does not necessarily always wear that label. In different parts of the world it has acquired different names, and part of our quest is the attempt to discover it wherever we can find it hiding.

In this episode, Cathy Hunt, founder and co-director of Positive Solutions, discusses the nature of community cultural development in Australia, and its relationship to ideas of cultural democracy.

Cathy begins with a short discussion about the Women of the World festival, with which she is involved, before moving on to talk about Scott Rankin’s recent platform paper on the subject of cultural rights and the debates that this has triggered.

We then move on to look at First Nation cultural rights and cultural activism, and the different forms that cultural tourism can take, and the perennial questions of who controls it and who benefits from it.

Economics is inseparable from culture, and vice versa. The discussion about cultural tourism in its good and bad forms adds to useful extra dimension to the question of cultural democracy.

As usual, Sophie’s baby Henry plays an active role in the proceedings from time to time, and you will catch his reactions to the various topics under discussion.