A/HRC/37/55 7. In the context of the present report, the practices and initiatives discussed consciously aim at addressing social challenges — such as tackling mindsets that create exclusion, helping to restore understanding between groups and trust in society, seeking to emphasize respect for cultural diversity or to contribute to reconciliation — and aim at developing individual and collective capacities for empathy, self-reflection, critical thinking, resistance to human rights violations and oppression, and acceptance of differences, the universality of human rights and equality. In seeking to achieve these aims, the initiators are often guided by ethical commitments, including to notions of reciprocity, transparency about interests and intentions, and acknowledging multiple dynamics of power. The impact of these initiatives on society is therefore not only a by-product of artistic and cultural practice but the result of thoughtful and sustained social engagement that needs to be recognized and valued as such. 8. Societies recovering from violence and deep divisions or wishing to address discrimination in various forms and other human rights abuses have a plethora of needs that are not easily met by formal institutions alone. Actions in the field of culture can address some of these needs in ways that other approaches may not be able to.1 9. Relevant actions in the field of culture can be led by individual artists, ensembles, small and large cultural institutions, and by collaborations among artists, cultural workers and other stakeholders or institutions. They are versatile, and their form and size can be adapted to the local context. Creative processes can be crafted for both individuals and groups, can be as small as a neighbourhood festival or large enough to generate global networks. Artists and cultural workers can operate in theatres and museums, but also in refugee camps, kindergartens, women’s shelters, prisons, over the radio and in the streets, depending on the situation and aim. Strengths and limitations of different approaches 10. The restorative and transformative power of arts and culture lies in the nature of aesthetic experiences. They can embody dazzling creativity that invites states of wonder and openness to new ideas. They can create vivid and enduring reminders of emerging relationships and values through murals, plazas and memorials, and repeated enactments of rituals. By recalling past suffering in works of breathtaking beauty, they can loosen the stranglehold of memories of powerlessness in the face of violence and abuse, inviting survivors to imagine and co-create a better future. They can present with great beauty the stories of those who have suffered, restoring a measure of dignity to victims and helping to ensure non-repetition. Art-making and culture-making foster connectivity between the different dimensions of the individual person, within and between groups, and between the local and the global. They create opportunities for exchange and interaction that do not rely on verbal language alone. 11. To address social issues, artists and cultural workers must weigh a range of options in terms of their approach and methodology. The most important characteristics of strong approaches to arts-based and cultural initiatives include awareness of and responsiveness to context: considering the local sources of resilience, the existing level of trust between people and towards public institutions and the rule of law, and the degree of threat of physical or military violence. 12. Other critical aspects include finding the most appropriate format between topdown, structured approaches and bottom-up dynamics that cultivate local sources of creativity and resilience, 2 as well as between short-term projects, which are easier to 1 2 4 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Peace and Reconciliation: How Culture Makes the Difference, Proceedings of the Hangzhou International Congress “Culture: Key to Sustainable Development” (Hangzhou, China, 15−17 May 2013). Medellín, Colombia, offers an example of an inclusive, top-down and bottom-up approach to reclaiming a city afflicted with violence through culture, thanks to “a public sector that has embodied and supported the public interest in culture with tremendous forethought, intentionality, and caring; and results to match that intention”. See the blog by A. Goldbard, available at usdac.us/newslong/2015/12/22/azdluulfj5imog2y995v5xuod09fof, and a description of the approach in http://agenda21culture.net/sites/default/files/files/good_practices/medellin-eng_def.pdf.