A/HRC/37/55 led the national theatre to adopt guiding principles for gender equality and the Irish Film Board to adopt a 50/50 gender equality plan.54 4. Developing clear objectives and adapted assessment schemes 81. Insufficient infrastructure focused on the multiform restorative and transformative potential of actions in the field of arts and culture results in the absence of recognized protocols for assessment and evaluation that are adapted to the particular objectives and adequate to measure the accomplishments. These include the long-term relationship building required to address violations of human rights, embrace cultural diversity and equality, foster trust and contribute to reconciliation. Many of the existing assessment strategies involve time-consuming work to produce measures required by donors and contributors but that are not aligned with the nuances of the work. Focused attention on these problems related to improving modes of funding, assessment and evaluation is needed. 82. Scholars, practitioners and policymakers need opportunities to collaborate. Centres of innovation and knowledge generation based in universities, large cultural organizations, foundations and other stable organizations could help cultivate multidisciplinary teams — including artists and workers in the fields of development, urban design, trauma recovery, social work, human rights and transitional justice 55 — and operate as regional nodes linked with each other and with local, national and regional initiatives in their region. They would be positioned to facilitate exchanges, apprenticeships and mentoring opportunities within and between regions.56 83. Agencies, NGOs and public institutions sponsoring and supporting such initiatives can educate their staffs about human rights and cultural rights standards relevant to artistbased and participatory applied works, in particular standards regarding the right to take part in cultural life and the development of one’s society and freedom of artistic expression for all. They can also encourage collaborations between artists, activists and all other relevant stakeholders seeking to reach similar goals. IV. Conclusions and recommendations A. Conclusions 84. Because of the nature of aesthetic engagement, initiatives in the field of culture can make robust and distinctive contributions to creating, developing and maintaining more rights-respecting societies, especially in the aftermath of violence and in deeply divided societies. They provide crucial opportunities to build capacity for critical thinking and respect for cultural diversity, equality and the universality of human rights. Cultural processes and art-making based on the exercise of cultural rights, participatory and inclusive work with local populations that aims at building bridges across social divisions, and public rituals and ceremonies that increase recognition of human dignity can often be essential to reaching a wide range of human rights goals. It is critical for all relevant actors to consider the benefits of adopting a cultural rights approach — which centres universal human rights and cultural diversity as well as non-discrimination and equality and the critical components of participation and 54 55 56 See the resulting study, Gender Counts: An Analysis of Gender in Irish Theatre 2006–2015, June 2017. For instance, see J. White and C. Cohen, “Strengthening work at the nexus of arts, culture and peacebuilding”, report for Search for Common Ground, Brandeis University Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, February 2012; and M. LeBaron and C. Cohen, Breathing Life Into the Ashes: Resilience, Arts and Social Transformation, final report of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies international round table, University of British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law, October 2013. In accordance with art. 15.4 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 17