{ The Role of National Days and Festivals in Cultural Advocacy and in Re- conceptualising National Identity Professor Gayle McPherson University of the West of Scotland 12 th Session of the European Cultural Parliament, September, 2013

Challenge: why is there not a UK “national day”?

In Europe.  National days and festivals – concepts, expressions and cultures  Cultural advocacy – contexts, expressions and cultures  National identity – re-conceptualising; re- contextualising;  Some questions for policy makers, cultural leaders, civic leaders, festival ‘owners’, democratically elected representatives; citizens of Europe A few challenges and contexts throughout Overview

Scotland – “official” national day is 30 November

 One single day to celebrate and promote a national identity?  A single identifiable nation?  An obvious identity to which all of a nation can subscribe in a single context or on a single day?  More than one day to celebrate and promote national identities?  Multiple identities within a nation  Opportunities for free expression of identity on several contexts / days  A single, universal (paid?) holiday observed, shared and celebrated by the entirety of a nation? A National Day or National Days

 Some possible days FOR the nation of Scotland:  St Andrew’s Day (30 November)  Robert Burns’ Birth Day (25 January)  Declaration of Arbroath (6 April)  Tartan Day ( 6 th April)  Hogmanay (1 January)  Vote for / against independence from UK (18 September, 2014) Identities, expressions exclusions and diaspora

{{ {Economics? {Economics? Politics? Culture?

 Momentous events – political; cultural; technological  Judao-Christian Calendar – largely “patron saints” days  Birth of a “significant” figure in a nation’s formation or expression  An opportunity to showcase a nation’s economic outputs and activities – particularly in export markets  Formal involvement of the state vs informal, carnivalesque of the “people” National Days and Festivals

Context: Bastille Day - state, power and identity

 Present celebrations (looking to the future) or past victories  Some might argue they are markers of conflict and contestation  Are these events reflecting who we are to ourselves or who we are to others – what is the image that is protrayed and is that what we want Issues and Challenges

Context: Hogmanay, spectacle and whose identity?

 Recognitions of when and how we became who we are – all of us or some of us?  Expressions of who we are (and who we are not?)  What do we stand for – as a “people”; as a “nation”?  How do we express that?  Who decides what the “official version’ is and how it is to be expressed?  How can individual citizens express their identities in a challenging environment and / or a globalising tendency?  Is the national day a message to us, to others within our boundaries whom we may not regard as “us”; to the outside world? Cultural Identity via Festivity

Context: national days – unity, separation, re-birth

 One national day or many days for the nation’s many populations?  A single cultural identity or pluralistic identities among, and within, citizens  Reconciling difference; addressing demonisation of the ‘other’  Taking ownership through forms of cultural advocacy via citizens, communities, civic leadership, education and art. Issues and Challenges

Context: Cultural democracy/democra tisation of culture

 Empowering citizens to be advocates for the identities of a nation  To be part of the policy making process  Promoting cultural diversity through cultural democracy  Encourage local change makers across Europe  The role of the European Cultural Foundation  The ECP Youth Programme  Do we want a cultural policy for Europe or policies for culture? Cultural Advocacy

 How can every citizen be given the capacity and the potential to be a cultural advocate?  Advocacy empowers people to engage in debate and influence policy but not without problems of trans border differences  Are competing agendi given equal weight?  Are there always winners and losers?  What is the role of the ECP in National Identity? Issues and Challenges

 Auld Lang Syne is a marker for friendship throughout the Globe – could Scotland lead the way! Context: Scotland

 We need to celebrate diversity and difference as part of our shared open borders, whilst retaining our cultural heritage.  Can we have a European National Festival rather than a day– could this be Hogmanay – a shared festival, on one day, across many European countries already, could the UK start with this?  Or is it better to have multiple festivals as exemplars of our diverse cultural offerings  This meeting of the ECP could harness a network of ideas to create a European National Day that embraces culture, tolerance, friendship and celebration  National Identity needs to celebrate what we are rather than what we’re not! Concluding Thoughts

 Single national days or multiple national festivals?  Internally facing or externally transmitting?  Free expression of identities or staged events asserting national conformity?  Reproducing differences or acknowledging difference?  Cultural advocacy or cultural suspicion?  Can a nation’s cultural expressions through festivities be “owned” or are they organic?  Who bears the cost and who receives the benefits?  In a globalising world, what role can any expression of national identity have if it is confined to single moments of celebration?  Where shall we find our cultural advocates? Issues and Challenges