Dr Max WYMAN
maxwyman@telus.net
OC, arts and culture policy advisor; immediate past president
Canadian Commission for UNESCO

Dr Wyman, O.C., D.Litt (Hon), is one of Canada’s leading cultural commentators. He is the author of a number of books on the arts, the latest of which, The Defiant Imagination: Why Culture Matters, is a passionate manifesto asserting the central importance of the arts and culture to modern society. He has taught critical writing and dance history extensively in Canada and Europe, and lectures and consults on public arts policy across North America. He was for six years a member of the board of the Canada Council for the Arts, Canada’s federal arts granting agency, and in 2006 completed four years as President of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCU). For his services to the arts, he was in 2001 made an Officer of the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest civilian honour. He is deeply involved in issues around the integration of the arts, culture and creative activity into education. A founding member of the steering committee of the multi-agency Canadian arts and learning action coalition, he chaired a series of CCU cross-Canada consultations on the topic, and led the Canadian delegation to the world summit on arts and education in Portugal in the spring of 2006.

Creativity: A Social and Ethical Responsibility

Advances in scientific knowledge, in communications, in culture and in the global economy make it clear that humanity has the potential to make momentous positive advances in the design of its future as a race. But the great social and ethical dilemmas that these advances bring demand innovative responses and a profound re-examination of our moral, economic and social priorities. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals are a good and well-intentioned start. But without fresh resources of imagination and ingenuity we will fall far short of making our ambitions reality. Moral issues related to scientific progress, global communications and human rights, economic issues related to sustainable development and global financial networks, and social issues related to democracy and cultural identity all demand fresh resources of imagination, understanding and intuition if we hope to come to positive outcomes. It is essential that we integrate creativity and the imagination into the way we learn, and build creative activity into the fabric of all aspects of modern society, if we wish to develop the flexible thinking and nuanced wisdom that will enable coming generations to come to terms in a creative manner with the immense challenges that accompany this unprecedented potential.

Max Wyman博士

Max Wyman博士是加拿大知名的文化評論員。他曾在加拿大和歐洲各地教授批判寫作和舞蹈歷史及擔任公共藝術政策的顧問。曾任加拿大藝術局董事會成員達六年，並在2002-6年擔任聯合國教科文組織加拿大委員會主席一職。

「創意；社會和道德責任」

科技資訊文化及全球經濟使人類進步但同時所產生的社會和道德矛盾又需要我們深入檢討道德、經濟和社會價值觀。沒有創意和想像力就很難成事。所以我們得把創意和想像整合成為學習的核心部分，才可讓下一代迎戰社會的挑戰。