Dr Max WYMAN
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.