News

Support those supporting culture

9 August 2016

As you know many initiatives and organisations work for the betterment of the conditions in the artistic and cultural sector by taking its values and concerns to the policy making levels and to the citizens’ level. 

EFA has being doing this regarding the important festival community for 10 years already, but also other organisations in the field have great initiatives. Because solidarity is one of the great practices the artistic world can be proud of, EFA is also partner and supporter of other initiatives as their messages reinforce those EFA has been voicing for many years.

Here are some examples of initiatives you can also support individually and get engaged with. You can choose to just add your name to the long list of supporters or ask to be more actively involved – the choice is yours!


 European Alliance for Culture and the Arts

The European Alliance for Culture and the Arts was started by Pearle* - Live Performance Europe (one of our synergy partners in the EFA RISE project) together with Syndeac and IETM. The official launch took place on the 19 April 2016 at the European Culture Forum.

It has created an appeal - The Power of Culture and the Arts - that is being spread and shared and taken up in public debates and meetings with policy makers. You can read it, download, it, share it with your colleagues, friends, co-producers, sponsors, policy makers, … – for sure you’ll recognise some of your own concerns addressed in the text.

 You may also want to read the CASES of interesting projects where culture is addressing migration and citizenship, education, European values and human rights, innovation, and many more.

 Or you may choose to hear the VOICES of your peers in the testimonials.

How can you choose to support it?

You can support the alliance by signing the appeal and sharing it with your network. You can get more engaged by sending them an email.


European House for Culture

The European Resolution on Culture presents a set of proposals and demands presented to the top candidates to the European elections of 2014 for them to include in their campaign platform. It asked that during the current legislative period of the European Parliament, MEPs agreed that the dimension of culture be added to all sectors of legislation where it is currently lacking, including external affairs, social affairs and human rights.

 It was been developed since 2012 by the Cultural Coalition for a Citizens’ Europe – a vol­untary loose gathering of citizens that in their daily life work in or around culture – until the end of this legislative term of the European Parliament the challenge is to have this European Resolution on Culture implemented into an official text.

 In its 3 core concepts you’ll recognise recommendations / demands / utopias that you may have called out for yourself as for instance “a proposal for an agreement on the min­imum percentage of the budget allocated to cultural programs by the Member States as a percentage of GDP, reflecting the similar and equal responsibility they bear towards culture.”

 As you know well Culture remains in the exclusive rule of the National States, thus, a resolution will only be implemented if in each country, its values and action points are supported and ultimate­ly felt as essential as active policies in employment, health and social welfare.

How can you choose to support it?

You can spread it and share it with your Mayor, your Ministries, your high powered business partners, … You can take it up in public debates – let the European House for Culture know about this.

We can’t be the only ones to know how fundamental the Arts and Culture are! Use the arguments in the Resolution to add to your own – this Resolution has been developed by citizens in cooperation with high-level MEPs so you can be sure the message will ring clear to policy makers.

Do you want to give them the printed version? Contact us.

Do you want to add the Beyond Visions book which features essays from leading lawmakers – 9 MEPs and the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport included – on the future of Cultural policy and the role culture can play in European policy development and decision making? We’ll be happy to help you.


A Soul for Europe

The A Soul for Europe (ASfE) is a civil society initiative which aims at implementing concrete steps and conducting projects to ensure that Europe makes greater and better use of its cultural assets. Like Pearle and the EHfC it is also a synergy partner of the EFA RISE project and many of you have heard from ASfE Strategy group members in previous EFA General Assemblies – for example in Sarajevo in 2014.

One of the activities it sets up is the annual A Soul for Europe conference – formerly known as the Berlin Conference.  This is a conference and forum which takes place since 2004 in Berlin and gathers each edition more than 600 participants from the civil society, MEPs, local and national policy makers to discuss hot topics of the European Project and how Culture is essential in this development.

This year’s edition will take place on 8 and 9 November 2016 under the title Cultural Identities on the Move and it will react to the current European challenges in a creative way and draft proposals for intensified cooperation between politics and civil society in the cities and regions of Europe.

The organisers promise to “avoid formats which involve sequences of statements and opinions, and instead provide opportunities for a direct, open and simultaneously constructive discussion between personalities from the fields of politics and culture, additionally enabling constructive participation from the audience”.

If, like the organisers, you feel that “More than ever, Europe has to become the Europeans’ cause!” join the Conference and have your say. Contact the ASfE to ask for your invitation.