The European Agenda for CultureThe Structured dialogue with civil society through the Platform Access to Culture

A new EU narrative?

José Manuel Barroso:

"In the hierarchy of values, the cultural ones range above the economic”

2004, Berliner Konferenz

European Agenda for Culture

May 2007: adoption and publication by the European Commission of a Communication on Culture (first long-term strategy for culture at European level)

26/27 September 2007: first European Cultural Forum followed by an Informal Council meeting (Lisbon, Portugal).

December 2007: adoption by the European Council of Ministers of Culture of a European Agenda for Culture based on the proposals made by the EC in its Communication

February 2008: Call for participating in three platforms: Access to Culture, Cultural Industries, Intercultural Dialogue – open until 15 April

May 2008 : adoption of the Council work plan 2008-2010 (including OMC working groups)

June 2008: first meetings of the platforms for a structured dialogue with civil society

Amazing! For the first time we have… A well developed EU policy document

about the role of culture in the EU Open Method of Coordination in the

field of culture Structured dialogue with the cultural

sector Political reluctance possibly

decreasing??

New instrumentsThe Open Method of Coordination (OMC)

flexible cooperation framework in which Member States engage on a voluntary basis

used in policy fields where the EU has weak or complementary competence (youth, social affairs, education)

based on soft law mechanisms such as guidelines and indicators, benchmarking and sharing of best practice; effectiveness relies on peer pressure

OMC working groups and methodologyIn its 2008-2010 work plan, the Culture Council decided to set up OMC working groups on :

･ the mobility of artists and other professionals

･ the mobility of collections

･ stronger synergies between culture and education

･ EUROSTAT statistical working group on culture

･ cultural and creative industries

New instruments

Dialogue with the sector

To involve the cultural sector in the development of the European Agenda for Culture, the EC decided to set up a framework of ‘structured dialogue’ with civil society organisations made of 3 thematic platforms:

1. Rainbow Platform for Intercultural Dialogue (since 2006)

2. Platform ‘Access to Culture’

3. Platform ‘Cultural and Creative industries’

New instruments

The two new platformsFollowing a call for expressions of interest, the EC

selected 39 and 33 organisations respectively to participate in the new platforms.

Only non-governmental cultural organisations with a trans-national or European dimension qualified.

The task we were given…

“The platforms are expected to produce policy recommendations to be discussed with the broader culture sector during a large-scale Cultural Forum in September/October 2009”

Access to Culture: How the Council defines itCouncil endorsement of the Agenda for

Culture (Council Document 14485/07 - CULT56) under these terms ‘the following actions will be pursued…promoting access to culture in particular through the promotion of cultural heritage, multilingualism, digitisation, cultural tourism, synergies with education, especially art education and greater mobility of collections.’

Access to Culture: How the Commission defines it (call for interest April 2008) Objective:

wider digitization of cultural content the use of internet cultural tourism giving all citizens access to the cultures of other

countries as part as an endeavour to promote cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue

Target groups: young people, new audiences

Tools: free access, vouchers

The Right to Access Culture: We all agree! Access to Culture is placed in the heart

of democratic principles of freedom It comes from a human primary right,

see Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Numerous treaties and Declarations refer to it

Article 151 of the European treaty

The freedom of choice...

A choice necessitates

- The creation of options of creation and creativity

- A public which has access to the choices

- A public that is educated sufficiently to analyse and exercise its choices

...translated into the Platform’s working process Three thematic working groups

learning / education Creativity / creation participation / audience

Working rational: a bottom-up approach

To excavate best practice on the ground From this to formulate general principles

of good practiceTo integrate these principles into other

policy instrumentsTo develop a general political

justification for Access to Culture as a core element of future cultural policy.

State of Play of the 3 working groups: A Start Learning / Education

aims to explore the benefits of a closer synergy between education (formal, non-formal, informal) and culture with a set of recommendations based on the concept of the Key Competences for Lifelong Learning

State of Play of the 3 working groups: A Start Participation / Audiences

Aims that audience participation be positioned as a core part of Europe’s Creative Ecology, i.e. audience participation is one of the basic inputs/foundations of the entire creative and cultural environment.

State of Play of the 3 working groups: A Start Creativity / Creation

Aims to advocate for the best possible conditions for artistic creation, to ensure access for all to the creative process and to explore the creativity of the arts sector within the wider ‘creativity and innovation’ discourse

The Paper roadmap…1. Work on recommendations until next plenary

Platform meeting in early March 20092. Presentation of Platform Paper 1

(Introduction, Set of recommendations, annexes (glossary, working group reports, best practices, bibliography, organisations involved etc)

3. Further refinement of recommendations until Culture Forum, September 2009

4. Further work presented at Culture Forum Brussels, September 2010

What we aim at: constant consultation and broad dissemination Work on bottom-up approach within the

working groups Work on consultation, interaction process

with OMC (regular meetings in 2009) Work on dialogue process with 2 other

platforms Work on information and dissemination

process (transparency and inclusion)

Access to culture: our challenges Access to Culture is not an objective of the European

Agenda for Culture. No clear policy reference: concept neither defined nor

subject to legislation, nor well-researched Except on education issues, no direct counterparts in the

OMC process. Who are we talking to? Commission, member states,

regional/local authorities, others? What are the respective policy fields: culture?

Enlargement? education? Citizenship? Regional policies? Structural policies? Social affairs? Foreign Affairs? Transport…

Cross-sectorial group of participants: how to find a common denominator, yet not superficial?

Conclusions Is the European cultural sector ready for this? How will the contact between platforms and OMC be

established? How much room for transparency and inclusion left? Need for evidence-based recommendations – but no time? Who can we address: EU, OMC working groups,

foundations, the Council of Europe, MEPs, CCPs, focus groups, individuals - also non-cultural players, the press...?

Will anybody listen? Who will listen? Spin-off for the next EU budget? Spin-off for next Generation programmes? Culture

programme, others?

Thank you for your attention!

Kathrin DeventerSecretary General European Festivals Associationkathrin@efa-aef.eu

This presentation owes thanks to Culture Action Europe Association Européenne des Conservatoirs