Artistic Research, Culture and Innovation | Towards the Culture Compass: A Sector Blueprint

This briefing on Artistic Research, Culture and Innovation (Chapter 3) was edited and coordinated by ELIA and AEC forms part of 10 policy briefings in the discussion paper ‘Towards the Culture Compass: A Sector Blueprint‘ published by Culture Action Europe. Read the Sector Blueprint to discover other briefings on:

• Artistic Freedom
• Working Conditions
• International Cultural Relations
• Culture and Health and Well-Being
• Culture and Sustainability
• Cultural Participation
• Access to Cultural and Arts Education
• Culture and Security
• Culture and Digital

download the sector blueprint

Context

The EU Work Plan for Culture 2023–2026 opens with a clear premise: ‘Culture is an infinite source of inspiration and innovation. ’ Yet the EU still lacks structural, long-term support for artists, creators and cultural practitioners to pursue their most innovative and transformative work. In particular, the arts as a knowledge domain remain undervalued, despite their proven capacity to drive change within the cultural and creative sectors and industries and to help address today’s societal challenges across the green, digital and social transitions.

The EU should fully recognise the arts as a knowledge domain and support artistic research, positioning the arts within the knowledge triangle (research–education–innovation) at European, national and regional levels. Doing so will strengthen the cultural sector itself and contribute to EU priorities, such as social cohesion, democratic resilience and competitiveness.

There is a solid base to build on. The New European Bauhaus anchors arts and culture in Europe’s green and social transformation. EIT Culture & Creativity mobilises innovation across the cultural and creative sectors and industries. Horizon Europe has funded cultural, creative and artistic research, while EU competence frameworks (e.g., Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, GreenComp) recognise creative skills. Erasmus+ initiatives such as the Cyanotypes Sector Blueprint have expanded applications of creative and transversal competencies.

This momentum should not be lost. The sector faces funding cuts, pressures on freedom of expression and organisational autonomy, and excessive instrumentalisation. Plans to discontinue the Horizon Europe’s Cluster on Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society in the next Multiannual Financial Framework 2028–2034 are especially concerning. Despite repeated evidence from the sector, creative and transversal competencies are not clearly integrated into the Union of Skills.

Proposals

• Recognise the arts as a knowledge domain within the European Research Area—by fully recognising doctorates in the arts across Member States and updating international research classifications, namely the OECD Frascati Manual so research in and through the arts is properly defined and comparable.
• Establish Creative Innovation Dialogues, a recurring forum between Commissioners and Directorates-General for culture, research, innovation, education and skills (and, when relevant, those for climate, environment, economy, and regional development) paired with structured stakeholder consultation. The aim of such a forum would be to fully leverage the arts as a driving force of transformation and innovation, as well as to facilitate trans-sectoral engagement with the arts through EU policy and funding frameworks.
• Provide policy toolkits and roadmaps that Member States can use to widen equitable, diverse and inclusive access to careers in artistic research and creative innovation, starting with inclusive arts education across all levels.
• Embed creative skills and competences in the Union of Skills, including monitoring through the European Skills Intelligence Observatory and engagement of relevant experts in the European Skills High-Level Board.
• Secure support for collaborative research across arts, culture, heritage, and creativity as a structural component with its own dedicated financial envelope in the Competitiveness cluster under Horizon Europe 2028–2034 Pillar II. Additionally, systematically support arts as an independent knowledge domain across all Horizon Europe pillars—the recommendations from the Artistic Research Alliance can provide guidance.
• Design AgoraEU and Horizon Europe synergies: how the outcomes of research and innovation projects can be leveraged and implemented to benefit the development and resilience of the European cultural sector.
• Position the cultural and creative sectors and industries as a strategic growth and resilience domain in the Competitiveness Fund with relevant funding.

Annex: Resources

1. Artistic Research: A Powerful Engine for Europe’s Prosperity, Global Competitiveness and Societal Resilience, Artistic Research Alliance, 2025.
2. Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning (2018/C 189/01), Council of the European Union, 2018.
3. Creative Pact for Skills, European Commission, 2022.
4. Cyanotypes Blueprint Alliance, CYANOTYPES consortium, 2024.
5. EIT Culture & Creativity (KIC), European Institute of Innovation and Technology, 2023.
6. Europe’s Budget: Horizon Europe 2028–2034, European Commission, 2025.
7. EU Work Plan for Culture 2023–2026, Council of the European Union, 2022.
8. Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development, OECD, 2015.
9. GreenComp: The European Sustainability Competence Framework, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 2022.
10. Leaping Beyond the Now: A Vision for Research and Innovation Embedding the Arts, ELIA, 2025.
11. Leveraging the Full Potential of Artistic Research. A Statement by the Artistic Research Alliance, Artistic Research Alliance, 2024.
12. New European Bauhaus, European Commission, 2020.
13. Proposed Changes to the Frascati Manual, Vienna Declaration consortium, 2022.
14. Status of the Artist: Better Working Conditions for Artists and Cultural Workers, European Parliament, 2023.
15. STEM and STEAM Education, and Disciplinary Integration: A Guide to Informed Policy Action, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 2025.
16. The ‘Florence Principles’ on the Doctorate in the Arts, ELIA, 2016.
17. The Vienna Declaration on Artistic Research, Vienna Declaration consortium, 2020.
18. UNESCO Framework for Culture and Arts Education, UNESCO, 2024.
19. Union of Skills, European Commission, 2025.

Culture Compass for Europe

The Culture Compass for Europe released by the European Commission in November 2025 makes no explicit reference to artistic research. Nevertheless, it announces a new EU structured dialogue with cultural and creative stakeholders, a new European R&I Partnership for Resilient Cultural Heritage co-funded by Horizon Europe, greater research and support investment on the discoverability of online European cultural content (building on the findings of the study launched in 2024), and funding for culture in the 2028-2034 MFF “under relevant EU instruments, including the European Competitiveness Fund, Horizon Europe, the National and Regional Partnership Plans, and the Global Europe instrument.”

The Culture Compass is accompanied by a draft Joint Declaration entitled “Europe for Culture – Culture for Europe” to be agreed upon and signed by the European Commission, European Parliament and the Council of the EU. The Joint Declaration recognises that “the synergy between culture, arts, and education is fundamental to the development and prosperity of future societies,” but does not directly address artistic research and innovation.