Culture Action Europe applauds the strong political support shown by all European institutions in their recognition that culture plays a central role in building a more cohesive, inclusive and prosperous Europe.
European leaders expressed their joint commitment to work towards a Union ‘where citizens have new opportunities for cultural and social development’ in the 2017 Rome Declaration. Culture Action Europe commends the inclusion of culture and education in the leaders’ agenda during the Gothenburg Summit, a welcome sign of their commitment to start building a vision for culture in Europe.
The European Commission’s Communication on ‘Strengthening European Identity through Education and Culture’ enables the implementation of this joint ambition. The launch of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 in Milan was an inspiring moment of unity. The cultural sector is determined to work together with European institutions to transform Europe into a space where all citizens feel united in diversity.
In light of this, Culture Action Europe calls on the European institutions to:
- Strengthen synergies between education and culture as the means to ensure that multidisciplinary approaches, intercultural competences, civic, critical and creative skills are developed in order to seize the opportunities of the fourth industrial revolution and address its associated societal challenges;
- Ensure that a proper financial support for culture, the arts and heritage is allocated through the next multiannual financial framework, in order to reflect the shared ambition to make confident progress towards bringing the peoples of Europe together through education and culture;
- Maintain a balance among funding mechanisms and adopt an equal and tailored approach to all cultural and creative sectors, so that they can unleash the potential of culture to convey European values and objectives and to deliver on its capacity for cultural, social and economic impact;
- Design a new European Agenda for Culture, which stems from an equal recognition of economic, social, humanistic and artistic dimensions of culture, and promotes the potential of culture in all EU policies.
