Prioritising arts and culture in a renewed social contract

What’s the role for arts and culture in a post-pandemic, renewed social contract for Europe?

An inspiring and emotional piano performance by Alexandra Dariescu, award-winning concert pianist, producer of “The Nutcracker and I”, creative entrepreneur, and 2018 European Young Leader acted as the perfect segue to a discussion of how to prioritise arts and culture across communities and institutions in Europe. (03:20)

The event provided the opportunity to introduce the recommendations from the policy briefing which had been put together by the European Young Leaders Working Group on Arts and Culture, with input from a range of organisations and stakeholders, and authored by the writer Mary Fitzgerald.

“Rebuilding culture and cultural expression in Europe is a unique opportunity […] to provide remedies to […] some of the problems or the downsides of what the pandemic has brought,” said Jakob Haesler, Managing Director of Foxdixneuf and 2013 European Young Leader. “But also,” he continued, “to address […] a unique cultural perspective on some more fundamental structural issues which have to do with citizenship, inequality, access to culture, and a general sense of inclusiveness.” (12:04)

He highlighted three themes from the policy briefing, namely, to  consider technology not as a foe, but as a friend; bring education and the creative industries closer together; culture and exposure to arts is a means for citizens to increase self-esteem and self-worth.

The briefing will now be submitted to the EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education, and Youth Mariya Gabriel and French Minister for Europe Clément Beaune in advance of France’s EU presidency in the first half of 2022.

Sparking creativity in young people

“Every rare moment that I’ve had a chance in these last two years to go a  concert, to a theatre play, or an exhibition, it felt like a real injection of life .” (18:02)

Themis Christophidou, European Commission Director General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, began her intervention by recalling her emotions on attending events during the pandemic, before moving on to describe the Commission’s New European Bauhaus which is rooted in “aesthetics, […] urban planning and connected cities, […] solidarity and inclusiveness.It’s about how we live, here and now, but it’s as much about a  dialogue between generations”. (18:51)

She also stressed that “[we need] to think about how culture will contribute to the 2022 European Year of Youth […] The year should be and will be a great opportunity […] to honour and support the generation that has sacrificed so much during this pandemic [and] empower young people to take the lead for the future.” (19:53)

This point was picked up later in the discussions by Francesca Cavallo, bestselling author of “Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls” and entrepreneur and 2019 European Young Leader (EYL40). “[We] have seen how the pandemic […] has impacted the […] mental health of children and how [it] has exacerbated family [and] domestic violence situations,” (40:48) she said.

“Part of the opportunity around culture is also the opportunity to create aesthetic experiences that can heal people[…] Up until COVID, I had always considered culture as a very important thing,” she continued, “but I hadn’t understood how deep its impact could be in keeping society together in terms of helping people heal from a traumatic event.” (41:27)

Art, culture, and sport are really good antidotes to educational poverty, responded Cristina Pozzi, Board Member, COO and Head of Contents at Treccani Futura and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40). “One of my ideas is to create a framework which is clear and standardised to help schools [ensure that culture] can be part of the school and educational process.” (46:08)

Arts and culture play an important role in promoting social and economic goals and ensuring local regeneration, said Darya Yegorina, Founder of CleverBooks and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40). “We need to […] promote [arts and culture]  with younger generations […] in a lot of different ways to make sure that this is a going to be a growing asset of humanity, [such as] visual technologies, like augmented and virtual […] We can actually support this spark of innovation and […] creativity!” (50:23)

Funding

“We are convinced that the recovery of Europe [from the pandemic] can only be achieved through culture,” (22:14) said Themis Christophidou, adding that €2.4 billion from the Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Facility will be allocated to the cultural and creative sectors until 2027.

She also highlighted that a new budget line under Horizon Europe had been created, worth close to €2 billion, and also listed other opportunities for funding through Erasmus+, InvestEU, Digital Europe, and the values programme of DG Justice.

She explained that her DG had put together a funding guide aimed at these sectors to help them navigate the labyrinth of EU funding, entitled CulturEU.

Illustration: Menah Marleen Wellen

In response, Eduardo Portal Martin, Founding Member and CEO of Passion for Conducting Academy and 2017 European Young Leader (EYL40), described the results of a survey carried out across orchestras across Europe concerning funding, illustrating the three most common issues confronting orchestras.

First, the process to apply for funding is extremely bureaucratic, untransparent, and inefficient in many EU member states. Second, there is often a “big delay” (36:21) in receiving funds, meaning that organisations have to fund themselves initially, which often prevents them from carrying out the project. And third, the lack of supportive sponsorship legislation means it is not attractive for businesses to invest in sponsorship.

As Cultural Creative Industries represent 4.5% of EU GDP and bring in €643 billion of annual revenues, it is fair to ask why isn’t there more private sector involvement, as the motivation for business is evident.

Christophidou also described how the Commission had launched a pilot project to increase artists’ mobility, which had funded 900 artists from 37 countries and enabled them to travel abroad to learn. This tool will now be launched permanently with seven times as much money as the pilot.

COVID has been very hard for artists, said Monica Semedo, Member of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, rapporteur on cultural recovery in the EU, and 2020-2021 European Young Leader (EYL40). “What became more clear during lockdown […] was that artists have an unsteady income, and it was  worsened during lockdown,” (28:37) she said.

She explained how it is difficult for artists to access social security in some EU member states, and this is why the European Parliament had proposed harmonised standards for social security to enhance mobility within Europe and ensure artists do not lose their social security rights.

The parliamentarian also described how women still face some obstacles in the sector. “They are very present, but […] their rights and freedoms are less guaranteed,” she said (30:47).

She also emphasised the importance of training artists in entrepreneurial skills – “you can be very talented, but not talented in business. So, you need training” (31:11) – as well as investing in talented young people so they can attend schools where their skills are fostered.

Concluding, Sneska Quaedvlieg-Mihailovic, Secretary General at Europa Nostra – one of the organisers, together with Culture Action Europe and the European Cultural Foundation, of the #CulturalDealEU – reminded us that arts and culture are so much more than a sector, they are a “vector for a social contract, […] for a sense of togetherness.” (53:53) The challenge now for us and leaders is to shift our mindset to understand that we need culture everywhere because that makes a more beautiful and harmonious world.

Illustration: Menah Marleen Wellen