Ministers pledge to boost artists’ mobility

Promoting the mobility of artists and other cultural workers within Europe featured prominently among policy priorities for the next two years adopted by EU culture ministers on 21 May.

The proposal forms part of a wider set of recommendations for a ‘Work Plan for Culture 2008-2010’ adopted by ministers meeting in the Education, Youth and Culture Council in Brussels on 21-22 May. 

The ministers agreed to set up a working group comprised of national experts to develop ways to improve the mobility of artists and “other professionals in the cultural field”. 

The experts will explore ways of boosting cooperation between Brussels and national capitals, primarily by studying existing national practices to suggest “ways of improving the regulatory conditions and related administrative processes for mobility”. 

What’s more, the working group will “suggest solutions at the national and Community levels” to explore ways in which national and EU-level initiatives could “include mobility in the professional training curricula of artists and culture professionals”. It will also consider how regional, national and EU mobility support mechanisms and the synergies between them could be strengthened. 

Other priorities identified include boosting access to culture by promoting cultural heritage, multilingualism, digitisation and cultural tourism. Specifically, working groups will be set up to consider how to maximise the potential of cultural and creative industries – particularly focusing on SMEs – and eliminate barriers to the mobility of museum collections within the Union. 

Ministers asked the Commission to carry out a study on the mobility of cultural workers in Europe by October 2008 and publish recommendations on the feasibility of developing a “comprehensive EU-wide system of information on mobility in the cultural sector” by the end of the year. 

Ministers also called upon the EU executive to include cultural aspects in its upcoming Communication on a new multilingualism strategy, due in September 2008, and want this to be complemented by a study on the contribution of multilingualism to creativity, especially given that 2009 has been designated European Year of Creativity and Innovation. 

The Council working groups will meet three times a year between now and the end of 2010, and are expected to submit their mid-term reports by July 2009. 

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