STEERING COMMITTEE FOR CULTURE, HERITAGE AND LANDSCAPE (CDCPP)

CDCPP(2012)15                                                                                                      7 March 2012

1^st Plenary Session

Strasbourg, 14 – 16 May 2012

                                               

CultureWatchEurope (CWE) – Progress Report

DOCUMENT FOR DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Item 3.2.1 of the draft agenda

Draft decision

The Committee:

–            noted the results of the Think-Tank on “Cultural Governance: From Challenges to Changes” (Slovenia, November 2011), agreed to wide dissemination of these at respective national level and thanked the Slovenian Government for hosting the event;

–            noted the implementation of the “Watch and Interact” platform for joint access to the Council of Europe’s information tools Compendium, HEREIN and European Audiovisual Observatory offering new interactive features for governments and civil society partners;

–            noted the forthcoming CWE 2012 conference on “Cultural Access and Participation – from Indicators to Policies for Democracy” and thanked the Finnish Authorities for hosting the event;

–            called upon CDCPP members to support CultureWatchEurope through voluntary contributions or to consider hosting a future CWE event.

Launched in 2009, under the supervision of the CDCULT, the Council of Europe’s CultureWatchEurope initiative (CWE) promotes culture as "the soul of democracy" by offering an innovative and evidence-based overview of culture, heritage and media developments in Europe.

CultureWatchEurope adds value to the Organisation’s existing information tools, programmes and methods by linking them (joint access platform to Compendium, HEREIN and Audiovisual Observatory) and by inviting civil society to contribute to policy debates.

 

CultureWatchEurope is value based, responsive, and aware: devised to pinpoint developments, difficulties, and good practices so that cultural governance and policy making can be enhanced Europe-wide (Topicult website), annual CWE conferences, “Hot Topics” papers).

Key words in this light-house mission are: transparency, access and participation, respect for identity and diversity, intercultural dialogue and cultural rights.

CWE Conferences 2011 and 2012

Following-up on the findings of the 2010 CWE Conference (“Culture and the Policies of Change”, Brussels, 6-7 September, 200 participants), the 2011 CWE event (“Cultural Governance: From Challenges to Changes”, Bled, 11-12 November) brought together a small group of artists, philosophers, researchers and policy makers in a think-tank format. The mission was to reflect on reconceiving responsible cultural policy making and the role of the state in cultural governance, consider the position of European culture against the background of economic crisis, falling governments (Greece, Italy) and the potential for culture to be an agent of change.

Participants agreed on two things: First, the crisis has deep practical, ethical and philosophical challenges for European culture and for those who work in, support and value it. Failure by the sector to respond is not acceptable: it would be an abdication of responsibility and a confession of irrelevance.

Secondly, if Europeans are to defend and renew their culture at this time, they need a simple and convincing statement of what it stands for. There is almost 3,000 years of writing about European culture: enough to fill every national library. Whilst not pretending to distil the work of millennia into pithy formulae, the Bled participants recognised the practical use of defining some non-negotiable principles that they believe all who value Europe’s culture would defend. They generated six fundamental principles of European culture, on which all theory, policy and action must stand and which express what must, on no account, be lost - so much more can be gained in applying them.

1.      Europe needs a culture that defends fundamental human rights and democracy

2.      We need culture to do the creative and imaginative work that is its unique capacity

3.      We need freedom of cultural inquiry, expression and circulation

4.      We need a mixed economy for public, commercial, voluntary and informal culture

5.      We need investment in cultural research and development at the heart of policy

6.      We need artists and cultural actors to enact the ethical responsibilities of leadership

The Conference report with explanatory notes on the principles and the original contributions to the event are available as a printed and online publication[1]. CDCPP delegates are invited to widely disseminate these to inspire cultural actors and decision makers in their future work at different intervention levels.

The follow-up event in 2012 will carry the agenda further and focus on requirements by policy makers for evidence-based information –in the form of indicators– in conceiving cultural policies for democracy. The theme of access to and participation in culture will be central. An indicator suite is currently being prepared by leading experts in the field. CultureWatchEurope is teaming up with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), who recently issued a Recommendation1990 (2012) on the “Right of Everyone to Take Part in Cultural Life”.

Hot Topics Papers

In 2010/11, five “Hot topic” papers were produced and are available at http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/CWE/default_en.asp:

-      Renationalisation Policies in Europe

-      Financial Crisis and Culture

-      New Models of Governance of Culture

-      Culture and Climate Change

-      Digitization and Cultural Democracy - an (as yet) Unfulfilled Promise

Once more, CDCPP delegates are invited to bring these short, analytical and opinionated texts to the attention of their respective national stakeholders and engage – as desired – in an open debate, using the “Watch and Interact” Platform offered by CWE.

“Watch and Interact” Platform

After initial delays related to technical requirements, the joint CWE access platform is available as of early May (http://www.topicult.net). It offers joint access to the Compendium, HEREIN and Audiovisual Observatory’s information systems, a hot topic section with a comment function, a forum for government and civil society news, a news service, and space for news from CWE partners. The Secretariat assures editorial functions and launches reports and analysis in line with current work programmes and future focal interests of the CDCPP.

Conference 2012

Preparations are being concluded for the CWE 2012 event on “Cultural Access and Participation – From Indicators to Policies for Democracy” (Helsinki, 30 June). The meeting will involve members of the Bureau of the PACE’s Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media as well as Compendium Authors, who hold their annual meeting this year from 28-29 June in Helsinki. Representatives from the CDCPP are most welcome to attend the meeting and invited to contact the Secretariat.

Resource Mobilisation

In 2011, selected member states (Croatia, Finland, and Slovenia) offered voluntary contributions and support in kind that enabled CWE to progress and produce work that meets the CoE’s high standards.

Future voluntary contributions and logistical support by member states, European and civil society partners are key to building on success and keeping CWE a vibrant and productive Council of Europe initiative.