Ministers' Deputies / Rapporteur Groups

GR-C
Rapporteur Group on Education, Culture, Sport,
Youth and Environment

GR-C(2006)2-rev 28 March 2006[1]

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Creating Cultural Capital Project

Information document for the GR-C at its meeting on 20 April 2006

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Origins

The Creating Cultural Capital (CCC) Project was a concrete result of the theoretical study on “Cultural Policy and Cultural Diversity” which involved fifteen states between 2000 and 2003[2].

The conclusions of this study[3] emphasise the synergistic relation between democratic cultural diversity and the creative and knowledge economies. They point to the fact that local communities, which are the seed bed of creativity for the new cultural economy, lack direct access to exchange in global cultural markets, and resources are not channelled back to local sites of cultural production. Because of this, talented cultural producers leave their local communities for big urban centres. Such a tendency undermines cultural diversity and contributes to a global monoculture. Democratic access to culture and exchange by local cultural communities will sustain creativity, diversity, local employment, social cohesion and urban regeneration.

Mission Statement

The CCC project promotes democratic cultural diversity and creativity and facilitates participation of local cultural communities in the management of culture and cultural exchange in local and in international cultural markets.  The project addresses culture as arts and heritage, as well as the cultural industries sector which includes, among other things, media arts, cultural tourism, festivals and creative events.

Three lines of Action 

Democratic cultural policy development which engages local cultural communities in taking an active role in managing culture (as outlined below).

Cultural Development Agencies (CDA’s) based on sustainable local public/private partnerships which promote local culture in international markets.Local CDA’s are based on a resource partnership between public and private actors in each cultural community. The key tasks of these agencies are: skill development and training; facilitating micro financing for small cultural ventures; assisting in the development of export strategies and entrepreneurship; provision of work spaces, gallery spaces and internet access; development of local data banks of cultural information; management of the local cultural portal; and generation of sustainable income streams through the use of the Cultural Portal and the development of cultural partnerships and new cultural businesses. 

International Cultural Portal Exchange Network based on an electronic platform which will link all Development Agencies. The Creative Exchange Network will provide a common platform for the exchange of information and resources between Agencies operating in the CCC Project. The Portal Network will serve all actors involved in culture: individuals; institutions; governments; businesses; tourism sector etc.

The CCC Project addresses the priorities of the Faro Declaration and the Warsaw Summit, by developing strategies for managing cultural diversity and promoting social cohesion; by supporting artistic creativity; by facilitating access to cultural exchange; by encouraging intercultural dialogue between Europe, its neighbouring regions and partners.

Pilot Project Phase 2004-2005

Throughout 2004 and 2005, the Project was carried out as an exploratory activity to test the validity of the methodology and to develop a model, based on the needs of the cultural sector as they were expressed in the field. A number of activities were carried out in the pilot phase with the assistance of: Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Norway, Russian Federation, Switzerland and Ukraine.

The most significant and concerted work was carried out in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, where the Secretariat was invited to work with whole cultural communities to assess and eventually implement the Project.

Pilot Project Activities 2004- 2005

·         Training, capacity building, mapping and agency initiation, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Norway, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and United Kingdom.

·         Case study work in a number of locations in Bulgaria, in collaboration with the Council of Europe Development Bank and international experts to establish the feasibility of a Development Agency structure in Bulgaria.

·         Early collaboration with the Peace Institute in Bosnia and Herzegovina to examine the feasibility of a sectoral agency for the management of festivals and events.

• A Cultural Development Agency was implemented in Togliatti, and partially so in Saratov, with the participation of local authorities, cultural sector, foundation and businesses in both cities.  Both agencies will continue their development and become fully operational with the launch of the CCC Cultural Portal in 2006.
• The Governor Shantsev of the Nijni-Novgorod Oblast’, has requested that the Project be established in this oblast’ and throughout the Volga Region. He expressed his wish to set up a Lead Agency as well as an electronic network in Nijni-Novgorod in order to coordinate the action of the CCC Project in Russia as a whole.
• The Project has consistently received full support from the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation. Following the success of the Togliatti venture, the Ministry has proposed using an existing network of reading rooms, which are still well used and prolific throughout the Federation, as the basis for a Federation-wide implementation of the CCC Project.

• During the pilot project twelve towns in Ukraine were engaged in various aspects of the Project activity and all have engaged in cultural mapping in readiness for the setting up of agencies. The N.G.O. “Democracy through Culture” (IAC) is assisting in developing a budget to set up a Lead Cultural Agency in Kyiv.

Project Group Decisions for the Development of the CCC Project in 2006

The CCC Project Group met in Naples[4] in 2005 and unanimously agreed to move the Project from a pilot initiative to a full project. The participants agreed on the need to begin a rapid and concrete implementation of the activity. To this end, the following decisions were taken:

• The development of a text which outlines the objectives and tasks of the Cultural Development Agencies;
• The development of the modalities for the management structure of the Project;
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• The cooperation on the development of Agency revenue streams to ensure financial sustainability;
• The development of proposals for activities in 2006 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Latvia, Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, “The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Ukraine;
• The integration of cultural tourism activities; rapid deployment of the Portal Network and the setting out of mechanisms for transnational cultural exchange for cultural diasporas.

The CCC Project Group met in Athens[5] in February 2006. The general objective of themeeting was to finalise discussions and decisions on the management structure of the Project; to decide upon new approaches and dimensions to the Project to be developed; and to approve the programme of activities for 2006.

Key Objectives / Decisions

• A draft Agency Charter defining the objectives and tasks for the cultural development agencies was discussed and adopted[6];
• On the basis of the draft Charter, a management strategy for coordinating the Agency Network was set out;
• The Hellenic Culture Organisation (HCO) will play a key role in the management and implementation of the Project, and will assume the tasks and responsibilities of a CCC Lead Agency;
• HCO will also oversee the implementation of a network of 13 agencies in Greece during the course of 2006;
• The invitation by the Governor of the Nijni-Novgorod Oblast’ to finance the implementation of a key Development Agency in Nijni-Novgorod was gratefully accepted;
• The NGO “Democracy through Culture” will set up an agency in Kyiv;
• The participation of the New Moment New Ideas Agency (South-East Europe) as a CCC Agency was approved;
• Strategies for ensuring Agency revenue streams were discussed and developed.

The Programme of Activities for 2006

• Collaboration with HCO for the organisation of the “First Balkan Performing Arts Market” to be held in  Thessalonica, 1-4 June; 
• Collaboration with New Moment New Ideas for the organisation of the First “New Ideas: New Property” Festival to be held in Belgrade, 12-16 July;
• Collaboration with the Nijni-Novgorod authorities for the organisation of a festival at the  International Fair in Nijni-Novgorod in September / October;
• Adaptation of the Cultural Portal to cultural tourism initiatives, particularly the Wine Routes of Northern Greece;
• Adaptation of the Cultural Portal to assist in festival management in South-East Europe.
• Development of a new approach, in the framework of the CCC Project, to cultural exchanges with diaspora communities across the world.

At the meeting in Athens, and in the course of its development, it was confirmed that in 2006 dialogue and partnerships will be pursued and developed with the Nordic Council of Ministers, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico and Spain.

In 2006, the project will have to be evaluated in order to assess its prospects in the framework of the Council of Europe’s work programme for 2007 (and beyond).  The project should fit in with the other cultural activities being carried out, especially the initiatives for regional cooperation and integrated programmes such as the Kyiv Initiative.