Following the publication of the highly anticipated “Cultural Compass for Europe”, which will guide the cultural policy of the European Union (EU), as well as an interview with Commissioner Glenn Micallef, we shared our hopes and concerns with the Commissioner’s office:

Points of hope

  • Acknowledging the role of Culture in keeping Europe humane, based on values;
  • Acknowledging the EU as a cultural project;
  • Acknowleding that we are dealing with an increasingly authoritarian political context (interference, censorship and self-censorship, intimidation);
  • Acknowledging the dire working conditions cultural professionals and artists face in many EU countries;
  • Periodical reports on the state of culture in the EU;
  • Permanent dialogue with cultural professionals in relation to the above mentioned report.

Points of concern

  • The long distance between theory and practice (How have the so-called “European values” influenced decisions on EU policies, i.e on immigration, freedom of speech, climate emergency, etc?);
  • The idea that culture is made/created by cultural professionals and artists (a short view, that equates “culture” and “the arts”), ignoring the role of each citizen and civil society organisations – worth seeing the strategic plan of Arts Council England (Let’s Create) and the Australian National Cultural Policy (Revive), both acknowledging the role of individuals/citizens in building culture (that is, “who we are”);
  • A confusion between cultural professionals and artists, where, although mentioning both, our mind is on the artists (i.e. EU Artists Charter for “artists and cultural workers”) – this was a constant problem during the discussion of the statute of cultural professionals in Portugal.