EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project The People Behind the Projects
Culture is what makes us different and united Interview with Luciano Gloor For some, “culture” is the “high culture” that is celebrated in theatres, operas and museums, a luxury amusement reserved to intellectual elites; for others, it is the heritage of the past on which national identity is based. Culture is much more: it encompasses all aspects of human expression and thus of all of our lives – language, contemporary creation in literature, music, visual art, or fashion, customs and traditions, moral values, social conventions, gender roles, etc. That is why culture is not just “culture”. It plays multiple roles in social and human development, for social inclusion and conflict prevention, and in economic development, as well. The European Commission promotes cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, culture as a catalyst for creativity and innovation and culture as part of the EU’s international relations. This is why the EU funded the Eastern Partnership Culture Programme, explains Luciano Gloor, team leader of the supporting unit of the programme, in an exclusive interview with the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre.
What is EuroEast Culture trying to do? It aims at boosting the role of culture in the region’s sustainable development and at promoting regional cooperation among public institutions, civil society, and cultural and academic organisations in the Eastern Partnership region and with the European Union. We are now more or less half way through the programme, which runs until March 2015. This publication does not represent the official view of the EC or the EU institutions. The EC accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to its content.
How does the programme achieve its goals? Fifteen regional projects were selected through a call for applications in 2010. These projects target a wide variety of cultural sectors, and focus on building the capacity of cultural institutions and on raising the level of professionalism in each specific area, be it film production, publishing, museum management, heritage craft etc. Of no less importance are cross-sectoral approaches such as art and public spaces, or youth and heritage promotion, or history education This is a series of interviews with leaders of projects involved in and intercultural dialogue, to mention only some of them. the Neighbourhood, prepared Connected to capacity building, the projects also organise cultural by the EU Neighbourhood events that address large audiences. In addition, many of the projects Info Centre © 2013
Interview with Luciano Gloor EU Neighbourhood Info Centre - An ENPI project
also work on studies and need assessments, from which they elaborate recommendations to authorities for the reform and modernization of cultural policies. Our unit, the Regional Monitoring and Capacity Building Unit (RMCBU) supports the projects and complements their activities. While the projects engage the professionals in their specific fields of culture, the RMCBU offers regional workshops for national and local authorities that follow the same goal, which is to promote cultural policy reforms. We started with the elaboration of six country studies and a regional one that allowed us to identify priority needs for capacity building. This year, our Cultural Policy Exchange Workshops focus on the elaboration of cultural strategies. We want to foster the dialogue between civil society and authorities, so we invited participants from NGOs and public and private cultural institutions to these workshops. Our workshops in 2014 will focus on strategy implementation. Close to 2,000 individuals in the field of culture (local and national authorities, professionals of a large variety of culture domains, civil society, teachers, youth) have participated in over 60 capacity building events so far. Over 20 studies and analytical materials, such as culture mappings and policy studies, including recommendations for secSPACES organised a public event “Architecture of toral development and policy reforms, have been elaborated Common” at the location of the former Soviet sewing on culture at large as well as related to specific culture sub-dofactory “Yunist” in Kyiv. Focusing on how cultural mains. coexistence can possibly develop in the city, the initia- The results of the EaP Culture Programme are disseminated tive involved artists, professionals and local communi- through publications and through digital media. Our website ties in a debate on places that were created as public www.euroeastculture.eu and the Facebook page reach out to spaces, but for different reasons are not used as such. 2000-4000 people weekly, mainly in the partner countries, but Similar events, called SPACE Caravans, were organised also in the EU and even further afield.
in Armenia and Georgia.
SOS CULTURE gathered children and teenagers in its Youth Clubs and actively involved them in research and protection of local cultural assets in the border region between Armenia and Georgia. Young activists receive trainings on how to preserve and promote the historical places they live in. Through the mini grants of New Breath of Culture the mini-project Culture by Touch works with disabled people, in particular, those suffering from sight defects. The idea was inspired by the story of Olga Skorokhodova, a worldwide teacher and scientist-defectologist, author of several scientific and literary works, who was blind and deaf. The initiative encourages people to experience culture in an alternative method.
How do local communities benefit from your work? As mentioned, the projects combine their capacity building with practical work and organise cultural events in all Eastern Partnership countries. To date, around 50 cultural events have mobilised an audience of about 20,000 people. These events have a direct impact on the local communities. For example they start seeing familiar places differently, like when a dark underpass is suddenly turned into a venue of artistic performance or when school children in a Georgian or Armenian school can watch and discuss documentary films in their classrooms, for the first time ever. Is it expected to have a long-term impact or a ripple effect?
Both. As regards the long-term effect, the programme should help our partner countries in reforming their cultural policies and ‘breed’ culture professionals, who would adopt a much more audience-oriented approach in their work. As a result, culture should start playing a more prominent role in the development of societies, which would have a range of repercussions, from increased access to culture for local audiences to job creation and income generation, from social inclusion to conflict prevention, thus increasing the quality of life of the population. At the same time, each cultural event that reaches new audiences and often offers an eye-opening experience has a ripple effect that contributes to this process and helps to build the long-term impact.
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EU Neighbourhood Info Centre - An ENPI project
What challenges do you see ahead? There is still a lot to be done. We need to see to it that the results of the efforts so far, specifically in the field of policy reforms, are taken on board by the authorities and implemented. For this to happen, the dialogue between civil society and authorities has to be further improved to the point to become a standard procedure in policy development. In addition, the authorities in partner countries should contribute, through cross-sectoral cooperation, to stimulating the existing creative potential of the culture sector and building on it for the sustainable development of their societies. As of today, the conditions are not yet favourable for a healthy and productive growth of the culture sector. Much would improve if entrepreneurs and investors in the field of culture could operate in a friendlier environment, with issues like VAT rules, tax incentives, registration procedures for small businesses and NGOs, and other administrative issues being addressed in a more ‘culture-friendly’ manner. The Eastern Partnership Culture Programme, with its 15 grant projects and the Regional Monitoring and Capacity Building Unit, will continue to back these much-needed reforms.
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre ENPI projectCulture Programme EasternAnPartnership www.euroeastculture.eu Strengthens regional cultural links and dialogue within the Eastern Partnership region, and between the EU and ENP Eastern countries’ cultural networks and actors Participating countries
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus Timeframe
2011-2015 Budget
€ 12 million
Objectives
It aims at assisting the Partner Countries in their cultural policy reform at government level, as well as capacity building and improving professionalism of cultural operators in the Eastern ENP region. It contributes to exchange of information and experience among cultural operators at a regional level and with the EU. The programme seeks to support regional initiatives which demonstrate positive cultural contributions to economic development, social inclusion, conflict resolution and intercultural dialogue. Find out more
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre – programme fiche
www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id=286&id_type=10#sthash.BnZI4yi9.dpuf EU Neighbourhood Info Centre
An ENPI project
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. The project is managed by Action Global Communications.
www.enpi-info.eu