To: Charles Michel, President of the European Council Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain, President-in-exercise of the Council of the EU Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission National Ministers of Finance National Ministers of Culture Brussels, 1 September 2023
Letter of concern regarding the 2024 Creative Europe budget cuts Dear Presidents, Dear Prime Minister, Dear Ministers, We are writing as a group of 70 networks and organisations from across the Culture and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSIs) because we are deeply concerned by the proposed budget cuts of ¬40 million to the Creative Europe work programme 2024. The Culture and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSIs) are vital for people9s well-being in Europe. Culture is what brings us together. CCSIs contribute to democratic development, togetherness and social cohesion, as they are essential for vibrant and thriving societies. The CCSIs are important drivers of the European economy, with a turnover of ¬643 billion and a total added value of ¬253 billion. In 2019, the core activities of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) represented 4.4% of EU GDP in terms of total turnover1. For 2022, Eurostat estimates there are 7.7 million cultural workers in the EU with a yearly growth of 4.5% and the smallest gender employment gap ever, with 3.9 million men and 3.8 million women working in the sector2. As you will recall, cultural and creative sectors and industries have been identified among the ones most affected by the pandemic restrictions. And yet, while the health emergency is nearly over, these sectors are still in the midst of recovering from the pandemic. CCSIs are in need of continuous and reliable support to overcome the aftermath of COVID-19 as well as the ongoing cost of living crisis which has been heightened by the economic consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and skyrocketing energy prices. The importance of culture has been widely recognised across the political spectrum and across the world - now is not the time, however, to let the cultural sector down. We encourage you to remember that artists, creators, cultural workers, and the whole cultural 1 2
Rebuilding Europe: The cultural and creative economy before and after the COVID-19 crisis. Eurostat, Culture Statistics - Cultural Employment
ecosystem are important social and economic players and that it is crucial to equip them with the necessary financial means. The Creative Europe programme makes up only 0,198% of the overall MFF - and despite its very small amount compared to the overall budget, it has an enormous impact and expands the projects and programmes that it funds. While being among the smallest financial envelopes of the EU9s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), Creative Europe is the only EU programme specifically dedicated to transnational cultural cooperation, and an inestimable opportunity for cultural operators to act beyond borders and to make Europe9s culture thrive. A cut of ¬40 million in Creative Europe will have barely any impact on the EU9s budget savings, but will significantly weaken the Creative Europe programme and cause damage to the CCSIs. We would like to remind you that the Creative Europe budget was frontloaded as a reaction to the needs of the CCSIs coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nature of the front-loaded budget is that the annual budgets would start to decrease already as of 2024. Against this backdrop, imposing further cuts to an already decreasing budget will severely jeopardise the recovery efforts undertaken in the past years up until now. We therefore strongly support the recent vote of the European Parliament9s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) to increase the Creative Europe budget 2024 by ¬43 million and request that you align to this position to increase the budget of the programme instead of reducing it. In this light we would also like to draw your attention to the letter written by the Cultural Creators Friendship Group (CCFG) of the European Parliament which we fully endorse. We very much hope that you will reconsider the current budget cut and call on you to strengthen the Creative Europe programme for the year 2024 and in the future. In light of multiple challenges it faces, Europe needs strong funding for culture, and a programme such as Creative Europe, which has shown how vital it is for European creativity, diversity and togetherness. With kind regards, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Culture Action Europe (CAE) European Music Council (EMC) AEPO-ARTIS Aktionstheater PAN.OPTIKUM gGMBH Architects' Council of Europe (ACE) Artists' Association of Finland Association des Centres culturels de rencontre (ACCR) Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC) 9. Association of European Radios (AER) 10. Autor - danish composers and songwriters 11. BJCEM 12. BOZAR
13. CEATL (Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires) 14. Centre Européen de Musique (CEM) 15. CEPI - European Audiovisual Production Association 16. CEPIC 17. CineRegio AISBL (European Association of Regional Film & AV Funds) 18. Circostrada 19. DE CONCERT ! 20. EDN - European Dancehouse Network 21. EFFORTS Europe 22. ELIA - Globally connected European network of art universities 23. ENCC - European Network of Cultural Centres 24. EUNIC - European Union National Institutes for Culture 25. Eurocinema - Association de producteurs de cinéma et de télévision 26. Europa Cinémas 27. Europa Distribution 28. Europavox 29. European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) 30. European Arenas Association 31. European Choral Association (ECA) 32. European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity 33. European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) 34. European Cultural Foundation 35. European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) 36. European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO) 37. European Festivals Association (EFA) 38. European Magazine Media Association (EMMA) 39. European Music School Union 40. European Network on cultural management and policy (ENCATC) 41. European Newspaper Publishers9 Association (ENPA) 42. European Orchestra Federation EOFed 43. European Theatre Convention 44. European Union of Music Competitions for Youth 45. European Writers' Council (EWC) 46. Europeana Foundation 47. Eurozine 48. FEDEC - international network for professional circus education 49. Federation of European Publishers (FEP) 50. Federation of European Screen Directors (FERA) 51. Federation of Screenwriters in Europe 52. IAA Europe 53. IAO (International Artist Organisation) 54. ICMP - The International Confederation of Music Publishers 55. IETM - International network for contemporary performing arts 56. IFRRO 57. IMPALA - Independent Music Companies Association 58. International Music Council 59. International Union of Cinemas 60. Jeunesses Musicales International
61. Live DMA 62. Liveurope, the live music platform for new European talent 63. Michael Culture Association (MCA) 64. Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) 65. On the Move 66. Opera Europa 67. Polish Music Council 68. Tenso Network Europe 69. Trans Europe Halles 70. YOUROPE - The European Festival Association
AUTHORS9, PERFORMERS9 AND OTHER CREATIVE WORKERS9 ORGANISATIONS JOINT STATEMENT ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE DRAFT AI ACT BRUSSELS, 26TH SEPTEMBER, 2023 We represent several hundred thousand professional authors, performers, and other creative workers and artists, who rely entirely on their ability to license and control the use of their work, as well as their voice, likeness, and other personal data, to make a living. We all share a common concern as generative AI rapidly spreads in a legal environment which is poorly enforced and lacks adequate safeguards regarding the use of our members' works and personal data for AI training purposes. Equally problematic are the numerous unauthorised, abusive, and deceptively transformative uses of our members' protected works and personal data by AI-powered technologies. Our eyes are on the EU AI Act, which represents the first attempt by a major regulator to establish a legal framework for the advancement of this technology, while safeguarding fundamental societal and individual rights. As the negotiation of this Proposal enters its final <trilogue= stage, we must reiterate our position and insist on the absolute need for a human-centric approach to regulating generative AI. This approach should recognise, secure and enforce the right of our members to control the use of their artistic creations during the machine-learning process. To make sure it protects human artistry and creativity, it must be built upon principles of informed consent, transparency, fair remuneration and contractual practices. We acknowledge that AI represents an extraordinary technological advancement with immense potential to enhance various aspects of our lives, including in our sectors. However, it is crucial to recognise that alongside these benefits, there exists a darker aspect to this technology. Generative AI is trained on large sets of data and huge amounts of protected contents scraped and copied from the internet. It is programmed to deliver outputs that closely mimic and have the ability to compete with human creation. This technology poses several risks to our creative communities: Firstly, the protected works, voices, and images of our members are often used without their knowledge, consent and remuneration to generate content. Some of these uses may harm their moral and personality rights and prejudice their personal and professional reputation. Additionally, there is a risk that their own work may become displaced, forcing them to compete against their digital replicas, with dire economic consequences. There is also a broader societal risk, as people may be led to believe that the content they encounter4whether in text, audio, or visuals4is a genuine and truthful human creation, when it is the mere result of AI generation or manipulation. This deception can have farreaching implications for the spread of misinformation and the erosion of trust in the authenticity of digital content.
AI cannot be permitted to develop in a manner that disregards fundamental rights, such as authors and performers rights, image, and personality rights, and it should not be employed in ways that may deceive the general public. As the AI Act approaches its final stage of negotiations, the creative professionals we represent request absolute transparency to be prioritised. This is essential to ensure that informed consent and fair remuneration can be agreed upon, effectively implemented and enforced in relation to both the input (protected contents and data used by machine-learning) and the output (results generated). Authors, performers and other creative workers should be informed and have accessible means to give or withhold authorisation when their protected contents or personal data are used, or are planned to be used, to train AI. This is essential for them to be able to engage on fair terms with those using and benefiting from their creative contents and their value, determining aspects such as the scope, purpose and length of usage and how they may be remunerated for such use. At present, neither the CDSM directive (and in particular Article 4 and its so-called <opt-out= mechanism) nor the GDPR are adequately enforced in this radically new technological environment. It is crucial to acknowledge that none of the protections built into these legal instruments has a slightest chance to work if strict transparency requirements are not placed upon developers of generative AI. We welcome the European Parliament proposals to include specific transparency requirements for AI foundational models, but it is paramount to further enhance these safeguards by encompassing the reproduction of any protected works and any personal data for purposes of training these models. Scraping and mining to train AI were initially permitted for research and trend analysis purposes; today, this has become an integral part of generating content: legislation must reflect this change in the use of protected works and personal data. The AI Act should also impose strict visible and/or audible labelling obligations to all deployers of generative-AI powered technologies, warning the general public about the fact that what they are watching, listening to or reading has been altered or generated by AI. While these obligations may be adapted to the nature of the content in order not to hinder its exploitation, we firmly reject broad exceptions that would render labelling obligations practically meaningless, such as when it is deemed <necessary for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of the arts and sciences guaranteed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU=, or <where the content is part of an evidently creative, satirical, artistic or fictional work=. We urge the European institutions to agree on a balanced regulation that not only forwards the advancement of AI technologies but also promotes original human creativity in our societies and preserves the rights and livelihoods of the authors and artists we represent.
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CEATL (European Council of Literary Translators9 Associations) was created in 1993 as a platform where literary translators9 associations from different European countries could exchange views and information, and join forces to improve status and working conditions of translators. It now unites 34 member associations from 26 countries across Europe, representing some 10,000 individual literary translators. Web: www.ceatl.eu / EU Transparency Register ID: 65913704675-82
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ECSA (European Composer and Songwriter Alliance) represents over 30,000 professional composers and songwriters in 27 European countries. With 54 member organisations across Europe, the Alliance speaks for the interests of music creators of art & classical music (contemporary), film & audiovisual music, as well as popular music. Web: www.composeralliance.org / EU Transparency Register ID: 71423433087-91
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EFJ (European Federation of Journalists) is the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing over 320,000 journalists in 73 journalists9 organisations across 45 countries. The EFJ is recognised by the European Union and the Council of Europe as the representative voice of journalists in Europe. The EFJ is a member of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). Web: www.europeanjournalists.com / EU Transparency Register ID: 27471236588-39
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EGAIR (European Guild for Artificial Intelligence Regulation) is a network of creatives and associations from all over Europe, lobbying for the protection of artists' works and data from AI companies. Originally founded by MeFu, the Italian association of comic book creators, EGAIR now represents over 20.000 creatives, artists and associations. Web: www.egair.eu / EU Transparency Register ID: 385629348610-21
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EWC (European Writers9 Council) is the world9s largest federation representing solely authors from the book sector and constituted by 49 national professional writers9 and literary translators9 associations from 31 countries. EWC members comprise over 220.000 professional authors, writing and publishing in 33 languages. Web: https://europeanwriterscouncil.eu / EU Transparency Register ID: 56788289570-24
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FERA (Federation of European Screen Directors) represents film and TV directors at European level, with 48 directors9 associations as members from 35 countries. Founded in 1980, FERA speaks for more than 20,000 European screen directors, representing their cultural, creative and economic interests. Web: https://screendirectors.eu / EU Transparency Register ID: 29280842236- 21
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FIA (International Federation of Actors) is a global union federation representing performers8 trade unions, guilds and professional associations in about 70 countries. In a connected world of content and entertainment, it stands for fair social, economic and moral rights for audio-visual performers working in all recorded media and live theatre. Web: www.fia-actors.com / EU Transparency Register ID: 24070646198-51
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FIM (International Federation of Musicians) is the only body representing professional musicians and their trade unions globally, with members in about 65 countries covering all regions of the world. Founded in 1948, FIM is recognised as an NGO by diverse international authorities such as the ILO, WIPO, UNESCO, the European Commission, the European Parliament or the Council of Europe. Web: https://www.fim-musicians.org / EU Transparency Register ID: 01953872943-65
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FSE (Federation of Screenwriters in Europe) is a network of national and regional associations, guilds and unions of writers for the screen in Europe, created in June 2001. It comprises 25 organisations from 19 countries, representing more than 7,000 screenwriters in Europe. Web: www.federationscreenwriters.eu / EU Transparency Register ID: 642670217507-74
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IAO (International Artist Organisation) is the umbrella association for national organisations advocating for the rights and interests of the Featured Artists in the music industry. Our main interests are transparency, the protection of intellectual property rights and a fair reflection of the value an artist9s work generates. Web: www.iaomusic.org / EU Transparency Register ID: 490166825799-90
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IFJ (International Federation of Journalists) is the world's largest organisation of journalists, representing 600,000 media professionals from 187 trade unions and associations in more than 140 countries. Web: www.ifj.org / EU Transparency Register ID: 999725935832-94
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UNI MEI - UNI - Media, Entertainment and Arts unites over 140 unions and guilds to raise standards and enforce rights for more than 500.000 creatives, technicians and auxiliary workers. Together, our members work for a fair, inclusive, equal, and sustainable global entertainment industry and a just transformation. Web: www.uniglobalunion.org / EU Transparency Register ID: 605859248462-93
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UVA (United Voice Artists) is a global coalition of voice acting guilds, associations, and unions that have united to pursue their shared goals of protecting and preserving the act of creating, in particular, through the human voice. This collaborative effort brings together prominent associations and unions from the European Union, including France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and Poland, as well as organizations in Switzerland, Turkey, the United States of America, Africa and in South America. Web: www.unitedvoiceartists.com / EU Transparency register ID: 810100650765-18
Joint statement on the EMFA: European democracies, quality journalism and the creative ecosystem need strong and independent public service media Brussels, 08 November 2023 Honorable members of the inter-institutional negotiating teams on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), We, the undersigned organisations representing public service media, journalists, media workers, civil society, cultural and creative industries, call on you to effectively protect the independence of public service media in the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). The EU has always been a stronghold of media freedom and pluralism, but today these central values are in decline. Where the rule of law is undermined, media freedom is often the first casualty. Since governments are usually responsible for setting their remit and funding, public service media are particularly exposed to threats to their independence and ability to fund activities. Public service media9s role is to provide high-quality, diverse and impartial information, education and entertainment to all citizens. They are thus essential for democratic participation and opinion-forming. They drive healthy competition and innovation in the media market. They are important partners for Europe9s cultural and creative sectors. If their independence is undermined, the threats are clear.
This is why we urge you to ensure that the EMFA establishes clear and robust safeguards shielding public service media from any form of political or economic pressure. The European Parliament has done outstanding work in strengthening the provisions on public service media (Article 5). Their proposed changes would effectively shield them from interference by governments, both in law and in practice. Importantly, they ensure adequate, predictable, and sustainable funding for public service media on a multiannual basis, also with a view to enabling them to develop and adapt to audience needs and technological advancements. If EU decision-makers want to protect the independence of public service media, they should settle for nothing less than the Parliament9s position during the inter-institutional trilogue negotiations. In any event, we call on EU institutions not to undermine or weaken public service media. Vague wording, such as <seek to= as proposed in the Council9s negotiating mandate, leaves the door open for abuse by certain Member States. Misleading arguments on potential distortions of competition by public service media in the Recitals are not helpful either. The EMFA9s objective must be to strengthen and protect public service media, not the opposite. We stand ready to work with the EU institutions to ensure that public service media can continue to serve the public interest and to enrich the European media landscape. Yours sincerely, Access Info Europe
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Association of European Journalists (AEJ)
Federation of European Screen Directors (FERA)
CEPI Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) Eurocadres Eurocinema Europa Distribution Europa International European Broadcasting Union (EBU) European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ECCD)
Free Press Unlimited Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) International Press Institute (IPI) Public Media Alliance Reporters Without Borders (RSF) South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) Media, Entertainment & Arts sector of UNI Europa (UNIMEI)