The fourth topic of Voices of Culture will ask questions about the challenges and opportunities for the status and working conditions of artists and cultural and creative professionals. How can new priorities, policies, actions and funding streams better address this issue?
Executive Manager of KulttuuriKauppila Jetta Huttunen was selected through an EU-wide open call to participate in the brainstorming meeting on 27th and 28th of April. The following dialogue meeting will take place on the 29th of June 2021.
Selected organizations are invited to share their input on several areas of discussion including income for artists and cultural and creative professionals, artists’ status, mobility of artists and other cultural and creative professionals and artistic freedom and freedom of expression.
“Art and culture create wellbeing. Art based activities integrated in the health care and social sector as well as education can improve the health and social abilities of citizens. Reaching a common goal, employing artists will result in a better society” – Jetta Huttunen
The discussions will result in a Brainstorming Report, in which the results of the discussion between participants at the Brainstorming Meeting will be expressed. This report will then be presented by participants to the European Commission at the Dialogue Meeting.
Status and Working Conditions of Artists and Cultural and Creative Professionals
The cultural and creative sectors were already characterized by fragile working practices before the COVID-19. A fragmented organisation of creative value chains, often project-based and precarious work and income models are only a few of the elements contributing to this.
The COVID-19 crisis is causing immense losses in revenue opportunities and possibilities to perform art and cultural activities, with the more fragile players suffering the most. Longer-term effects relate to changes in cultural demand and engagement, the need for skills to cope with the new situation, risks of exacerbation of inequalities within the sector, brain drain from the sector and impoverishment of the diversity of expression.
In order to strengthen the sectors, it is essential to keep developing sustainable models and to work on building an ecosystem that ensures decent living and working conditions for artists and cultural and creative professionals.
Voices of Culture
Voices of Culture is the structured dialogue between the cultural sector in the European Union and the European Commission. It provides a platform for civil society representatives of the cultural sector to give input to the European Commission on a range of topics.
Voices of Culture launches regular calls for applications on different topics, which are salient in the policy making process of the European Commission. Successful applicants are invited to a Brainstorming Meeting on behalf of their organization. A Brainstorming Report is produced by participants after the Brainstorming Meeting. This Brainstorming Report is then presented to and discussed with the European Commission at a Dialogue Meeting in Brussels, Belgium.