Read the press release

The International Arts Professionals Summer School 2012 (2nd-6th July) has published their preliminary programme

The International Arts Professionals Summer School is a joint initiative of ENCATC and its member the University of Kent and it represents an intense learning opportunity for arts and cultural managers seeking to professionalize their career and expand their knowledge, expertise and contacts in the field of arts management.

Speakers include Maite García Lechner manager of the Grants Programme at the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), Miguel Ángel Martín Ramos  of the European Academy of Yuste Foundation, Bénédicte de Brouwer of the EU Culture Contact Point for Wallonia-Brussels.  Details on how to apply and the fees

The General Fund[2] is open to all requests for travel grants that respect the eligibility criteria of RCF, whatever the destination of travel, the artistic discipline or the direction of mobility. The General Fund functions on an annual basis which means that candidates can apply for the March session and to the other sessions in June and September depending on the funding available. The Conseil Général Bouches du Rhône and Marseille-Provence 2013 provide funding for the other specific funding lines. Details concerning these funding lines are provided on the Cimetta Fund website www.cimettafund.org.

The following general criteria of RCF apply to all of these funds.

1) The aim of your trip must directly or indirectly show potential for a constructive and long-term impact on the arts sector in the Mediterranean basin. This means that your travel must contribute to your own capacity building, which in turn can be shared in a “networking” fashion that will benefit connecting artists and operators in your own country or region so as to maintain, renew and develop contemporary arts.

2) New criteria: Your trip can take place as soon as the call opens but in this case you run the risk of buying your ticket without knowing if the application is successful or not.

3) Applicant’s profile

-                   No nationality or age criteria: Applicant lives or works in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

-                   Profession: performers, creators, teachers, cultural organisers, administrators, project leaders.

-                   Financial means: applicants who are unable to find the financial resources themselves.

4) Applications must be made by individuals not organisations. Only 3 members of a group can apply for a grant concerning the same project. A grant holder can only reapply twice. Applicants must choose the cheapest form of transport and can only apply for one international return travel ticket and visa costs (local transport is not reimbursed).

The results are announced as follows:

Second session: 1^st June 2012 (Deadline for receiving applications: 31/03/2012)

Third session: 1^st September 2012 (Deadline for receiving applications: 30/06/2012)

Fourth session: 1^st December 2012 (Deadline for receiving applications: 30/09/2012)

If you want to apply, please visit the Roberto Cimetta Fund’s website and fill in the contact form on the website www.cimettafund.org. The office of the Fund will send you the appropriate form to fill out and send back on grant@cimettafund.org.

[1] South Zone: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, and the countries of the Arabian gulf, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Qatar.

North Zone:

Northern Europe: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Sweden, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway

South of Europe:  Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta, and Portugal

East Zone: Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland.

^[2] The funding partners are the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Croatian Ministry of Culture, The Allianz Foundation, the Regional Council Nord-Pas de Calais and EuropeAid

The first signatories

Signatures to this day

 Open letter and petition

Read the European Commission’s answer (French only)

invite you to a Conference

Culture, an added value for Europe

Tuesday January 31st, 2012  from 12:00 to 14:30 (lunch)

Library Solvay (Rue Belliard 137, 1040 Bruxelles)

What do creators and professionals expect from European policies? How could the development of creative and cultural industries be better fostered and sustained in Europe?  Professionals and experts will give their point of view on these issues and put forward some proposals for a more appropriate and efficient policy in Europe.

PROGRAMME

11:30-12:30 : Registration and lunch

12:30 : Opening speech by Marie-Thérèse Sanchez-Schmid, MEP, member of the Culture Committee, European Parliament, and author of the report « Unlocking the potential of Cultural and Creative industries » (France)

12:40 : Carole Tongue, President of the UK Coalition for cultural diversity and former MEP will moderate the debates with:

Dirk de Clippeleir, manager of the concert hall l’Ancienne Belgique (Belgium); Maureen Duffy, author and poet (UK); Antonio Masip Hidalgo, MEP, member of the Legal Affairs Committee, European Parliament; Ludovic Lagarde, stage director and manager of la Comédie de Reims (France); Metin Kazak, MEP, member of the International Trade Committee, European Parliament (Bulgaria); Yvette Masson-Zanussi, Manager, European Forum for Architectural Policies and President of the Platform on the potential of cultural and creative industries (France); Pascal Rogard, President of the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity (France); Fernando Vendrell, film and TV director and producer (Portugal)

14h20 : Closing speech by Doris Pack, MEP, President of the Culture Committee, European Parliament (Germany)

14h30 : Exchanges, coffee

Interpretation: English and French

REGISTRATION : Martine Schnitzler : 00 33(0)1 40 23 45 14  or cedc@coalitionfrancaise.org

The European coalitions for cultural diversity is an informal network of 13 national associations representing the diversity of the professional cultural organizations. They encourage the European institutions to adopt a European policy more favorable to culture and the diversity of cultural expressions. For more information

The European Platform on the potential of cultural and creative industries  was founded three years ago on the initiative of the European Commission in order to foster dialogue with civil society. The Platform gathers nearly 40 federations representatives of the European cultural sector. It has issued two sets of recommendations presented at the European Cultural Forum in Brussels in 2009 and 2011.

Summary of the conference

[Show as slideshow]

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Mrs Trüpel and Mrs Kammerevert, German eurodeputies who are following up on culture and  trade negotiations have put forward two written questions to European Trade Commisioner Karel de Gucht. The questions dealt with the treatment of the cultural sector in the EU-Canada agreement being negotiated and more generally with the way the Commission manages to balance its cultural commitments (2005 Unesco Convention) with its trade policy.

The Commissioner’s  common answer to both deputies does not bring any new information on the Europeans’ agreement  with regards to the horizontal exclusion of cultural and audiovisual services usually defended by the Canadians  in the bilateral negotiations. M. de Gucht only indicates that, to the present moment, the Commission is not in a position to say whether the Canadians and the Europeans have different points of view on the cultural services and what are their classifications.

As far as the respect of the UNESCO Convention is concerned, the European Trade Commissioner states again that the Commission takes the UNESCO Convention into consideration and indicates the  Commission’s intention to guarantee in the best possible way the independence of the cultural cooperation from trade negotiations. One must however point out that the strategy on Cultural Cooperation Protocols which the Commission had committed to set up already a year ago in response to the mobilization of the European cultural and audiovisual sectors on the EU-Korean trade agreement, still has not been made public despite M. de Gucht’s statements on the subject. His statements on a consultation soon to come with the European Parliament and civil society has been mentioned again in his reply.

Read Mme Kammerevert and Mme Trüpel ‘s questions together with the answer of M. de Gucht.

Nevertheless KEA gives a set of recommandations to the European Commission, EU Member States and Cariforum countries in order to develop the cultural cooperation between the EU and the Cariforum countries.

To consult the executive summary and the full study.

The official forum languages will be German and French (plenary sessions with interpreters) with the exception of Workshop 3 on culture and cooperation for development, which will be held in English. 

Further information as well as registrationfor the event can be found on: 

http://www.culturaldiversity.ch

According to him “ these concerns are based on inaccurate, and therefore misleading, assumptions”.

He stresses the European Commission’s commitment for “the implementation of its principles [of the UNESCO’s  2005 Convention]  and provisions ,with the objective of fostering the diversity of cultural expression both within the EU and abroad”.

He makes it clear that “in the context of the on-going negotiation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA)

- the Commission’s sole question to Canada relating to cultural industries thus far has been to clarify the scope of their broad cultural reservation,  so that the Commission has a clear understanding as to which services would be covered.”

- “subsidies are explicitly excluded from the scope of the Commission’s commitments relating to services and investment”.

- “the EU has not requested Canada to make a commitment on publishing services.” services”.

As to the question of cultural cooperation protocols annexed to trade agreements, the Commissioner pointed out that “this document will be presented and discussed with the European Parliament in the very near future” and that “it will be discussed with civil society”.

Read the question and answer on the site of the European Parliament

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+P-2011-002143+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN

the letter sent to M. Barroso

the answer received from M. Barroso’s cabinet