Steve Green, Team Leader at EUNIC, accepted to share his final report reflecting on the theme Culture as a vital elements for external relations.

Culture as a vital element of external relations

It is very satisfying to open my remarks in a spirit of congratulation. When I look back at the discussions many of us had at the Lisbon Forum two years ago and fast forward to the last two days I can see significant advances.

Two years ago the very concept of culture playing a vital, note a vital, role in the European Union’s external relations was novel.  Indeed it was not then accepted by many here in Brussels: a position, sadly, which is still the case in many European capitals today. Culture, the arts, was seen as side issue and not “really important” in the global scheme of things.

How things have changed. A succession of major conferences, at the European level, in Ljubljana (New Paradigms, New Models), in Brussels (Culture and Development) and Prague (culture and creativity) and countless less visible meetings have borne fruit. And by EU standards in a remarkably short time span.

Over these two days we have seen the active and very public support for culture from many areas of the Commission’s work.  Increasingly other DGs beyond Education and Culture are seeing the benefits culture and the arts can bring to their objectives.  I even learnt a new phrase: embed rather than mainstream.

The developments are bearing practical fruit. The Eastern Partnership is a good example. The major political agreement between the EU and the six countries of the partnership (from Belarus to Azerbaijan) contains an explicit section on culture (and the money starts next year).

This progress needs recognition and I have to congratulate Commissioner Figel, on his last day in office, and Mme Quintin and her colleagues on a job well done since Lisbon.

Now, let’s look to the future. What did we learn from the plenary and the three workshops to help us, to guide us, over the next few years? Well we listened to a wealth of informed comment, of practical suggestions from the ambitious to the detail (the devil is always in the detail so don’t mock seemingly small issues), and perhaps above all of commitment. Virtually everyone does indeed subscribe to the view that culture, the arts, the creative industries, should be a vital element in the EU’s external relations.

I’d like to draw out some common observations from the four sessions and to reflect on those themes.

I start outside the world of the arts to take the broader picture and nowhere better to start than the financial crisis. We all know that public sector budgets are being squeezed and will continue to be squeezed over the next few years. And not just in the public sector; foundations are finding life tough as well.  The crisis affects probably everyone in the room.  But in a seeming paradoxical way this is the time when the arts and culture can contribute an enormous amount to our societies; emotionally, economically and simply enjoyably. We need to make that case.

We must also take notice of the geo-political environment both within Europe and in the rest of the world. In many areas life is tough and getting tougher. Financial uncertainties contribute to nationalism, to racism, to tensions; at a local level and in today’s interconnected world at global levels. And I haven’t even mentioned climate change.

A third, underpinning theme, is a recognition that personal space, cultural space, is changing very rapidly. Far faster than we imagine; far faster than organisations can comprehend and adapt.

We have always heard that artists know no borders. With migration, travel and of course the entire digital universe the personal cultural space alters many traditional ways of thinking and many even very recent approaches. What I write on TripAdvisor about my hotel here in Brussels will impact for several years; what a musician uploads from an internet café in Senegal onto MySpace reverberates around the world.

Cultures and cultural inter-actions around the world are changing, under pressure for some, invigorating for others. We live in one society with many cultures side by side and intermingled. The Other culture is no longer a long way away only glimpsed on the TV screen; it is our neighbour and life is better because of it.

Several speakers turned to values.  They were frequently mentioned in the opening session of this Forum and explored in more detail in one of the workshops. And the phrase European values kept cropping up, alongside universal values.  Transparency, the rule of law, openness, diversity, democracy, you can fill in the rest.

And this leads to one of the first implications for the future programming of culture in the EU’s external relations. We started off the week with the European Literature Award and I’ll turn to creative writing courses for the apt comment:  Show don’t tell.  Lesson One. Show don’t tell.

In our culture programmes, in how the arts are embedded in other programmes, we need, as Europeans living up to those values, to demonstrate those values in our behaviour and approach.

Rather than promoting, we share; we need to recognise and openly acknowledge the unequal nature of possible partnerships and we adjust accordingly; we call programmes “with” and not “towards” someone or some area.

I hear, or hope to hear, more terms based around mutuality, of mutual benefit, of two-way.  We need to be as open to inward cultural movements, and the changing ones within our own countries, as we are keen on outward movements.  Just how open are we to seeking change ourselves?  Europeans do not have the monopoly on creativity and innovation; sad to say we do need to remind ourselves of that from time to time. We have as much to learn as to contribute.  Cultural policy starts with listening.

If we believe in diversity we must not just recognise it but practise it, (with three male rapporteurs this afternoon?).   Pragmatic but critical issues of mobility, of visa policy, of access to markets came up in all three of the Forum’s themes.  Unsurprisingly they came up in the external relations theme very strongly. That they were no surprise does not lessen their importance.

Speakers made us aware that in many parts of the world the public sector differs from that within the EU.  Culture Ministries may not be as strong, with a weak or non-existent culture of engaging with civil society, with individuals, in policy formulation. The personal rather than the institutional may be the springboard for action.

The message for those designing new programmes is to focus on building awareness within public administrations of the wider and societal benefits of the arts and culture. It has taken us long enough in Europe to acknowledge that, and even here we are patchy in practice. But we heard today, as we did in the earlier Brussels conference on development that there are movers and shakers who want to lead change. Listen.

I was intrigued by the practical issues which emerged. Here are some of them.

“Be country specific” was a frequent plea; one size does not fit all. And yet that localism immediately morphed into the need to create regional spaces for emotional and marketing reasons which in turn need the development of networks. Concentric circles came to mind.  Perhaps the European arts networks that have dome so much in Europe can turn their attentions to other parts of the world?

A second area of practicality centred on long termism. We are in for a slow burner, this is an area where a short term focus, of quick in and out projects, let alone one-off events, of single-year based programmes are not suitable or effective.  The attitude which thinks that just because we did intercultural dialogue last year we can move on will not be appropriate.  Patience, progressive and consistency are the watchwords.

I must admit I would not like to be a teacher today.  I would be expected to solve all the world’s ills as well as teaching and enthusing my students with curiosity about my subject.  Now try to imagine doing that as an untrained teacher in front of a class of 60 children in poor buildings and limited if any materials. Of course education and schools are fundamental to our future but lets’ not forget we need to hit the Millennium Development Goals as well. Access to quality education is critical. Teacher training programmes are the key. Not least in areas of conflict. Can the arts prevent conflict? Probably not but they have a crucial role in post-conflict activity.

But for culture to be a successful as well as a vital part of the EU’s external relations we need to look here at home. I’ve already mentioned our own willingness to be open, to learn but several other pointers came through the workshops.

The responsibility rests not just with the EC.  It rests within member states, and increasingly not just at national level but with regions and cities.  It rests with civil society, with ourselves. Wouldn’t it be good if everyone here now walked out of the room with one personal action point they have formed from this Forum.

For myself there were fortunate requests that member states, including their cultural relations institutes, work closer together. Outside Europe we are increasingly seen as Europeans.  I was interested in the culture coordination process in Tanzania bringing everyone together for sharing and coordinating.

Cultural policy is not only about the arts. It is about society and the type of society we want to live in.  In external relations, Europe’s international culture, its brand if you like, surely needs to be one of trust; earned not claimed. The arts, by opening up creativity and personal expression across borders is a powerful force.

As this Forum has shown there are committed advocates for the role of culture in the EU’s external relations; we have made the case to ourselves and to an increasing number of decision makers. 

Culture is not merely a vital element in external relations. It is only by including culture, and cultural understanding, in our external policies can we contribute to others achieving their objectives and so achieve our own.

Steve Green
Team Leader Presidency, European Union National Institutes for Culture
30 September 2009