European Conference in the Context of the German Council Presidency 2007
Berlin, Thursday 3 to Friday 4 May 2007
"The European cultural sector shows above-average growth rates and is of great importance for the labour market."
Ján Figel, European Commissioner for Culture, Brussels, 15 November 2006
Culture industries gain a new importance in the context of the Lisbon Agenda
The study “The Economy of Culture”, presented by the European Commission in November 2006, will be the point of departure for the Conference on European Creative Industries. 5.8 million employees in the various arts sectors, e.g. literature, film, music, architecture, performing arts, visual arts, and dance and in the creative sectors like advertising, design and video games, accounted for a turnover of 654 billion Euros in 2003. The study points out the heterogeneity of the culture industries, but also their shared sense of belonging to the cultural and creative sectors. Their high share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2.6 per cent comes as a surprise even for many creative workers. Culture industries contribute more towards the economy in Europe than e.g. the food industries (1.9%) or the chemical industries (2.3%).
Policies in Europe should be geared towards strengthening the European creative sector in global competition
Culture industries have gained a new importance for Europe, as the European Council of Ministers of Culture stated in 2006. European Commissioner Ján Figel stresses that investments into culture are solid investments. This raises the issue of developing more efficient European policies to support the creative industries in their struggle to produce and sell cultural goods under the conditions of global competition. How can the potential of culture be most effectively used to contribute towards growth and employment within the Lisbon strategy? The potential of culture for the creation of growth and employment was already a focal point under the Council Presidency of the UK, Austria and Finland. There is a need for action, lest Europe will "fall still further behind other regions of the world" in the global economy. The development of coherent policies for the improved support to cultural industries, or of policies to coordinate this highly diversified sector, might contribute more effectively to the support to cultural industries.
A new coherent policy strategy for the cultural sector in Europe
The conference aims at developing a strategy for the co-ordination of culture industries policies. How can the strategies of various political players, e.g. the municipalities, the regions, the member states and the European Union be co-ordinated? Is it possible to develop target-oriented co-ordinated strategies that nevertheless strengthen the heterogeneity and special character of the cultural sectors – sectors that are subject to an extraordinary variety of market laws as their production ranges from the creation of unique specimen to serial production?
The conference will start by a presentation of the study "The Economy of Culture in Europe", which was commissioned by the EU Commission and will then proceed to the discussion of various national models of culture industries policies in Europe. Subsequently practical examples of Europe’s culture industries are introduced by leading representatives of creative industries from across Europe who present their view of the situation of the culture industries and identify the challenges faced by its players world wide. Developments in India, Brazil and Asia will be outlined by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal.
The development of coherent policies during the conference departs from the working hypothesis that such policies can only be successful if they are perceived as being effective by all players involved. Sector specific workshops formulate the requirements from the point of view of creative players, e.g. from the perspective of the municipalities in the case of the European Cultural Capital, the perspective of the regions in the case of the Warsaw Music Festival, the perspective of member states in the case of the fashion industries and the perspective of the European Union in the case of architecture. A special workshop focuses on the qualification of players in culture industries across Europe.
These sector and player specific profiles provide a suitable basis for the development of coherent policies to support culture industries in Europe.
Organisers
The conference is organised by the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung, Berlin and the Office for Cultural Policy and Culture Industries. It is supported by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Commission and the Dresdner Bank.
In co-operation with:
German Commission for UNESCO, UNESCO Institute of Statistics, Land of Rhineland-Palatinate, BerlinPartner GmbH, Working Group for Cultural Statistics, vertikult media-k GmbH, Deutscher Kulturrat (German Arts Council).
Time and Venue
The conference will take place in the context of the German Council Presidency 2007 in Berlin, Thursday 3 May to Friday 4 May 2007.
The web site of the 4th Annual Conference on Creative industries is available at: