Europe prepares for the re-opening of its cultural and creative activities

 
The European Commission, alongside the Parliament and the Council, has unveiled a framework under which EU members will set up guidelines for festivals and other cultural venues and spaces to re-open.

   Titled "A common path to safe and sustained re-opening," the communication details all the protocols to re-open Europe. One of the key points raised in the proposal is the necessity to bring back cultural events. 

  "Sharing once again the collective experience of cultural venues and events, heritage sites and cultural tourism will be one of the most visible signs of re-opening," reads the communication. "It will also be essential for the survival of a cultural and creative economy that has been particularly badly affected by the restrictions imposed to control the pandemic." 

Building confidence

  The Commission noted that the cultural sector lost around 31% of its revenues in 2020, with performing arts down 90% and music facing a 76% drop. "Again, a common approach and common indicators will help decisions to lift restrictions by building confidence amongst audiences and visitors that opening is taking place in a responsible way."

   The Commission will use "existing cooperation structures and  networks to exchange information on the safe re-opening of the cultural sector" and will "develop guidelines for sectors in the field of music (festivals, venues), audiovisual (film festivals and markets, cinemas, production sets), performing arts (festivals, venues), exhibition spaces such as museums or galleries, libraries, and cultural heritage sites." 

  In addition, seven major cultural and event organisations have sent a letter to Commissioner Thierry Breton, in charge of internal market, asking for an EU-wide approach to reactivate Europe’s cultural events and venues before the busiest period of the year. Reopening cultural events and venues is seen as a "make or break" time for authors and performers of artistic works.

Prepare for the new normal

   "Though we are still enveloped in this crisis, Europe’s cultural industries know the current situation will not last forever," reads the letter to Breton. "It is therefore imperative that we adapt and put in place suitable planning measures to prepare for our new normal." 

  Throughout Europe, the cultural sector and in particular the live event sector has been working with national and local governments "to find financial solutions for both creators and organisers," but the authors of the letter claim that current solutions "are not sustainable without political leadership and a clear vision to take coordinated steps at the European level." 

  Noting that only one other industry — air transport — has been hit as hard by the crisis as culture, and despite the rise of digital consumption, "digital has not saved culture," reads the letter. It continues: "Now is the time to start planning for how culture can play its part in saving Europe. There is no satisfactory recovery that does not include access to events where Europeans can embrace one another and revel in the euphoria of a shared cultural experience, under the necessary precautions of our new normality." 

On the road to resilience

  The signatories are asking for "a coordinated post-lockdown strategy for Europe’s cultural venues and events" and called upon Breton "to take the lead in this undertaking that will undoubtedly require the involvement of multiple ministries (culture, sports, health, economy, industry etc.) and the support of other EU Commissioners."

   They added: "We are ready to offer our expertise and experience to the European Commission’s efforts towards helping Europe adapt to the new normal and to develop guidelines for the safe resumption of activities, as projected in the recent Communication. This will allow us to unleash together what President Sassoli, writing in the EY study presented to you in January, called art’s ‘cathartic power that can accompany a post-pandemic society on the road to resilience’."

   Signatories include: AFEM – Association for Electronic Music; EAA – The European Arenas Association; GESAC – The European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers; LIVE DMA – European Network for Live Music Associations; Liveurope – The live music platform for new European talent; PEARLE – Live Performance Europe; and YOUROPE – The European Festival Association.

Need for support

   The letter is also a follow-up to a meeting Commissioner Breton had with a delegation from the creative industries led by GESAC in late January, after the launch of an EY study detailing the devastating impact the Covid-19 crisis has had on Europe’s creative economy. Commissioner Breton asked the delegation to return with concrete ideas and requests that his team could work on.

   GESAC General Manager Véronique Desbrosses, General Manager of GESAC, said the Commission "has taken a positive step in announcing that there will be EU-level coordination for live events. We, the signatories of this letter, are offering our collective expertise to Commissioner Breton, who we are asking to taking the lead, and who pledged his help towards finding a coordinated solution.”

   Added Audrey Guerre, Live DMA’s coordinator: “Live music venues, clubs and festivals are still in the middle of the crisis. We are very concerned about the mental health of the staff working in live music who have to continuously adapt with a lack of recognition by public authorities. We need to foresee what comes next. Venues, clubs and festivals are important spaces of socialisation which cannot be replaced by live streaming. This is why we call for a reopening under safe conditions, including amateur practices and educational activities. Music organisations need a financial and structural support until music venues and clubs activities go back to normal. More than ever, we must support our local music scenes." 

Reinvigorating  the  cultural  ecosystem

  Meanwhile, following the open letter titled “Make culture central in the EU recovery” published by 110 pan-European networks on 30 October 2020, the coalition has penned a new letter to national governments and the European Commission. In the second open letter, coordinated by Culture Action Europe, urging the European Commission to include culture in each and every National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) that EU countries should present to the European Commission before the 30 April deadline. 

  The representatives of the European cultural ecosystem urge governments to dedicate at least 2% of the Recovery Fund to culture and put culture as a priority sector when using funds from Next Generation EU.

  “Long-term structural support to rebuild the European cultural ecosystem needs to be co-developed, involving all relevant stakeholders, both public and private," reads the letter. 

  "Reinvigorating  the  cultural  ecosystem  not  only  offers  hope  to  millions  of  workers  who  saw  their  jobs eradicated or endangered by the pandemic, it can offer new meaning and purpose to all Europeans and the European project. Let us put culture at the heart of Europe’s recovery."