Session 2: Local and regional authorities, their cultural policies and Europe 2020 Strategy

Moderator: Eduard Miralles, Chairman – Fundació Interarts, Barcelona, Spain

He introduces the session by stating a paradox to be grasped only if we wish to think objectively:

culture is more than an instrument or a tool for economic development, so that the use of culture can be a perverse use (and the fact that he states this, it is propable that he has found the voice of an artist)
at the EU Commission level, culture has not succeeded in finding its legitimate place in the state and in civil society.

Lecture: Dr. Fabrice Thuriot

Coordinator, researcher and lecturer in public law and on cultural policies in France, Europe and North America – Centre of Research on Territorial Decentralisation, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France

His critical points shall concentrate on two aspects:

1) criticism of the programme from the point of view of local and regional authorities with regards to urban regeneration.

2) Cultural Programme and use of the Structural Fund

as of 2007 emphasis on cultural and creative industries started – from there things went to refining the financial instruments for Creative Europe, the new cultural programme for the period 2014 - 2020
England was one of the first to introduce creative and cultural industries – semantics – includes a lot of traditional crafts but also new sectors e.g. fashions, designs – the title creative industries covers all of these – in the UK correspond to this approach to the 'creative sector' and thus include companies of all kinds
report 2012: immaterial investments – intangible heritage – our way of thinking – way of seeing things – but also the materialised investments in terms of objects, street lamps and street designs
this notion of creative industry should not only be seen in an economic sense, but we have to see it in a much wider approach to include imagination and creativity
thus the concept of towns and regions – the transversal approach and link between the various sectors is not completely new, but there was a European report in 1996 as to what culture can contribute to the other sectors.
Agenda 21 for Culture adopted in Barcelona – wants culture to be recognized as fourth pillar
the concept for creative city – is there already something in what a city is and how it functions – the Ancient Greek cities had this approach - Politismos: way of doing things – Renaissance: renewal of the city by letting culture flourish -
bringing together people is important here because size does not necessarily have any correlation to creativity – small is beautiful – and this difference we find to mass consumerism – creative growth poles or clusters – not necessarily implanted in large towns but can exist in large cities and larger regions
so there is a link to what Creative Europe program envisions by providing financial support to give culture access to money at local and regional level through banks
skills and competences can be found in larger cities but everyone has to have access to – must think about development linked to creative clusters – not only influenced by public policy – in France it is important to recognize the value of projects to let them develop and to flourish by becoming independent and not take them over at public level by institutionalizing them.
Creativity and diversity – there is the theory by Richard Florida: can be criticized – as for the bohemian indicator, Florida relates this to the gay communities which may as is often said to be more creative - see the current debate to what extent that is true – these studies come from the United States
the link with the territories – creative environments – this thought is not shared by everyone – economists who think about product, services, etc. may not follow the holistic approach in support of actions
the notion of territories is linked to resources and the link with the local level is potentially very interesting
reflect history of states and role of local authorities
new factors such as in Toulouse with aircraft industry alters the entire region
responsible for further going changes are the bigger structures which should help the smaller structures
train politicians and cultural operators – not everyone is interested in culture, so it is important to develop other arguments to further investments in culture –there are incurred problems of policy going in the wrong direction, so how to correct both?

Second aspect: urban regeneration becomes necessary where depression and decline along with loss of services alters the profile and composition of a city – artists can move in to fill these empty spaces

provide cultural services
gentrification: how to maintain the social mix in these areas and locations – we know the decline of certain areas is due to the mono function build up over time - people need access to different services and functions
examples: Bilbao, London
construction of big football stadiums but we know this is a fragile intervention, for what happens if the football team is no longer so famous – PPP (Private Public Partnership) may finance such a project but in the long run the local authority inherits a facility in bad shape

Conclusion

All aspects are important (cultural, environmental,...) related to both temporary and permanent activities, so the notion is how to mix and how to bring them together. The example of festivals taking place in cities makes apparent the need to link to rural areas. There is a disposition to support temporary activities while all long term activities are delegated to other companies and organizations.

The role of the local authorities is to have a long term vision and to give local actors the means to develop, so that the local population does benefit from this.

Question by Eduard Miralles:

how do you deal with the current crisis?
how to identify projects which succeed in finding this right balance

Round table with representatives of local and regional authorities:

Jean-Damien Collin, Director for cultural development – Conseil Général du Territoire de Belfort, France

impact of crisis felt very strong due to second strongest industrial sector (since 2008). It means that laws on taxation is crucial and we have lost a lot of money. Reduced external partners and thus local authorities lost funds. Reduction in subsidies – most of the people in cultural sector lost 10% - try to stay stable – a month ago a further cut by 28% for culture so that services had to be reduced – predicted 10 to 15% further cuts shall be needed – we really don't know where we are going but the politicians do not wish us to fail totally.
Relationship to 2020 the region of Belfort is a border region – to Switzerland – small department but dense since close to Lyon and Strasbourg – broken up in different areas – General Electric, Peugeot, and other big firms
we work at different levels: how can the strategy create synergies – very important: need training, information and work internally and convince politicians to work with us, and so we proceed by build on what we had in the past
thus if the strategy is helping us to find new partners then beneficial: so when people come to us with projects we try to encourage them to be inclusive in terms of tarns-territorial strategies

Two focus:

focus on cultural and creative industries since 2006 – creative economy – published in 2008 – we were able to convince our urban area to do the same – made a kind of territorial logo – link up Basel with highest GNP in Europe – promote investments -
not only economical approach but work together with three other regions on 'Cultural Rights' (Fribourg declaration) – concludes that the regional level is the best one where to implement Cultural Rights: goal to evaluate our cultural policies in terms of cultural Rights -

Ready for the new EU 2020 vision – link with Brussels through an office there – programme for youth

Renee Heijnen Senior policy advisor for music City of Utrecht

Utrecht is one of the four big cities in Holland 320 000 inhabitants – fast growing city - 75 000 students – dedicated to education and culture – we think culture is heart of our city development – we face budget cuts from both national and provincial level but the city decided not to cut the cultural budget which had been growing over the past 15 years – we had to make tough decisions – who is getting the subsidies – published a strategic papers: answer to questions what you want – our cultural vision 2012-2022 is called 'open space' to underline what is important to us. We are growing but we want to be smart and stay smart so change in strategy is to move more in relationship to the outer world – think more in terms of partnerships and ownerships – the people of the city are the ones who make this city work also in a cultural way. What kind of a city we want to be and what do you need to get there. A good model are the European Capitals of Culture – we are in a bid right now – good way to study the cultural DNA of the city. How to study which organizations are sustainable – which ones can sustain by themselves so which ones need to be sustained – these organizations are also smart and seek their own partnerships – looking more to the business world – creative sector is moving from culture to a more creative way of interactions e.g. musicians not only playing in ensembles but also teaching. The cultural sector is moving far beyond the traditional administrative sector and therefore we speak about the outside world which is very strange for us and therefore try to find a new role for the local authority.

Eduard Miralles:

important role of local and regional authorities -

importance of culture

how to improve cooperation for the implementation of the EU 2020 strategy

Renee Heijnen: we think cities are important – are the points where creative and energies come together – new ideas / new products – and cities together with territory are important – the national level is not so important and even can be a hindrance – we see that with the Right Wing parties which started to cut culture due to their views – that was not the view of the cities – so also the government was against raising the budget for Creative Europe – so we try to influence things through networks such as Euro Cities – to be smart you have to create own network: small city network – university cities / open for research,

Edinburgh, Stuttgart,

Exchange policy / exchange cultural

With Edinburgh about festivals

Typical transition areas – adapt to changing local authorities

Jean-Damien Collin

law for artistic creation at national level in France: do not understand this yet but must work on the governance
might be typical French to criticize a law before it is passed

Further remarks:

each local authority has 2 ways to help culture – control / legislation and support – what is the situation in Holland?

Answer: all 3 levels shared responsibilities for cultural activities but now national has withdrawn but still subsidies certain national flagships – no more compensation and no more shared vision
Odile Wolfs states that not every region and city had a cut in their cultural budget as in Maastricht but it is really a puzzle - what about the regional level for here only a small part is being financed still for festivals organized by the city of Utrecht – 2013: Treaty of Utrecht
to Collin about cross border work – what methods – Swiss Confederation which is purely economical, and the then each canton has its own cultural link – created a common fund together with the Cantons close to us – share in networks and fund some activities and this worked quite well – on the French side that helped to do some festivals e.g. cinema – it allowed us to bring out – call for tenders which included Belfour: 40 projects at 18 000 Euro to help people work on projects – work with people for six months to bring ideas to fruition – once Switzerland joined Schengen that changed also mobility – so all look at the things differently – work together – long term perspective
2020 strategies – competitive Europe – while local authorities have difficulties in cultural policy implementations: can these be brought together: Fabrice Thuriot a) administrative aspect: too much administration from a general point of views, but also from a practical one – EU funds are important and heavy because of added internal rules and that creates the paradox when compared to the liberal economy while we experience a re-centralization – that is not productive but rather limits things – divides those who have the means and those who have it not – this administrative problem reinforces this gap. b) cultural policy – EU guided us towards strategic planning – that used to be the case in France – the planification gave the opportunity to develop middle term perspectives – planning horizon of up to 7 years – strangely enough in France not to have a cultural plan in five or seven year terms – own initiatives. Collin – I had difficulties with the funding policy of public servants and affected our actions for culture, and a second point is the PPP with which he has no problems e.g. festivals – public subsidy complemented by private funds- relates to ongoing discussions e.g. in Germany 'cultural heart strokes'.

Study about Greece:

Cultural projects with a local-regional dimension means taking things out of the grip of the Ministry of Culture which is orientated towards archaeological / cultural heritage preservation measures even if valorization in terms of attracting tourists is an added component when justifying spending.

It matters what filter / selection principles are used for the funding of culture – see here the investment priorities of the EU and the confusion between various levels of categories:

cultural heritage cultural infrastructure cultural services

tangible from buildings to festivals studies and research

intangible to media public accessible knowledge

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Session 2: Local and regional authorities, their cultural policies and Europe 2020 Strategy