On Monday 18^th, CUMEDIAE will take part to the seminar organized by France Créative in Paris, where Ignasi Guardans will speak together with European personalities from the cultural and creative industries.
The day will be focused on discussing how to shape a common mobilization to strengthen European players in the CCIs, and to share views and ideas for a common agenda for EU’s next mandate.

Testimonies of national actions for culture in different European countries will join. Among the speakers:

• Dawood Azami, BBC World Service & University of Westminster
• Christian Ehler, Member of European Parliament, Intergroup Cultural Industries and creatives
• Sébastien Soriano, President of ARCEP
• Isabelle Szczepanski, Electron Libre
• Filippo Sugar, Italia Creativa
• Iban García del Blanco, Secretary for the Culture of PSOE (Spain)
• Clément Beaune, Adviser Europe and G20 to the President of the Republic

Cumediae will participate to the 1^st International Conference “Towards a TRansnational Accelerator for a Cultural and Creative EcoSystem” in Bari on February 28^th. The conference is dedicated to models of incubators and accelerators for CCIs. The event will act as an idea lab, gathering knowledge, expectations and peculiarities of the sector, while analyzing the creative economy entrepreneurship and the role of cultural incubators in Italy and abroad.
Ignasi Guardans will join a panel of international experts in the round table “How to create the ideal conditions for supporting CCIs growth”, discussing cultural policies on regional, national and European levels.

The conference will take place at Cineporto Bari, and is organized by TECNOPOLIS PST in the framework of the Interreg Traces project, financed under Interreg V-A Greece-Italy Programme.

On February 6^th CUMEDIAE joined the event Modernising Cultural and Creative Industries within the EU: Discussing the New European Agenda for Culture, hosted by Public Policy Exchange, where Chairman Ignasi Guardans participated as key speaker.

Together with him Ana Gaio, Senior Lecturer at School of Arts and Social Sciences at City University London (Event Chair), Sophie Dowden, Policy Officer at Culture Action Europe, Grégoire Polad, Director General at Association of Commercial Television in Europe, Laura Houlgatte, CEO at International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) and Inge Ceustermans, Managing Director at The Festival Academy.

The symposium was created to discuss the recent initiatives and policy developments in the field of CCIs in EU, in particular to analyse the New European Agenda for Culture and exchange views, perspectives and good practices on how to tackle the challenges that the sector faces.

Guardans speech focused on the challenges and opportunities of cross-border collaborations for CCIs in Europe. As he said, this topic is a fundamental one, and needs to be a primary policy objective for every decision maker. Reducing market fragmentation gives the possibility to access the broad European market, thus fostering synergies, building collaborations and improving access to funding. Stimulating artists mobility creates new opportunities for artists, enriching culture while maintaining cultural diversity. Moreover, culture and confront among different cultures are one of the strongest weapons against growing nationalism and populism, something that should be addressed at an European level.

At the end of this experience I realise how these last 4 months flew away. Although it was only 4 months, I can swear that it had the same density and intensity of any other year of a life. And I’m not just speaking about the huge stock of skills and information I collected during my time here in CUMEDIAE.  I’m also speaking about the human part. I had the chance to meet lots of people coming from lots of different cultural contexts, with whom I could share ideas and considerations. I practiced English and French and I lived for 4 months in a beautiful city, which is Brussels that surprised me in such a positive way, under every possible point of view. Brussels is not only the warm centre of the Europe, where many kinds of cultures meet, are mixed and live together.  Brussels is the city of young minds, of events, of art, of music, of languages. Brussels is the trait d’union of the entire Europe. Then, thanks to the strategic position, I could visit in a blink of an eye several cities around there, as Bruges, Paris and Anvers.

I’ve never worked in an office before. For me it was the first time. The first day I was totally scared. As you can understand that was my biggest drama, I was totally unused to any kind of computer’s job and I was also totally unable to be sat a whole day! But there is always a first time in life! And that was mine. I quickly discovered the big world that is hidden behind an online platform. That’s not just about putting contents in a sterile way.  Behind the name CUMEDIAE we find a connected tangle of minds who share the same thoughts with a specific strategy. Contrary to all expectations they showed me this reality in a clear and direct way and, at the same time, I became part of the team. Sharing time with other colleagues meant spending my time with people who could understand my day mood just having a quick look at my face expressions. We were not just colleagues; we were a family, in which the problem of one was the problem of everyone. This kind of approach kept us linked and closer and led us to have a great team game.

And is only at the end of this experience, that I can deeply realise the entity of feelings I will bring with me at home. I’m aware of how many special people, who kept part of this project, played also a role in the development of my identity, constantly under construction.

As European elections approach, CUMEDIAE supports Culture Action Europe in its appeal to foster a stronger recognition of the cultural dimension of the European Union and culture’s contribution to Europe, and to encourage voters to make their voice heard by participating in the European Parliamentary elections. 

In these difficult times, where Europe’s core values and democracy are under threat, culture plays a fundamental role in the progress of the EU as a necessary source of unity and a force for cooperation and mutual understanding through its link with the themes of identity, borders, human rights and education. An explicit recognition of the cultural dimension by political parties is necessary to work towards ambitious cultural policies that can promote cultural diversity and cultural rights, freedom of artistic and cultural expression, as well as better welfare regimes and labour conditions for vulnerable cultural workers.

Is then vital that Europeans citizens play their role by expressing their opinion on how they would like to be represented on Europe’s political stage: CAE invites everyone to advocate for political parties to adopt a positive stance on the role of culture in the future of the European Union, aiming at enabling citizens and organizations to take action, as well as building a community and alliances in and outside the cultural sector.

Read the full version of the appeal here.

#EUelections2019 #thistimeimvoting #actforculture

CUMEDIAE is very disappointed to receive news of the troubles now faced by Racines, a moroccan NGO advocating for the integration of culture in to public human, social and economic policies and an organisation with which we have collaborated well with over the years.
The court ruled in late December 2018, after the governor of Casablanca-Anfa filed a complaint over Racines’ hosting of the satirical online show 1 dîner, 2 cons, where some guests criticized words and actions of King Mohammed VI, in the context of intensifying police repression of street demonstrations.
On January 15th the association shared a statement announcing its decision to appeal, and we stand with Racines, in this decision.

For years, Racines has been developing high-quality cultural activities, in Morocco and abroad, in the complex frameworks of partnerships with UNESCO, the African Union, the European Union, and national authorities, among others Rwanda, Gabon and Tunisia.

CUMEDIAE values the work of Racines and the additions to the cultural space throughout the years, and advocate for its ability to continue its work towards greater freedom of expression, promotion of cultural diversity, advocacy on cultural policies, artists and cultural activities. We invite other cultural organisations who might be interested, to contact us and we can share with you how you can add your voice to this campaign.

#CultureRemainsTheSolution

Official Press Release Available here.

CUMEDIAE aisbl info@culture-media.eu