The European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ECCD) met for their General Assembly on December 1st at the headquarters of the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity in Paris. On the agenda: the new priorities of the Coalitions for the year 2023.
Organised as an association, the European Coalitions federate 11 national coalitions for cultural diversity. Diversity is at the very heart of the organisation: within it, professional cultural and creative organisations from the film, audiovisual, performing arts, publishing, music, visual arts and multimedia sectors coexist… All the professions that make European culture come alive coexist: authors, producers, composers, publishers, performers, broadcasters, technicians…
European priorities
Since their creation in 2005 as an informal network, the European Coalitions have been operating in Brussels to defend and promote cultural diversity in EU cultural policies. This year, the Coalitions will closely follow the examination of the implementation report of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive – AVMSD – and the European Media Freedom Act in the Parliament. They will also pay attention to the publication of the Media Outlook for the audiovisual and media sectors in the Member States, expected by early January from the European Commission.
ECCD will also continue to contribute to the discussions on the European status of the artist in order to bring the progress made by their members to the European level. For example, Portugal is in the process of adopting a status of the artist and Sweden has just adopted a legislative proposal on self-employed workers which has introduced, among other things, a security scheme in case of illness.
In line with their commitment to ensure the visibility and development of European creators’ works, the European Coalitions will pay particular attention to discoverability initiatives in the cultural and creative sector to ensure better visibility for European works.
International events
As members of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCDC), the German, Austrian, British and Swiss coalitions were present at the Mondiacult conference in Mexico in September.
At the end of the conference, the states adopted a Declaration that recognizes culture as a “global public good” and a common roadmap to strengthen cultural public policies and cultural diversity. The Declaration also included the inclusion of culture in the sustainable development objective set by the UN. The event also agreed to organise a “Cultural Policy Forum” every four years to check whether the declarations of principle are being applied. The European Coalitions will be monitoring these issues closely.
New faces among the members
ECCD welcomed new representatives. Marion Aberle and Friederike Kamm joined the German Coalition for Cultural Diversity. They are in charge of the “Fair Culture” initiative, which promotes fair and sustainable trade and exchanges in the cultural sector worldwide.
Thus, these exchanges between the members have helped prepare the year 2023, which promises to be rich for European and international cultural policies !