Conference Mercedes Bresso Androulla Vassiliou

Summary

The event was organized by the Committee of the Regions in light of new EU funding opportunities for the period 2014-2020. The conference brought together a big range of stakeholders including policy-makers, experts, creative minds and trend watchers, artists and representatives of European associations and international organisations. They gathered in order to discuss success stories from cultural and creative sectors and their impact on local development. The ENRD CP representative participated in the ‘creative minds networking lunch’, where experts and practitioners met to discuss and exchange views with the Committee of the Regions representatives, in five different networking corners focusing on topics such as what will the "Creative Europe" programme mean for regions and cities, the prospects for cross-European cultural projects, the art of participatory festivals and being (agri) cultural and creative: connecting projects from rural areas.

The ENRD CP made a presentation [PDF ] about culture and creativity in the rural development policy.

Full programme can be downloaded from the CoR website

Main findings

The event facilitated creative networking with representatives different cultural and creative institutions, organisations and networks. Europe's creative and cultural sectors have significant potential to contribute to the sustainable recovery of the economy and to create jobs. With a share of 4.5% of the EU's GDP and 4% of its workforce, creative and cultural institutions and enterprises are an important and a very dynamic part of the EU economy. Challenges for the creative sectors include a fragmented cultural market and space, the need to embrace digital solutions in art production and dissemination and difficulty accessing finance for creative enterprises. Tackling these challenges can contribute to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs at all levels of government.

For more information on the event please click here:

• Event´s webpage
• VIDEO SUMMARY of  the conference
• CLOSING SESSION: Mercedes Bresso, First Vice-President of the CoR. (French)
• European Commissioner in charge of Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth: Androulla Vassiliou