we are more – act for culture in Europe is a Europe-wide campaign for the arts and culture. It was launched in October 2010 and will run until 2013, when the EU decides about its next multiannual budget for the years 2014-2020.
The we are more campaign promotes culture, heritage and the arts, together with education, social cohesion and environmental sustainability, as key areas in which the EU has to make more bold investments if it wants to reach its growth objectives and Europe to remain a thriving democracy in the future.
The overall EU budget negotiations 2014-2020
We want to make sure that the EU contribution to culture is explicit and with a stronger financial envelope.
Download Culture Action Europe’s reaction to the Council agreement published on the 11th of February 2013 in English here and in French here.
Download the campaign statement on the European Commission’s budget proposal published in July 2011 here.
The two campaign demands are:
1. A bold and daring EU Culture Programme for the period 2014-2020
Culture Action Europe, in the framework of the we are more – act for culture in Europe campaign welcomes the European Commission’s proposal for the next EU Culture Programme Creative Europe but calls for an improved recognition of the social dimension of arts and culture and the importance of risk taking and experimentation.
Download our reaction to the European Parliament draft report published 8 November 2012 in English here and French here.
Download our statement on the EU Council of Culture Ministers’ position published in May 2012 in English and French.
Download our statement on Creative Europe published in February 2012 in English and French.
Read more about the background here.
2. An increased and more explicit support to culture, heritage and the arts in the EU Regional Policy Funds 2014-2020
Culture Action Europe, in the framework of the we are more – act for culture in Europe campaign, welcomes the European Commission’s proposals for the next Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 and calls on the Member States and the European Parliament to support its overall envelope and to reinforce their commitment to economic, social and territorial cohesion. The EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 should support the role that cultures and arts play in local and regional development, in particular through their impact on social inclusion, education, creativity and on the individual and collective capacity to adapt to change and innovate. Download our statement on the EU Regional Policy Funds published in April 2012 in English and French and read more here.
I strongly support the campaign in my blog!
We will support the campaign in Greece with all our power!!!
It is a great initiative!
We work for “CULTURE” many many years and will continue to do so… All the best from Athens!!!
to nie może tak być !!!! już teraz nakłady finansowe na KULTURĘ są śmiesznie małe i nie ma mowy o ich ograniczeniu !!!! przeciwstawiam się temu !!!! ratujmy nasz dorobek i dbajmy, by nakłady finansowe uległy zwiększeniu !!! koniecznie !!!
greetings from Poland
Popieram! Trzeba dbać o nasze dziedzictwo! Kultura jest jednym z najważniejszych elementów społeczeństwa.
Greetings from Poland
I think it’s a very interesting initiative and I’ll post your link in website http://www.culturalsustainability.info by which is organized a petiton named 1 FOR ALL, ALL FOR 1
This petition asks the European Union to support a “Cultural Sustainability Pact” that would call for member states, Italy included, to devote a minimum quota – which could be 1% of their GDP (gross domestic product) – to Culture.
The idea is based on achieving institutional acknowledgement of the importance of “cultural sustainability”, namely ensuring the indispensable conditions for the ongoing regeneration of cultural processes. On a par with environmental, economic and social processes, cultural processes should be viewed as a structural component in the current model of development.
The idea of European countries signing a “Cultural Sustainability Pact” is based on the existence of “cultural rights” that are often intentionally ignored or overlooked in institutional debate, even though they are part of the set of basic human rights, as laid down in the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”.
A “Cultural Sustainability Pact” also draws legitimacy from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, article 167 of which underlines how the Union itself “contributes to the full development of the cultures of the Member States”
I think we can work together
I support the campaign in my blog.
Congratulations!
Art, you don’t miss it till it’s gone!
If you have any printed material or a poster I would be interested in promoting those in Greece. I am teaching to an art school
create a twitter acount
Hello! We already have a twitter account, it’s http://twitter.com/actforculture!
Plus que jamais, la culture s’avère indispensable. Faison en sorte que les plus démunis n’en soient pas privés. Obligeons nos pouvoirs politiques à soutenir tant les actes de création que l’accessibilité de tous et chacun.
first of all: “pay the artist”
-then pay the institutions or the curators or who ever
wants to profit from the artist work….
Alex Meszmer from Visarte Switzerland informed us about this campaign at General Assembly of IAA Europe, we are going to forward this message to all members of Slovak Union of Visual Arts and to all National Committees of IAA Europe as well
We put it up on the Ala Galway Ireland website. Hope some of the 5000 members will read and sign the petition as it is very important to the future of funding to the sector. It will be great if others with social media will do likewise.
Jim Aherne – ALa
Excellent, cheers Jim!!
Very cool and needed project!
Hi everybody,
I’m Barbara and I’m student of archaeology and history of art. How can I actively contribute to your campaign? Is there something that I can do as a volunteer?
Best wishes to all of you.
Cara Barbara! Thank you very much for your message! You will find suggestions for how to actively support the campaign in the Join!-section, http://www.wearemore.eu/join. At the moment we are also looking for volunteers who could translate the campaign Message book (see the Join!-section). If you would like to volunteer, please do not hesitate to contact me on campaign@wearemore.eu. Best wishes, Emma, Campaign Co-ordinator.
Governments should never have the position to take decisions about arts and artistic expression or what art is good and what is not…
Art is what brings people together, in Europe political tendency is to set us apart again…
art = civilization
Yes
The question is always down to the finance available, the arts sector finds it hard to convince the purse holders of the short, medium and long term benefits of arts engagement. We all need to support each other in this task, this initiative is one of those tools we need to use to change the system.
Culture should have more benefits every time, each citizen have to be part of this multicultural diversity on Europe. Concret action for real development!!
Mucho animo y apoyo desde Extremadura, por y para la CULTURA.
BRAVO.OVO JE VRIJEME ZA KAMPANJU, ZA PROMJENE I ODLUKE.EVROPA IMA OBAVEZU DA USPOSTAVI NOVE ODNOSE I STVORI USLOVE ZA OSTVARIVANJE PRAVA GRADJANA NA KULTURU I UMJETNOST.ZAJEDNICE BEZ KREATIVNOG RAZVOJA STAGNIRAJU I OVO JE STVARNI IZAZOV ZA EVROPU 2020. FESTIVAL SARAJEVSKA ZIMA I KULTURNI FORUM BIH DACE SVOJ DOPRINOS KAMPANJI.
Today – thanks to the newsletter received by the organisers of Steirischer Herbst – I got acquainted with this nice initiative. I am convinced, that this is an initiative, that has to be supported by every single European involved in any type of cultural and art activities. We made this a breaking news on the http://www.facetivals.com the website for European music festivals. So sorry, to catch up in the last week of the campaign.
Dear Zoltan Marias, thank you very much for your nice message and precious support in spreading the word! And don’t worry, this campaign will continue until 2013 so there’s still plenty of time to mobilize every single European involved in arts and culture! Best wishes, Emma, Campaign Co-ordinator.
Yes.
Hi there,
my name is Virginia, I am Italian but I`m currently working in Ireland in a Festivals association. I strongly believe in inter-cultural exchanges in Europe and in free mobility. Creativity and culture are really powerful weapons today, while we are experiencing this awful crisis. I still believe that arts should be partly financed by states and not only by sponsors. I might be wrong but this is, to me, the best way to ensure quality and innovation.
Hello!
I am a clown and a juggler from Germany.
The state builds theatres for millions, but free artists are not promoted. This also must have an end!
Best regards,
“Krawalli”
Sounds great!
I’m really keen to learn more about the role of arts in development. I hope your campaign will help provide the inspiration and resources people need to make the most of the potential of the arts to transform lives and communities,
Do keep me informed,
Thanks for your support David! Please make sure you’re subscribed to the bimonthly campaign newsletter and we’ll make sure to keep you informed. The link to the subscription module is available on http://www.wearemore.eu/join.
+ ART + CULTURA+ CALITAD DE VIDA
Very good initiative!
We support the campaign!
Trigon – Moldova
WE ARE MORE
I believe Each citizen is a stakeholder, but they have to feel that they are entitled to participate, interact, educate and enjoy… The ism’s of the socio-economic, race and religious divides should be evolved beyond the focus of the limited lens of the I in identity and placed within a context of the shared space and informed awareness of the populated environment… how is it possible to understand our-selfs and each-other without a developed insight of that which is around us and the manner in which we share our experiences…
The contemporary participation in the culture in Europe is not a real reflection of
the cultural interest for each European citizen.
The Cultural state of mind is based on three pillars : interculturality, using cross media to reach a large public and the realisation of alliances between : citizen, associations, authorities and the EU.
In our days culture and arts are a privilege for a few.
If we can’t realize that alliance where everybody is his own producer, creator and distributor even on a smal scale, there shouldn’t be a cultural importance.
Dirk Celis
I am an artist and art teacher leaving in Bulgaria, where there is practically no funding for real original art projects oriented to the general public with intention to access quality art or create quality art be it national or international.
In am often in the positon of financing myself small scale projects in order to keep alive the my cultural soul and to create a small community of art creation and appreciation.
Any financment of cultural initiatives is good in a time when my country nrglects culture on purpose or simply by lack of culture.
Mariangela Anastassova
Bravo!Long live the art of Europe!
We have to sign!
Hello,
My name is Claire Williams and I write for mailout – the UK’s only participatory arts magazine. We would like to do an article on the We Are More manifesto and wonder if anyone involved could assist us with their opinoin of the manifesto and how they feel it can change Europe’s cultural landscape?
Please email me your full name, position, organisation and a 250 word comment – pic would be fantastic but not essential! Send to hello@mailout.co by the 14th of March.
A link will be sent to you with the finished article.
Many thanks!
Claire Williams
Yes, we are MORE and we must definitely join forces! Thank you for this initiative that reminds us once more that we, as citizens, cultural entrepreneurs and artists, have more power than we consider to shape our future for the better.
If you like the Manifesto to be published in Turkish language as well, I would be pleased to assist you for translation. Waiting for your response for that..
Hi Derya!
Thank you very much for your comment and for your support! I just published the translation of the manifesto to Turkish today, so it’s already available actually, have a look here: http://www.wearemore.eu/translations.
Very best wishes, Emma / Campaign Co-ordinator
EUROPE = CULTURE THE IDENTITY OF EUROPE IS ONLY CULTURE
Hello,
it’s a great initiative!
Congrats from Italy
Maria Palumbo
Hi everyone !
Here’s a concrete action for and by Europeans : http://www.europalive.org.
Don’t hesitate to contact me for more info, next film is being prepared now.
Best regards to you all,
AJ
Hi,
please keep me posted about events happening in London. I run a web site called London European Club, which promotes European Cultures http://www.meetup.com/London-European-Club/ so I am very interested in all developments from your initiative ” We are more”.
Thanks,
Maja Trajkovska
We will support the campaign in our rss, mailing lista and website.
It is a great initiative!
Congrats from Madrid
We must convince the business community that artists should be sitting at DECISION level on every board of directors. After World War II business managers came from the armed forces. Business enterprise was using officers who were trained to lead and organise. Then when business studies became a university faculty managers came from graduates who had long experience as accountants and book-keepers. Financial personnel are trianed to LOOK BACK and study records to avoid making the same mistakes in the future. To get better results one should look forward. To do this one has to be a creative innovator. All artists are instinctively seeking new counter currents to swim against all the time and are not afraid to take RISKS in order to find new ways of doing things. An artist is better prepared to be the diamond bit of any business or socio-political initiative. To have a decision making board realise this, they need to have a creative/innovative artist sitting with them. Otherwise the EU will not manage to exploit CULTURE, its only superior weapon against US economic domination.
The attempts and initiatives are already being made in that regard and will continue to be realized, with the idea presented by Menuhin saying that artists should have a parliament. Actually, what he ment was exactly what you are discussing-a need for artists to participate directly in a decision making process.
However, we must be aware of the fact that as much as many managers and professionals on governance and policies do not have clearest or, if any, slightest ideas about the art sector and world, also not all artists want or have the need, time and knowledge to do so either.
As a person coming from the background of both, havein MA in cultural management and policies and few exams away from MA in music and concretely-opera singing, I am fully aware how difficult this position may be. But visiting conferences I find I am not alone, and many artists denounce their career for the sake of making the art sphere a more fertile ground for creative expression. This is in a way a sacrifice made, often by those of proficiency in both fields, but frustrated by the image seen on the bigger picture.
Future lies in these individuals, from all specific sectors of art. Educational systems are recognizing this, hence there is an increase in number of courses and chairs on this. Perhaps many more things should be introduced, but let’s be patient and see how the new changes on the level of the EU will show results.
Until then, civil initiative, as in many other cases and areas of public interest plays an important role.
In this difficult time, we have to take now the opportunity to show that art is the basis of any development in the society, certainly in the Netherlands where the new government thinks that theatre is non sense and useless.
I couldn’t make it last October 7th.
I contribute to we are more campaign publising the logo with a link to wearemore.eu
in a blog related to steet arts.
If you have any printed material I would be interested in promoting those in Cyprus
Pingback: “We are more” campaign
A good idea to join forces in order to build stronger support for cultural activities in Europe. For my studies in arts management, I have actually written a thesis on “the role and benefits of the arts and how they are perceived”. Here in Hamburg, however, public funding for culture is currently being cut drastically. It’s sad and ignorant too. I also think it is a good idea to strengthen the position of the cultural sector in the sense that not only commercially relevant projects are of interest, but rather to concentrate on artistic activity that doesn’t fit the concept of the creative industries. Art for the sake of art (and all its benefits in society), if you wish.
Keep me posted on your activities and I’ll spread the word here in Hamburg. Is everything in English or are there also some German contributions?
Best regards,
B. Lang