Ársfundur og ráðstefna ECA, The European Council of Artists, var haldinn 28.-30. september sl. í Sibíú í Rúmeníu. Síbíu er nú menningarhöfuðborg Evrópu og var ráðstefnan í boði menningaryfirvalda og listamannasamtaka Rúmeníu.
Margrét Bóasdóttir, ritari BÍL, sótti ráðstefnuna. Auk fulltrúa 16 aðildarlanda af 25 og fjölmargra rúmenskra listamanna, sóttu ráðstefnuna tveir þingmenn Evrópuþingsins í Strassbourg, fulltrúi menntmálaráðuneytis í Litháen og menningarmálaráðherra lýðveldisins Srpska, sem er landssvæðið Bosnía-Herzegovína.
Fróðlegt var að kynnast aðstæðum í hinum ýmsu löndum og sérstaklega var áhugavert að heyra um „lög um listamenn“ sem sett hafa verið nýverið í Litháen, til að bæta samfélagsleg réttindi þeirra. Einnig voru gagnlegar viðræður við fulltrúa Evrópuþingsins og sýnt lokaskjal þingsins um “ The Social Status of Artists“ sem samþykkt var í Menningar- og menntamálanefnd þess 23. 5. 2007.Hægt verður að kynna sér þessi skjöl á innri síðu BÍL.
Hér fylgir lokaskjal ráðstefnunnar:
TO THE PRESS, COLLEAGUES AND COOPERATION PARTNERS
RESOLUTION
On the occasion of the 2007 European Council of Artists’ conference Artists, Creativity, Society: Challenges for the Status of the Artist in the Beginning of the 21st century in Sibiu, cultural capital of Europe, the participants representing national umbrellas of professional artists’ associations from 16 European countries from inside and outside the European Union met to discuss the social status of the artist and related matters.
Taking into account the provisions of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the Communication of the European Commission of April 2007 regarding the role of culture, we support the analyses and conclusions of the 2006 Status of the Artist in Europe study ordered by the European Parliament as it is a very important and positive contribution to seeking a solution for the problems faced by the artists due to the specific and atypical nature of their work.
We urge the EU to stress to national governments the need to adopt legislation on the status of the artist, including education, training, social security, taxation, mobility etc.
In consultation with professional artists’ organisations we propose the drafting of a European charter for activity in the field of artistic creation and the conditions for engaging therein. This would guide public authorities willing to support artistic creation.
On the all-European level itself we consider the following agendas to be of special importance:
• unrestricted mobility of the artist, not only within the EU (cultural passport, blue card adaptation for artists, transfer of pension and welfare entitlements acquired, recognition on Community level of diplomas and other qualification certificates in accordance with the Bologna process);
• establishment of a European clearing house for the exchange of information on legislation and good practices concerning the status of the artist;
• amendment of the European Arrest Warrant to exclude works of art and their creation from its scope;
• enforcement of the full and complete range of authors’ and related rights at EU and member states levels.
The resolution was adopted in Sibiu on 30 September at the close of the conference Artists, Creativity, Society: Challenges for the Status of the Artist in the Beginning of the 21st century held by the European Council of Artists in cooperation with the National Alliance of Creators’ Unions of Romania and financially supported by the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs. The speakers and panellists included two former culture ministers with artistic background, namely Ion Caramitru, actor and president of the Romanian Theatre Creators’ Union, and Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, MEP for Luxembourg. Other contributors were Finnish researcher Vivan Storlund, Romanian composer Liviu Danceanu, Austrian actress Konstanze Breitebner, Romanian MEP from Sibiu Ovidio Gant, Belgian researcher Philippe Kern, Romanian authors’ right expert Eugen Vasiliu, Danish composer Pia Raug, Lithuanian writer Kornelijus Platelis, Romanian sculptor Dumitru Serban and Austrian writer Ludwig Laher.
On 1 October, the Conference was followed by the ECA General Assembly at which the sculptor Michael Burke from Visual Artists Ireland was elected new ECA President.
For further information, please contact Elisabet Diedrichs at the ECA office.
European Council of Artists, Borgergade 111, DK-1300 Copenhagen K, ph +45-35384401, eca@eca.dk