Mainstreaming Culture across EU Policy Fields in the Post 2020 Financial Framework

 Henry Moore, Krieger mit Schild, Kunsthalle Mannheim

Henry Moore, Krieger mit Schild, Kunsthalle Mannheim

When the future programme for the cultural and creative sectors was presented by the European Commission in the end of May 2018, it was clear that Creative Europe remains and that culture will be mainstreamed across policy fields.

Find an overview of how culture is to be mainstreamed and reinforced in the programmes presented below. It is safe to say that cultural heritage is the most represented cultural sector across EU programmes and it is the one cultural sub-sector that is being considered in the legal basis.

The new Digital Europe Programme (€9.2 billion budget) - ‘Education and culture’ is listed as a specific objective. However, it only mentions the creative industries and cultural heritage as target sectors.

Horizon Europe (proposed budget of €100 billion) - the research and innovation programme includes the need “to remove barriers and boost synergies between science, technology, culture and the arts to obtain a new quality of sustainable innovation” and recognises cultural changes as one of the main drivers shaping contemporary society. Culture is included in the cluster "Inclusive and Secure Society". Areas of Intervention within this cluster are Democracy, including “The role of multi-cultural citizenship and identities in relation to democratic citizenship and political engagement” and Cultural Heritage (see full details on page 26). The cluster "Digital and Industry", within the area of intervention ‘Manufacturing Technologies’, considers culture and creativity as an input.

Education area / Erasmus (proposed budget 30 billion) - the Commission's vision on a European Education Area 2025, includes “A continent in which people have a strong sense of their identity as Europeans, of Europe's cultural heritage and its diversity" and Erasmus must contribute to that end. Aligned with Creative Europe legal basis, Erasmus will be “an important complement to the future Creative Europe programme”, in particular, by enabling cooperation between institutions and organisations active in the education, training and youth field with a view to develop “knowledge, skills and competences needed to face social and economic challenges as well as fulfil their potential for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, in particular within the digital economy".

Regional development and cohesion - the  proposal for a "European Regional Development Fund and on the Cohesion Fund" is established as one of the specific objectives: "a Europe closer to citizens by fostering the sustainable and integrated development of urban, rural and coastal areas and local initiatives". It aims to do so by promoting the integrated social, economic and environmental development, cultural heritage and security in urban areas and rural and coastal areas also through community-led local development (CLLD).
                 
Rights and Values programme - the new programme demarcates its area of intervention based on European values. In the justification of the programme, cultural heritage and diversity are to be strengthened to build common European knowledge and shared basis. The Rights and Values Programme proposes 3 objectives to promote equality and rights (Equality and rights strand), to promote citizens engagement and participation in the democratic life of the Union (Citizens' engagement and participation strand), to fight violence (Daphne strand). Under the Citizen’s engagement strand the programme foresees as an specific objective increasing citizens’ understanding of the Union, its history, cultural heritage and diversity.