| Policies for Culture
(PfC) was developed from 2000 to 2008 as a regional framework
programme for South East Europe by the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam)
and the ECUMEST Association (Bucharest). Since the year 2000, Policies
for Culture has aimed to encourage a participative principle in the design,
implementation and evaluation of new effective cultural policies throughout
the countries of this region.
From 2000 until 2005, Policies for Culture has supported more than 20
action projects all over South East Europe. These local initiatives promoted
interaction and dialogue between citizens, the cultural sector and the
responsible decision-makers. To date the principle of participative cultural
policy-making is still shared and further developed by a number of new
follow-up initiatives all over the region and also beyond South East Europe.
After eight dynamic years of development, networking, capacity building,
debates, research, publications and dissemination on cultural policy-making,
the Policies for Culture programme has officially been closed by the end
of 2008. This website stays online as an archive of backup information
on participative policy-making in South East Europe featuring all the
PfC past project activities, publications and reports available in English
and/or the different local languages.
The details provided below reflect the vision and areas of action of
the programme until the point of its closure.
OBJECTIVES & APPROACH
The programme was structured around the triangular working relationship
between civil society, the executive, and the legislature in the policy-making
process affecting the cultural sector. It was based on the recognition
that public policy in the field of culture can only have a sustainable
impact if the civic stakeholders whom it is to affect participate in its
formulation. Emphasis was placed on finding channels of communication
between these levels (which are not used to interacting); and, by encouraging
participative policy making in the field of culture, on empowering the
independent sector to voice its opinions. To this end, Policies for Culture
- inspired initiatives engaged policy makers and the cultural sector of
South East Europe in a serious reflection process on local and national
cultural policies. They encouraged all players involved to translate ongoing
policy debates into concrete actions that have contributed to a sustainable
bottom-up strengthening of the cultural sector in the municipalities and
countries of the region.
KEY AREAS OF ACTION
1. Practical action
Until 2005, Policies for Culture has facilitated the development and
financially supported the implementation of a variety of local initiatives
aimed at turning theory into concrete action. Visit the Action
projects page to learn more about the more than 20 action projects
implemented all over South East Europe.
2. Analysis and research
The need for cultural policy research has been a recurrent topic in
the various programme activities. Throughout the entire SEE region there
is still an urgent need for independent research to evaluate policies
and their actual impact, and to use research results as a basis for
good quality decision-making.
In 2004 and 2005, Policies for Culture specifically addressed this area
by the means of a Task Force for Cultural Policy Research. Visit
the Task Force page
for further details.
3. Information and documentation
From the early days of the programme until 2008 the Policies for Culture
website aims to enhance the flow of cultural policy information and
acquired expertise in South East Europe (and beyond) by developing and
making available a variety of reports, publications and other information
(re)sources.
Visit the Publications section of the website for consulting the programme's
e-periodicals, printed editions of programme publications and other
resources.
THE POLICIES FOR CULTURE NETWORK
Since its beginnings, Policies for Culture has been based on a broad range
of partnerships involving cultural operators, professional artists, local
and national cultural authorities as well as administration, parliamentarians,
media, university institutions, cultural and policy research centres,
cultural policy experts and policy institutions all over the region and
the European Union. The professional ties developed through the programme
continue to keep the goals of the programme alive throughout South East
Europe and the wider EU neighbourhood. To date the numerous members of
the Policies for Culture network continue to lobby and develop further
action in the field of participative cultural policy-making in South East
Europe. Visit Our Network's
page for details.
BEYOND SOUTH EAST EUROPE
Since 2004, experience gained through Policies for Culture action
in South East Europe has been used to promote and facilitate participative
cultural policy making also in countries outside South East Europe. Over
the past years the European Cultural Foundation has translated project
knowledge acquired by Policies for Culture into numerous capacity development
projects in Slovakia, Kaliningrad (Russian Federation), Turkey and Ukraine.
For an overview on these spin-off projects visit the Beyond
SEE section of the Action Projects page or www.eurocult.org.
To download Policies for Culture Short Presentation use the download
button on the top of this page.
|
Info 
