Creating social cohesion through cultural initiatives: Key learnings

Lars Ebert, Director of Cultural Action Europe, highlighted different key policy developments at EU level:

• The Faro Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2005) has helped to frame many of the more positive – and socially progressive – aspects of cultural heritage policies. A key message is that Heritage is not only about ‘belonging’, but also ‘becoming’. The Faro Convention promotes the notion of heritage communities, i.e. “self-organised, self-managed groups of individuals who are interested in the progressive social transformation of relationships between peoples, places and stories, with an inclusive approach based on an enhanced definition of heritage”.
• The Porto Santo Charter is a guiding document on cultural democracy drafted in 2021. It promotes the notion of “Full Cultural Citizenship”. Many cultural policies lack ambition when it comes to triggering participation. Cultural democracy implies that as many people as possible co-design cultural experiences and co-create their outputs. This presupposes that cultural institutions provide meeting and creation venues, focus on emancipation and empowerment and encourage cultural amateur activities. Attendance of cultural events is welcome, but insufficient.
• Frameworks for the assessment and monitoring of cultural initiatives’ contribution to social cohesion exist. A European Parliament report entitled Cultural and Democracy: the Evidence has also recently been published by the European Parliament. These methods and results could be better mobilised by EU Policies, e.g. in Cohesion Policy. Culture is also currently Declaration.pdf">inadequately addressed in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals.
• The Cáceres Declaration adopted by EU Ministers of Culture in September 2023 states that cultural policies should be considered as an essential vector of social cohesion and sustainable development.

Caroline Couret, Director of the Creative Tourism Network, provided examples of localities, regions and cities that have promoted Creative Tourism. This is tourism that focuses on ‘activities’ and ‘human exchanges’ rather than on ‘destination’.

Hosting territories create an ecosystem of ‘dream makers’ who provide experiences for tourists. Their activities are embedded in local and regional heritage, but also in the creativity of communities and individuals. The Creative Tourism Network develops a Code of Ethics and list of good practice. This is a model for how economic and social benefits can go hand in hand.

Diogo Enriques of the Association for Development of the Superior Technical Institute (ADIST) discussed the role of culture in an urban reconversion project, transforming a Lisbon industrial site into a centre for creative activities and social interaction called LX Factory. LX Factory initially rented out affordable workspaces for artists and creators.

Two cultural initiatives were also key in promoting the initiative: inviting street artists to decorate the site and opening a large second-hand bookshop with subsidised rent. As LX Factory became more popular, rents increased and many of the artists moved on to other locations. This raises questions on whether cultural initiatives and creativity thrive best in temporary bubbles protected from market pressures.

There are examples of associations that have specialised in acquiring knowledge and know-how on how to best make use of temporary urban sites, e.g. Yes We Camp in Paris. However, this also presupposes a critical reflection on how such cultural activities complement those that benefit from permanent infrastructures and have long-term development perspectives.

The webinar explored a field of reflection that is still relatively new in the contexts of local and regional development and interregional cooperation. Cultural initiatives across Europe could benefit from more systematic reflections and strategies on how to optimise their impacts on social cohesion.

Policy documents, methods, tools and good practices exist. They now have to be applied. This also holds true for EU-funded Interreg programmes, which dedicate a significant part of their funding cultural initiatives. As a first step, their evaluation systems could make use of the assessment and monitoring tools developed by the Faro Convention Network.

Download the presentations below.