IFACCA members from throughout Europe met in Athens on 2-3 November to share their expertise on a range of arts policy issues and consider the possibility of collaborations. The senior executives of 12 national arts funding agencies (in Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, England, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Romania, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Wales) were joined by members of IFACCA’s board from Australia, Canada, China, Kenya and Singapore. Also present at the meeting were representatives of the National Arts Council of South Africa, hosts of the 2009 World Summit, and IFACCA’s Executive Director, Sarah Gardner, and European Liaison, Diane Dodd. The list of the 26 delegates is attached.
The discussion was informed by a paper, Arts and Artists in Europe: New Challenges, commissioned by IFACCA from Dr Andreas Wiesand and Danielle Cliche of the Bonn-based research institute, ERICarts (we will publish this paper in ACORNS soon). Participants expanded on the issues raised in the paper; in particular, those issues relating to current working conditions for artists including mobility and artists’ rights. They also discussed models of support for contemporary and emerging arts practices, cultural diversity and other cultural policy developments in Europe.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Scottish Arts Council offered to host a follow-up meeting of European members in 2008 to enable more in-depth discussion. The IFACCA secretariat undertook to assist in networking European members to facilitate the sharing of case studies and other information. The host of the meeting, the Hellenic Culture Organisation of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, represented by IFACCA board member Georgia Iliopoulou, arranged for tours of the Acropolis and the Archaeological Museum, and attendance at a performance by the Megaron Orchestra, Camerata of the Friends of Music.