On 4 september, Culture Action Europe, on behalf of a group of 70 networks and organisations from across the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSIs), addressed a letter to the EU Member States and the Council of the EU in protest for the proposed budget cuts.

EWC, as the rest of the signatories, express its concerns and rejects the possibility of such cuts, that would affect in a truly negative way the Creative Europe programme, without producing any significant savings. All cultural and creative industries and sectors would be damaged by this cuts, as this is the only EU’s program dedicated to funding European cultural cooperation.

The opposite way should be, in view of EWC postulates, the right one to choose. Strengthening cultural cooperation is keen to reinforce diversity and the protection of the EU cultural heritage and pulsing energy, very much needed int a complexity growing world. The CULT committee, in fact, asked for an increase of the budget by €43 million for next year.

As the letter poses, “The CCSIs are important drivers of the European economy, with a turnover of €643 billion and a total added value of €253 billion. In 2019, the core activities of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) represented 4.4% of EU GDP in terms of total turnover. For 2022, Eurostat estimates there are 7.7 million cultural workers in the EU with a yearly growth of 4.5% and the smallest gender employment gap ever, with 3.9 million men and 3.8 million women working in the sector.” Public aids and investment is crucial to maintain this highly important sector in its full gear.

You can read the letter here