Ready for 2017

“Culture needs to be free, but at the same time it is also obvious that a free and vibrant cultural life is the very basis for a vital and sustainable democratic society.”  

The year 2016 has come to end and we're already in the middle of taking the next steps for PA Culture's activities in the year of 2017. Looking back to the second half of 2016, there were two noteworthy events in the PA Culture context. During the 7th Annual EUSBSR Forum in Stockholm, which was very well organized and offered interesting insights into a broad range of issues, PA Culture hosted a session about cultural diversity, in particular we asked: "How do CCS encourage cooperation, innovation and inclusion in a culturally diverse Baltic Sea Region?"

Sweden's Minister for Culture and Democracy, Alice Bah Kuhnke, and the host of the PA Culture Session, Intercult's Chris Torch during the 7th EUSBSR Forum in Stockholm, Sweden.

In order to find answers to these questions, we invited representatives from different sectors who are experts in their field and whose ideas always provide a fresh insight. The discussion, hosted by Intercult's Senior Associate Chris Torch, began with a motivating welcome by Alice Bah Kuhnke, Sweden's Minister for Culture and Democracy. She expressed her gratitude for what PA Culture does by saying: "In an international perspective there is a momentum right now where the role of culture is under review, in a positive way. At the EU level, at the Nordic level and at the national level we're discussing the contribution of culture to society, be it environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. I'm also very happy that the PA Culture of EUSBSR is a front-runner in this." After the introduction Chris Torch was joined in stage by the cultural practitioners, Larry Ugwu from the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre, Susanne Reuszner from Cirkus Cirkör and Hania Hakiel from Give Something Back to Berlin and the two experts Tove Malloy, Director of the European Centre for Minority Issues and Bernd Hemingway, Deputy Director of the Council of Baltic Sea States. If you would like to know more about the event and outcomes please read the following article. 

In close cooperation with the production and resource unit Intercult and the Goethe-Institute Stockholm we also organised the 4th Strategic Project Development Workshop right after the 7th EUSBSR Annual Forum. The trend of dealing with a specific topic, introduced during the 3rd Strategic Project Development Workshop in Warsaw in June 2016, was continued and together with Intercult we put the topic of Audience Development onto the agenda. Moreover sufficient time for networking and dealing with funding issues was provided. If you would like to know more about the event and outcomes please read the following article. 

Also, the PA Culture Steering Group Meeting was held in the facilities of the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in Stockholm. The PA Culture Steering Group involves representatives of the BSR cultural ministries and of BSR organisations addressing cultural issues. During the meeting a number of relevant issues was addressed and the occasion used for updating the other members about new developments. 

In 2017 we'll continue our mission and a number of events are already in the making. If you'd like to learn more, please feel free to subscribe to our newsletter here or find it here.

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