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Final Report of Workshop 6 by chairperson Lydia Papadimitriou
Workshop 6 was initially planned for eight people but four of them did not arrive for the seminar at the last moment, a fact which unsettled the balance of the group and the foreseen plan of discussion.
The discussion focused on "action programmes" for the arts that could be made as specific proposals to the Commission. Initial emphasis was put on the support of theatre, partly because it was recognized that it was an area that needed support, partly because two of the four participants represented it as actors or theatre directors.
Tom Rothfield's proposal was the first to be discussed. Its main points are the following:
- a) the creation of a European Theatre Secretariat - an administrative centre which would co-ordinate theatrical activities around Europe and
- b) the establishment of a European Library of Theatre Arts, Theatre and Lecture Hall Complex along the lines of the Lincoln arts centre in New York, the purpose of which would be to constitute a meeting place for exchange of ideas among artists and researchers around Europe and safeguard Europe's "democratic cultural inheritance".
In the discussion, the European Secretariat seemed to promote the danger of centralization and constitution of an official, homogenous official culture - prospects which none of the participants was in favour of and the proposal was therefore put aside. The Library / theatre / lecture hall complex was a more favoured idea but many qualifications seemed necessary to be made:
- a) Should the complex represent only theatre, or should it be conceived in terms of the other arts (cinema, the visual arts, music etc.) as well?
- b) How should new technologies (computer networks) be used in order to increase accessibility of information around Europe and therefore the democratization of the role of such complex?
Britta Heinrich supported the idea of a centre devoted to "the arts" rather than the theatre only. She emphasized the need for the creation of a network for artists (through information technology) and also stressed the importance of exchange between artists (through physical mobility and meeting at a centre).
Manolis Sormainis recognized the importance of a wider exchange between artists from various fields, but was very sceptical of "institutional frameworks impeding rather than encouraging cultural developments" (see his proposal). He emphasized the need to support non-established artists and create a network of exchange between artists aside from the "official festivals".
A lot of interesting ideas emerged but time was not enough for us to reach a final conclusion / action programme. There was no consensus as to the ways in which "theory" and "practice" should be interrelated (and "translated" in European cultural action), but the need for more paths for communication and "learning from differences" was unanimously supported.
The Fifth Seminar "Culture, Building Stone for Europe 2002" provided for all of us a locus of exchange of important ideas and we hope that it would be possible for it to continue in the future. It was very positive for us to realize that workshop 8 and 10 reached roughly similar conclusions in terms of cultural actions in Europe, a fact which suggests that both consensus and diversity, identity and difference, will continue to form the cultural map of Europe until 2002 - and beyond.
« Participants of Workshop 6 | Considerations and reflections by Hatto Fischer »