Voices Of Culture – The structured dialogue between the European Commission and the cultural sector is delighted to announce the publication of the Brainstorming Report on the topic ‘International Cultural Relations’ in English, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Spanish!

In a context informed by the increasing geopolitical tussle, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, experiences and traumas of the Covid-19 pandemic and broader economic, political, social and technological change, the practices and the very paradigm of global international cultural relations (ICR) must be constantly evaluated. The stakeholders of ICR, ranging from the state to the individual and including cultural and creative sector civil society organisations (CSOs) and cultural actors, have both a role to play and at the same time must hold themselves and others accountable for creating the space and time to develop more sustainable, accessible, equitable and inclusive ICR.

The Brainstorming report represents a collection of topics, recommendations, tangible steps and project ideas drawn from the Voices of Culture Structured Dialogue on ICR in February 2022. Four considerations – equity, space, access and time – have been used to address complex topics in ICR. They enhance, within this framework, a more inclusive approach and bring new voices into the co-design of ICR activities and the exploring of funding mechanisms. While avoiding reinventing the wheel, the discussions gave space to share knowledge, time to read and learn from others, and an understanding of the gaps in information, knowledge and perspectives.

Written in an accessible and inclusive language, this document is aimed at both cultural practitioners on a local level, with concrete tips and practices but also provides people in policy making positions with useful tools for their work. The report features a comprehensive summary section, providing an overview of the main points of each chapter. 

This Brainstorming report results from a three-day Voices of Culture Brainstorming meetings held online in February 2022. 43 participants representing 39 cultural sector organisations recommended that global and EU decision-makers, joined by the cultural sector itself should embrace the challenging areas of discussion and begin to plan for more inclusive, bottom-up ICR by taking ownership of the presented recommendations and proposals for actions.

The first step in this process was presented to the European Commission (EC) on 18 March 2022, after which point the output was edited, and is now published in 5 different languages and shared globally with ICR and cultural sector stakeholders.

Voices of Culture is funded by the European Commission and implemented by Goethe-Institut. Its main objective is to provide a channel for the voices from cultural sector to be heard at EU and member state levels, strengthen the advocacy capacity of the cultural sector in policy debates whilst encouraging the sector and the Commission to work more closely together. 

The Brainstorming Report can be accessed here: