Artistic freedom and cultural diversity are essential principles for our society, and for AEC, they are important cornerstones in our work to advance higher music education. In recent months, these principles have been in the spotlight through events in which AEC has taken part.
The flagship event of the European Music Council, the European Forum for Music 2025 took place in Brussels on 11-12 June, and it celebrated 20 years of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
The 2005 Convention is viewed as a significant step toward establishing standards for cultural policy so that art and culture can flourish in their diversity. It also promotes equal and fair international exchange of art and culture and is regarded as a counterbalance to international trade agreements that favour the liberalisation of trade in all areas. A key element of the Convention is the recognition of the dual nature of cultural expressions having an intrinsic and societal value as well as an economic impact.
From an AEC perspective, artistic freedom and the freedom of artistic expression are indispensable principles. However, we continue to see growing challenges, even within Europe’s borders. According to the international organisation Freemuse, that monitors and documents the state of artistic freedom across the globe, there are increasing numbers of cases where musicians are imprisoned or even lose their lives because of their artistic expressions.
Therefore, including artistic freedom in the Rule of Law report is a key objective of the cultural sector to establish consistent monitoring alongside media and academic freedom.
Open Culture! International Conference
Under the patronage of the European Parliament, an international conference on the growing concerns about artistic freedom and worsening conditions for the cultural life in Slovakia and in Europe took place on 29-30 May in Bratislava. AEC Senior Advisor Stefan Gies was present.
The goal of the conference was to assess the current cultural policy landscape, identify the risks posed by authoritarian tendencies, and work together to find strategies to defend cultural freedom. The conference was organized by a member of the Open Culture platform Matej Drlička, former Director General of the Slovak National Theatre who was removed from his position by Slovakian Minister of Culture Martina Simkovicova.
Discussions lead to the proposal to create a legal instrument suited to protect the freedom of art in analogy to the rule of law in all EU member states. In addition, participants adopted the Bratislava Declaration, which was immediately recognised by the public and whose first signatories included the AEC. We encourage everyone to sign the declaration and support not only the Slovakian cultural life but also artistic freedom as a fundamental pillar of our society.
Read more about the conference, its background and content here.
