Over the past few months, AEC's lobbying activities focused on three thematic blocks:
1. AEC’s contribution to preparing and adopting the MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework) 2021-2027 by the European Parliament;
2. To raise the voice of AEC in the upcoming European election campaign;
3. To provide support to AEC members or member groups who are facing special challenges.
In the 1st block
1. AEC’s contribution to preparing and adopting the MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework) 2021-2027 by the European Parliament;
2. To raise the voice of AEC in the upcoming European election campaign;
3. To provide support to AEC members or member groups who are facing special challenges.
In the 1st block
- A major success of AEC's lobbying activities is the replacement of the acronym STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) by STEAM (A = Arts). Overall, this means an official acknowledgment of artistic and creative competence as one of the key competences in the context of educational efforts.
- Resulting from discussions with Members of Parliament and in collaboration with partners (e.g. ELIA, IMPALA, EUA), AEC has sought to increasingly manifest Artistic Research in the procurement directives of EU funding programs as Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe.
- CEO Stefan Gies presented AEC’s role at a conference organised by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) on the new EU funding program 'European Universities' on 18 and 19 February in Potsdam. Many representatives of AEC member institutions also attended this conference.
In the 2nd block
- In December 2018, representatives of AEC, ELIA and Culture Action Europe met in Brussels to discuss taking coordinated action to jointly contribute to the European election campaign.
- In the beginning of February, AEC released four electoral questions (Wahlprüfsteine) in joint action with ELIA to help our members obtain information from the parties and the candidates standing for election as Members of the European Parliament, on their positions on art, music and (higher) arts education.
In the 3rd block
- On the 70th anniversary of the Wrocław Academy of Music, the long-standing member of the AEC Council, Grzegorz Kurzynski, emphasized in the presence of the CEO Stefan Gies, AEC's significant contribution to support a constructive implementation within the challenging process of transforming the Polish universities;
- Romanian AEC members have approached us for argumentative support to ensure due consideration of the specific conditions and needs of the Art HEIs in the process of renewing the Romanian University Law;
- With the active support of the AEC Office, a comparative survey has been drawn up on the procedures for recruiting professors in various European countries in order to assist our Italian members in their struggle to gain more self-determination in the recruitment of teachers;
- AEC is supporting the Athens Conservatory in its efforts to be recognised as a Higher Education Institution by the Greek government.
Ultimately, the collaboration with ELIA and also with other partners has become more intense. On 29 January 2019, Eirik Birkeland and Stefan Gies met the newly elected ELIA President Andrea Braidt together with Executive Director Maria Hansen in Vienna. One of the concrete results from this meeting was the idea to found a confederation, to collectively represent Higher Education Institutions in the field of art on a supranational level. The main goal of this initiative is to progressively make the informal cooperation between both associations to a formal level.
