29 February, 2024

Pop the Vote! Culture on Ballot

“Pop the Vote! Culture on Ballot” encourages active engagement of European citizens around the 2024 European Parliamentary Elections through culture. Co-funded by the European Parliament, Pop the Vote works with young artists and art school students in 13 EU countries to act as Changemakers in their communities and mobilise them to participate in the European Parliamentary elections 2024 by co-creating a multi-action campaign.

Pop the Vote aims to reach citizens, including underrepresented groups that tend to be less engaged with the European decision-making processes and encourage them to participate in the EP elections in 2024.

Where is Pop the Vote taking place?

14 EU countries have been selected for this project: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. These countries were selected based on (1) low voter turnout in the European Parliamentary elections 2019, (2) strong representation of Culture Action Europe members and (3) countries with comparatively higher voters’ turn out to act as an inspiration for others to engage more in the EU debates.

The Changemakers

Pop the Vote selected 4 young artists and/or art students from each of the selected 13 EU countries, making 52 Changemakers total. Changemakers will organise 2 election engagement events in the month leading up to the elections each in their respective countries, reaching 5200 citizens in total.

The diverse group of Changemakers has an average age of 26 and represents countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia and Sweden.

The Changemakers encompass a wide range of artistic disciplines, from visual designers to a large number of dance and choreography applicants, as well as a mix of musicians and composers, representing both contemporary and classical ends of the spectrum. In addition, a part of the Changemakers has a background in theatre and dramaturgy, film, cinematography, photography and videography.

A Pop the Vote! toolkit will be made publicly available on Culture Action Europe’s website in early Spring 2024 so that other artists across Europe can have access to tools and resources to support any of their own Elections-focused projects and campaigns they may be working on. Pop the Vote! platform will be offered to share artistic projects that promote participation in the 2024 Parliamentary Elections.

The PlayGround Camp

In February 2024, the Changemakers travelled to Belgium to participate in the Changemakers’ Playground Camp, a one-week training programme focusing on artivism, campaigning and the use of artistic expression as a political language. The Playground Camp was facilitated by the Artivist Network, a collective of arts activists and facilitators.

While in Belgium, Changemakers had the opportunity to meet with Philipp Schulmeister, Director for Campaigns at the European Parliament, to understand more about how their engagement and campaigning for the elections can influence the future of the EU.

On Tuesday 13 February, the Changemakers also had lunch with members of European networks including the AEC. They then proceeded to carry out a public action at Gare du Midi, putting much of the energy they took from their time at the Parliament into a large-scale mural project that showcased their vision of how to engage others around the upcoming elections. Check out the Press Release here.

By the end of the camp, Changemakers developed a prototype of their proposed engagement events.