The brainstorming report “Social inclusion: partnering with other sectors” by the Voices of Culture (VoC) has recently been released.

The VoC initiative was launched by the European Commission in order to establish a structured dialogue between the Commission and the cultural sector. AEC was one of the 35 partners who participated in the brainstorming sessions and dialogue meetings.

The report includes good practices and highlights the obstacles when dealing with culture and social inclusion. In particular, the problem of rising exclusionary attitudes among the wider population was mentioned. As a conclusion, the following recommendations are given:

  • Fostering the values of inclusiveness in the wider population should become a top priority of the EU and member states.
  • Arts and Cultural heritage should help people of all ages to experience both the historical roots and the contemporary relevance of the values of inclusiveness. The EU and the member states should increase and facilitate support for such arts and heritage activities.
  • The EU should increase their supplemental support for culture, fostering the EU’s core values of social inclusiveness also at a local level. This support should encourage partnering with local communities and other sectors.
  • Cultural education (formal and non-formal) is a vital prerequisite for cultural awareness and expression.
AEC was able to draw further attention on the last point on cultural education. We strongly believe that this will encourage social inclusion in a changing society.
More information can be found in the final report “Social inclusion: partnering with other sectors”.