“What if we dared to ask not just how festivals can serve society, but how society can learn from the courage, imagination, and resilience that festivals embody?”. Viewing “Culture on a Tightrope”, EFA's new policy paper calls to “value culture on its own terms” and nurture festivals “with policies rooted in trust, reciprocity, and shared purpose”.
By Eirini Polydorou“While festivals play an increasingly prominent role in public life, coherent and integrated festival policies remain rare across Europe” reads the new EFFE Seal publication: ‘Festivals in Context: The Role of the Arts in Local Cultural Policy’.
The report was coordinated and published by the European Festival Association and written by Elena Polivtseva, Independent researcher and co-founder of Culture Policy Room, including research and contributions by Leonie Facius, Research Trainee at EFA and the EFFE Seal for Festival Cities and Regions - an initiative by the European Festivals Association, co-funded by the European Union.
Instead of taking festivals' own perspective, the lens of the paper focuses on how cities and regions perceive the role and value of festivals within their territories.
The report visualises 'Culture on a Tightrope' and explores the European context of “multiple crises and deep uncertainty”. Challenges such as political instability, social polarisation, economic austerity and environmental urgency have been accumulating pressure, along with limited funding, instrumentalisation and the politics of valuing culture.
Viewing festivals as “spaces to imagine, rehearse, and celebrate possible futures, helping communities consolidate their agency and preserve a sense of collectivity”, the paper calls for cultural policy “that acknowledges the unique contribution of culture, festivals and the arts: to generate meaning, create a sense of belonging, and sustain empathy across divides”.
Aiming at mapping key topics and offering critical points, rather than an exhaustive research, the report sets questions to spark debate and argues that: “The challenge is precisely to unleash the deep engagement of art and culture with society, a relationship that is natural and inherent in artistic work, while preserving the autonomy and freedom of artists and cultural workers, and valuing culture on its own terms”.
“Balancing the Values and Roles of Festivals is Inherently Political”
Festivals are approached under seven perspectives-chapters of the paper: as points of cultural access, as community-builders, economic engines, cradles for artistic development, identity- and place-makers, climate actors and catalysts for well-being. Following analysis of the seven approaches, the question is set: “Multi-tasking the arts: can festivals do it all?”.
Summing the many balancing acts under artistic balances, economic and social dimensions and the green transitions, the report’s author Elena Polivtseva suggests that: “The matter of balancing the values and roles of festivals is also inherently political. Decisions about emphasising one cultural value of festivals over another are never neutral; they depend on and ultimately define the power relations between different interests in the public domain”.
Beyond Instrumentalisation
Festivals' autonomy and self-determination are often challenged by political visions and goals, while the needs of citizens and communities must be taken under consideration. "Cultural policy is ultimately not designed to benefit artists alone. Public policy exists to serve the public need, and the key issue is defining clearly what specific and unique public need festivals meet", reads the report.
The paper proposes building synergetic approaches of respectful and equal partnerships between policymakers, municipalities and festivals, always keeping in mind "the core purpose of the arts: to meet the cultural needs of communities - needs that must be defined collectively, from the bottom up, in full respect of artistic freedom, and continuously promoted and defended by and beyond cultural departments".
Suggesting a shifting towards a new cultural contract for festivals, beyond instrumentalisation, the paper provides the example of Pascal Le Brun-Cordier’s Contract of Resonance.
Background
The paper is based on policy analysis, research, and insights from the EFFE Seal community gathered in the past year. It draws evidence from 16 local and regional cultural policy frameworks across Europe to explore how cities and regions define, support, and value festivals — and how these relationships reflect broader transformations in cultural policy today.
Find more here
Image 1 by 준열 최 from Pixabay - Free for use under the Pixabay Content License
