[Nettime-nl] call for support "70 cents for culture campaign"

["SMART Project Space" <info@smartprojectspace.net>]

Dear Friends,

Please read the below and support the "70 cents for Culture" campaign.
Kind regards,

Thomas Peutz
director SMART Project Space


Welcome to the ECF¹s latest e-zine. We have decided to dedicate this
second issue of 2005 to the ? 70 Cents for Culture¹ campaign, which we initiated
along with EFAH (European Forum for the Arts & Heritage). There is
already much to report. We hope you will be able to support this important
campaign by:

 * signing the attached campaign manifesto
 * disseminating information on the campaign among your network,
    colleagues and interested parties
 * lobby with us for an increased EU culture budget for 2007-2013

The campaign will be officially launched at the European Parliament in
Brussels next week (15 March). Personalities from the arts, politics,
business, and an array of NGOs will be there to lend support. The draft
programme can be viewed at www.eurocult.org.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions regarding this
e-zine, please write to Armelle Desmarchelier - adesmarchelier@eurocult.org.
Do you know someone who would like to receive this e-zine? If so, all
they  need to do to subscribe online is visit www.eurocult.org, then click ECF
e-zine (bottom left) and register.

If you do not wish to receive the e-zine, please reply to this message
with the subject heading Unsubscribe¹.


CAMPAIGN ´70 CENTS FOR CULTURE`

Birth of a campaign
One of the policy recommendations arising from the Sharing Cultures
Conference (Rotterdam, 11-13 July 2004) has burgeoned into an energetic
lobbying campaign, summed up in the slogan  ? 70 cents for culture¹.
A merely adequately resourced EU culture programme would require an
annual budget of at least 315 million Euros (70 cents per EU citizen) as
opposed to the present 34 million Euros allocated to the EU¹s sole budget-line for
culture (which is the equivalent of Helsinki¹s cultural budget!).

The ? 70 cents for culture¹ proposal is backed by the European
Parliament¹s Culture Committee and has received the endorsement of four major
political  parties in the European Parliament (Group of the European People¹s
Party, Socialist Group, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Group
of the Greens/European Free Alliance).

In January 2005, some members of the EP¹s Culture Committee, including
its President, Mr Nikolaos Sifunakis, and Mr Vasco Graça Moura, Rapporteur
of the Culture 2007 programme, co-signed a letter to European Commission
President Mr Barroso and to Mr Juncker, President-in-office of the Council
of Ministers of the European Union. This letter asked that they fully consider the
policy recommendations put forward by the ?70 cents for culture¹ campaign. 
The decision was then taken to launch the campaign officially.


Campaign Launch 15 March at the European Parliament
Invitations have been sent to 350 political, institutional, corporate
and civil society actors, and the press has been kept well informed. For the
European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, President EPP-ED group,
Martin Schulz, President PSE group, and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, President of the
EFA Green Alliance have confirmed their presence. Philippe De Buck,
Secretary-General of UNICE (Union of Industrial and Employers
Confederations of Europe), representing the voice of business in Europe, has also
confirmed UNICE¹s contribution to the event. Press material is being prepared and
a press release will be available on the ECF and EFAH websites on 16 March
2005.


What you need to know:
Everything is to be found on the ECF website (www.eurocult.org). Simply
click on the yellow  ?70 Cents for Culture¹ button in the top right
corner and you will find:
- The campaign Manifesto in four languages (English, French, German and
Dutch).
- Documents arguing the case for a substantial increase in the EU budget for
Culture and an accompanying budget outline. A background paper presents
the position of the ECF and EFAH. The OCulture and the Lisbon Agenda¹ paper
reveals why investment in culture and the promotion of Europe¹s creative
capital are so essential for Europe¹s competitiveness.
- Statements of support: You can browse the list of signatories to the
Manifesto and also read letters sent by MEPs from the various political
groupings to Mr Barroso and Juncker. We are encouraged by the growing
support for the campaign following the strong statement on the EU's
cultural dimension made by Commission President Barroso at the Berlin conference
- 'A Soul for Europe' (November 2004) and at the Brussels conference
'Dialogue between Peoples and Cultures' (February 2005).

What you can do to campaign with us
1. Sign the manifesto 
You can help us to bring more influence to bear upon the campaign¹s
outcome by signing the attached manifesto. The more supporters we have, the
greater the chance of attaining our goal! All you need to do is click on ? 70
Cents for Culture¹, then Support 70 Cents¹, fill in your name and the names
of your organisation and country, and click Send¹.
2. Get it signed by others!
Please forward this request to prominent representatives of the
business/cultural/political world.
3. Raise awareness of the issue, e.g. with your national/local
authorities; make them open to the idea. This will be crucial when it comes to
determining the final decision on the budget.
4. Secure media involvement in the campaign and inform our press
attachée, Ms Mascha Ihwe (mihwe@eurocult.org) about your media contacts and
possible
initiatives


Our first deadline is of course 15 March, but this campaign will
continue until a decision on the EU budget has been taken. No one yet knows when
this will be. We are preparing ourselves for a long, but ultimately successful campaign!


For further details, please visit www.eurocult.org or contact the ECF¹s campaigner, 

Isabelle Schwarz, in Amsterdam (ischwarz@eurocult.org).
European Cultural Foundation
Jan van Goyenkade 5
1075 HN Amsterdam
tel +31 20 5733868
fax +31 20 6752231
www.eurocult.org 



The ECF is grateful for the core support of DeBankGiroLoterij and De
Lotto (via the Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation).
It also thanks the following organisations for supporting its activities
in 2004/2005: Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst; Compagnia di San Paolo; City
of Amsterdam; City of Rotterdam; Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and
Sciences; Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; HIVOS (Humanist Institute
for Development Cooperation); the European Union - Directorate General
Education and Culture; Swedish Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and UNICEF.
It also thanks all those who have pledged support for the four-year
pilot phase of the LAB initiative (Laboratory of European Cultural
Cooperation): 
European Union - Directorate General Education and Culture; Compagnia di
San Paolo; Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences; Polish
Ministry of Culture; Norwegian Foundation for the Freedom of Expression; Norwegian
Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs; Robert Bosch Foundation; Swiss
Migros Genossenschaftsbund and Swedish Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.





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