recommendations of the advisory committee of the eastern partnership culture programme for european...

Recommendations of the Advisory Committee of theEastern Partnership Culture Programme for European

Commission - DEVCO

Creating a Vision for the next transitory Phase of the Eastern Partnership Culture Programme (EaP) 2015-2017

The main goal of this Document of policy recommendations is to support the initiative of the European Commission (EC) for the extension of the Eastern Partnership Culture Programme and setting new goals in the context of the future development of the EaP Culture Programme. In order to achieve a long term impact and a better quality of the future Programme, the Advisory Committee (AC) members analysed the Programme achievements and tried to anticipate future policy for cooperation between European Union and the countries of the Eastern Partnership that carry out activities in the culture sector.

The comprehensive recommendations for EC were developed based on the meetings of the Advisory Committee in the period October 2012 - December 2013, on the Mid-term Programme Progress Report of the 15 projects and on Report summarizing the results of the Cultural Policy Exchange Workshops.

The Advisory Committee of the Eastern Partnership Culture Programme calls on the EC-DEVCO:

Creating Culture Contact Points (CCP) within the EaP countries

For the next phase, a network of the Culture Contact Points should be set up in the EaP countries under the umbrella of the EaP Culture Programme.

CCP could: provide advice and support to EaP arts and cultural organizations

applying for EU programmes funding; promote the objectives of the EaP Culture Programme and of the

Creative Europe Programme in the EaP countries; provide guidelines and consulting support to access funding for

collaborative European arts and culture projects;

Advisory Committee EASTERN PARTNERSHIP CULTURE PROGRAMME 1

provide capacity building programmes for arts and cultural organisations from the EaP countries;


provide support for collaborative projects, co-productions and intraregional networking in the EaP countries;

provide support for qualitative independent research, information and dissemination activities for all stakeholders;

create an independent media space as well as an independent physical space for cultural projects (education, production);

be a meeting point for those who develop projects; be a common Platform/Channel where to get information for cross-

border cooperation and networking.

CCP’s should: support cultural policy reforms for sustainable cultural development

of the EaP countries; support all stakeholders and institutions that are important to the

strategic development of the country, to avoid competitiveness; focus and invest into the new generation, transfer skills to young

west oriented professionals; play the role of critical and professional media and competent

experts; help non-governmental cultural sector to find funding and partners,

free of conflict of interests and open to all possible funds; filter and select available information to what is relevant for local

stakeholders; advise the Ministries of Culture (MoC's) based on research,

monitoring and surveys; provide support for the MoC’s in accomplishing their tasks, as a

service to the sector.

It is important for the next phase of the EaP Culture Programme to identify one contact person/expert per EU Delegation in the EaP countries that will be in charge of CCP locally to ensure efficiency of the EaP Culture Programme.

Selection of the Projects by EC

It would better serve the sustainable development of the cultural sector if there would be space for different types of institutions, applying different criteria for different levels of budgets. Institutions capable to deal with big budget often have a tendency to apply for grants as part of a business model and not so much because of their dedication to the causes at stake, while emerging independent civil society organisations that are full heartedly engaged for supporting the sustainable development of their society are not eligible and do not get the opportunity to become eligible, because there is not enough local support that allows for small NGO’s to grow. This keeps the independent sector weak and leads in consequence to a lack of qualified and motivated, as well as financially stable institutions that can act as leading or project partners.

Recommendations for the next tender call of EaP Culture Programme:


to introduce for the next call several budget categories/levels connected to modified/adopted selection criteria;

to introduce small grants at country level for small projects, that could team-up with partners in other countries (co-production), in order to include the trans-national (regional) approach of the EC;

alternatively to set-up “platforms” that get the big grants for sub-granting to smaller agents;

support should be provided to non-governmental structural funds and institutions, and not only for projects via grants;

to increase the EaP Culture Programme funds; to carry out the new needs assessment separately in each of the EaP

countries for properly preparing the next phase of the programme; to organize a public call for selection of the national expert or the

team of experts who will carry out the needs assessment at the country level in each EaP country;

the EaP Culture Programme should have at least two working languages. The second one should be defined for different local events/activities depending on target groups and the region;

to involve in the selection process local or regional cultural experts from EaP countries who know better the stakeholders and cultural sector of the country;

to avoid any implication or giving priority to the Regional Monitoring and Capacity Building Unit (RMCBU) Office in the next call for the tender;

to stimulate export of co-production’s of EaP countries on EU market and not just collaborations between EaP regions;

to motivate creation of public-private partnerships; to give priority to organisations from the EaP countries to become

leading partners in the projects. to improve the communication between the Advisory Committee and

EC-DEVCO by regular annual meetings; in order to avoid any conflict of interest Members of Advisory

Committee should not benefit from programme activities by receiving programme grants or trainings;

in order to avoid any conflicts between the Programme Partners to provide after selection process a model of Partnership Agreement;

taking in account the lack of skills in budgeting and accounting to provide technical assistance and trainings for EaP organisations;

to increase the stuff of RMCBU for monitoring and evaluation of the projects in the next programme;

to set up specific indicators of monitoring and measuring the impact, the performances and success of the projects and the program;

to involve in the staff of the Capacity Building Unity of the next programme managers with experience in culture sector and not just project managers;

taking in account the political situation in Belarus and Azerbaijan to support legal entity institutions from private cultural sector.


Capacity building programme

For the next phase of the EaP Culture Programme the capacity building component should be a top priority in order to continue the reinforcement of the cultural sector of the EaP countries. Currently the intensive trainings are one of the most efficient instruments for strengthening the capacities of non for profit organizations, private, public cultural organizations and local public administrations. Even if it is a strong demand to invest in human resources, in all 6 countries of EaP it is a lack of institutions and lack of donors that financially support capacity building programmes, while the MoC's don’t have capacity to do it.

The capacity building programme will contribute to development of long-term strategies and concrete measures for structural improvements of the cultural sector in the EaP Countries. In order to improve the capacity building programme the Advisory Committee recommends:

to provide targeted assistance to core institutions of the cultural sector of EaP countries;

to increase the funds for the capacity building programs; to use the capacities building trainings as an instrument for

preparing leaders that will develop and efficiently implement reforms in cultural sectors of EaP countries;

to take active role in upgrading cultural policies in the EaP countries; to design and deliver the capacity building programme separately

for every country according to the specific needs and level of the development of the cultural sector of the country, since it is inefficient to use the same programme model, tactics and approaches for all 6 countries;

to create specific capacity building programmes for the civil society from Belorussia;

to introduce in the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the next tender for the capacity building programme a clause of involvement of organizations and experts from the EaP countries;

the company or the consortium selected for providing the capacity building programme should also include organizations and experts from the EaP countries;

to decentralise the process of delivering the capacity building programme and to involve local stakeholders in designing the structure and content of the trainings;

to translate guides and manuals on cultural policy and art management in the languages of the EaP countries;

to introduce in the terms of reference (ToR) for the next tender for the capacity building programme a clause of submitting a manual for the art managers as the final product of the training;

to support cultural higher educational institutions from the EaP countries to develop and implement their curricula for preparing cultural managers;


to select through the next tender a new institution or consortium that will deliver the capacity building programme and to avoid giving any priority for Capacity Building Unit for the next phase;

to stimulate and support mobility between EaP and EU countries. to prepare for participants of capacity building trainings a contract

with specific responsibilities of involvement and participation in the programme;

to prepare a model of evaluation by the trainers of the performances of participants of the capacity building trainings.

Cultural Policies Reforms

The EaP countries have an asymmetrical level of development of civil society and of the cultural sector in general. In this context European Commission should approach each EaP country individually, in order to develop different smart objectives for every country, with specific projects at local, regional and national level. In this regard the Advisory Committee recommends:

to support developing National Strategies of the Cultural Development in the EaP countries;

to provide necessary support (such as informational, communication, and co-financing) for ensuring the participation of the Eastern Partnership countries in the Creative Europe Programme;

to update the objectives of the next EaP Culture Programme according to the DCFTA;

to set up new road-maps for development of cultural sectors of the EaP countries with new indicators of performances in cultural policy reforms;

to provide advanced training and professional development opportunities for governmental and non-governmental workers and cultural institutions with particular attention on cultural policies, art management, lobby, advocacy and policy research;

to use the analytical base-line reports on the cultural sector and cultural policy as an instrument for national debates, lobby and advocacy in the cultural sector of the EaP countries;

to consult the MoC's of the EaP countries on harmonizing national reforms with the European cultural policies and standards;

to use the website of the EaP Culture Programme as an open platform for promotion of the best practices in cultural policies reforms in the EaP countries;

to carry out in the EaP countries new studies and diagnostics on cultural policies after the first phase of the EaP Culture Programme;

to use culture as a tool for regional development; to decentralize cultural projects from the capitals of EaP countries

to the region in order to stimulate active citizen participation in cultural sphere;

to encourage the European cultural institutes, such as British Council, Goethe Institute, Instituto Cervantes, European Cultural Houses etc. to open their offices in the EaP countries as a tool for European cultural diplomacy;


to de-politicize culture as liberation from post-communist mentality; to pay attention to specific national conditions within the intra-

regional approach for Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan; to take in account the present political situation of Belarus and to

develop specific strategies and approach for development of the cultural sector of Belarus with accent on development of civil society;

to support creation of National Funds for Culture and Arts Councils in the EaP countries as an alternative mechanism of financing cultural sector;

to stimulate EU donors institutions to invest in the development of cultural sector of EaP countries.

Transparency of the EaP Culture Programme

to carry out an independent financial auditing of the EaP Culture Programme and of RMCBU Kiev Office;

to publish the auditing reports of the EaP Culture Programme on the website http://euroeastculture.eu;

to review and improve the monitoring indicators of measuring the efficiency of the EaP Culture Programme;

to conduct a comprehensive survey of EaP Culture Programme in all countries in order to measure the impact and efficiency of the Programme and make the results public by publishing them on the website http://euroeastculture.eu and distributing them to the stakeholders.

Visibility and Promotion

to create an easily accessible database of best practices and success stories of cultural stakeholders involved in the EaP Culture Programme in order to multiply the best models of impact at the local and regional level;

to increase research into how the EaP Culture Programme is perceived in the EaP countries through more polling, surveying, and media monitoring;

to ensure films subtitling and literature translation projects, into and from English/other European languages, of the most important literary and intellectual works from the EaP countries;

to streamline visa issues, particularly for cultural actors, artists, intellectuals, academicians and from the EaP countries;

to stimulate international cultural exchange programs by inviting more artists from the EaP countries in Europe, and sending European counterparts to the EaP countries;

to organise a Public presentation of all projects of EaP Culture Programme in order to present the final results of the EaP Culture Programme.

Advisory Committee hopes that implementation of these recommendations will improve the quality of the future EaP Culture Programme. The document was submitted to the RMCBU Office and it


will be distributed also to the Ministries of Culture of the EaP countries. Please, disseminate this set of the recommendations among the EC DEVCO team that is in charge with the current EaP Culture Programme and with persons responsible for the preparation and designing the next phase of the EaP Culture Programme. Advisory Committee members from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are open for fruitful cooperation.

If You have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to contact the Advisory Committee of Eastern Partnership Culture Programme.

Advisory Committee members:

Chingiz BABAYEV, AzerbaijanAnna CHISTOSERDOVA, BelarusIryna DUBIANETSKAYA, BelarusNazareth KAROYAN, ArmeniaLevan KHETAGURI, GeorgiaAmina MELIKOVA, AzerbaijanRusudan MIRZIKASHVILI, GeorgiaYeva SARGSYAN, ArmeniaGhenadie SONTU, Moldova (the Chairman)Vladislav TROITSKYI, UkraineYulia VAGANOVA, Ukraine


December 13, 2013 Kiev, Ukraine


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