14-06-2021
Call to support cultural relations
Covid crisis
  |  
Cultural Policy & CCI
  |  
Mobility
EU-US summit 2021 on 15 June 2021

To the attention of :
Charles Michel - President of the European Council and
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission

Joe Biden, President of the US

***

As EU and US leaders will meet in June, about 100 organisations from across Europe’s and America’s cultural and creative sectors are uniting their voices to call for attention to the EU-US cultural relations, of particular importance to recover from the Corona crisis.

The EU and the US are highly important export markets for culture. Cultural services accounted for 5,961.5 bln € of export to US in 2019 and for 2,575.1 of import in the EU[1].

The Corona-crisis has hit both trade partners severely. Concerts, performances and events stood still for more than a year, with no travelling and touring in either direction. According to a study[2] conducted by EY on the impact of the pandemic the music and performing arts sector in Europe were hit worst with 70% and 90% less turnover in 2020. It is expected that only towards the end of 2021 this will slowly resume, with severe consequences on the live events business between the US and the EU.

The cultural community needs a strong political signal which gives hope and prospect.

But the strongest obstacles to make this happen are the difficulties that artists, crew and cultural professionals encounter which relate to cumbersome and costly visa processing when travelling to the USA for the purpose of work and the great variety of conditions US artists face to obtain work permits in the different countries of the EU. Reducing the obstacles to visas and work permits is therefore an essential instrument to bring hope, future and a new start of cultural exchange between the two continents. Toward this ends, experts in the EU and US would be glad to jointly prepare recommendations, and we welcome the chance to provide you with these recommendations.

Whilst the US and EU can be proud of a thriving cultural exchange, we, the artist communities on both sides of the Atlantic call upon you for a solution-oriented approach as regards artist mobility. Artist mobility produces a backbone of additional trade (flights, hotels, catering, hire of local services, road haulage, local taxes, etcetera) and thus generate income for many other side industries.

Reducing the obstacles to visas and work permits is therefore an essential instrument to bring hope, future and a new start of cultural exchange between the two continents.

We thank you for your attention.

 

On behalf of the following signatories[3]

1

2Luck Concepts

2

5000 LTD

3

A2IM - American Association of Independent Music

4

Aakash Odedra Company

5

AEAA

6

AEPO-ARTIS

7

AFEM - Association For Electronic Music

8

AK Foundation for Dance Inc.

9

Akram Khan Company

10

alba KULTUR - Office for Global Music

11

Arena Resilience Alliance

12

Arts Midwest

13

Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académie de Musique

14

Association of Commercial Television in Europe

15

Association of Performing Arts Professionals

16

BBK – Bundesverband Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künstler

17

Between the Seas: Mediterranean Performing Arts

18

CEC ArtsLink

19

Centre Européen de Musique

20

Circostrada Network

21

Culture Action Europe

22

Dance Managers Collective

23

Dance/USA

24

DE CONCERT !

25

Dutch Music Export

26

EDN - European Dancehouse Network

27

EJN - Europe Jazz Network

28

ELIA - globally connected European network for higher arts education

29

Elsie management

30

ENCATC

31

Erwin Maas - Artists' manager

32

ESNS Eurosonic Noorderslag

33

Europa Distribution - The European Network of Independent Film Publishers and Distributors

34

European Circus Association

35

European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ECCD)

36

European Cultural Foundation

37

European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO)

38

European Festivals Association

39

European Games Developer Federation (EGDF)

40

European Music Council

41

European Music Exporters Exchange - EMEE

42

European Music Managers Alliance (EMMA)

43

European Orchestra Federation EOFed

44

European Publishers Council

45

European Theatre Convention

46

FACE Foundation

47

FEDEC - European federation of professional circus schools

48

FEDECRAIL

49

Federation for European Storytelling

50

Feld Entertainment, Inc.

51

female:pressure

52

FIM -International Federation of Musicians

53

Folk Alliance International

54

German Centre of the International Theatre Institute

55

gigmit

56

globalFEST

57

HowlRound Theatre Commons

58

IAO (International Artist Organisation)

59

ICMP -The International Confederation of Music Publishers

60

IETM - International network for contemporary performing arts

61

IFPI representing the recording industry worldwide

62

IMPALA - Independent Music Companies Association

63

IMPF (Independent Music Publishers International Forum)

64

IN SITU - European Platform for Artistic Creation in Public Space

65

Innovation Network of European Showcases (INES)

66

International Music Council

67

International Music Managers Forum

68

Internationale Gesellschaft der Bildenden Künste (IGBK) (German NC of International Association of Art IAA)

69

JM International

70

League of American Orchestras

71

Literature Across Frontiers

72

Live DMA - European network for live music venues, clubs and festivals

73

liveurope

74

Martin E. Segal Theatre Centre, The CUNY Graduate Center

75

Martinez Arts Consulting, ALC

76

MobiCulture

77

More Europe - external cultural relations

78

Musikhochschulen

79

NAMM - National Association of Music Merchants

80

NAPAMA

81

National Performance Network

82

New Music USA

83

New York City Center

84

National Independent Venue Association (NIVA)

85

On the Move

86

Opera Europa

87

OPERA America

88

Pearle*-Live Performance Europe

89

PEN America

90

PRODISS

91

Production Services Association

92

REMA - Early Music in Europe

93

Res Artis

94

Roberto Cimetta Fund

95

Rosie Kay Dance Company

96

Sistema Europe

97

Skye Blue Productions

98

SOS - Save Our Spectrum

99

Taklit

100

Tamizdat Inc

101

Theatre Without Borders

102

Theatre Communications Group

103

The Arts and Theatre Institute, Czech Republic

104

ENCC - The European Network of Cultural Centres

105

The Green Room

106

The Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH)

107

Trans Europe Halles

108

Western Arts Alliance

109

Yourope - The European Festival Association

Contacts:

Anita Debaere, Pearle*- Live Performance Europe anita@pearle.eu

Matthew Covey, Tamizdat matt@tamizdat.org

Marie Le Sourd, on-the-move

mobility@on-the-move.org

Heather Noonan, League of American Orchestras hnoonan@americanorchestras.org

 

 

[1] Eurostat : international trade in services – personal, cultural and recreational services (year 2019)

[2] EY Ernst&Young https://www.rebuilding-europe.eu/

[3] names and e-mail addresses can be obtained with the contacts of this letter

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Call to support cultural relations
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