April 9th, 2020
Brussels, 9 April 2020
On 8 April 2020, Culture Ministers from all 27 EU Member States virtually met to discuss national and European measures to mitigate the impact of the Corona crisis on the cultural sector. Pearle* - Live Performance Europe welcomes the initiative of the Croatian Presidency of having organised the exchange.
After the meeting, Croatian Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek emphasised the extremely difficult situation of the cultural and creative sectors hardly hit by the crisis and the lockdown. Culture Ministers also expressed concerns about the quick recovery of cultural sectors after the immediate crisis and announced to assess the post crisis period and look into joint action.
Pearle* President Morten Gjelten said: “Joint action at EU level in addition to national measures is urgently needed if we want to put live performance organisations back on track. We want to ensure that our citizens can continue to enjoy culture, that’s why we need to act now and think about extra financial support and appropriate, sustainable measures in the field of employment, taxes, cross-border mobility, and others.”
Pearle* welcomes the sector-specific initiatives in the context of Creative Europe which Commissioner Mariya Gabriel presented to Culture Ministers, including a call for a support scheme on the cross-border dimension of performing arts towards digital and virtual mobility – worth 2 million €.
Whilst Pearle* welcomes the Commission proposal to set up a platform for Member States to share best practices and a platform for the sectors to come up with proposals, it is regrettable that this comes as such late moment when initiatives already have been taken and plenty of proposals already conveyed. Now should be the time to set up a Taskforce on how to put the sector back on track.
Pearle urges Member States who haven’t done it yet to use all available European schemes – including the Corona Response Investment Initiative – to alleviate the devastating effects of the lockdowns for the live performance sector crisis and ensure that the whole ecosystem of our sector can continue to exist.
Pearle* - Live Performance Europe and its member federation in the Member States stand ready to give further input which concrete measures are needed for the sector to overcome difficult weeks, months and years ahead.
Read our statements and signed letters:
- Pearle* Statement of 19 March
- Joint letter of the music sector of 3 April
- Joint statement with the unions of 12 March
- Open letter to the EU demanding support for cultural creators, #saveEUculture campaign of MEPs