Information standards for the mobility of artists and cultural professionals adopted - Artservis participated

The European Commission set up in May 2011 an EU expert group on mobility information standards to develop common content and quality standards for information and advice relating to the mobility of artists and cultural professionals.

The group was composed of representatives from the culture ministries of EU Member States and representatives of European cultural sector organisations from all arts disciplines who have proven experience of dealing with the mobility of artists and cultural professionals. The member of the group was also Dušan Dovč, who represented Artservis/SCCA, Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The result of the expert group’s work is the text Information standards for the mobility of artists and cultural professionals (MIS), which was conducted from May 2011 to December 2011. The MIS text was in February formaly successfully presented to the members of the Cultural Affairs Committee (CAC).

The main target group of these information standards are policy makers in the EU Member States. The standards provide them with practical guidance for setting up4 information services by identifying mobility related issues for which the availability of information at national level would benefit outgoing artists and cultural professionals, as well as those coming from abroad (from EU and non-EU countries).

Ultimately the information provided as a result of applying these standards will benefit cultural organisations, individual artists, cultural professionals, and small-scale cultural enterprises which are mobile or wish to be mobile across borders.

The next step is to "spread the word" as much as possible. You are invited to disseminate this text through appropriate websites and any other appropriate means, and actively promote it to your national/regional policy makers and authorities.

Members of the expert group

Croes Anne-Marie, Flemish Ministry of Culture, Youth, Sports and Media, Belgium; Da Silva Ines, Ministry of Culture and Communication, France; Debaere Anita, Performing Arts Employers’ Associations League Europe (PEARLE*); Di Federico Elena, Fondazione Fitzcarraldo, PRACTICS mobility pilot project, Italy; Dovč Dušan, Artservis/SCCA, Center for Contemporary Arts – Ljubljana, Slovenia; Farinha Cristina, On the Move, Cultural Mobility Information Network; Heemsoth Christine, IGBK (International Association of Art (IAA) in Germany), Germany; Holvast Bert, Chair of the EU OMC Group on Mobility, the Netherlands; Jurowicz Julek, SMartBE, Belgium; Kivelä Risto, independent expert, former chairman of the OMC group on mobility, Finland; Lackenbucher Günter, Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, Austria; Moszkowicz Laurent, Fédération des réseaux et associations d'artistes plasticiens (FRAAP), France; Nowak Elzbieta, Polish Ministry for Culture, Poland; Timmermans Jan, Kunstenloket, Belgium; Tuerlings Maria, Trans Artists, the Netherlands; Vaughan-Jones Yvette, Visiting Arts, United Kingdom; Weber Werner, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Germany
The experts' group was chaired by Catherine Magnant, European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Unit D1 - Culture policy, diversity and intercultural dialogue. Richard Poláček, Independent Expert, was the rapporteur.

LINKS:

• Information standards for the mobility of artists and cultural professionals (MIS) (pdf)
• Artservis
• Artservis new online platform for artists' residencies and mobility Artist on a Business Trip
• Residencies – new spaces of creativity (report form the panel, December 2011)

[Published March 9, 2012]