Miles Davis and American Culture by Gerald Early

Culture can indeed provide and transport much stronger and sustainable values. We have to be careful not to be too dependent in economic interests. What we have to ask now is: How can culture successfully compete with economics? What can we do to change the political positioning of the Arts from a servant of economic growth towards a leading factor of societal progress, at least in a role of an equal partner to the economy in steering our societies?Ī lot of us, who are working in the cultural sector, right now painfully have to experience, what happens to arts and culture if the economy is going down in times of economic crisis. But the right question here at the European Cultural Forum is not: What can Art and Culture provide to make Europe the strongest economy in the world? - Yes, this very question is the first and fundamental request of almost all official EU papers on Culture - and by the way of all papers on education as well.

Yes, competition and competitiveness is a European challenge. But where, if not here at the European Culture Forum is the place to question this European reality? I know all this is based in the European treaties. But the main focus of all EU culture projects is on the Cultural and Creative Industries and their contribution to economic growth. Of course there are a lot of strategy papers emphasizing the importance of culture for the future of the EU, and there are some EU-programs in the field of culture.

Welcome to the European Union.Įspecially here and now, speaking at the European Cultural Forum? Education becomes redefined as mainly vocational training, the curriculum reduced to statistically measurable modules in the service of creating of employability rather than visions and ideas. Educational institutions are relegated to the role of supplier firms for the economy. Text Gerald Bast’s presentation at the plenary of the European Culture Forum, Brussels, 20 October 2011įrom a Servant of Economic Growth towards a Leading Factor of Social ProgressĪt the beginning of the 21st century, the social and political value system finds itself perched at the height of a dramatic transformation: in place of the needs of individuals or the interests of certain segments of the population, a seemingly anonymous, even abstract and depersonalized shareholder value is at the center of economic and political processes.

Miles Davis and American Culture by Gerald Early