The Latest News

A busy 2006 is now coming to an end. This year has seen the official launch of LabforCulture.org as well as intensive outreach and rich development of the site. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our funders, partners, and in particular, our users for their continued and invaluable support over the last year. We look forward to building on the momentum and hope to see many new users and partners in 2007. The entire LabforCulture team wishes you happy holidays and a healthy and prosperous New Year!

G2CC project wraps up

In 2004 the European Cultural Foundation & LabforCulture, On-the-Move.org, ERICarts and Fondazione Fitzcarraldo joined together in the framework of the Gateway to Cultural Cooperation (G2CC) project, supported by the European Commission (through the Directorate-General for Education and Culture). As the project now comes to a close, we would like to highlight some of the major results of the project by the project partners.

ERICarts Institute developed a conceptual framework defining 'what is European cultural cooperation' in an easily accessible manner and identified 99 national research resources and documents on European cultural cooperation. Their final activity was to analyse the major trends in the national cultural policies influencing European cultural cooperation, and to give recommendations. The On-the-move.org team worked on the development and enlargement of the mobility database, mapping and collecting resources related to artistic mobility. They also initiated and lead 4 cross sector expert workshops related to the use of new technologies in the cultural sector, and conducted six Train-the-trainers seminars on mobility across Europe. The LabforCulture case studies section, a mapping and collection of 50 cultural cooperation case studies/projects in Europe, based on a profound methodological framework, was developed by Fondazione Fitzcarraldo. A final evaluation of the case studies outlining the needs, tools and new methods of cooperation will also be finalised in early December.

Workshops in Lisbon

In collaboration with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, LabforCulture held two workshops on December 7, 2006 in Lisbon, Portugal focusing on cultural cooperation online in Europe and how online technologies can be used to enhance artistic and cultural cooperation. Artists, cultural producers, and representatives from local cultural organisations were brought together to discuss their needs for online tools to support creative exchange and collaborative actions, as well as feedback on LabforCulture.org and identify areas where we can pursue further development of the site. We are very grateful for the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the organisation of this workshop and thank all participants for their enthusiasm and invaluable comments.

Working retreat on cultural observatories

From November 24-25, a Working Retreat on Cultural Observatories took place in Budapest, Hungary, organised by the Budapest Observatory in cooperation with LabforCulture, and supported by the European Cultural Foundation. The retreat was a platform to share ideas about observatories' missions, tools, activities, functions, funding, personnel, users, outcomes; to identify new directions of further cooperation between the observatories, and also to assist the new observatories in process of development, specifically in Sweden and Romania. It was outlined that observatories should become a 'catalyst' in the cultural development of a region, linking policy and practice via research and statistics. They should not only observe, but should also test, experiment, and become 'laboratories' with more dynamic rather than static content and structures.

Representatives of observatories placed on their wish lists for 2007 and beyond, the need to have stable core funding to be able to focus on quality and sustainability, to apply a market driven approach in their activities, better understanding the needs of their users, and provide services accordingly. There was a joint wish to better disseminate outputs internationally, so that cultural research becomes more powerful at the level of European and international cultural policy development. The development of a profound training dimension, especially for cultural managers, administrators and researchers was also outlined as a good strategy for aggregation of a knowledge-based approach towards linking cultural research with artistic practice.

Launch of DIZK Internet database

The Deutsches InformationsZentrum Kulturförderung, DIZK (Information Centre for the Promotion of Arts and Culture) is a joint project of leading German institutions and representatives involved in private and public cultural sponsoring. The project establishes a central contact point for providing information about sponsoring in the field of arts and culture in Europe. The Information Centre is serving both those looking for sponsorship of a project in the field of arts and culture and those who themselves want to sponsor such projects. Its Internet database permits the (cost free) individual search for information by the user and is an essential and indispensable instrument for finding sponsors for cultural projects. DIZK is supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, Kulturstiftung des Bundes and Deutsche Bank Stiftung.