Europe Day event - FAIR P(L)AY #2: Fair Practices in the Cultural Sector

DutchCulture organises this break-out session as part of the 2nd edition FAIR P(L)AY, organised by EUNIC NL for Europe Day. This edition focuses on young and emerging artists. FAIR P(L)AY is about fair practice in the cultural sector and aims to discuss and implement new and existing ways of creating fair environments in terms of funding, remuneration, copyright and mobility in Europe.

Join our break-out session: Mobility for a Fair European Cultural Sector or one of the other sessions and workshops. Several young makers, funded by national grant schemes or European opportunities (Culture Moves Europe, Creative Europe), will discuss the added value of working internationally. Mobility and international contact are vital in times of crisis, like the situation in Ukraine. On this Europe Day, we would like to celebrate our shared European cultural identity and discuss with you how you can benefit from working internationally in a fair way while contributing to a better Europe. Confirmed speakers for this session: Jopie de Zeeuw, Lisette Ma Neza and Sofia Lovegrove. Moderator: Jordi Wijnalda

It will be an afternoon of talks and workshops, bringing together a selection of various cultural institutes to exchange ideas about fair payment in the industry. Join MAMA, DutchCulture, Cultural Workers Unite and Kunstenpunt to connect with other artists and have your perspective heard on improving your working conditions.

The sessions take place in two rounds, meaning that each person will get to join two of them in turns.

Watch our recap:

How do international collaboration and cultural mobility in Europe contribute to a fair European cultural sector? Several young makers who have experience with working internationally in various forms, funded by national grant schemes or by European opportunities (Culture Moves Europe, Creative Europe) will talk about the added value for them. Moreover, mobility and international contact are of vital importance in times of crisis, like the situation in Ukraine. On this Europe Day, we would like to celebrate our shared European cultural identity and discuss with you how you can benefit from working internationally while contributing to a better Europe!

Do you remember work situations where you realised during the process or afterwards that the ratio between your input (in energy, expertise) and what you gained (in experience, network, money) didn’t add up? When something works for us, we are used to continuing to do it the way we have always done it. Often, we are unaware of the process because at the end we usually get the desired result anyway. In that process, we may fail people, not communicate clearly enough or keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. With this workshop, we will explore how to become more aware of the work process. This awareness will help us to work more efficiently, balancing fair pay and fair care.

In this workshop Valentina Vella from Cultural Workers Unite will discuss cultural labour within established and alternative ways of funding frameworks in the art context. After a short introduction on the principles of the Fair Practice Code which is a useful first-line tool against exploitation in the Dutch cultural sector, the workshop will discuss how it doesn’t fundamentally question a neoliberal system that is designed to extract value from artists, and that only remunerates a minority of the people who contribute minds, bodies and time to the production of culture. As an alternative to current, project-based funding frameworks, the workshop will map the needs and desires of the participants, and engage in an interactive exercise that will help us see beyond those individual needs and experiment with commoning practices. The aim is to raise consciousness and take the first few steps towards rethinking cultural and artistic ecosystems, in order to make them accessible, sustainable and joyous.

The Toolbox for Asymmetrical Pay helps us to discuss the fair distribution of a project budget. Besides formal pay scales and the equal payment principle, other parameters are considered, such as individual needs or privileges. The resulting “unequal” distribution can offset structural inequalities. The toolbox has three steps that we will test during this workshop. What works, what doesn’t, and are there any blank spots?

Using fictional cases, we discuss cultural, political and financial inequalities in international collaborations. What is fair, what could be done better and how, what inspiring examples and practices are out there? The starting point is The Letter of Transnational Fair Practice, written by the working group “International and Sustainable” of A Fair New Idea?!

This event is organised by the EUNIC Netherlands network, the working group consisting of members European Commission, DutchCulture, Goethe-Institut Netherlands, Czech Centre Rotterdam, De Brakke Grond, Institut français NL, Austrian Embassy The Hague.

14:30 – 15:00 Walk-in
15:00 – 15:05 Welcome by Martin Bach, President of EUNIC Netherlands
15:05 – 15:15 Introduction by Aric Chen, Director of Nieuwe Instituut
15:15 – 15:30 Presentation by Joost Heinsius, Platform ACCT
15:45 – 16:30 Break-out session round 1
16:35 – 17:20 Break-out session round 2
17:30 – 17:40 Recap of the day
17:40 – 17:45 Spoken word performance by Nabil Tkhidousset
17:45 – 19:00 Drinks and bites with DJ set by Celine Bereyakan

Date: 9 May
Time: 15:00
Location: Nieuwe Instituut, Museumpark 25, 3015 CB Rotterdam
Language: English