FORMER ECA SECRETARY GENERAL KJELD LØFTING DIED
On Sunday, 5 November 2006, Kjeld Løfting, aged 56, the ECA’s founding father and former Secretary General died after a long and severe illness. In the early years of its existence, the European Council of Artists bore the mark of the dynamic personality of Mr Løfting who made true his vision artists’ umbrellas all over Europe should come together after the model of the Nordic countries. Kjeld Løfting, an actor by profession, in his capacity as the ECA’s first Secretary General successfully coped with the difficult task of getting the organisation funded by the European Union. The creeping progression of the insidious Alzheimer’s disease from which he suffered was not recognised by himself, or by the ECA and the Council of Danish Artists’ offices early enough to avoid irritating problems caused by his increasingly singular behaviour and everybody did their best to support him in what was mistaken for a personal crisis, even to the extent that the ECA’s affairs were seriously affected as a result. In January 2004 he retired.
Kjeld Løfting was a devoted fighter for our common cause and a good friend. May he rest in peace!
ECA NO LONGER FUNDED BY EU COMMISSION,
FUTURE TO BE DECIDED BY 2006CONGRESS
It took more than eight months after application that the ECA was informed that it was not among the selected organizations of the Community action programme to promote bodies active at European level in the cultural field. Much to the surprise of the ECA Executive Committee, indiscretions first signalled such an outcome in late May. The EC, followed by the ECA membership, reacted with a letter of protest addressed to various EU institutions and politicians, referring to the provisions of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions ratified by the EU at the very same time. The EC, having to discuss the future of the organisation, unanimously decided to continue at a much reduced level at least until the 2006 Congress in Berlin, with the provision that the Conference and congress should take place as programmed. General Secretary Pia Raug generously agreed that whenever time permitted she would continue working on behalf of the ECA without pay. The EC addressed the membership, asking them to convince their governments to annually grant a significant contribution each for international cooperation under the provisions of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Several foundations and potential sponsors were contacted, applications made, and although the ECA is still far from having reached the equivalent of the EU funding, we have already made some progress to report to the November Congress which will have to decide whether the ECA idea of European solidarity of creative and performing artists should be pursued, and how.
INCD IN SIMILAR CRISIS AS GOVERNMENTS STOP SUBSIDIES AFTER RATIFICATION OF UNESCO CONVENTION
The International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD) introduced the idea of a convention for cultural diversity to the public at the turn of the millennium and shortly afterwards presented the first draft of a model document accepted by 149 countries in Paris in 2005. From the early days of the INCD, the ECA was represented on its steering committee and contributed to the process of concluding alliances for this initiative.
Although the ratification of the UNESCO Convention is just a first step with much work ahead, the governments of Canada (the INCD is Canada-based) and Brazil (the big 2006 annual meeting was scheduled for Rio de Janeiro) failed to meet their financial promises, causing a severe crisis in the organisation. As a result, only a small steering committee meeting will take place in Rio in November 2006 alongside the INCP (world culture ministers’ network) annual meeting which also lost much its early days’ dynamism.
ECA INITIATIVE ON EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR ARTISTS LAUNCHED
On the basis of a legal report commissioned by the ECA, a document was submitted to the Cultural Committee of the European Parliament, in which several amendments to the European arrest warrant were suggested in order to avoid dangerous consequences for artists in EU countries. It was the case of the Austrian cartoonist Gerhard Haderer in 2005 whose bestselling book “The Life of Jesus” was licensed by his German publisher to Greece without the artist’s knowledge which proved for the first time how artists could be affected by a law designed to fight terrorism. The Greek authorities had issued a European arrest warrant (!) against Haderer, who was then tried in absentia and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for blasphemy, being acquitted only by an appellate court (comp. http://www.eca.dk/news/index.html).
CONSULTATION ON CULTURE BY THE EU COMMISSION -
ECA ANSWERS QUESTIONNAIRE
By answering an EU Commission questionnaire on culture, the ECA clearly outlined its positions on a number of central issues, such as European integration:
Art and culture open up fields of dialogue beyond the pressures of political debate. The economic dimension of artistic and cultural production is reflected by a growing number of European laws and directives that are opposed to the principle of subsidiarity and need joint forces on the sides of the artists and cultural workers to be influenced in a way that does not only reflect the needs and desires of the economic players (cultural lobbying). ECA is one of the organizations that contribute to the (still weak) European cultural lobbying process. European integration is not a value as such and needs thorough examination, e.g. concerning the effects of the European warrant of arrest on the freedom of the arts.
For the complete text of the ECA statements, see www.eca.dk/debate/index.html.
NEW ECA STATUTES DRAFTED
In view of the upcoming Berlin Congress, an ECA work group headed by Michael Burke, Visual Artists Ireland, prepared new statutes for our organisation. The first and foremost reason which made the ECA adopt this measure was dictated by the imprecision and the poor language of some of the paragraphs. The new draft does not constitute any fundamental changes but is intended as a further step in the process of structural improvements started as a result of the 2005 Vilnius Congress.
THE ECA 2006 BERLIN CONGRESS AND CONFERENCE
TO BE FOLLOWED BY SIBIU IN 2007
The annual ECA Congress and Conference will be held in Berlin on 24–26 November 2006 in collaboration with our German member, the IGBK. The conference will deal with the question Rights and Wrongs? The UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions - one year after. Berlin will be a forum of debate among artists, scholars, politicians and interested public, focused on the key question whether the Convention can be used as an effective tool against the Neo-Liberal paradigm. Please check our website www.eca.dk/activities/index.html for programme and organisational details.
Despite financial limitations and an uncertain future, the ECA Executive Committee and Secretariat together with our Romanian member, the ANUC, have decided to take the necessary steps in order to be able to present to this year’s congress a proposal (incl. a financial plan) to hold the next year’s congress and conference in the Romanian city of Sibiu designed to be a cultural capital of Europe for 2007.
ECA APPEALS FOR DONATIONS FROM MEMBERS AND SYMPATHISERS
Please help us overcome the financial dire straits
in which ECA has found itself due to no fault on its part.
BANK ACCOUNT: Handelsbanken, Solbjergvej 10, DK-2000 FREDERIKSBERG.
IBAN: DK79 7630 000 3000 244, Swift: HANDDKKK
The ECA Executive Committee
Ludwig Laher, writer, Austria, President
Narcy Calamatta, actor, Malta, Vice-President
Simon Pellar, translator, Czech Republic, Vice-President
Renate Christin, visual artist, Germany
Franz Ernst, film director, Denmark
Agnes Péter, sculptor, Hungary
Tomo Vran, visual artist, Slovenia
European Council of Artists, Borgergade 111, DK-1300 Copenhagen K, Denmark
phone: +45-35384401, fax: +45-35384417, e-mail: eca@eca.dk, web: www.eca.dk