Forum d´Avignon Ruhr : “It´s not giving money to a beggar!”

It's a known fact that investing in culture helps the economy, the industry and social politics. At last, we have to disband the old-fashioned model of classifying important and unimporant sectors. This applies to prioritising the different areas in politics such as the nimbus around economy and industry.

 

According to the Forum d´Avignon Ruhr, politics and businesses have to rethink the way they operate. Many communities and cities are subject to rigorous budget constraints because they didn't manage well in an increasingly dynamic global economy. In future, they will have to face the fact that this isn't an excuse any more to save in the area of art and culture just because these so-called "voluntary assignments" of communities that eke out a second-rate existence. Northrhine-Westphalia's Minister of Education and Culture Ute Schäfer: "The integration between economy, arts and culture that we are aiming at is really overdue by now."

All this is backed up by SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel: "It is not a smart thing to play culture off against social politics or economic policy."
 

The Trustworthy voice of culture
Senior Consultant Anne Magnus of Kurt Salmon reveals what dimensions we are meanwhile talking about: "As early as in 2008, the creative and cultural industries accounted for 4.5 % of the European Gross Domestic Product." Dr. Arünas Gelünas, minister of culture and education in Lithuania knows that there is still a long way to go with many confidence-building measures until culture will reach

Arünas Gelünas | Kultusminister Republik LItauen

a new significance in our society. People are still too focused on things such as buildings, technology and cars.  President of Forum d´Avignon Nicolas Seydoux points out that public funding and company sponsoring as investments in culture represent a serious business process: “It´s not giving money to a beggar!””

 

 

Text: Boris Alexander Knop