In recent years, culture has increasingly come to be seen as not just as a legitimate focus for policy in its own right but also as providing myriad social and economic benefits. The contribution of culture to Europe’s economic development is of increasing interest given the recent global economic downturn.
The cultural sector operates in an international and rapidly changing environment where transnational cooperation, mobility, international circulation and the capacity to work on an international level are becoming more and more important. In this context, there is recognition of the need to encourage interaction between communities with either similar or different cultures and build understanding, trust and solidarity between different people.
The role of culture in encouraging cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, through improving citizens’ knowledge and appreciation of other cultures, is at the very heart of European policy.
Looking ahead, we anticipate that action in the field of culture will continue to be required to stimulate cultural diversity and encourage intercultural dialogue.
ExtroCult’s rationale rests on the benefits that linguistic and cultural cooperation and exchanges bring common cultural areas into reality in terms of integration of common cultural values, social and economic development, as well as the intrinsic value of supporting cooperative action plans. Therefore we plan to implement actions that promote cross border mobility of cultural players, encouraging the transnational circulation of cultural works, and encouraging intercultural dialogue.
The partnership will work on a set of core principles and series of tactical steps defined and described as a collection of best practices. These will eventually lead to the establishment of a common action plan in order to study existing best practices to form a tailored adaptation study and devise a common communication strategy plan, raise awareness, establish local quality agreements and train stakeholders in order to capitalize to the maximum on the project’s outcomes.
ExtroCult focuses on the mobility of players and the circulation integrated activities, for instance, performing arts and festivals. Moreover, mobility and circulation have been closely linked to cultural creation with exhibitions and performances, networking and clustering initiatives and network focused participation in specialized events and exhibitions.
Additionally, we have incorporated support for information and sharing of knowledge and guidance for stakeholders via trans-national training modules and mobility toolkits.
The project aims to endure beyond the life of the cultural activities co-financed by the programme. Long-term benefits tend, instead, to be more in terms of the experience and skills gained by individuals as well as greater openness to and capacity for mobility and circulation in future on the part of organizations.
