Call to support the cultural relations

EU-US summit 2021 on 15 June 2021
To the attention of Charles Michel - President of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Joe Biden, President of the US.

As EU and US leaders will meet in June, about 100 organisations from across Europe’s and America’s cultural and creative sectors are uniting their voices to call for attention to the EUUS cultural relations, of particular importance to recover from the Corona crisis.

The EU and the US are highly important export markets for culture. Cultural services accounted for 5,961.5 bln € of export to US in 2019 and for 2,575.1 of import in the EU [1].

The Corona-crisis has hit both trade partners severely. Concerts, performances and events stood still for more than a year, with no travelling and touring in either direction. According to a study [2] conducted by EY on the impact of the pandemic the music and performing arts sector in Europe were hit worst with 70% and 90% less turnover in 2020. It is expected that only towards the end of 2021 this will slowly resume, with severe consequences on the live events business between the US and the EU.

The cultural community needs a strong political signal which gives hope and prospect.

But the strongest obstacles to make this happen are the difficulties that artists, crew and cultural professionals encounter which relate to cumbersome and costly visa processing when travelling to the USA for the purpose of work and the great variety of conditions US artists face to obtain work permits in the different countries of the EU. Reducing the obstacles to visas and work permits is therefore an essential instrument to bring hope, future and a new start of cultural exchange between the two continents. Toward this ends, experts in the EU and US would be glad to jointly prepare recommendations, and we welcome the chance to provide you with these recommendations.

Whilst the US and EU can be proud of a thriving cultural exchange, we, the artist communities on both sides of the Atlantic call upon you for a solution-oriented approach as regards artist mobility. Artist mobility produces a backbone of additional trade (flights, hotels, catering, hire of local services, road haulage, local taxes, etcetera) and thus generate income for many other side industries.

Reducing the obstacles to visas and work permits is therefore an essential instrument to bring hope, future and a new start of cultural exchange between the two continents.

We thank you for your attention.

[1] Eurostat : international trade in services – personal, cultural and recreational services (year 2019)
[2] EY Ernst&Young 

 

On behalf of the following signatories

1 2Luck Concepts
2 5000 LTD
3 A2IM - American Association of Independent Music
4 Aakash Odedra Company
5 AEAA
6 AEPO-ARTIS
7 AFEM - Association For Electronic Music
8 AK Foundation for Dance Inc.
9 Akram Khan Company
10 alba KULTUR - Office for Global Music
11 Arena Resilience Alliance
12 Arts Midwest
13 Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académie de Musique
14 BBK – Bundesverband Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künstler
15 Between the Seas: Mediterranean Performing Arts
16 CEC ArtsLink
17 Centre Européen de Musique
18 Circostrada Network
19 Culture Action Europe
20 Dance Managers Collective
21 Dance USA
22 DE CONCERT !
23 Dutch Music Export
24 EDN - European Dancehouse Network
25 EJN - Europe Jazz Network
26 ELIA - globally connected European network for higher arts education
27 Elsie management
28 ENCATC
29 Erwin Maas - Independent
30 ESNS Eurosonic Noorderslag
31 Europa Distribution - The European Network of Independent Film Publishers and Distributors
32 European Circus Association
3 names and e-mail addresses can be obtained with the contacts of this letter
33 European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ECCD)
34 European Cultural Foundation
35 European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO)
36 European Festivals Association
37 European Games Developer Federation (EGDF)
38 European Music Council
39 European Music Exporters Exchange - EMEE
40 European Music Managers Alliance (EMMA)
41 European Orchestra Federation EOFed
42 European Theatre Convention
43 FACE Foundation
44 FEDEC - European federation of professional circus schools
45 FEDECRAIL
46 Federation for European Storytelling
47 Feld Entertainment, Inc.
48 female:pressure
49 Folk Alliance International
50 German Centre of the International Theatre Institute
51 gigmit
52 globalFEST
53 IAO (International Artist Organisation)
54 ICMP -The International Confederation of Music Publishers
55 IETM - International network for contemporary performing arts
56 IFPI representing the recording industry worldwide
57 IMPALA - Independent Music Companies Association
58 IMPF (Independent Music Publishers International Forum)
59 IN SITU - European Platform for Artistic Creation in Public Space
60 Innovation Network of European Showcases (INES)
61 International Music Council
62 International Music Managers Forum
63 Internationale Gesellschaft der Bildenden Künste (IGBK) (German NC of Int. Association of Art IAA)
64 JM International
65 League of American Orchestras
66 Literature Across Frontiers
67 Live DMA - European network for live music venues, clubs and festivals
68 Martin E. Segal Theatre Centre, The CUNY Graduate Center
69 MobiCulture
70 More Europe - external cultural relations
71 Musikhochschulen
72 NAMM - National Association of Music Merchants
73 NAPAMA
74 National Performance Network
75 New Music USA
76 New York City Center
77 On the Move
78 Opera Europa
79 Opera America
80 Pearle*-Live Performance Europe
81 PEN America
82 PRODISS
83 Production Services Association
84 REMA - Early Music in Europe
85 Res Artis
86 Roberto Cimetta Fund
87 Rosie Kay Dance Company
88 Sistema Europe
89 Skye Blue Productions
90 SOS - Save Our Spectrum
91 Tamizdat
92 The Arts and Theatre Institute, Czech Republic
93 ENCC - The European Network of Cultural Centres
94 The Green Room
95 The Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH)
96 Trans Europe Halles
97 Western Arts Alliance
98 Yourope - The European Festival Association