Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Dear friends, I am pleased to address you today
for the anniversary of the European Festivals Association.
Ladies and gentlemen, docere et delectare, to teach and to delight
such is, according to Horatius, the mission of art.
It is precisely this mission that the European Festivals Association
has fulfilled during 60 successful years.
At that time, festivals were the artistic answer
to the physical and mental destruction
caused by the Second World War in the whole of Europe.
Having been founded in 1952 by Denis de Rougemont,
someone who means a lot to me, because I was his student in Geneva
and I know also that de Rougemont was so committed to this project
like, by the way, the famous composer Igor Markevitch.
As Denis de Rougemeont said already in 1952,
culture was helping us to get in contact with the other world.
A whole army of festivals of different size and content
bring excitement, enjoyment and engagement
to people across Europe.
Any festival in my opinion should try to go beyond that
and to add to what is locally there
and from a very international perspective try to inform the audience
also giving context to what’s already there
bringing them 5, 6, 7, 8 steps further.
A festival brings new life to cities and regions
that are suffering from economic decline and attract international attention.
Roughly speaking, they can be seen as a catalyst for fresh artistic visions
and for political and social progress.
Culture is something that has a value in itself
which has a function on itself
as strongly as it is suspected as something which is authentic
it will have a lot of side effects
which are political which are underlining social cohesion
which are also political
but you have to use the cultural element as an authentic element.
I think the borders between countries disappeared.
This is exactly what Simon Rattle, one of my favourite conductors, said.
He said: “Since I am spending time on Asian islands,
since I am listening to music the way they are doing music,
for me, everything in Europe is a little bit less important.”
It is an obligation of any international cultural organisation
to be equally present and active in any part of this continent.
Europe is not a continent on its own, it is connecting worldwide
and we face world challenges
and we probably endorse some global human values
that we can promote all together more effectively than separately.
What role for the EU in cultural policies?
Do we let culture go and therewith Europe,
and let nationalism take over?
Europe is more than a technocratic construction.
Festivals can operate as a model
generous with ideas, sharing visions and respecting diversity in unity.
The EU has competence and responsibility
to safeguard Europe’s cultural diversity
Europe can and Europe must come alive in the hearts and minds of Europeans.
It must be understood and debated by those who bring it to life everyday
that is by those who are studying, working
collaborating together in areas
where frontiers between Member States have been abolished.
To be a member of this association gave us and is still giving us
better credibility in our local situation.
I know that I can count on the support of EFA members
in the discussions to secure the future of this programme.
Let’s hope that history doesn’t make fools of us
that we are not seen as the century that advocated the utilitarian use
of art and artists, or art for the sake of swelling audience
numbers, economic development, tourist stats and bragging rights.
A Europe of culture
and I am very committed to that idea of a Europe of culture
then there are a number of challenges ahead.
You can be assured of my personal commitment
and the commitment of the European Commission
to ensure that these ambitions are reflected at all levels of our action.
Let’s make sure we serve artists, in their right.
If we serve them to ensure continuing practice of creativity at the edge,
then we serve not only audiences
but we serve community, society and the world at large.
“Unity in Diversity” has become the European motto.
Unity, but not uniformity.
In the Union there is still so much to be done
concerning the role and the place of culture and arts
as the same Denis de Rougemont whispered at the end of his life.