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advocacy

On this page you can find our position papers, statements, reactions, and recommendations on current European topics that concern the live music sector in particular, and the creative and cultural sphere in general.

Cultural diversity is at stake – Live DMA reacts

Nov16

The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is extremely harsh for the live music sector, already strained by months of adjustments and uncertainties. The precarious situation of many venues, clubs, and festivals increases day by day and hundreds of live music stages are at imminent risk of closing permanently....

Make culture central in the EU Recovery | Open letter

Nov2

Together with 109 pan-European cultural networks and organisations, we published an open letter on October 30, 2020, to call the European Union (EU) and EU member states to protect culture as part of the coronavirus recovery plans and dedicate at the very least 2% of national Recovery and Resilience...

INVESTEU – ENSURING SUPPORT FOR CULTURAL AND CREATIVE BUSINESSES

Oct5

Today, 26 organisations from across Europe’s cultural and creative sectors wrote to European Commissioners Thierry Breton (Internal Market) and Paolo Gentiloni (Economy) regarding the EU’s flagship investment programme InvestEU. The programme is facing severe cuts which could have a dramatic impact on the ability of cultural and creative businesses to access much needed...

Keep the UK in Creative Europe

Sep9

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE UK GOVERNMENT TO KEEP THE UK IN THE CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME Over 250 European cultural leaders and arts organisations have signed the letter below urging the UK’s Secretary of State, Rt Hon Oliver Dowden to reverse the decision to take the UK out of...

A Call to Invest in All Our Creative Futures

Jul15

Ahead of the next European Council meeting (17-18 July), 45 leading European cultural figures issued a call for the EU to “be bold and to invest in culture and the arts, to invest in all our creative futures.” This is a direct response to the European Commission’s latest proposal to...

“It’s really important for us to be at the forefront on the sustainability and inclusion questions, to inspire others and help with all these things. If we don’t have a sustainable future, we may not have a future at all.”

Hilma Kekkonen, Svensk Live - (Sweden )

“It’s all about sharing and cooperation!”

Boris Colin, FEDELIMA - (France )

“We need organisations like Live DMA to support our activities. During COVID, it was important to have Live DMA meetings so that we could learn what was going on in the other countries, and that was very helpful when it came to the lobby work on the local level”

Ingrid Stroom, Live Music Estonia - (Estonia )

“We have been celebrating the 10th anniversary of Live DMA, a network which was created in 2012 by venue networks from all over Europe. The purpose was to share knowledge and skills with each other, and to set up common projects, and I think we’ve succeeded in doing that!”

Marc Steens, Clubcircuit - (Belgium: Flanders )

“I learned to collect and process data with good quality, and also I learned the importance of data to start a dialogue with institutions. Good data gave ACCES a lot of recognition”

Elda Gomez, ACCES - (Spain )

ʻʼThanks to Live DMAʼs Survey, we showed our government that the more a venue is subsidized, the more money they generate. The Ministry of Culture had little knowledge of our sector. So to present these figures from different European countries was crucial in re-valorising our subsidies.”

David Dehard, Court-Circuit - (Belgium: Wallonia & Brussels )

ʻʼAs a venue, we believe that the live music sector is insufficiently recognised as part of culture. Networks like Live DMA can amplify local voices. Being part of Live DMA help us gain knowledge from across Europe and find partners with similar challenges.ʼʼ

Ieva Irbina, LPNVA - (Latvia )

ʻʼ[European Cooperation] gives indeed vision: weʼre every day provided with mental-openness and support. It might seem imperceptible but itʼs fundamental to feel part of a wider ecosystem. It boosts our awareness as representative of a whole sector and this bring direct advantages to our members.ʼʼ

Federico Rasetti, KeepOn Live - (Italy )

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