Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Sectors

The European Theatre Convention (ETC) has contributed to the European Commission’s consultation on its forthcoming Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Sectors, putting forward recommendations for a human-centred approach to AI that supports creativity, cultural diversity and access.

ETC was one of 5,442 contributors to the Commission’s Call for Evidence. EU Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef said the submissions will now help inform the new strategy, highlighting a guiding principle that AI should empower human creativity while strengthening Europe’s cultural and linguistic diversity.

In its consultation response, ETC argues that AI can bring significant benefits to the theatre sector — particularly behind the scenes. Applications including translation and surtitling, metadata, accessibility, administration, communications and audience development can reduce repetitive workloads and allow theatre professionals to devote more time to artistic and audience-facing work.

ETC particularly advocated for:

• Human-centred AI that complements rather than replaces human creativity.
• Greater discoverability for European theatre, ensuring productions in smaller and minority languages remain visible as AI increasingly shapes how people find cultural content.
• AI as a tool for inclusion, using technologies such as translation, speech-to-text and adaptive formats to remove barriers and reach underserved audiences.
• Support for theatres of all sizes, including sector-specific guidance, training, shared tools and capacity building so that AI adoption does not become a privilege of large cultural institutions.
• Keeping people at the centre of innovation, ensuring technology expands human creativity, agency and connection while recognising the growing importance of theatre as a space for genuine human encounter.

These questions will also be at the heart of the upcoming ETC International Theatre Conference, “Touchpoints: Artistic Freedom, AI & Collaborative Futures in Theatre,” from 5–8 November 2026 in Sofia, Bulgaria. The programme will take a deeper look at how AI is changing theatre-making, management, audiences, creativity, authorship and labour — and how theatres can embrace technological innovation without losing sight of human connection.