This is an article written by Lotta Lekvall, CEO of Folkteatern Göteborg, and previously published in Swedish.
On the Development of Cultural Policy in Europe
Can We Talk About Art When Humanism is Falling Apart?
The seminar just started when it’s taken over by three activists running on to the stage demanding the festival management in Avignon stop funders that support Israel. The topic of the seminar was supposed to be about the role of international cultural festivals in a changing world and representatives from Italy, France, United Kingdom, Tunisia, and Palestine was invited. It was arranged by the network ONDA, Office National de Diffusion Artistique, Festival d'Avignon, and the French Institute during the theatre festival in Avignon in July. The activists pushes their question. The Director of Festival d’Avignon, Tiago Rodrigues, walks up on the stage to answer their demands. After this the seminar couldn’t continue. One of the panellists takes the microphone and says that we can’t talk about festivals now, we need to talk about why we humans can’t live together. How are we supposed to live, to see ourselves in the mirror with what we witness is happening in the world and in Gaza right now? The question is hanging in the room, the arena is completely silent. What is possible to talk about when humanism is falling apart in front of our eyes?
A few weeks before during the Almedalen Week (Almedalsveckan), an open and democratic meeting place each year in June in Gotland, Sweden, several seminars focussed on the role of culture in Sweden’s total defence. Representatives from the Armed Forces spoke intensely on culture’s key role for the country’s defensiveness. During war and crisis democratic values and artistic freedom are threatened. Culture doesn’t only create a will to defend the country; it also strengthens the solidarity and community among people and give meaningfulness in uncertain times. It was in that exact spirit that the yearly theatre festival in Avignon was started in the traces of the second world war in the 50s. Apart from the focus on art, it was also a humanitarian project with the aim to through performing arts gather people, create mutual experiences, and strengthen the democracy. The festival has for decades been a creative environment interpreting the changing world we are living in.
These values: human rights, artistic freedom, arm’s length distance, and the belief in the role of art in society was established and held as important after the second world war. You can indeed discuss how well these have been followed, but they have been basic principles in Europe. This is changing. At the conference held by the theatre network European Theatre Convention in Athens in April this year, the debate concerned the quickly changing Europe with cultural funding collapsing, the rising of right-wing nationalistic governments that work against artistic freedom, and wars. Reduced budgets risk becoming an instrument to curb artistic freedom. The Culture Sector in Europe has the strongest infrastructure in the world when it comes to education and institutions, says Heidi Wiley, Executive Director for the theatre network, on a follow-up seminar on Democracy, Freedom, and A Wave of New Voices in Avignon a few months later. The cultural sector is resilient, she says, but the threats against artistic freedom around Europe are growing and they are noticeable.
It concerns large reductions of the economic support to art and culture, about politicians who want to take control of what’s performed at the theatre stages, and theatre directors who are dismissed because they are considered too outspoken. This happens from west to east. In Berlin the city-state government decided in the end of 2024 to reduce the public support to art and culture with around 12%. The decision was taken despite of huge protests in Berlin and around Germany. Performing arts were hit hard by this. The Theatre Director for the Slovak National Theatre and the Director for Slovak National Gallery was hastily dismissed from their positions in summer 2024 by the right-wing nationalistic cultural minister in Slovakia, by many this was seen as political act to take control of the artistic expression. It follows the same pattern as we have seen before in Hungary. Data Tavadze, Artistic Director for Royal District Theatre in Tbilisi, Georgia, talks about a whole new development under 2025 with threats and violence aimed at the employees of the theatre as well as the audience that visit the theatre. The problem is not lack of knowledge, it’s the silence, he says. We need to be loud. And the stories continue. In France, a country that has been a strong advocate for public funded art, has during the year reduced the cultural budget both on a national and local level. The Department of Culture (Ministère de la Culture) faced a cut of 1,5 billion euros and local municipalities and regions have seen cuts of 2,2 billion euros, which means reduced support to art and culture with between 8% up to, which you see in the region Pays de la Loire, 70% cuts. The Director of the Short Theatre Festival in Rome, Italy, talks on one seminar about how a new language is formed in policies and action plans for culture as a way to delimit the artistic freedom. You can argue as the Swedish Cultural Minister Parisa Liljestrand does, that economic new priorities must be done, we need to put money on the defence instead of culture (Göteborgs-Posten, Sept 20 2023). Georg Häusler, Director for Culture, Creativity, and Sport at the DG EAC European Commission, draws another conclusion at the seminar in Avignon. We see real threats against artistic freedom, he says, and this must be defended. We need to work together. The cultural sector should work to make visible what is happening. The Members of the European Parliament should act on what is put forward, says Georg Häusler.
The theatre festival in Avignon is growing every year. Theatre performances are played in schools, restaurants, yards, streets, theatres, historical places, well, in every free space you can find in the city. Around two thousand performances are played during one month, including the official program and the OFF program. Over thousand large and small theatre groups travel to Avignon, put up their productions to tell their stories and make visible their art. Loads of conversations are held, questions are debated and discussed. For the city of Avignon this means international visibility and considerable revenues for the city from tourism, hotel nights, increased sales in restaurants and stores.
Most important, a place is created for artistic performances, meetings, and international exchanges. This is a counterforce against the development, a place where humanism still exists, where meaningfulness and reflection are created. Can you talk about the development of cultural policy in Europe knowing and witnessing the horrors that we see in Gaza and other places in the world? I think we must. If we get silent there is nothing left, then the de-humanisation is complete. What we create on our stages is an essential part of society. It is our obligation to stand up for the artistic freedom and the values that need to be in place to live side by side in a mutual world.
Lotta Lekvall
CEO Folkteatern Göteborg, Sweden
