This programme is part of the event Creative Europe Day. Please visit the main page to reserve your spot for this programme.
Brussels spends British taxpayers’ cash on puppetry lessons for asylum seekers”, The Sun on May 30, 2021 about the results of the Creative Europe program 2014-2020. Politicians such as MEP Nicolaus Fest (Alternative Für Deutschland) also see European cultural policy as an expensive, left-wing hobby. But the Creative Europe program funds a much wider range of projects, focusing on innovation and strengthening Europe’s cultural and creative sectors. With the European elections around the corner, we ask our speakers: how important is European cultural cooperation for democracy and an open society?
Invited speakers are Lars Ebert (secretary general at Culture Action Europe), Ianthe Mosselman (writer and programme developer at De Balie) and Wendy Hassler-Forest (strategic development manager at Musicians Without Borders).
This session is moderated by Albert Meijer (advisor Creative Europe Desk Culture).
About the speakers
Ianthe Mosselman is an author and a programme editor, specialized in literary programmes. As one of De Balie’s core team of editors, she is a member of the management team and works on international collaborations and artistic programming, including the Creative4Democracy project, which was supported by Creative Europe. She studied Comparative Dutch Studies in Amsterdam and Berlin, and has previously worked for the European Press Prize.
In April 2022, her debut was published by Atlas Contact, a literary essay called All that love and anger. She regularly contributes with opinion pieces and essays to Dutch media outlets such as De Volkskrant.
Wendy Hassler-Forest is program manager at Musicians Without Borders. Since 2008, she has been working in the Western Balkans, developing music projects that bring together young people from divided and marginalized communities. In 2009 she moved to Kosovo to work full-time on establishing an inter-ethnic rock music school in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica. Wendy currently leads the Creative Europe project Music Connects, a collaboration with the Rock Academy in Tilburg and partners in the Balkans, Brussels and Berlin.
Lars Ebert is Secretary General of Culture Action Europe, the major European network of cultural networks, organisations, artists, activists and academics. Culture Action Europe maintains an ongoing dialogue and knowledge-sharing between the European cultural sector and policy makers. It advocates for transformative cultural policies and appropriate public support for culture both as a strong sector in its own right and as a vector contributing to other sectors.
During his previous engagements as co-director of the cultural centre H401 in Amsterdam and deputy director of The European League of Institutes of the Arts, Lars has developed a specific interest and experience in participatory practices and art-based research, that fuel his believe in the transformative role of culture towards more sustainable societies. He holds a postgraduate degree in theology, has taught cultural management and -leadership, is a frequent speaker and facilitator, publishes regularly and serves on the board of various organisations in the areas of culture, education and research.
Albert Meijer is a senior advisor at the Creative Europe Desk NL | DutchCulture for the Culture subprogram. He helps Dutch organizations submit applications. He also makes comedy shows and music.
Rosina Lui is a recent graduate in Anthropology, Art History, and Museum Studies, and an interdisciplinary artistic practitioner. Within her artistic domain, Rosina explores multi-media combinations of movement, textures, and language, often incorporating viewer participation. Notably, her installation-performance piece titled “Letters to Belonging,” showcased at De Voorkamer in Utrecht and Studio/K in Amsterdam, probes into themes of migration, cultural clashes, and embracing multiplicity.
