The European Festivals Association calls on the European Commission, European Parliament, and Member States to increase the budget for AgoraEU, and at the very least to ensure it is not reduced during MFF negotiations. We also support a set of proposals put forward by Culture Action Europe that aim at strengthening culture across the future MFF and within the European Commissions programme design. These include ensuring a strong and autonomous Creative Europe Culture strand under AgoraEU with a dedicated earmarked guaranteed minimum funding line; the addition of an Annex outlining eligible actions to provide greater certainty and clarity; the allocation of revenues from EU digital fines to the programme; safeguarding social conditionality and fair pay under simplified funding mechanisms; and maintaining distinct, well-resourced Creative Europe Culture desks. We urge EU co-legislators to ensure equal and fair distribution of finances. Within the proposed AgoraEU budget, the Culture strand is allocated 21% of the total, down from 33% in the current programme. In the spirit of equality among programme strands, we urge that this share be restored to one-third. The Culture strand supports the entire cultural sector (excluding audiovisual), from heritage to literature, from architecture to visual arts. These sectors are among the most dynamic and significant employers within the European cultural and creative landscape. Stability and guaranteed support are equally important. The current regulation omits any reference to fixed percentages for each strand, unlike the existing Creative Europe legal framework. By merging with CERV and the news media sector, and with the MFFs increased flexibility, Creative Europe risks constantly defending its budget as new priorities emerge. Uncertainty and shifting resources harm the field, undermining experimentation, long-term collaborations, and risk-taking. Excessive flexibility could also foster competition between culture, media, and civil society actors, contradicting AgoraEUs aim of supporting democratic resilience and shared values. Clear allocations for each strand within the amended regulation are therefore essential. We also call for a strategic approach to sector-specific realities. Although the AgoraEU regulation does not explicitly mention sectors, sector-focused initiatives have long been part of EU cultural policy, and many have demonstrated high impact. While cross-sectoral collaboration remains vital, Europes cultural and creative ecosystem is not uniform. Each sector has distinct economic models, audience relationships, employment structures, and funding needs. Tailor-made tools are therefore necessary. Yet recent years have revealed a lack of clarity and consistency in how sector-specific initiatives are designed and supported. A more coherent approach is urgently needed, one that recognises each sectors unique challenges while avoiding unnecessary competition and confusion. Beyond AgoraEU, we propose further measures to strengthen culture across the MFF. These include establishing a dedicated structural component and funding for culture and creativity in Horizon Europe; creating a structural component for cultural and creative sector within the European Competitiveness Fund; and guaranteeing at least 2% for culture within National and Regional Partnership Plans or any successor cohesion funding instrument. With the potential for increased resources and a new cultural paradigm emerging through both the Culture Compass and AgoraEU, now is the time to build a coherent, balanced sectoral strategy that strengthens Europes cultural and creative ecosystem, fosters innovation, and reinforces democratic resilience.
The European Festivals Association welcomes this initiative to strengthen civic space. We believe that arts and culture must be recognised as a key dimension of European democracy and cohesion. Festivals, as part of the cultural ecosystem, create spaces where imagination and solidarity can flourish, where trust can grow among people, and where better futures can be rehearsed together. In times of rising polarisation, festivals offer platforms that connect diverse communities, encourage dialogue, and nurture a sense of belonging. They help societies to build bridges and strengthen the solidarity that is essential for democracy to thrive. Yet, cultural actors face challenges similar to other parts of civil society: shrinking civic space, attacks to artistic freedom of expression, and difficulties in securing sustainable funding. To unlock their full potential, the EU Civil Society Strategy should embrace the arts as an essential partnerensuring transparent and long-term support, enabling cross-border collaboration, and safeguarding their independence. By doing so, Europe would invest not only in culture, but in the trust, cohesion and shared imagination that our democracies urgently need.
The Culture Compass for Europe should reflect the intrinsic value as well as the transformative power of culture as a pillar of the European project. It must affirm culture not just as an instrument for economic growth or social cohesion, but as something fundamental and independent that lies at the basis of humanity, relations between people and communities. If we accept that Europe is also a community, culture plays a fundamental role in this community building project and in the everyday lives of its people. In todays climate of polarisation, fear-driven discourse, and rising division, it is more important than ever that the Compass promotes a vision of culture that is inclusive, positive and unifyingone that resists defining identity through opposition or fear, and instead enhances connection, dialogue, empathy and mutual understanding across borders. Europe began as a peace project. This foundational idea remains deeply relevant. But Europe is also more than its origin it is a living, evolving community with shared responsibilities, diverse peoples, and a collective potential for solidarity and democratic participation, with a strong responsibility to play in the world (https://shorturl.at/xTV28). The Culture Compass should recognise this broader meaning. Through culture, we build the emotional and symbolic infrastructure of Europe. It helps shape the way people relate to each other, to their communities, and to the European idea itself. At the same time, the Compass should emphasise that culture must be supported for its own sake. While it undeniably contributes to social inclusion, sustainability, and economic development (among many other fields) its ability to do so depends on a healthy and resilient cultural ecosystem. Culture should not be treated merely as a means to other ends. Its existence, diversity, and accessibility should be guaranteed independently, for artists and the arts to strive (as stated in CAEs State of Culture Report: https://shorturl.at/KrFm4). Europe, next to local and national level, has a role to play here, including protecting those values that enable the arts to strive (e.g. artistic freedom https://shorturl.at/8Fkbx). With the EFFE Seal for Festival Cities and Regions initiative (https://shorturl.at/FYvjF) EFA creates a platform for this dialogue to happen at a European level between festivals, cities and regions from the local one. All this requires strong and adaptable funding structures. The Creative Europe programme must offer long-term support focused on processes rather than short-term outputs. It should facilitate relationship-building across time and borders, enabling cultural actors to work sustainably and meaningfully (this is well supported in IETMs recent publication: https://shorturl.at/wsiAs). The Compass should affirm that fair working conditions and recognition of cultural professionals as workers are essential. Artists and cultural practitioners must be fairly paid, and structural inequalities within the cultural field must be addressed to ensure dignity and equal opportunity (see the Cookbooks series from EFA and Pearle* (https://shorturl.at/PEryV) as well as our EFFEA Duty of Care Protocol (https://shorturl.at/NnuVc). At the same time, cultures cross-sectoral relevance should be acknowledged. While dedicated cultural funding is crucial, cultural actors also need access to other funding lines, particularly in areas like climate action and social justice. Cultural initiatives that aim to be environmentally sustainable, for example, should not be limited by the scope of Creative Europe alone but supported through additional instruments. The Culture Compass should create space for culture to exist both as a sector and field in its own right and as a connective force that contributes to broader European goals. It should recognise culture as a key dimension of European democracy and cohesiona space where imagination, solidarity, and shared futures can flourish.