We want a new beginning, a real artistic and cultural ambition for Europe

Governments and European institutions are currently defining the goals and guidelines of their next programmes for Europe. These programmes reflect a new vision as described in the « EU 2020 Strategy » in which cultural policy would be reduced down to its mere economic and social aspects.

We are deeply concerned by the decrease or potential loss of the Culture Programme and the inability to generate cultural projects in the Structural Funds, without risking to diminish its cultural viability and the support for artistic creation.





This is a step backward which we do not wish to take.
− Because it would destroy the European cultural edifice that has been patiently built for over more than twenty years by states, regions, artists, and cultural organizations.
− Because Europe is being built upon the concept that the peoples, liberated from tyranny and freely associated, walk together towards a common destiny, a destiny that can only be democratic and fed by a shared understanding about the role of art and culture.
− Because the European project itself is going through a legitimacy crisis and the old demons from the past are resurfacing.

On the contrary, we firmly believe that the ideas, the angles and the imagination of the future come from research and artistic creation. Research and artistic creation are the melting pot of aesthetic and social innovations, which in turns generates diversity. It is only when each citizen can access this treasure that the inventive, democratic, and creative societies we are fostering can build themselves.

We, the artists and citizens, call upon the European Commission, the European Parliament, and our respective governments to reprioritize the Culture Programme’s budget and guarantee support of artistic and cultural dimensions in all other programmes.

We want a new beginning, a real artistic and cultural ambition for Europe


Early signatories of the appeal include:

Romeo Castellucci - Italie
Stanislas Nordey - France
Olivier Cadiot - France
Rodolphe Burger - France
Frédéric Fisbach - France
Bernard Fouccroulle - Bruxelles
Jérôme Bel - France
Eric Lacascade - France
Simon Mc Burney - Angleterre
Pascal Rambert - France
Alvis Hermanis – Lettonie
Marina Abramovic - Artiste serbe, New York
Krzysztof Warlikowski - Pologne
Ivo van Hove - Directeur - Pays Bas
Christophe Honoré - France
Claude Régy - France
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui - Belgique
Thomas Ostermeier - Allemagne
Galin Stoev - Bulgarie
Josef Nadj - France
Alain Platel - Belgique
François Le Pillouër - France
Hortense Archambault - France
Vincent Baudriller - France
Didier Thibaut - France
Marc Weugue - France
Micheline Attoun - France
Martin BEYER - Suisse - France
Nicolas CANTILLON - Suisse - France
Laurence YADI - Suisse - France
Anne LE GOFF - France
Daniel ANDRIEU - France
JEAN-LOUIS COLINET - Bruxelles
Jean-Claude Berutti - France
Christa Müller - Allemagne
BECKER Franck - France
Brigitte Jaques-Wajeman - France
Daniel BOUCON - France
Charlotte Giteau - France
Lucile BODSON - France
Jacques Kraemer - France
Jean Pierre Brière - France
Peduzzi Francis - France
Roger LE ROUX - France
Olivier GRASSER - France
Laurent Vinauger - France
Christophe Huysman - France
Frédéric MARAGNANI - France
David Marchal - France
René Loyon - France
Julie Comte - France
Jean-Louis HECKEL - France
Sylvie Baillon - France
Jean-Michel Puiffe - France