November wrap-up

In November 2025 the European Commission formally launched its long-awaited “Culture Compass for Europe” strategy, presenting a comprehensive vision for EU cultural policy. Commissioner Glenn Micallef (Culture) emphasized that “for the EU to thrive, it must place culture at the heart of its political vision”. The Compass identifies four policy directions – upholding European values and cultural rights; empowering artists and cultural professionals; leveraging culture and heritage for Europe’s competitiveness and cohesion; and strengthening international cultural relations. It is accompanied by a draft inter‑institutional Joint Declaration (“Europe for Culture – Culture for Europe”) to be agreed by Parliament, Council and Commission.

Key flagship actions are proposed, including an EU Artists’ Charter for fair conditions, a new EU cultural data hub, and a periodic EU “State of Culture” report, as well as an AI strategy and initiatives like a Performing Arts Prize and Youth Cultural Ambassadors network. The strategy is intended to serve as a guiding framework into the next EU budget period (post-2028 MFF).

City networks and cultural stakeholders broadly welcomed the Compass. Eurocities (the European cities network) issued a statement backing the new strategy on 12 Nov, and urging EU institutions to match its ambitions with strong funding, including a robust Creative Europe budget and culture components in the future cohesion funds. 

Europa Nostra wrote on 28 Nov to EU culture ministers, ahead of a Council meeting, urging them to endorse the Compass’s draft “Europe for Culture – Culture for Europe” declaration. At that 27–28 Nov Council under Denmark’s Presidency, several ministers positively cited culture and heritage: for example, France stressed Europe’s cultural sovereignty; Italy called for increased cultural funding and youth cultural passes; and others (Malta, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Cyprus, etc.) underlined heritage protection, support for young creators, digital heritage and cohesion.

Likewise, Culture Action Europe and other networks had proactively published a “sector blueprint” ahead of November, calling for measures like an EU Artistic Freedom Act and an EU Directive on decent working conditions for artists, as well as visible, well-resourced culture strands in the next multiannual budget.

Alongside the strategy launch, the Commission announced new funding calls and commitments. On 30 October it opened the Culture Moves Europe programme 2025–26 for individual mobility grants, aiming to subsidize artists’ and cultural professionals’ travel and residency projects across EU member states. 

In early November the EU also published a €2 million “Perform Europe” call to fund a new phase of a performing-arts touring and distribution platform. This seeks to support sustainable, inclusive cross-border touring (reducing environmental impact, improving working conditions, etc.) and will fund a consortium to run Perform Europe during 2026–2028. 

Cultural stakeholders continue to lobby for adequate financing in the overall EU budget: campaigns have urged a “bold” Creative Europe culture strand in the proposed new “AgoraEU” programme and dedicated culture sections in other funds. Debates on the 2025–2027 Creative Europe budget were also underway with civil society organisations objecting to proposed cuts.

European culture policy in November also stressed cross-border and international collaboration. In Brussels, 20 Oct, a forum on EU–UK cultural and media relations brought together 200+ sector representatives. Its outcome was a set of joint policy recommendations by EU and UK cultural and creative stakeholders, calling for stronger cooperation on mobility, funding, and rights post-Brexit. 

The initiative reflects ongoing efforts to sustain Europe-wide cultural ties beyond the EU. Meanwhile, EU cultural diplomacy efforts continue (the Culture Compass itself highlights the importance of international cultural relations). 

Climate and sustainability also featured in international discussions. Notably, the COP30 UN Climate Conference (10–21 Nov in Belém, Brazil) formally integrated culture and heritage into the climate agenda for the first time. 

COP30 included a dedicated “Culture Day” and placed “culture-based action” into the official Action Agenda. A new global initiative, the Heritage Adapts! 3000×2030 campaign, was launched to mobilize 3,000 heritage sites and cultural practices worldwide to adopt climate-adaptation measures by 2030. 

Several European cultural networks held key events in November. Culture Next (the network of current/former European Capital of Culture candidate cities) organized its first Culture Next Policy Summit on 3 Nov in the European Parliament. Some 80 representatives of EU institutions and cultural networks discussed topics like “Culture as a UN Sustainable Development Goal,” recommendations to strengthen the ECoC framework, and cultural priorities in the new EU agenda.

The International Council of Museums (ICOM) held its 27th General Conference (12–14 Nov in Dubai) under the theme “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities”. The conference drew museum professionals globally to debate topics ranging from heritage stewardship to new technologies. More, NEMO (the Network of European Museum Organisations) took part in Lithuania’s annual Museums Forum on 27 Nov discussing AI in the museum narrative and emphasized that museums’ trust and public service roles can help guide ethical digital transformation. NEMO also announced that its next European Museum Conference will be held in Vilnius in October 2026.