KEA 2022: A Year in Review

A physicist once said that time doesn’t exist, it’s an illusion, but events that happen do exist. Another one added that more events occuring make time go by even faster. At KEA we agree with both theories as we feel that this past year has flown by, having been filled with many projects, publications, and events. So, we cannot send-off 2022 without recalling and celebrating our main achievements whilst looking forward to new opportunities in 2023!

Transforming society through culture

To launch 2022, we proudly contributed to the design of an interactive tool to improve the access to funding in the audio-visual and news media sector, you can check it out here.

Our work to help unlock the potential of the cultural and creative industries continued through different projects in the following months. From cultural heritage to video games our team has contributed on many fronts to make culture an agent of transformation.

Proudly supporting Ukraine CCS

But at the end of February, we were shocked by the news coming from Ukraine, as the military invasion tragically unfolded. We proudly share long-standing relations with the country. Throughout the year, we have continued our support to Ukraine’s CCS through our work. For instance, we responded to the last call to support Ukrainian displaced people and the Ukrainian CCS by Creative Europe. We managed to gather a consortium uplifted by our Ukrainian partners to contribute to the design of the mid-term strategy for the recovery of the CCS in Ukraine. Later in September and December, we were invited to Vienna to contribute to policy platforms and moderate the “Cultural Policy Lab” hosted by the ERSTE Foundation and the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy in Vienna..

Cultural policy beyond borders

2022 also saw the conclusion of ILUCIDARE, a three-year long EU-funded project that explored the potential of cultural heritage as a vehicle to innovation and transformation in international cooperation and development. Precisely the drive to empower CCS beyond borders brought us to work across more than ten different countries in different workshops, peer-learning sessions, study visits and the Ilucidare playgrounds.  Through our involvement in ARCHE we will contribute to maintain the Ilucidare network and play our part in connecting innovators with public research in the field of heritage.

This year we celebrated the recovery of on-site events in a post-pandemic world but also adapted our way of working by continuing many meetings and activities online for the sake of efficiency and the climate crisis. Our support to the European External Action Service – EEAS and DG INTPA on how to promote culture as an agent of economic development in international partnerships is a good example of such hybrid flexibility.

Through 2022 we worked notably with the Republic of North Macedonia and with Morocco to advise on cultural policy and management practices. The week-long mission to Rabat in December, while the Moroccan team was fiercely advancing through the knock-out stages in the World Cup, was an emotional highlight of the year.

Finally, thanks to the collaboration with KEDGE business school b.creative organised an event in Dakar that brought together cultural entrepreneurs from different areas of West Africa.

Using sports as a local development vehicle

Indeed sports, but on the more regional and local level, have been a growing field of work this year. Our contribution to the SHARE initiative follows this line of work by placing sports in the context of regional and local development. As part of SHARE’s holistic approach, we have  examined how sports can contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy, sustainable development solutions and a greener sports sector. This has resulted in the publication of the “Guidance for local clubs becoming greener” and the organisation of the SHARE online event “Green Transition in and with sport“. The best is yet to come with the organisation of a series of capacity building activities aimed at local authorities all over Europe. Stay tuned!

Culture to address global challenges

We worked as lead expert on the drafting of a Council of Europe Recommendation on the way culture helps to address global challenges. This was adopted by 48 States on 20^th of May in Turin. We proudly commend the importance of this Recommendation as it is the first time an international instrument – albeit “soft law”- is calling on arts and humanities to shape tomorrow ’s world. By suggesting concrete measures to policy makers to make the most of cultural resources to achieve sustainable goal objectives we like to believe that our research work has a practical impact on mainstreaming culture in various policy fields at international level. You can read more about it here.

On an internal level, this year has been eclectic at KEA’s office in which we endured a full-scale move to our new offices in Rue Deux Églises. Last but not least, we look forward to new paternities and maternities in the team coming up early 2023.

We are sure 2023 will pass by as quickly as 2022, to change, transform and improve what the previous year has left behind. But for now, we are contented to wish you the best and thank you for following us. To our Ukrainian friends and all CCS actors affected by war in the world we send our most heartfelt message and stand beside them in these difficult times. To all, wishing you the best for what is to come and thank you for what you have done!

We wish you a culture-driven 2023! And a Happy New Year to nature and to the planet!

The KEA team