Project
The European Culture and Economy Platform
A long term project of the "A Soul for Europe" initiative and its partners in the culture and economic sectors aimed at finding common solution to global challenges
The European Culture and Economy Platform (ECEP) is a European-wide platform of individuals from the culture and economic sectors which functions as a think-tank to develop common strategies, actions and policy proposals and concrete recommendations to ensure the sustainable development of Europe, its regions, its cities and communities in a global contest. It is a unique civil society project that is based on the "European agenda for culture in a globalizing world" COM (2007) 242 final and represents its concrete and far reaching implementation of the claim: culture must become a component of any European policy and Europe's relations with the world.
The European Culture and Economy Platform (ECEP) is a long term project of the "A Soul for Europe" initiative and its partners in the culture and economic sectors.
The need to build such a platform was formulated during the "A Soul for Europe" Berlin Conference in 2008, on the basis of which it was planned to create this platform in several stages by a series of meetings in Istanbul, Berlin, Venice and Brussels and beyond.
The first action was taken with „A Soul for Europe" Istanbul Forum: „Global Challenges, Cultural Visions" in October 2010. This joint endeavour co-organized in partnership with the European Cultural Association in İstanbul, Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture, TUSIAD -Turkish Industrialists‘ and Businessmen's Association, BDI Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft brought together highly-ranking personalities from the fields of business, politics and non governmental organisations as well as a large group of engaged young Europeans from many different countries including the members of the "A Soul for Europe" - Strategy Group the initiative's strategic heart. One of the main result of the Istanbul Forum is that a concensus among all participants has been reached on the necessity to arrive to a common vision among all actors in society to coherently address global challenges. A comprehensive book was published on the Forum outcomes -aiming to be the basis for the further steps of creating the platform (more info at: www.europist.net/asfe).
The following step has been the Berlin Conference: Towards a Citizens' Europe, which took place in November 2010. In this occasion Mr. Arendt Oetker, the Vice President of BDI expressed the need for a continuous and structured dialogue in order to find a common language between business and culture actors.
Next events:
Venice Meeting: "Culture, Economy and Social Responsibility", 3rd of June 2011, Thetis, Arsenale, Venice, Italy.
Organized by „A Soul for Europe" in cooperation with ZONA, Thetis, Venice Industrialists‘ Association - Confindustria Venezia, European Cultural Association (Istanbul), Felix Meritis Foundation (Amsterdam) and Stiftung Zukunft Berlin.
The Venice meeting on the 3rd of June 2011 will be the next step to strengthen the dialogue among the actors, and proceed with the implementation of the Platform.
Please find here an article by Mahir Namur.
More information: "A Soul for Europe" Strategy Group members Mahir Namur and Ruggero Lala
