united in diversity? - Institut für Kulturmanagement - Pädagogische ...

culture as a resource for future europe 

united in diversity? 

Cultural Policy and its Dimensions 

Svetlana Hristova 

Thomas Knubben 

Pekka Vartiainen (eds) 

Ludwigsburg 2011

South-West University Blagoevgrad 

University of Education Ludwigsburg 

HUMAK University of Applied Sciences

culture as a resource for future europe 

united in diversity? 

Cultural Policy and its Dimensions 

Svetlana Hristova 

Thomas Knubben 

Pekka Vartiainen (eds) 

Compendium of Projects presented 

during the Erasmus IP Conference in Helsinki 

Ludwigsburg 2011

participants 

Budoor Al Sheik Kazal, 

HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Flavius-Alexandru Ardelean, 


Yulian Andonov, South-West University Blagoevgrad 

Lyudmila Chochova, 


Phuong Chu, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Zdravka Chukova, 


Inga Ervig, University of Education Ludwigsburg 

Simon A. Frank, University of Education Ludwigsburg 

Anni Hasunen, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Minna Hautio, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Svetlana Hristova, 


Juha Iso-Aho, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Laura Järvinen, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Assya Ivanova, South-West University Blagoevgrad 

Lidia Jerke, University of Education Ludwigsburg 

Sarah Kienecker, 


Maria Kirchhoff, 


Thomas Knubben, University of Education 

Ludwigsburg 

Ivelina Koleva, South-West University Blagoevgrad 

Laura Koskinen, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Simone Kottmann, 


Ari Levola, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Henrike Loer, University of Education Ludwigsburg 

Karoliina Mäkinen, 


Maria Mavrodieva, 


Annamari Maukonen, 


Malena Felice Medam, 


Ivan Menkachev, 


Thomas Meyer, University of Education Ludwigsburg 

Stamena Peteva, 


Anja Pohl, University of Education Ludwigsburg 

Yvonne Pröbstle, 


Suvi Runonen-Väinämö, 


Todor Simeonov, South-West University Blagoevgrad 

Jyrki Simovaara, 


Dorothee Sommer, 


Timo Sorvoja, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

Tatjana Stoitchkova, 


Josephine Ulrich, University of Education Ludwigsburg 

Minna Väänänen, 


Pekka Vartiainen, 


Grant White, HUMAK University of Applied Sciences 

2

preface 

„United in diversity“ is a collection of papers and discussions presented in Helsinki 2010 at 

the course “Culture as a Resource for Future Europe. Cultural Policy and its dimensions in 

three European countries: Finland, Germany and Bulgaria”. The conference was enabled by the 

European Union as an Erasmus Intensive Programme within the Lifelong Learning Programme. 

It brought together 30 students of cultural management and neighbouring studies and 

10 teachers of cultural studies and cultural management from three universities in Bulgaria, 

Finland and Germany. The exchange will continued with two following conferences in Blagoevgrad 

in 2011 and Ludwigsburg in 2012. 

The conference has held in mind at all times the different dimensions of culture as resource 

for a future Europe – culture as an intellectual, mental and spiritual resource in reflecting, 

interpreting and creating the world symbolically and semantically as well as a materialistic 

and economic resource becoming more and more important in a post-industrial and knowledge-based 

global economy. 

Thus the conference agenda contained four aims in four steps; these aims also appear in its 

pedagogical idea: 

› understanding the differences of meanings of and approaches to culture in Europe 

› reflecting European identity 

› thinking about culture as a mental and economic resource for future Europe 

› practicing international exchange in working on international cultural projects by means 

of cultural management. 

The documentation contained in this volume is by no means able to reflect all the elements 

of the vivid discourses during the conference – nevertheless many approaches, many facts, 

many problems and many ideas can be fixed in this documentation – as a basis for further 

discussions and as a helpful service for other students dealing with similar questions. 

We would like to thank the European Union, here represented by the German Academic Exchange 

Service (DAAD), for its financial support as an indispensible basis for the course, and 

the HUMAK University of Applied Sciences Finland, especially its department in Helsinki, for 

being a very kind and charming host. We are also very thankful to all authors having contributed 

to this documentation and to the students from the Institute of Cultural Management 

in Ludwigsburg who have taken the task to organize and compile this book. 

Svetlana Hristova Thomas Knubben Pekka Vartiainen 

South West University University of Education HUMAK University of 

‘Neofit Rilsky’ Blagoevgrad Ludwigsburg Applied Sciences Helsinki

content 

03 Preface 

07 From Cultural Traditions to Cultural Policy 

08 pekka vartiainen 

From Cultural Tradition to Cultural Policy. An Introduction 

14 thomas knubben 

Understanding the Differences. 

Some Remarks on the Influence of Geography, History and 

Philosophical Ideas on Cultural Policy in Great Britain, France 

and Germany 

28 sarah kienecker 

Cultural Traditions and Cultural Policy in Finland, Bulgaria and 

Germany. Review of Students’ Self-Perceptions 

38 malena medam 

Imagining Finland. Review of Students’ Presentations on 

Finland 

43 Imagining Europe 

44 svetlana hristova 

European Identity as a Project 

60 flavius-alexandru ardelean 

Mindmapping Europe. Different Approaches to Europe 

73 Cultural Industries in Europe 

74 thomas knubben 

Cultural Industries in Europe. An Overwhole View 

4

5 

88 svetlana hristova 

Bulgarian Cultural Industries in the European Context 

100 jyrki simovaara 

Finnish Cultural Exports 

109 Projects 

110 yvonne pröbstle 

Cultural Tourism. A Promising Task for the Cultural Sector? 

118 thomas meyer 

Cultural Tourism Project for Helsinki 

124 grant white 

Some Notes on Social Media and Cultural Management 

130 simon a. frank 

Internet Marketing for Cultural Projects 

142 josephine ulrich 

Project Internet Marketing for the EuroCase Festival 

150 juha iso-aho 

Designing and Managing Events 

160 malena medam 

Project Management for an International Music Festival 

166 tatjana stoitchkova 

Audience Development in Contemporary Museums 

176 maria kirchhoff / lidia jerke 

Social Minorities as a New Audience for Cultural Projects 

183 Colophon

7 

from cultural traditions to 

cultural policy

pekka vartiainen 

from cultural tradition to cultural 

policy. an introduction 

The question of the relationship between cultural tradition and cultural policy is essential, 

especially for those working in the cultural sector. For so-called common people, or people 

who can be seen as partial consumers of cultural products, tradition and policy are kinds of 

sub-products that are usually not visible, but taken for granted all the same. For those who 

are actively involved in the production of culture (artists and other cultural workers) tradition 

and cultural policy form a frame that can’t be ignored. Without this frame, culture wouldn’t 

exist at all. 

My aim in this short presentation is to give you some remarks and unfinished formulations 

regarding cultural tradition and cultural policy. What especially interests me is the way we 

tend to use these concepts, or the way these concepts are being used in public discourse. I’m 

not going to give you any profound, thoroughgoing analysis of the discourse that is already 

familiar to us all. Moreover, I will try to introduce some theoretical allusions – explanations, 

if you like – that can clear a bit the road we are going to take, into the heart of European 

cultural policy. 

I’ll start from the top. In the Finnish government’s decision-in-principle on arts and artist 

policy from the year 2003 it has been written: 

„Artistic creativity is one of the strongest and most valued human talents. Art has an intrinsic 

value; it enriches human and social life in many ways. Our cultural heritage stems 

from artistic creativity and its diverse manifestations. Works of art are part of humankind‘s 

cultural memory.“ 

This statement – and a statement it actually is! – says that works of art and our cultural 

tradition are bound up with each other. The mastermind behind this statement tells us that 

there is no tradition or heritage without culture and the products that are part of it. Terms like 

“creativity”, “cultural heritage”, and “cultural memory” keep appearing. In everyday speech we 

may use similar concepts, usually in a not very specific way. But when these terms are utilized 

by governmental authorities, we are facing a moment you could call political. 

8

from cultural tradition to cultural policy. an introduction 

I believe that every time we use terms like “cultural tradition” or “cultural policy”, we have to 

take a moment; to think about those terms. I’m not saying that Finland’s government is not 

taking that moment, on the contrary. They know exactly for what reasons these words have 

been written down. But we, consumers and constructors of culture and people who tend to 

use words in a kind of loose way, we should address these questions to ourselves: What is 

culture for us? What do we mean by tradition? Whose policy are we following in our cultural 

activity? What is our policy? 

Maybe we would then come up with a solution that tradition and culture and – in a peculiar 

way – identity are linked together, as terms that determine our everyday existence. Our 

identities are being formulated in a cultural process where the general and the personal meet. 

To put this in more conceptual terms let’s look at some definitions. 

Tradition, this communication between our past and present, can be interpreted in least 

three ways: 1. it’s something which is handed down to us in a process of transmission, 2. it’s 

the stuff out of which cultures are being made, and 3. it can be seen as a qualitative marker, 

as something which is representative of a certain social group. 

So, tradition is history and the way this history is being told to us. It is also something that 

can be seen in objects and things, and the way these materials are being presented to us. And, 

of course, tradition is part of the power structure in a society. It’s not just what kind of stories 

from the nation’s glorious past are being handed on to us, equally important is the question 

of who are the ones who transmit these stories to us. The quality of tradition is something 

that is worth being guarded. And quality, as we all know, is power. 

But, as it is with our academic world, tradition can also be defined in another way. Or the 

approach to the topic can also be put this way: tradition is a matter of being dead or alive. 

In this formulation it is revealed that we are surrounded by dead traditions (old habits and 

customs we don’t follow anymore), such as some religious customs, social etiquette etc. And, 

at the same moment, there are some living but passive traditions that are with us, all the 

time. This means that we do certain things although we are not well aware where they come 

from, such as opening doors for ladies, shaking hands with friends, celebrating pancake-day, 

and even some Christian traditions (Christmas, Easter) are slowly losing their traditional role 

in our secularized world. 

9


To complement the picture, I will give you a third possibility, which is: there are living and 

active traditions, which we are well aware of and consciously follow. We tend to preserve 

certain traditional practices like Independence Day and national flags, among others. And we 

are taught to preserve these forms of traditions. You might say that through these kinds of 

activities where our traditional background is open and vivid our political ideology rises to the 

surface. These celebrations are not to be done for nothing, or just for fun. 

To summarize what has been said: tradition is something that we have left behind us, and 

it is something that is still with us and it is something that will guide us in the future; all this 

exists simultaneously. 

The shift from tradition to culture is only a small step to take. It has been a custom to understand 

culture as something that exists between people: culture is the way people see the 

surrounding world around them; and it is the way people use their capacity for thinking and 

doing. Culture is a way of life. At the same time culture is an abstract set of rules and symbols 

that govern our so called “free will”. 

From these frames of tradition and culture our identity is being structured. We are all shaped 

by this collective dialog between people and the world: it is a question of our capability of 

interacting between our social heritage and our individual capacities. Identity, seen from this 

perspective, is a way our collective tradition is singled out and made to represent the group 

in cultural communication. 

If culture is a symbolic aspect of human activity, a cultural product is not just self-expression; 

it is also a product that tells about its surrounding society. Cultural communication gives us 

possibilities for acting in a society. Without these kinds of activities, we could quite easily lose 

our identity. 

Tradition is also a question of value: how do we choose those activities that are worth preserving? 

Which is valuable for us and why? You can then say that through culture we express our 

value structure. Culture gives us a kind of language to be used for our own purposes, which 

are never solely our own. We produce and use culture to express our values that are shaped 

in a process of socialization. 

10

from cultural tradition to cultural policy. an introduction 

Although cultural experience (such as: which art is good, which is repulsive) is subjective, it 

has been structured in a process that is social by nature. What is peculiar about this process 

is that by nature our sets of values are expressive and subjective and at the same time based 

on social cohesion. 

In this way our values are shaped in an ongoing process of cultural tradition. Just as the question 

of culture is closely linked to the question of tradition and identity, questions of values 

are also linked to rituals. We preserve our past, or our memory through rituals. Rituals are 

there to tell us those stories we want to hear, stories we need to hear. Rituals give us also a 

social position and a situation from which to reach for the cultural heritage. 

A typical feature of ritual is that it is based on repetition and actions. Rituals strengthen the 

memory of enjoyable experience. Rituals – a set of actions which are performed for their 

symbolic value – are tools to keep our tradition alive. Music, dance, songs – they all give us 

possibilities to keep our cultural capital alive. Using and taking part in rituals we are constantly 

moving from individual selection to social expectations. In our social position certain 

operational situations will happen, despite us and because of us. 

You might then see culture in general as a center which is surrounded by different processes, 

which require our personal involvement. Of course, it’s up to us to decide what is the level of 

our awareness and willingness to take part into these processes, but they are there, despite 

us, before us and after us. Through these processes (experience, values, rituals, tradition, and 

socialization) a formal way of viewing at culture is being structured. It is through these processes 

our cultural policy is being struct 

And speaking of formal: these are the words of our ministry of education: 

„The objectives of cultural policy relate to creativity, cultural diversity and equity. The aim 

is to realize cultural rights and ensure access for all residents in Finland to art and cultural 

services. Another aim is to secure a stable financial base for culture. Cultural policy is a significant 

factor in the implementation of welfare, regional and innovation policies.“ 

In conclusion, I have to ask this question: Do we all share those values? And if we do, for what 

reasons? 

11

Fig. 1: Culture as a center surrounded by different processes 

literature 

Ahponen, Pirkkoliisa / Kangas, Anita (2004): 

Construction of Cultural Policy, 

Minerva Kust annus Oy, Jyväskylä. 

Alasuutari, Pertti (2001): 

Art, Entertainment, Culture, and Nation, 

In: Cultural Studies, Critical Methodologies, 

Volume 1, Number 2, 157-184. 

Cultural Policy (2009): 

In: www.minedu.fi/OPM/Kulttuuri/ 

kulttuuripolitiikka/ (11.5.2010) 


Honko, Lauri (1988): 

Tradition and Cultural Identity, 

In: Studies on tradition and cultural identity. 

An introduction. Edited by Lauri Honko, 

Nordic Institute of Folklore, Turku, 7-26. 

Ministry of Education, Arts and Cultural Heritage 

Division (2003): 

Government decision-in-principle on arts 

and artist policy, 

Publications of the Ministry of Education, 23. 

12

thomas knubben 

understanding the differences 

Some Remarks on the Influence of Geography, History and Philosophical Ideas on 

Cultural Policy in Great Britain, France and Germany 

In the first approach to our main topic Culture as Resource for Future Europe the presentations 

of the students showed us a vast landscape of culture in our three participating countries. 

Certainly there have been some similar international trends in all countries due, for example, 

to global media development. But we have also seen many differences in the performance 

of culture and cultural policy. Therefore today we want to think about the reasons for these 

differences and the influences that might have caused them. Therefore I will give you a 

theoretical approach by reflecting on the specific development of cultural identity and its 

influence on cultural policy in Great Britain, France and Germany. 

My leading question is: Which natural geographic, historical and political conditions do we 

have to consider in order to understand different cultural policies? 

That we have to consider different conditions can be seen very quickly when we look at 

the map of Europe (fig. 1) and when we ask why nowadays we only have monarchies in Northern 

Europe (besides of Spain, which is a special case). The answer might be that only in the 

north, liberal and democratic political principles have been retained in the middle of the 20th 

century whereas in the rest of Europe the traditional and frequently constitutional political 

systems have been destroyed by fascism in Central Europe and by communism in Eastern 

Europe. The question why these anti-democratic systems could rise in different countries has 

to be answered in a very sophisticated way, but the fact of their rise had an enormous influence 

on mentality and self-consciousness and policy in the countries in question up to now. 

The Influence of Geography 

If we concentrate first on geographical influence, in the case of Great Britain we get some 

interesting ideas of its importance. Looking at the map of Europe we can recognize a specific 

geographic situation for Great Britain as an island. This has led the country to many specific 

developments and performances which could be summarized in the idea of splendid isolation, 

understood in the etymological sense of isolated traditions as consequence of the fact of 

being an isola (= island) (fig. 2). 

14


Fig. 1: The influence of liberal, fascist and communist history. Different performances of European countries as a 

result of different political developments in the 20th century. 

The geographic fact of being an island can explain many unique features of Great Britain: 

› a single identity of independence: Since William the Conqueror in the year 1066 no aggressor, 

no enemy has managed to conquer the islands, neither Napoleon in the 19th nor 

Hitler in the 20th century; 

› a single identity of islanders, remarkable in the fact of special habits such as driving the 

car on the left side, denying the necessity of identity cards for citizens, keeping the pound 

as its currency, counting in the specific systems of inches, miles and pints, distinguishing 

between the English breakfast and the sort of breakfast of all others in Europe: the continental 

breakfast and, as a final example, having established its own national church, the 

Anglican church by Henry VIII; 

› the unique position of the United Kingdom in the process of European unification and 

some political problems we have in the European Union concerning the ultimate idea of 

unification. 

15

Fig. 2: The influence of geography on national history in England 


The fact of being an island has also been the basis for Great Britain: 

› to become the most important naval power between1588 (victory against the Spanish 

Armada) and World War I; 

› to conquer the most, and most important, colonies besides of Spain; 

› to found an empire, resulting in that half of the world speaks English. 

The British Empire again has been the origin of the fact: 

› that many countries are organised in the British Commonwealth so that Great Britain is 

not only united with Europe but also to Australia, to New Zealand, to Canada and many 

other countries by special relationships, and as a last point, 

› that England today is a multiethnic society with many citizens coming from all over the 

world, asking for honest tolerance and causing as well honest fear after 9/11. 

16


Certainly, this draft might be too rough and too one-dimensional but I think it outlines the 

enormous influence of geographical facts on cultural development. 

Let us have a second look at France. It is not as obvious as it is with Great Britain, but we can 

recognize some interesting points as well. Looking at their own country, the Frenchmen speak 

of the hexagon, a geometric form with six sides (fig.1). This means: 

› a clear outline of the country with much space and natural frontiers: the Atlantic Ocean, 

the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean Sea, the Alps, the Rhine and some hills in the north; 

› a logical territory in its geographical aspect but also as a historic result: a large country, 

developed in an early but long-lasting process of unification with only six larger cities, and 

many rural areas. These rural areas are the reason why France is always fighting for a big 

agricultural budget in the EU. 

If the most important item for England can be seen in its independence, so for France it is unification. 

Up to now the slogan of the country is une et indivisible – one and not to be divided. 

The Influence of History 

The main idea of France as a result of unification is the nation: La Grande Nation. It goes back 

to the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV (1638-1715), king by the grace of God, who made all 

others subjects to his rule. It was strengthened by the French Revolution, which abolished the 

nobility and genuinely formed citizens of one nation. 

The idea of the great nation is important up to now in the political position of France as a 

member of the Security Council of the United Nations as well as an nuclear power. It is based 

on a deep anti-Anglo-Saxon identity fighting for its own language (no computers but ordinateurs), 

and the idea of the cultural exception of France, fostering an own music (by quota on 

the radio) and its own film industry (with governmental support). 

The idea and reality of unification can also be seen in the most important role of Paris as 

the one and only political, cultural, economic and urban centre of the republic: all traffic, for 

example, is oriented to Paris. 

17


Fig. 3: The influence of history in Germany: partition of the country in many independent authorities as duchies, 

counties, episcopates and towns. 

18


What is the situation of Germany ? 

The situation of Germany is not as clear as in Great Britain or France, it is a little bit more 

complicated. To understand the German cultural structure, it is not as important to look at 

the outline of the country, as it is to consider the interior structure of the country. 

If we regard a political map from 1700 or 1800, we can see hundreds of more or less independent 

smaller and larger countries: several duchies, counties, episcopates and even independent 

towns. Certainly there was an emperor above them all, but his political position was 

weak and the independence of all the great and lesser lords was enormous, especially since 

1517 after the division of the empire into Catholic and Protestant regions. The political and 

cultural consequences of this situation of a non-integrated country are multiple and we can 

recognize them until today: 

› the first consequence has been that every territory, every county, every big town constructed 

its own big church or cathedral (gothic, baroque), its own residence as e.g. in 

Ludwigsburg or Munich or Kassel and its own theatre or opera house. Therefore Germany 

has a vast heritage of cultural institutions, theatres, and collections not only in the capital 

but all over the country; 

› the second consequence touches the question of central power. Paris and London, Rome 

and Madrid have been capital cities towns for a long, long time, whereas Berlin became 

a capital only at the end of the 19th century. And if we consider the situation today we 

can recognize nevertheless several centres in Germany also in the sense of cultural importance: 

» Munich as an important town for film and television 

» Hamburg as the centre of press and media 

» Stuttgart as a centre of publishing 

» Cologne as a centre of art fairs and plastic art in general 

» Kassel as the town of the documenta 

» Weimar as the centre of the classic period (Goethe, Schiller). 

But the most important consequence of these many different and autonomous territories 

has been the fact that especially in questions of culture and education Germany is organized 

in a strict federal system. Whereas in France all political power in cultural questions is concen- 

19


trated in the ministry of Culture in Paris with thousands of public servants and representatives 

(DRAC) in all regions, in Germany the central government only has few responsibilities in cultural 

policy matters (foreign representation: Goethe Institut; legal questions such as copyright 

or labour laws). The main power in cultural policy is delegated to the Länder (regional states). 

Thus Germany has no minister of culture on the national level, but 16 ministers of culture in 

the states. It does not have one system of education responsible for schools, universities, art 

and music education but 16 different regions. And there exists not one central broadcasting 

law and company (as the BBC in Great Britain) but many. 

What is the result of this strict federal system of policy, going back to the historical fact that 

the country was never united as a nation as have France or England? 

First of all, many complications: 

› the examinations of pupils when leaving school are not on the same level in all states. 

Having completed the high school exams in Munich is much more prestigious than in 

Berlin or Bremen; 

› if you want to move as a teacher from one state to the other, it is not very easy, for the 

formation of teachers is different, the topics of education are different and the books for 

teaching are different; 

› if the ministers of culture in Europe discuss initiatives in Brussels, Germany is not represented 

by one minister, but 16; they are not all sitting around the same table, but they have 

all to be asked whether they agree. 

But federalism as a result of historical evolution also has many positive results: 

› the net of cultural institutions and offerings is very dense: Germany has established in 

the last centuries the most developed system of public theatres in the world all over the 

country. If you want to see really interesting and important theatre in England you have to 

go to London and in France, to Paris. If you want to visit a good opera in Germany, you 

can go to the three opera houses in Berlin, but you can also go to Munich or to Hamburg 

or to Stuttgart or to Essen where the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto designed the 

opera house; 

20


› cultural institutions are also very close to the public. They are in contact with the public by 

different systems of subscription, by circles of friendship and support (these systems have 

to function more perfectly, but they exist); 

› the system of federal cultural policy is also more democratic. It is not one ministry as in 

France which controls almost all initiatives, but there are many forces on all political levels 

and on different legal bases (public, private, third sector) acting in competition and in 

network with the others. 

So, as we can see in this brief comparison of Great Britain, France and Germany geographical 

conditions and historical circumstances in general have a significant influence on cultural 

structures, mentalities and policies and therefore, as you normally cannot change either one 

or the other, the possibilities of adaptations of structures or policies from other cultures or 

countries seem to be limited. 

The Influence of Ideas and Philosophical Traditions 

To this point we have examined the geographical situation and the historical differences in 

unification of nations and in developing mentalities in different countries. Now I would like 

to turn to the unification of society and the role that culture takes in this process. In order to 

get an idea of this process we should reflect on the question of the leading spirit of the country: 

What is the leading vision of each country? How are the people used to thinking and to 

debating? What do the people or the opinion leaders have in mind when they are thinking 

about political aims or the social future? In other words: What is the philosophical tradition 

in the different countries? 

Let us have a look at the different processes in France, in England and Germany. 

If we are asking about the main philosophers in France and the way they were thinking as 

well as the problems they were dealing with, we must speak about Rene Descartes, Blaise 

Pascal and the major representatives of the Enlightenment: Voltaire, Montesquieu and the 

representatives of the Encyclopedia d’Alembert and Diderot. 

Their thinking is characterized by the idea of universal orientation 

› by Pascal in his mathematical ideas; 

› by Rene Descartes in his thought about logical methods (deduction), most famously in his 

21

Fig. 4: Leading French philosophers in modern history 


words: “I think, therefore I am living”; 

› by Voltaire in his demand to use reason; 

› by Montesqieu in his analysis of how to balance power by separated institutions in a 

country 

› or by the representatives of the encyclopedia by the attempt to get the whole world systematically 

into books. 

The central principle of this way of thinking is rationalism as the idea for organizing the world 

according to reason and system. 

The question for our problem is: Can we find this idea of rationalism in the field of policy and 

culture in France? Yes, we can! We can find it for example in: 

› the idea of a strong bureaucracy in the organisation of culture by a big ministry; 

› the idea of dividing a country into 100 departments and giving each of them a number 

following the alphabetical order; 

› the strong separation of church and state in France; 

› the belief that a strong state can solve all problems. Louis XIV, the Sun King, had already 

declared: “L’etat c’est moi” and from his time on, the idea of “etatisme”, the orientation 

upon the state is widespread in France to the present day. 

22


Fig. 5: Leading British philosophers and thinkers in modern history 

Therefore we can stress: rationalism, rational bureaucracy and the estimation of the state as 

principles of mental orientation are main ideas of French thinking and French cultural policy. 

Let us look now at England. If we search here for the main philosophers we can speak 

especially about David Hume, Adam Smith and his followers in economic thinking as well as 

John Stewart Mill. 

David Hume like Rene Descartes represents the time of modern rationalist thinking, but he 

did it the other way round. Descartes suggested to think by deduction, that means coming to 

a solution by thinking in an abstract way (“I thinking, therefore I am living”) or going from the 

abstract to the concrete, from the general to the specific (if the state is solving all problems 

it will also solve this specific problem). 

David Hume required just the opposite, the way of induction. First you have to consider on 

your experience (what you can see or hear or count) and then you can seek the rule behind 

how things are related to each other. For him, experience is the only fact you can be sure of. 

So he would have said: “I perceive, therefore I am living”. In his book: “An Enquiry Concerning 

Human Understanding” (1748) he writes: “ If you go to a library and you take a theological 

book or a book about metaphysics, so you have to ask: Is there any abstract inquiry about size 

or number? No! Is there any reflection about facts and existence? No! So you can give it to 

the fire, for there is only sophistic deception”. 

23


Hume is a deep sceptic and a critic of all sophistic philosophy. He only believes in experience, 

which, of course, deepens on the basis of natural sciences and we can understand by this fact 

how the natural sciences has been developed so strongly in England by scientists as Isaac 

Newton or Charles Darwin. 

The consequence of these leading ideas of philosophy has been that culture in the meaning 

of philosophical speculation and idealistic conception have never been greatly appreciated 

in Great Britain. Philosophy or other human sciences do not belong to the sciences as 

mathematics or chemistry or biology, therefore they are not called science, but liberal arts. 

And if you speak about culture in the Anglo-Saxon context they don’t think first of theatre or 

museums but civilisation as the way of living in a cultured manner or not. 

So if we speak in France of culture as a task the government has to be responsible for, it is 

just the opposite in England. Culture is a matter of private interest beyond important public 

support. The deep separation of public affairs and private interest has a second philosophical 

basis in Adam Smith and his ideas in his book “Wealth of Nations”. Adam Smith and other representatives 

of economic liberalism have underlined idea that only private interests and the 

competition between them will lead to the prosperity of the majority in a nation. We don’t 

have to discuss here whether we agree with these economic ideas or not; in this context we 

are only interested in the consequences for cultural policy: 

› one consequence to today is the fact that we have in Great Britain a society separated into 

classes as nowhere else in Europe (e.g.: the film “Billy Elliot”); 

› the fact that pop music was created in England in the 1960s (Beatles, Rolling Stones) and 

that it was connected to the proletarian classes in the industrial cities such as Liverpool; 

› the education system is also separated into different classes: here the comprehensive 

schools and there the public schools, which are in fact private schools; here Oxford and 

Cambridge, there the other universities; 

› cultural institutions have not been founded as public institutions but as private initiatives: 

William Shakespeare was a private entrepreneur whereas Molière was invited to play at 

the court of Versailles; the Tate Gallery was a foundation of a Mr. Tate as a private collector 

whereas the Louvre was created by the nation of France; 

› public expenditure for cultural institutions is nowhere in Europe as small as in the United 

Kingdom and nowhere is more private support necessary than there. 

24


Fig. 6: German philosophers and thinkers in modern history 

What is the situation in Germany and which traditions and ideas are important there? 

If we ask about the most important philosophical ideas in Germany, we should discuss the 

names of Immanuel Kant, of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and certainly of Karl Marx. We 

should keep in mind the following facts: 

› when France was philosophically dominated by rationalism and the age of the Enlightenment 

and England by a sceptical, empirical and liberal philosophy of individualism, we 

must stress in Germany the influence of idealism; 

› the interest of idealism was not so much oriented on the empirical facts of everyday life 

(as in England) nor on universal systems and rationalism (as in France). Idealism inquired 

into the basis and quality of the human being. For these philosophers all being was founded 

in the idea, in a quality outside of material life; and the task of human development 

was to come near to this quality of the absolute idea : by education, by virtues, by personal 

perfection; 

› in this conception culture plays an important role: it is the means of recognizing the idea; 

it is the sphere of ideas beyond the simple area of everyday life and it is the means of 

personal perfection. 

25

selected literature 

Lueg, Barbara (2007): 

Kulturfinanzierung in Deutschland. Ein internationaler 

Vergleich mit Frankreich, 

Großbritannien und USA, 

Saarbrücken. 

Bennett, Oliver (1995): 

Cultural Policy in the United Kingdom: 

An Historical Perspective. 

In: Bennett, Oliver (Ed.): Cultural Policy and 

Management in the United Kingdom, 

Warwick. 

Council of Europe/ERICarts (2010): 

Compendium of Cultural Policies 

and Trends in Europe, 

www.culturalpolicies.net. 


So the philosophical meaning of culture in Germany has been very different from that in 

England or France, but its influence in German history was very important: 

› the first consequence: for a very long time, culture in Germany was totally separated from 

politics; politics have been considered a dirty business, culture, in contrast, the sphere of 

the true, the beautiful and the good; 

› by separating culture and politics Germany never experienced a revolution nor developed 

a united nation (up to 1989) as did the French by the French Revolution and the English 

by several revolutions, i.e. the Puritan revolution and the Glorious Revolution and constitutional 

evolution. 

› instead, culture was associated very narrow with the class of the bourgeoisie which has 

sought its salvation not in creating a better society by political means but creating a separate 

world of theatre and music and literature; 

› therefore in Germany you can find this special spirit of philosophical and poetic depth as 

well as the many public theatres and orchestras and museums which in the majority are 

supported by public expenditure and are up to now oriented towards artistic truth and 

aesthetic truth more than to the quality of entertainment. 

For Scandinavia in contrast to England and also - but not as much - in opposition to France 

and Germany you have a very deep founded idea of the welfare state. I think it was the Prime 

Minister of Sweden who defined Sweden as “a country where the citizens like to pay taxes”. 

In contrast, British people like to keep their money for their own enterprises, in France they 

keep the money to eat and drink and in Germany to buy books and to go to theatre or classic 

concerts - a situation, which, to be honest, has changed in the last decades. So perhaps we 

have to rethink the story once again. 

26


Elias, Norbert (1982): 

The History of Manners. The Civilizing Process, 

Vol. I: The development of manners; changes in the 

code of conduct and feeling in early modern times, 

New York / USA. 

Große, Ernst Ulrich; Lügner, Heinz-Helmut (1996): 

Frankreich verstehen. Eine Einführung 

mit Vergleichen zu Deutschland, 

Darmstadt. 

27 

Heinrichs, Werner (1997): 

Kulturpolitik und Kulturfinanzierung, 

Munich. 

Münch, Richard (1993): 

Die Kultur der Moderne, 

Vol. I: Ihre Grundlagen und ihre Entwicklung in 

England und Amerika, Vol. II: Ihre Entwicklung in 

Frankreich und Deutschland, 

Frankfurt on the Main.

sarah kienecker 

cultural traditions and cultural policy 

in finland, bulgaria and germany 

Review of Students’ Self-Perceptions 

When dealing with the three self-presentations, their differing approaches and a great variety 

of topics must be referred to and discussed. Although it seems hard not to expand on 

every interesting detail of these well-planned and professionally-presented performances, 

this review will have to confine itself to the most prominent characteristics and the main 

similarities and differences among the three countries. 

The Finnish students´ presentation contained an impressively wide range of aspects: History, 

religion, language, nature and climate, nationalism, sports, technology, education, arts, family 

– to mention only some of them. According to the students, they wanted to give everyone an 

overall picture of Finland and therefore decided to tell a little bit about every field. In addition 

to that, it is a very Finnish quality to have a systematic and throughout presentation. This is 

meant to show that they are structured and balanced in every field.The Bulgarians, however, 

set their main focus on Bulgaria´s cultural heritage, presenting some deeply-rooted traditions, 

rites, festivals and especially Bulgarian folklore in some varieties. In the Germans´ self-portrait 

the overall questions: “What is typical for your country and the mentality of your people?” 

and “What is the central empirical information you can give about the culture and the cultural 

policy in your country today?” were answered as precisely as possible. Since this was a 

complex topic to discuss, the German students concentrated on some German customs and 

traditions, the modern German music scene, current productions of the German film industry 

and German cultural institutions in their dependence on the German federal state system. 

They also referred to this year´s European Capital of Culture, which is situated in Germany. 

The Finns started their self-portrait by informing the audience about some historical and 

political events of their country´s past. To illustrate the fact that Finland had been involved in 

some cruel wars, some impressive film scenes showing barbaric war activities were presented. 

However, the emotional clips from the war were there not to show suffering, but the opposite. 

They were intended to reflect unity, strength and a certain melancholic romantism of the 

Finns. The students wanted to emphasize that especially the Swedish and Russian occupation 

28

cultural traditions and cultural policy in finland, bulgaria and germany 

Fig. 1: Typical finnish landscape 

had had a significant influence on Finnish culture and that the heroic and tragic memories of 

the war times are strongly connected to the Finnish national identity. 

At this point it might be interesting to consider that the Finnish self-portrait was the only 

one of the three that put emphasis on wars. Regarding nationalism, the lion on Finland‘s 

coat of arms was presented as referring to the Finnish strength, determination and guts, also 

known as the so-called sisu – a crucial Finnish attitude of mind – which could be translated by 

power, strength, persistance or, even better, perseverence. Even when Finland lost, the Finnish 

people won a great reputation and respect in Europe since they had fought against Russia 

very bravely, due to the very sisu. Furthermore, the presentation dealt with nature and climate, 

presenting the Finnish people as emotionally strongly connected to its countryside and its 

nature. Moreover, the challenging Finnish climate, with cold and darkness as its main characteristics, 

was said to be the basis of the Finnish mentality, the legendary Finnish melancholy. 

29

Fig. 2: Map depicting different Bulgarian folklore traditions 


In contrast to the two other groups, the Bulgarian students put their emphasis on cultural heritage 

as the defining characteristic of their national character, which led to the presentation 

of a wide range of songs, fairy tales, round dances, as well as customs, traditional costumes 

and festivals. They concentrated on the traditions, customs and rites that are traditionally 

practised in Bulgaria, as for example the Baba Marta or the Kukeri. Both are ceremonies held 

to welcome the upcoming spring and to bring a definite and eagerly awaited end to winter. 

A very nice idea during their presentation was that every student in the audience got a 

martenitsa as a present, which is a small piece of adornment, made of white and red yarn 

and is worn from 1 March until around the end of March or until the first time an individual 

sees a stork, swallow or budding tree that year. Therefore, the first day of March is a traditional 

holiday, associated with sending winter off and welcoming spring. One of the Bulgarian 

students pointed out that traditions and folklore played a very important role in their lives 

30


as Bulgarians and that they consider them a defining part of their national identity and its 

distinguishing characteristics, this being underlined by folkloristic music playing in the background 

throughout their presentation. 

The students further explained that Bulgarian folk art differs according to the different 

regions and districts, each having their own songs, dances and costumes. And as their folklore 

was so colourful and so vivid they had decided that looking at this would not only be as 

informative as talking intensively about their Bulgarian history or politics but also a lot more 

interesting, impressive and enjoyable for the Finnish and the German students. And indeed it 

was a great pleasure for the Finnish and the German students to get to know some theoretical 

information as well as to watch folk singing and dancing and even to see an outstanding 

live performance given by the Bulgarian students themselves at the international evening, 

where typical food was served, poems were read and both students and teachers performed 

songs or dances. 

It used to be a common habit of the Germans, even with the third generation after the 

last war, to think that it was necessary to refer to the Third Reich and show their sorrow and 

feelings of guilt when abroad. The German students in Finland made a point of not spending 

very much time with referring back to the nation´s past but, instead, started their presentation 

by giving only some basic information on the division of Germany, its reunification and 

its federal political system, restricted mainly to what was needed to explain some interesting 

aspects of German present-day cultural life. Emphasis was placed on German festival culture, 

German feasts and celebrations. One reason for this was revealed through an ironic statement 

referring to a German stereotype: “Maybe it is because people say that the Germans 

lack humor, that we invented a great amount of celebrations and annual feasts to keep us 

happy and well-entertained throughout the year”. Another reason was that during those 

days in Helsinki, the German Carnival took place in Germany. So, the day of the Germans´ 

presentation was Faschingsdienstag, the “Carnival Tuesday” in Germany, where some regions 

in Gemany celebrate all day and all night long. Therefore, in order to give the audience an 

idea of the atmosphere of frolic and happiness in some parts of Germany at that time and to 

raise their spirits likewise, they came up with a short performance, singing a typical German 

carnival song and throwing confetti and candy. Since the effects of this performance were 

overwhelmingly positive, the group suggested a revival, perhaps even in a different and larger 

intercultural context. 

The presentation of German Carnival also included information on its local varieties, concentrating 

on the west of Germany, the Rhineland, where emphasis is put on caricaturing 

31

Fig. 3: Typical German Carnival processions 


political personalities and ridiculing political events, and the south-west of Germany, mainly 

in Baden-Württemberg, where the Allemannic Carnival takes place. Carnival there dates back 

to medieval rites of driving out the bad spirits of winter, today presenting itself as a mixture 

of heathen and Christian elements, with repenting for the sins of frolic and exuberance afterwards 

( Aschermittwoch) and fasting until Easter. 

Similar to the Bulgarian presentation some more customs and traditions, with Christmas 

as the most highly appreciated time, were depicted by the Germans, this forming a contrast 

to the Finnish presentation, which did not include any custom or tradition besides their 

deeply- rooted sauna tradition and the statement that Christmas, Easter, May Day and Juhannus 

were related to school as well as national holidays. 

What the German and the Finnish self-portraits had in common, was that they both revealed 

some inherently typical characteristics of their people. It is interesting that the Bulga- 

32


rians did not deal at all with their mentality, stereotypes and characteristics. 

Similar to the Finns, the Germans combined their characteristics with self-ironic pictures, 

to show what the Germans themselves think is typical for them in the eyes of people abroad. 

The stereotypes mentioned were “reliable, efficient, hard working”, “sometimes pessimistic” 

and “generally well organised”, whereas the Finns listed stereotypes such as “realistic, reliable, 

solid, modest, hard working and self-ironic”. As one can see, the Germans and the Finns do 

not differ a lot when it comes to their ideas about the stereotypes related to their mentality. 

They both see themselves characterized as hard-working and reliable. Moreover, in the way 

they did their presentations they revealed a lot of self-irony: the Germans by their statement 

above and the Finns by visualizing it in a very funny video with a man who wants to commit 

suicide but does not succeed. Although the Finnish students in their presentation made a 

point of saying that they are rather introverted, reserved and do not like small talk, it became 

very obvious that they can also be very blunt. 

In contrast to the Bulgarian presentation the Finns did not refer explicitly to the aspect 

of cultural heritage, but stressed, among others, that Finnish architecture and design is wellknown 

and strongly appreciated in the whole world, making Helsinki the Design Capital in 

2012. This was because, according to a Finnish student, Finland as a very small nation does 

not have a strong cultural heritage immediately recognisable to outsiders, so it is therefore 

important to present the country as a whole functional entity. Concerning politics, the Finns 

made clear that there is no corruption, a general trust in the government and respect for the 

authorities and that they are a very obedient as well as politically correct people, not only in 

everyday life. Neither the Bulgarians nor the Gemans dealt with this issue in particular. 

What all the three presentations had in common was the fact that they all included basic 

empirical information and data about the culture and cultural policy in their countries. The 

audience learned that culture in Finland is supported by public funding and the copyright 

compensation system. The Finnish culture scene was depicted as a very lively one: it was noted 

that there are 52 theatres, 25 orchestras and 132 museums that are under state funding. 

The foremost source of financing for culture in the central government is the Ministry of Education. 

Moreover, it was added that Finland has a very lively classical music scene. According 

to the Finnish students, Finnish cultural policy fosters creativity, the status of artists, supports 

the network of regional cultural services, multiculturalism, international cooperation and cultural 

exportation. In addition to that, art and cultural services in Finland must be accessible 

to all, irrespective of their place of residence and financial status. 

33


The Bulgarian students, on their part, did not refer explicitly to the aspect of public or political 

support of culture. In their presentation they maintained that the tangible heritage of Bulgaria 

consists of 40.000 cultural monuments, 160 monasteries, 330 museums and galleries and 

142 resorts, which is enormous, too. The group also mentioned that their country ranks third 

in Europe when it comes to valuable archaeological monuments, which surely is remarkable. 

They also listed the Bulgarian sights and monuments protected by UNESCO. One of the most 

striking things revealed about Bulgaria was that in 1972 a spectacular discovery of a gold 

treasure took place by coincidence in Varna, which provided scientists with invaluable data. 

The earliest gold discovered by humankind and the gold articles were the first in the world 

to be crafted by human hands. Bulgaria is therefore, according to the Bulgarian students, the 

home of the earliest civilizations, existing even before those of Egypt and Mesopotamia – a 

cause of great pride for the Bulgarian people. 

Furthermore, the Bulgarians focused on the rather detailed presentation of 17 famous 

persons from Bulgaria`s past and present. According to them, the reason for this was the fact 

that most people seemed to be totally ignorant of the existence of any famous Bulgarians. 

And in fact, some of the Germans and Finns did not even know that Christo Jawaschew, the 

artist who creates environmental works of art and got very famous with his huge project 

“Wrapped Reichstag” in Berlin around 1995, is a Bulgarian. Compared with the German and 

Finnish presentations the Bulgarians are the only ones who dealt with famous persons so 

extensively. 

It was revealed that the German cultural situation profits to a great extent from the fact 

that Germany is a federal state. This federal system, with the federal states being independent 

in matters of education and culture and with each of them supplied with an own budget, 

affected an extremely high amount of cultural institutions such as museums, theatres and 

operas. In Germany there are around 150 theatres under public law and 280 private theatres, 

as well as more than 6150 museums. 

The aim of the German students was to give a precise description of the current cultural 

scene in Germany, which is unique primarily because of its dominant federal system. Therefore 

the Germans presented a great variety of different internationally successfull films, and 

different popular music styles in Germany, using pictures, film sequences and music to illustrate 

their facts. Focus was also placed on television series such as “Tatort” or “Derrick”. This 

was done because Tatort and Derrick are very popular series, not only in Germany but all over 

the world. Both are detective series running since the 70s. A particular importance concerning 

Tatort is that is has 19 different investigative teams playing in different federal states. The 

34


Fig. 4: Official Logo of the European Capital of Culture 

reason is that the ARD, a nationally authorized consortium of public broadcasting institutions, 

feels obliged to support the different regions and to be consistent with German federalism. 

Last but not least the German presentation group found it indispensable to refer to Ruhr 

2010, the “European Capital of Culture”. 

The Germans found it remarkable that a region that once possessed the largest heavy 

industry in Germany, with coal mines and steelworks, and which was associated with dirt and 

pollution, has developed a profile that shows an outstanding inclination to culture. Today, 

most of the mines and industrial plants are closed and are used as cultural centres where lots 

of avant-garde cultural projects are being realised. This has been acknowledged all over Europe. 

With the slogan: “Where this is possible – everything is possible” and “Change through 

culture – culture through change”, the European Capital of Culture presents itself in a new 

and self-conscious manner, making Germany very proud. 

35


In Conclusion, the different approaches to national self-perception as presented by the groups 

from Finland, Bulgaria and Gemany provided their audience with a wide range of insights into 

the three people´s national characters and cultural scenes. But they have also contributed 

to the reflection and self-reflection on the presentators´ cultural identity and, last but not 

least, it turned out to be an eventful and very entertaining experience of European cultural 

encounter. 

36

malena medam 

imagining finland 

Review of Students‘ Presentations on Finland 

Comparing the three presentations on Finland by the Finnish, German and Bulgarian students, 

many issues were identical because they comprised the same topics. Of course, all presentations 

included sauna, rock music and the famous Finnish design. 

But after having analyzed them deeply, some interesting differences between content and 

depiction modality can be identified. 

How Finns Present Finland 

The Finnish students mentioned some typically Finnish characteristics, which can also be 

found in their presentation. They listed stereotypes like “realistic, reliable, solid, modest, hardworking 

and self-ironic” and so was their performance. Their statements were principally 

based on facts and presented in a solid manner. While the Germans offered singing the Moomins’ 

song together and the Bulgarians added Finnish music to their presentation, the Finns 

were sitting on their chairs while talking calm and easily. Their presentation was impressively 

widespread and in a detailed manner at the same time. They started with the settlement 

of Finland in 8500 BC and included topics like nationalism and family structures which the 

other students did not mention. Although Finland is highly ranked in many educational, living 

standards, sportive or economical comparisons worldwide, they presented those qualities 

in a very decent manner. For example the famous architect Alvar Aalto was only mentioned 

regarding his support for bringing “the functionalist architecture to Finland”. 

The Finnish presentation was also self-critical and self-reflective which can be seen in their 

depiction of family structures, where they stress that “relations with the extended family are 

often rather distant, and Finnish people do not form politically significant clans, tribes or similar 

structures”. The divorce rate at an average of 51% was mentioned, too. Their alluded to 

Finnish self-irony was definitely part of their presentation through a self-caricaturing sketch 

on a depressed, drunken Finn in the countryside who wallows in self-pity and tries to commit 

suicide but fails. Even the slides could be considered as Finnish, because they had the most 

professional, well-structured and well-balanced design. 

38


Fig. 1: The self-ironic presentation of the Finns 

How Bulgarians Present Finland 

While the Finnish presentation was self-analytic and self-critical, the Bulgarian presentation 

on the Finns was evocative of interesting, informative and dignified tourist information. 

They started with: “We present you…Finland” and went on with “Finland – the country 

of…Thousands of lakes and islands; Telecommunication industry; Beautiful architecture; 

Two million saunas; Coffee drinking”. Therefore, this presentation was more representative 

and “magnificent” than the others. The Bulgarian students strongly highlighted many Finnish 

achievements and celebrities such as “Mika Pauli Häkkinen – a Finnish racing driver and 

two-time Formula One World Champion”. This accent was also intensified by the numerous 

superlatives used in the presentation, such as “most stable, finest, least, lowest, highest, best 

or largest”. Many positive adjectives such as: “beautiful, famous, great, stunning and fabulous” 

underlined the “dignified” Finland portrayal. The Bulgarian students were also aware of nati- 

39

Fig. 2: The romantic presentation of Finland by the Bulgarians 

malena medam 

onal symbols and described the film directors Aki Kaurismäki and Mika Kaurismäki to be “the 

symbols of the Finnish cinema art”. 

A significant unique element of the Bulgarian presentation was the focus on economy and 

trade. While the Bulgarians referred to these important aspects of a nation on five different 

slides, the Finns and Germans barely mentioned them. For example, Nokia was noted “to be the 

world‘s largest manufacturer of mobile phones”. 

How Germans Present Finland 

The German presentation was divided into two parts: Cultural traditions and current appearance 

of Finnish culture. There was no description of Finnish geography, economy, politics, technology, 

food or history. A rough description of the past was only given through the explanation of Finnish 

arts (such as the national epic Kalevala) or via traditions which still exist, like Midsummer. 

40


Fig. 3: The Germany focus on the modern Finland 

The Germans did not mention wars in their self-presentation, so neither did they in this presentation 

on Finland. This was because nowadays, German students are not only sufficiently 

conscious about their war history. Their education contained too much information of the 

German war history, which was repeated continuously and connected to a collective sense 

of guilt. So, according to this, they currently try to overcome the past and present their new 

and not-war-related nation. In general, the German youth are not proud of their past and 

therefore not focused on their traditions and history as Finns and Bulgarians are. 

Another peculiarity of the German presentation on Finland was the consciousness of minorities. 

Unlike the Germans, the other students expatiated at length upon the Finnish history 

and the language singularities. But neither the Finns nor the Bulgarians mentioned the Sami 

people as a still-existing Finnish minority in the north and Swedish as the second official 

language, spoken by 5% of the total population. 

41

malena medam 

As already mentioned, the German presentation of Finland focused on cultural traditions and 

the current appearance of Finnish culture. Therefore, important national issues like sports and 

the early accomplishment of female suffrage were left out in favour of a deeper look at arts 

as design, handicraft, music, cinema and opera. This was because the Germans in this program 

all studied “Cultural Management” at the same university with an emphasis on arts. 

While the Bulgarians presented Finland by using many emotional and positive adjectives 

like “great architecture and stunning nature”, the Germans seemed to have a need for proving 

facts and conditions. The famous film director Kaurismäki was not only stated as popular, 

his fame was proven through “several awards like for example at the Cannes film festival in 

2002”. 

In this analysis wide differences emerged between the depictions of one country presented by 

students from three different European nations. On the one hand this indicates the national 

differences of knowledge and understanding of a country (in this case Finland). On the other 

hand it reveals the cultural diversity of apprehending, thinking, investigating, processing and 

last but not least, presenting a common topic. 

42

43 

imagining europe

svetlana hristova 

european identity as a project 

The topic of European identity was introduced in the Intensive Program ‘Culture as Resource 

for Future Europe’ for three basic reasons: On the one hand, the issue of common identity for 

the European citizens will be a long-term challenge for the integrity of the European Union, 

and to some extent, an area susceptible of misunderstandings, stereotyping, wrong expectations, 

and hence, potential conflicts. Therefore as young EU citizens, coming from different 

parts of Europe, students should be well aware of this problem. On the other hand, as future 

cultural managers they will face ‘different’ Europeans in their immediate work, especially concerning 

international cooperation, where they will have to cope with identity deficiency – either 

as individuals coming from different cultures and reshaping their identity in interraction, 

or as professionals who are working in various projects for the consolidation of a new positive 

European identity, or both. Finally, as participants in the international DAAD-ERASMUS program, 

they could probably experience some ‘strange’ and even confusing moments, which 

would test the validity of their own cultural norms, but which would ultimately reward them 

with deeper self-understanding and better knowledge about their own boundaries in comparison 

with the others as a process of shaping of their European identity. Therefore a deeper 

examination and discussion of this issue might turn to be a more than a theoretical exercise, 

but a part of vital experience. 

Brief History of the Problem 

The notion of identity as self-perception and self-determination of personality was introduced 

for a first time in the scientific discourse by the American psychologist William James 

in 1890 and from that time it increasingly became an object of scientific analysis. Sigmund 

Freud interpreted identity as revealing the inner forces of the self; their liberation confronted 

to the depersonalizing authority of the society. The Danish-German-American psychoanalist 

Erik Erikson developed further this tradition by adding the idea of group identity as framework 

for personal (ego-) identity. Today the term is widespread not only in scientific analysis, 

but in political debates, media parlance and even in common speech as modern people 

44


became more self-reflective and more anxious about who they are. Moreover, in the present 

culture, dominated by images, identity branding has become a profitable business occupied 

by professional dealers. We cannot but agree with one of the prophets of multiculturalism, 

the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, that the preoccupation with identity is inevitable for 

the modern man. But what was by the end of the 19th century a preoccupation of the individual, 

by the end of the 20th century turned to be a matter of elaborate design, offered on 

the ‘identity market’ (Badie 1999: 16). The search for group identities through arts and sports 

has ‘opened up new fields of action’ (Arnaud 2008: 431). However, never before in human 

history has the preoccupation with identity been turned so consistently and on such a large 

scale into a cultural political project as is happening now in EU. 

In this text we shall consider the premises, the preconditions, factors and stages of the 

process of construction of European cultural identity and we shall analyze the difficulties and 

the possible resources for its achievement. But first and foremost we need to clarify what is 

the content of the notion European identity as it has engendered many different interpretations, 

each of which has given rise to different social expectations, political approaches and 

cultural practices at the national and supranational, (i.e. European) level. In order to do so 

we also need to examine what is identity per se, and how cultural collective/group identity is 

constructed and manifested. Only equipped with this knowledge we shall be able to estimate 

the chances for development of a new positive European identity. 

Why is European Identity so Important? 

With the rapid enlargement of the European Union during the last decade it became obvious 

that political, economic, legislative and institutional harmonization is not enough to guarantee 

the success of this historical endeavour. The problem of coherence of different cultures, 

i.e. different ways of life, assisted by various symbolic systems, was at stake. Symptomatically, 

the formula “United in diversity” was chosen as the motto for the preamble of the Constitutional 

Treaty signed in Rome on 29 October 2004, thus delineating the ‘delicate equilibrium 

between the drive for unity and concern for diversity’ (Sassatelli 117) and the whole range of 

related problems: how to preserve diversity of peoples with their different languages, cultural 

traditions, and state organizations, and to guarantee their unity at the same time? In order 

to sustain in future, the Union had to cope with differences unthinkable until the end of 

1980s: Europe had to integrate the heritage of communism, Mitteleuropa and even its eastern 

neighbours with Slavic Orthodox elements completely new for the European mindmap. 

As the Polish-British thinker Zygmunt Bauman wittily asked how many spices can bear the 

45


soup, called ‘Europe’, in order to remain edible? In the last chapter of his essay Life in Fragments 

Bauman described the main problem of enlarging Europe as identity reconstruction along 

positive lines. According to Bauman, European identity before 1989 derived from the former 

geopolitical division of the world and it was ‘negative’ in a sense that it was constructed on 

the principle of differentiation from the common enemy (i.e. the Soviet bloc). Democracy, 

liberty, humanistic traditions, real life, real Europe was West of the Berlin wall. But after its fall 

an urgent question emerged: how to redesign positively the European identity from now on? 

If the recognition of ‘Europeanness’ has been created along the iron curtain, how does one 

accept the recent opponents as present partners not only with common interests but with 

shared beliefs as well (Bauman 1995). 

In February 2007 just a month after the 6th enlargement wave pushed Bulgaria and Romania 

into EU, Ján Figel, by that time a Commissioner for culture and education, declared: 

„An objective reflection on contemporary European identity is much needed at the present 

stage of Europe’s integration. During the past few months, a lively debate on European 

identity has emerged; it seems that Europe has engaged in a serious soul-searching exercise, 

and not a moment too soon. The issues of identity, citizenship, borders, and the cultures of 

Europe are increasingly discussed in relation to the process of integration“ (Figel 2007: xi). 

This new accent on culture and its regained strategic importance as a cement guaranteeing 

the solid and long-lasting construction of the Union – ‘ever closer for its citizens’ – becomes 

apparant in the preamble of the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on December 1, 2009: 

„resolved to mark a new stage in the process of European integration […], drawing inspiration 

from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe, from which have 

developed the universal values of the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, 

freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law, recalling the historic importance of the 

ending of the division of the European continent and the need to create firm bases for the 

construction of the future Europe, confirming their attachment to the principles of liberty, 

democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and of the rule of law“ 

In EUROPA (http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/take/index_en.htm), the official website of the 

European Union, the main reasons for the Lisbon treaty aiming to take Europe into the 21st 

century are well described as follows: 

Europe is not the same place it was 50 years ago, and nor is the rest of the world. 

In a constantly changing, ever more interconnected world, Europe is grappling with new 

46


issues: globalisation, demographic shifts, climate change, the need for sustainable energy 

sources and new security threats. These are the challenges facing Europe in the 21st century. 

Borders count for very little in the light of these challenges. The EU countries cannot meet 

them alone. But acting as one, Europe can deliver results and respond to the concerns of 

the public. For this, Europe needs to modernise. The EU has recently expanded from 15 to 

27 members; it needs effective, coherent tools so it can function properly and respond to 

the rapid changes in the world. That means rethinking some of the ground rules for working 

together.“ 

Thus the Lisbon Treaty turns to be a genuinely new stage in the development of European 

integration, which offers for a first time a holistic vision of Europe as a single strategic actor 

in the world framework capable of facing the global challenges of present days. Europe and 

the world – this is really a good start for consolidating a common vision about who we are 

– the Europeans. 

The Grounds of European Identity 

Both, researchers and politicians almost unanimously point to the process of the construction 

of the EU as a prerequisite for the development of European identity. Logically, one 

needs to build a house in order to have a home, inhabited not only by people, but with their 

spirit, memories and traditions as well. Thus the history of European identity is quite often 

reduced to the development of the EU as a political project garnished with rich Eurosymbolism: 

the Europe Day on May 9th, the European flag and the European anthem, all adopted 

in 1985. (On the content and history of these symbols see http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/ 

index_en.htm) 

The next legal step to a common European identity is the legitimation of the concept of 

European citizenship introduced by the Maastricht Treaty adopted in 1992, assigning additional 

rights for nationals of the country-members of EU. As Article 20(1) of the Treaty states, 

citizenship of the Union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship. This legal 

arrangement of European citizenship corresponds in practice to the double collective identity 

of citizens in EU countries: national and European at the same time, the first taking precedence 

over the second. 

As summed up by the German politician and ex-Minister of Interior Affairs Wolfgang Shäeble, 

there are four pillars supporting European identity: the political union of the EU as its 

47


overall aim; interests that can be realized only jointly such as the ecological challengies and 

energy deficiency; common understanding about borders of Europe supported and accepted 

by people, and finally, values of tolerance (Shäeble 2006: 7-9). 

The idea that the EU as a common economic and political area should evolve into a space 

with a common cultural identity was supported in a series of official EU documents and programs, 

some of which are presented briefly in Section 7 of this paper. Moreover, this ‘spirit’ of 

Europeanness is perceived in such practical everyday-life issues as the common currency the 

Euro, common passport design, the common emergency telephone or standardised health 

insurance, to list just few of the landmarks which create bit by bit our new Euro-scape. 

European Identity as a Social Construct 

Yet, to feel oneself a European and to identify oneself as a citizen of EU with this supranational 

entity is not quite the same thing. European identity is more than mutual benefits, 

calculated profits and advantages. Cultural identity is deeply rooted in one’s perceptions and 

feeling of integrity with the whole; therefore it is not an entirely rational construct; it grows 

upon shared experience in a long-term interraction, it is nurtured by a sense of solidarity, and 

it can recognize its special features and its own boundaries only when meeting some sort of 

Otherness. 

The Collective Identity 

If regarded as collective identity, i.e. as a definition of what means to be ‘European’ shared 

between citizens in the countries-members of EU, the new European identity is in a process 

of negotiation. According to social movement theorists Alberto Melucci (1989, 1996), Verta 

Taylor and Nancy Whittier (1992), there are four basic components vital for the shaping of 

collective identity: 

› Shared definitions: common understanding of what is right and wrong for the group; 

› Boundaries: boundary markers are invisible, culturally defined prescriptions for what is 

considered normal or right in society. We can add here that every group needs to fix its 

boundaries, not only in the symbolic sense, but in the literally geographical spatial sense, 

as long as the physical boundaries turn into symbolic legitimation of the group (Anderson 

2006). 

› Levels of Consciousness: it refers to a level of awareness of the group acquired as a result 

of shared experiences, values, and opportunities. This consciousness is apparent in formal 

documents, speeches, and writings of the group (Taylor and Whittier 1992: 114); 

48


› Negotiations: Ultimately, negotiations take place within the group, i.e. the group discusses 

and works out in the private sphere how it is going to present itself in the public sphere. 

Given these four basic components we can claim that the new positive European identity is 

in a process of well-designed consolidation: the new setting of rules and definitions has been 

advanced in the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 

Union with their provisions such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and 

the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 

determining the present boundaries of the EU coinciding with the boundaries of application 

of Union law. Nevertheless, the level of consciousness is rising slowly because it needs time 

to turn the decisions in the formal documents into shared experiences; to transform shared 

opportunities (or rather - common living conditions) into shared values. All these processes 

are under negotiation, not only between the European politicians and the new international 

Euro-bureau class, but between citizens of Europe who increasingly interact among themselves 

– for business, studies, holidays, or just for sake of their curiosity. 

European Cultural Identity 

The previosly mentioned philosopher Charles Taylor puts the accent on the dialogical aspect 

of the identity of modern man – any (individual or group) identity is gained in a dialogue as 

long as it needs recognition by the others, in order to be proved. What we are is eventually 

what the others recognize that we are. Let us add to this argument one more: if we define the 

cultural identity of a certain entity as all manifestations of its culture, it means that it is revealed 

always in an interaction, i.e. cultural identity is revealed as relational (Kapralsky 1991). 

What we are can be understood only in our interactions with Others. However, the meeting 

with ‘Otherness” can be either synchronous (in space), or diachronous (in time). This double 

mechanism, unlocking reflection upon ourselves, is perceptively described by the Russian 

philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, who in his essay Plato’s Life Drama differentiates these two 

possible ways by which the ancient Greeks from the colonies and the Greeks from the cities 

gained the knowledge of themselves: the freethinking sailors from the colonies recognized 

the relativity of their own laws through the category of space, meeting during their trips with 

various different people from other lands, while the citizens of Athens, who did not know the 

world behind the walls of their polis, perceived with skepticism the meaning and values of 

their own life due to the rapid and abrupt changes within their life course (Solovyov1998: 

80-82). 

49


From such point of view we can perceive a deep intuition in the next contemplations of Ján 

Figel: 

„The notion of European identity is difficult to define, but it seems to have two dimensions:an 

internal dimension that corresponds to the efforts to bring together the countries, regions 

and peoples of Europe, while preserving their diversity; and, an external dimesion that 

corresponds to the attempt to define ourselves as non-Americans, non-Asians, etc.“ (Figel 

2009: xii). 

Identity Resources 

Here we shall examine both possible sources: synchronic (spatial, connected with images 

about Europe, coming from outside) and diachronic (time-bound, connected with the European 

past and its interpretations). 

Resources from the outside 

It is often argued that some of the most powerful visions about given culture have been 

imposed from outside, by foreigners who possess the capacity to notice such details to which 

local inhabitants have been accustomed and remained ‘blind’ for them. For example, according 

to many analysts one of the best books ever written on America belongs to the French 

political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville and his ‘Democracy in America’ (1823). Not surprisingly, 

some long-lasting categorizations of Europe have been created by Americans. 

The recently advanced notion of the ‘European dream’ belongs to the world-known American 

sociologist Jeremy Rifkin, for whom the American Dream has been moved to present-day 

Europe, which better embodies the values of democracy and humanism than the USA. What 

is more, Europeans need to be supported from outside across the ocean to gain this selfunderstanding 

and self-esteem, as Europe traditionally suffers more from self-criticism, than 

self-confidence. While 72% of Americans say they are proud of being Americans, less than the 

half the people from Western democracies – including Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, and 

Denmark – feel ‘very proud’ of their national belonging. (Rifkin 2004: 27) 

Resources for European Identity – from the past 

When turning to Europan history, it appears that there are two different discourses concerning 

two different pasts: the longue-duree past of the Hellenic and Roman world, which 

unanimously evokes admiration and recognition as a cornerstone of Europe’s spiritual heritage, 

out of which Christian and Enlightenment traditions stem. Today these traditions are 

50


consistently elaborated as cultural heritage, and turned into folklorized celebrations and festivities 

(for example, in programs like European capitals of culture and European cultural routes.) 

But there is also another critical discourse about the recent European past belonging to the 

20th century, connected with the two world wars and various regional conflicts. This past is 

full of threats but most of all with the ghost of the two divided Europes. The construction of a 

positive European identity cannot simply ignore that recent past but rather it should use it as 

a consolidating cement for a sustainable European future. As the Danish political scientist Ole 

Waever suggests, Europe’s Other is Europe’s own past which should not be allowed to become its 

own future (Waever 1996: 122). From such point of view, identity construction can be more 

efficient in regard to the future: the angel of history should really look forward. This idea is 

shared by growing number of analysts, no matter their political and scientific orientation. To 

quote one voice more, the opinion of the post-marxist political scientist Neil Winn: It seems 

that the best foundation for such an identity is the emphasis on a shared political future, rather 

than a shared national past (Winn 2003: 5). 

To sum up, during the last two decades we have observed a gradual move from non-Orthodox 

non-Slavic non-Communist Europe to a Europe of cultural diversity, united by the values 

of tolerance and democracy. This is not a one-way transition; it contains various ambiguities 

concerning geographical, economic and demographic disparities among EU countries and 

regions. Among the incentives for economic, social and territorial cohesion foreseen in the 

Lisbon Treaty, in order to promote Union’s overall harmonious development (Article 174, ex 

Article 158 TEC), there are devised initiatives, literally facing future cultural identity: they 

emphasize youth exchanges, competence in languages, common cultural heritage, intercultural 

dialogue, so that people living in Europe will know each other better. Artistic and sport 

programs and various EU programs as Culture 2000 and European Capitals of Culture as tools 

for identity assertion have been discussed at length in the context of European cultural policies 

(see Arnaud 2008; Sassateli 2007, 2009). ‘Amare le differenze’, learning how to love the 

difference is part of the competence how to be Europeans, and it is assisted by all possible 

political and artistic means. (Figure 1) 

The Challenge to European Identity 

The current process of deliberate construction of supranational identity in the presence of nation-states 

is an unprecedented historical experiment. Actually, this direction of development 

has been planned from the very beginning, when the French foreign minister Robert Schuman 

51

Figure 1: Naples, Piazza Plebiscito, February 2008: Michelangelo Pistoletto’s project 

Amare le differenze: an art installation in service to multiculturalism. Photo: Svetlana Hristova 


proposed the establishment of French-German organization for coal and steel production. 

Schuman’s Declaration of May 9, 1950 contains three important visions for a future Europe: 

(a) solidarity in production which will make future wars not unthinkable, merely impossible; (b) 

the federalistic principle of European unification; (c) it may be the leaven from which may grow 

a wider and deeper community between countries long opposed to one another by sanguinary 

divisions. (See the whole Declaration: http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/9-may/decl_en.htm ) 

Notably, although the idea of Europe as federation faded away in the following decades, the 

other two principles – overall solidarity (political, economic and legal harmonization) and 

wider and deeper community (integration and cohesion) are valid today more than ever. 

Thus we come to the question of the complexity of European identity and the “we” – “We” 

dilemma. Paradoxically, the Union, ever closer to its citizens, poses a challenge to their national 

identity. It is easier to match national and European citizenships than feelings of national 

52


belonging with the politically correct solidarity to the still abstract and often alien European 

supranation. 

There is empirical evidence of citizens’ growing distance from the EU – mainly connected 

with a growing fatigue from enlargement and the decreased problem-solving capacity of the 

enlarged Union. What is won through enlargement is lost in cohesion, as the young Polish- 

French student Alexandra Giroux put it (Giroux 2009). According to a representative survey 

(Eurobarometer 2008) 91% of Europeans feel attached to their nations and only 49% to the 

European Union. 

A possible hypothesis is that gradually in the long run this trend will be turned upside 

down and citizens of EU will shift their identification from their nation-states to their place 

of living, their bigger region or their supranational country, Europe. Following the analysis of 

Ernest Gellner, culture and social organization are universal and perennial. States and nationalisms 

are not (Gellner 1997: 5). It can be put another way: nation-states are only one possible 

way for the social organization of given cultures. But even in the case when states have 

relegated part of their powers to a High Authority, to use Schuman’s term, as the Assembly, 

Commission and the Delegation of the European Union, nevertheless national identities are 

far from being exhausted. Besides shared living conditions based on common territory and 

long-lasting state organization, national identities are nurtured by culture as well; they are 

rooted in a long history wrapped up in a veil of mythological interpretations, and usually 

expressed in their own language. Exactly from the viewpoint of their cultural potential, national 

identities today are still stronger than any kind of supranational identification – be it 

with European citizenship and national membership in the EU (see Table 1), or be it with the 

European cultural community. 

Fig. 2: Eurobarometer, September 2007 - Generally speaking do you believe that our country‘s membership is? 

53


It seems more plausible that collective identification, which ultimately is always experienced 

by individuals, is a multiple, multifaceted construction, always revealed in a process of interraction, 

in which different identifications are ‘mobilized’ depending on the context. In America 

I feel European, in Brussels I am Bulgarian, in Bulgaria I identify myself with my family and 

my friends… To finish again with Figel’s words: Awareness of or further shaping of European 

identity – whatever form it takes – will always be an open-ended, diverse and pluralist interaction. 

(Figel 2007: xiv) 

Cultural Politics in a Search for European Identity 

Here I have selected and quoted without comments several tangible examples of cultural 

politics for ‘branding’ Europe and fostering European identy, demonstrating that this idea is 

already widespread and wisely supported by different governmental and non-governmental 

institutions and organizations. 

› Europe for Citizens: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/citizenship/programme/about_citizenship_ 

en.php 

is a programme designed to help bridge the gap between citizens and the European Union. 

Ending in 2006, the EU adopted a proposal for a new programme to run from 2007 to 

2013. The programme will provide the Union with instruments to promote active European 

citizenship, put citizens in the centre and offers them the opportunity to fully assume their 

responsibility as European citizens. The global aim of the proposed programme is to contribute 

to: 

» Giving citizens the opportunity to interact and participate in constructing an ever closer 

Europe, united in and enriched through its cultural diversity; 

» Forging a European identity, based on recognised common values, history and culture; 

» Enhancing mutual understanding between European citizens respecting and celebrating 

cultural diversity, while contributing to intercultural dialogue. 

› Narratives for Europe: http://www.eurocult.org/we-focus-on/narratives-for-europe/ - A 

program of European Cultural Foundation: 

While many Europeans feel disconnected from ‚the European project‘, we still live and breathe 

Europe daily and share experiences. And while it is often heard that ‘Europe needs a new 

story to tell‘, many of its citizens are already busy creating and spreading stories in new ways 

and formats. This is the emerging Europe that needs to be tapped into. 

54


› Cultural routes and Landscapes, a Common Herritage of Europe: http://www.cultureroutes.lu/php/fo_index.php?lng=eng 

- A programme of the European Institute of Cultural 

Routes: 

The programme of the cultural routes quickly took into account the fact that a privileged 

section of its public consisted of young Europeans. The reason is obvious: it is they who will 

build the Great Europe. 

55 

But it is also they who suffer most from the progressive obliteration of the memory of the 

events that forged their common continent and shaped its nowadays characteristics. The 

portal of the Institute thus takes into account pedagogical dialogue engaged around their 

evolving citizenship. 

The establishment of collaborations between the two parts of Europe finally joined together 

and the meeting of younger generations born on both sides of the iron curtain thus 

makes it possible to clarify in a comparative, i.e. tangible, way significant concepts such 

as: the prevention of conflicts and racism, the transformation of rural traditional society, 

the passage from industrial to post-industrial society, and the transformation of landscape 

as work space, landscape as leisure space, or finally the compared statute of national and 

European citizenship... 

All starts from the idea that in order for Europeans to understand each other it is necessary 

to find common means for reading Europe. But when it comes to young Europeans the 

question passes obligatorily through pedagogy and meetings based on the means of finding 

the bases of a common citizenship.The subjects that make possible the reconstitution 

of Europe in practice do exist. The pedagogy of these meetings through European courses 

on heritage, rereading of history books, research on places of citizenship has largely been 

led on the theoretical level by the Council of Europe. 

Since its creation, the European Institute of Cultural Routes has been engaged in reflection 

on the place and importance of memory in re-reading the history and heritage of Europe. 

It is indeed a political step, because it is necessary to ensure the participation, through analysis 

and common work, of the cultural actors and routes to the integration of the concepts


of forgetfulness and forgiveness, as well as of the division of memory between the East and 

the West of Europe. 

If the cultural routes were founded on the idea that Europeans were „to meet“ and no longer 

only „to visit“, it is not only to improve the quality of their leisure time or to make them 

understand that they share the responsibility of protecting their heritage and of interpreting 

their history; it is also so that they can work in a better democratic security, founded on 

tolerance, recognition of minorities or inter-religious dialogue. Andrei Plesu states that: 

„Communal experience is an experience of imposed resemblances. Heritage experience is 

one of accepted differences.“ 

It is also so because they seek their origins „in the opposition to others (Asia or Islam), in 

the differences between the Greek world and the Roman world, in the relationships among 

Empires and the Nations and in the course of the great fissures where a Europe of the inside 

and a Europe of the outside were structured, in the relations among Religions and Revolutions, 

in the exodus or in capitalism...“ (Denis Guenoun). 

› Council of Europe Cultural Routes: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/culture/ 

routes/default_en.asp Key objectives of the programme: 

To raise awareness of a European cultural identity and European citizenship, based on a set 

of shared values given tangible form by means of cultural routes retracing the history of 

the influences, exchanges and developments which have shaped European cultures […] 

To sum up: Europe, with all its diverse cultures with contradictory historic backgrounds, is 

actively re-imagining itself looking by all means for the formula of a new ‘cultural glue’ guaranteeing 

the social integrity and sustainability of the EU even in moments of economic crises 

and decreased opportunities for its citizens. Thus the field of cultural policy is immensely 

enlarged as it penetrates intersectionally into all other areas of European politics. 

56


references 

Anderson, Benedict (2006) [1983]: 

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Rise 

and Spread of Nationalism (New ed.), 

London, New York: Verso. 

Arnaud, Lionel (2008): 

Identity as a project: art and sport in the service 

of urban development policies, 

In: International Journal of Cultural Policy, vol.14, 

No. 4, November 2008, 431-444. 

Badie, Bertrand (1999): 

Un monde sans souverainité, 

Paris: Fayard 

Bauman, Zygmunt (1995): 

Life in Fragments. Essays in Postmodern Morality, 

Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 

Buggert, Saskia; Katrin Preller (2008): 

European Identity as a multilevel construct – 

Which factors influence support for 

the European Union and European Identity?, 

In: http://www.uni-konstanz.de/potucek/present08/ 

european_identity_buggert.preller.pdf (last visit 

02.02.2010). 

Delanty, Gerard; Rumford, Chris (2005): 

Rethinking Europe: Social Theory and 

Implications of Europeanization, 

London: Routledge. 

Figel, Ján (2007): 

Foreward, 

In: The Religious Roots of Contemporary European 

Identity. (2007) Lucia Faltin; Melanie J. Wright (eds) 

Continuum, 

London, New York. 

57 

Gastelaars, M.; de Ruijter, A. (1998): 

Ambivalences and complexities in European 

identity formation. 

In M. Gastelaars and A.de Ruijter (eds.), A United 

Europe: The Quest for a Multifaceted Identity, 

Maastricht: Shaker. pp.1-12. 

Gellner, Ernst (1997): 

Nationalism, 

London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 

Giroux, Alexandra (2009): 

A Europe of cultures or a culture of Europe?, 

In: http://www.alexandragiroux.net/a-europeof-cultures-or-a-culture-of-europe/ 

(last visit 

02.02.2010). 

Kapralsky, Slawomir (1991): 

Cultural Identity and Cosmopolitan Social 

Theory: Between Ivory Tower of Ethnocentrism 

and the Swamp of Relativism. 

In: A. Michajlow, W. Paclawski (eds.) The Literary 

Galicia. From Post-War to Post-Modern, 

Cracow, 

Oficyna Literacka. 

Karolewski, Ireneusz Pawel; Kaina, Viktoria (Eds.) 

(2006): 

European Identity: Theoretical Perspectives and 

Empirical Insights. 

LIT Verlag Berlin. 

Melucci, Alberto (1996): 

Challenging Codes: Collective Action in the 

Information Age, 

Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press.

Rifkin, Jeremy (2004): 

The European Dream. How Europe’s vision of the 

Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, 

Cambridge: Polity Press. 

Sassatteli, Monica (2007): 

The Arts, the State, and the EU: Cultural Policy 

in the Making of Europe, 

In: Social Analysis, Volume 51, issue 1, Spring 2007, 

28-41 

Sassatelli, Monica (2009): 

Becoming Europeans: Cultural Identity 

and Cultural Policies, 

Palgrave Macmillan. 

Silvestri, Sara (2007): 

Does Islam Challenge the European Identity?, 

In: The Religious Roots of Contemporary European 

Identity (2007) Lucia Faltin; Melanie J. Wright (eds), 

Continuum: London, New York (14-29). 

Solovyov, Vladimir (1998): Plato’s Life Drama. 

Sofia: Zahari Stoyanov (in Bulgarian) Соловьов, 

Владимир (1998) Житейската драма на 

Платон. Издателство „Захари Стоянов”: София 

Taylor, Charles (1994): 

Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of 

Recognition with commentary by K. Anthony 

Appiah, Jürgen Habermas, Steven C. Rockefeller, 

Michael Walzer, and Susan Wolf. 

(Amy Gutmann-editor and Introduction), 

Princeton University Press. 


Taylor, Verta; Whittier, Nancy (1992): 

Collective Identity in Social Movement 

Communities: Lesbian Feminist Mobilization, 

In Frontiers in Social Movement Theory, ed. Aldon 

D. Morris and Carol McClurg Mueller, 53-76. 

New Haven, Conn, 

Yale University Press. 

Waever, Ole (1996): 

European Security Identities’ in Journal 

of Common Market Studies, 

vol. 34:1, March 1996, pp. 103-32. 

Winn, Neil; Harris, Erika (2003): 

Introduction:‘Europeanisation‘: Conceptual and 

Empirical Considerations, 

Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 4(1), 

pp1-12. 

Useful Internet resources: 

Declaration of the French foreign minister Rober 

Shuman on May 9, 1950: http://europa.eu/abc/ 

symbols/9-may/decl_en.htm 

Lisbon Treaty (2007) http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/take/index_en.htm 

Resolution CM/Res(2007)12 on the cultural routes 

of the Council of Europe (Adopted by the Committee 

of Ministers on 10 October 2007 at the 1006th 

meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies) https://wcd.coe. 

int/ViewDoc.jsp?Ref=CM/Res(2007)12&Language= 

lanEnglish&Ver=original&Site=COE&BackColorInter 

net=DBDCF2&BackColorIntranet=FDC864&BackCo 

lorLogged=FDC864 

58

flavius-alexandru ardelean 

mind-mapping europe 

Different Approaches to Europe 

Mind-mapping Europe 

One of the four objectives of the Intensive Program in Helsinki, besides understanding national 

differences, thinking about culture as a resource and, obviously, practicing international 

exchange, was to reflect upon European identity. Although the questions “What is Europe?”, 

“What is the European Union?”, “Is there an European identity?” were the subject of the fourth 

day of the program, they remained with the students and with the teachers for the whole period 

of the course, because all of the other topics and objectives were in correlation with the 

idea of Europe and the European Union. If there is such a thing called “European identity”, then 

one cannot grasp it without understanding the differences between nations. European identity 

is often regarded as a result of basic human principles in Europe and one of the constitutive 

elements has to be culture. Therefore one must think about culture as a resource. And last 

but not least, if there is a European identity, one cannot feel it in any other way than trough 

practicing international exchange. Mobility is one of the principles of the European Union. The 

discussions between the groups during the two weeks of the IP revealed that it is very difficult 

to feel such a dimension of identity, such as European identity, when living in your own country 

– the national identity is strong. Only in international exchange, accomplished through 

mobility, one can reach another type of awareness about identity. 

In this essay we will discuss the different perceptions of the groups on Europe, the European 

Union and European identity. The main source for our analysis will be the three presentations 

of the mind-maps of Europe that the participant students made before their arrival in Helsinki. 

Thinking About Perceptions – a Finnish Approach to Europe 

The Finnish students Laura Järvinen and Suvi Runonen-Väinämö entitled their presentation: 

”Europe – images and clichés”. The main idea revolved around different perspectives when 

thinking and talking about Europe. There are different kinds of definitions of Europe (geographical, 

political and cultural) and this shapes the discussion about Europe on many levels. 

60


We can talk about Europe from a geographical point of view: its boundaries are marked by 

water to the north, west and south, the Urals, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains and 

the Black Sea. So when we talk about the geography of Europe, we always have to consider its 

geographical boundaries, a problem that accompanied the discussions of the groups throughout 

the IP. What belongs to Europe? Where does Europe end? 

We can also think about Europe as a “culturally defined core”, as the Finnish group said, 

where culture is synonymous with identity. If we perceive Europe from its political point of 

view, then we must speak about the construction of the European Union with its 27 members 

and its political system. 

This presentation then raises an important question: How do others see Europe? Eventually, 

external perception is what represents Europe in the world, regardless of how we Europeans 

think about ourselves. The “stranger’s perception” includes elements such as: “old 

continent, long history, voyage of discovery, white man invasion, Christianity, […] western 

culture, pioneers of art, science, philosophy and technology, prosperity and well-being, […] 

industry, urbanisation, ethnocentric, rich, badly-behaved and materialistic people.” Some of 

these are to be found on the other side of the mirror, in the way we, as Europeans, see 

each other: “old culture and strong religions – Catholicism, Protestantism and the Orthodox 

Church, conservative ideology, conquest ideology, large geographical, cultural and economical 

differences from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean and from the Atlantic to Russia.” 

Therefore the Finnish approach very clearly emphasises on differences, not only in relations 

with non-European countries, but also throughout the European continent. And indeed the 

Finnish participants divided Europe into four areas differing from each other in their characteristics: 

Western, Eastern, Southern and Northern Europe. It is necessary to mention these 

characteristics: Western Europe consists of “large and leading countries”, whereas Eastern Europe 

is a region with “strong religions, poverty, criminality, old traditions and growing tourism, 

economies and living standards”. The southern part of Europe is patriarchal, Mediterranean 

with a “relaxed approach to life”. “Social security, democracy, welfare and neutrality” complete 

the list, characterising Northern Europe. These are wonderful examples of how stereotypes 

function within European culture. It is interesting to observe that this point of the presentation 

sustains the overall feeling of trust in the state that we could observe as being one of the 

features of Finnish people. 

The design of the presentation was simple and clear. The Finnish group chose not to insert 

any photos and to keep the focus on the spoken word, thus making a modest but very 

pertinent appearance. 

61

Fig.1: The Finnish perspective on Europe 


The Finnish approach to Europe ends with concluding that it is difficult to find “the heart of 

Europe”, because it is in the many faces of Europe, as a result of overlapping cultures. “Culture, 

fashion, design, sports, co-operation, religion, history” are elements of European culture that 

bring us together, whether by watching an international football match or by voting during 

the Eurovision song contest. 

Thinking About History – a Bulgarian Approach to Europe 

“European Culture and European Identity” was the title of the Bulgarian presentation, given 

by Ivelina Koleva and Teo Simeonov. It features the flag of the European Union on the title 

page, which characterises the whole approach of the presentation, as one that holds great 

respect for the institution of the European Union. 

The Bulgarian group also begins by asking “What is European?” and stresses the idea of 

language. Can there be one European culture when there are so many languages in Europe? 

62


In spite of the understanding of non-Europeans that Europe represents one culture, there is 

no such thing as a European language. Once again the importance of language is expressed 

in the presentations. Language is the transmitter of culture and the simultaneous existence 

of such a great number of languages expressing somewhat similar cultural characteristics is 

what makes the discussion about European culture interesting. 

We describe the Bulgarian approach to Europe historical, because the presentation followed 

Europe on its historical path from its cultural beginnings in ancient Greece as “the 

birthplace of philosophy, democracy, diplomacy, drama, comedy, poetry”, (fundamental elements 

in the creation of the European idea and identity), through the Roman Empire and the 

Christian Middle Ages and finally concluding in the two World Wars, a series of events that 

portrayed Europe as “a continent of aggression, destruction, ambitions, death and ruins”. 

The terrible first half of European history in the twentieth century underwent a transformation 

with the formation of what would become the European Union. The Bulgarian team 

acknowledges the role of the EU in the process of peace-seeking and consolidation. Furthermore 

the EU made a major contribution to the idea of integration and prosperity and in the 

last decade it intensified the search for European identity. 

The presentation focused much on the European Union and its importance. European 

identity is built upon symbols such as the European flag and the European anthem. Europe 

celebrates its day on the 9th of May and has a motto which expresses the core idea of Europe: 

“United in diversity”. 

With the growth of integration, especially in Eastern Europe, the topic of the borders of the 

European Union, and to some extent, of Europe, once again came to light. The problem of the 

European border was one that preoccupied the participants during the fourth day of the IP 

and showed how difficult it is to know where Europe ends, because it is just as hard to know 

what European identity is. The concluding part of this chapter will also address this subject. 

The design of the Bulgarian presentation was a lively one, with many photos and sustained 

by energetic and relevant speech. 

With the famous image of Picasso’s Guernica in the background, the Bulgarian group 

concluded the presentation by reflecting on the heritage of Europe: “Globalization, having 

brought people in contact with each other at an unprecedented scale, has also brought forth 

a challenge to the formerly recognized boundaries of nation, language, culture and gender. 

These boundaries naturally have to be re-assessed. Europe, regardless of its boundaries, has 

always cultivated culture and arts, and benefited from them for the enlightenment of its people. 

Despite the horrible wars Europe has lived through, we have managed to preserve most 

63


of our national heritage and now, during these two weeks, we are here to merge them into 

something much greater – a common European heritage.” (Teo Simeonov). 

Thinking About Meanings – a German Approach to Europe 

The presentation of the German group was divided into two parts. Thomas Mayer talked 

about the “perceptual dimension” of Europe, what we as Europeans perceive to be European; 

and Flavius Ardelean presented some thoughts about the more hidden aspects of Europe. 

Thomas Mayer started by asking the by-then-familiar question: “Where is the heart of 

Europe?” There are many opinions on where the geographical centre of Europe might be and 

there are many countries claiming that it is within their borders. But more important is its 

symbolic aspect. The European Union deals with this topic in a very interesting manner: the 

European Capitals of Culture represent “hearts” of Europe. There is not only one, there are 

many, and each year there are new ones. The purpose of these cities is the understanding 

that Europe does not have one centre, one heart, but many; in fact, every city in Europe could 

be its heart. 

Another instrument in creating and eventually perceiving European identity is music. The 

famous Eurovision song contest brings people together from all over Europe. The reality looks 

in fact a bit different: in the MTV Euro Top 100 for the year 2009 only 3 songs in the Top Ten 

are from Europe. The great majority of musicians listed in the MTV Euro Top 100 come from 

the USA. Great Britain is also massively represented, but other countries have very few songs 

in the charts. The presentation incorporated graphics to illustrate this fact. 

Another feature of European culture that seems to be omnipresent is the different architectural 

styles that emerged in the history of Europe. Roman architecture, Renaissance or 

Classicism appeared everywhere in Europe and help identify a European appearance. Such 

cultural commonalities managed to create for Europe a unique image that is recognised in 

non-European areas. This too is part of the European identity. 

Flavius Ardelean spoke about the more hidden aspects of Europe and about paradoxes. He 

used a parallel between a personal library and the idea of Europe: the bookshelves are not the 

books. One needs more than that to call bookshelves a library – books are needed. Europe is 

not just the European Union – it’s much more than that. And the European Union is not Europe 

- it is perhaps the way to understand Europe. The European Union is an economical and 

political experiment and it can function very well, as long as it stays true to its foundation: 

Europe. “A bookshelf that cannot carry books is not very useful, is it? Europe can only exist, 

when it is aware that it is much more than a continent or an organization.” 

64


Fig. 2: The German perspective on Europe 

Europe is not an artefact – it is a “happening”. Europe has grown more or less organized, 

more or less chaotic, but it grew as an organism. It is therefore difficult for the European 

Union to work systematically with such an organic, natural organism like Europe. “Europe can 

only exist, when we are aware of its existence.” 

Not everything that is European comes from Europe. We use a direct descendant of the 

Phoenician alphabet, our calendar with 12 months comes from Sumer, our Monotheism 

comes from the Middle East – just to name a few. These are all elements that made Europe 

what it is today and shaped the whole world. We owe a lot to non-European cultures and the 

newly arisen wish to intensify the international relations of the European Union must pay 

tribute to that. “Europe can only exist, when it is aware of the others.” 

Not everything that comes from Europe is simply European anymore. Concepts such as individuality 

(Greek), justice and citizenship (Roman), person (biblical), human rights, Enlighten- 

65


ment are now fundamental for all of humanity. But we must also remember that the scientific 

discoveries that arose in Europe allowed the development of atomic bombs, that religion has 

had its own bloody wars, that the European culture that is now based on human dignity wiped 

entire cultures from the face of the earth, and that the human rights, articulated and evoked 

so often in Europe, knew a terrible time of hiatus during the dictatorships of the 20th century. 

“Europe can only exist, when it is aware of its past and of its future.” 

Conclusions 

When working with international groups, there are some benefits for all those involved: one 

not only gets to meet other cultures and ways of thinking, but also to understand oneself 

more. Contrast brings differences and similarities to light. Successful international exchange 

means not only tolerance and open-mindedness, but also introspection and analysis. It is a 

way of understanding the past and of dealing with the present. And perhaps more important: 

it is a way of shaping the future. The three international groups had the opportunity to think 

and talk about Europe and the European Union and the results were partly predictable and 

partly astonishing. There were differences and similarities, but all these contributed to a very 

successful mind-mapping process. There is also one danger when talking about the results: 

the danger of generalisation. The ideas that the groups expressed are not be understood as 

“national approaches” and generalized as such. The speakers were individuals with their own 

subjectivity that came from different cultures and who expressed their own fears and hopes 

regarding the future of Europe. 

During the discussions that took place after the presentation one fact was clear: it is difficult 

to express and to conceptualise the idea of Europe today. One similarity was the overall 

acceptance of the fact that Europe and the European Union are two separate entities with 

different goals that must be aware of each other. Concepts such as “the heart of Europe” and 

“European identity” appeared in all of the presentations. That means that there is a European 

preoccupation with these topics, regardless of where they are communicated. 

What was quite fascinating was that, although the presentations were preparatory work (that 

is, the groups didn’t know what the others ones will write and talk about), some common 

ideas emerged during the presentations and the discussions. Some examples: the idea of 

European symbols as an element of European identity-building and the preoccupation with 

language, both as a vehicle for transmitting culture but also as an impediment in trying to 

understand cultures that speak another language. 

66


Despite some similar ideas the presentations of the three groups differed not only in their 

content, but also in their form and method of expression. The Finnish group focused on perspectives. 

Are we as European as the image that non-Europeans have of us? What makes us 

different? The Bulgarian team spoke about Europe as the result of its history and the role that 

the European Union has in modern history and in the future of Europe. The appearances and 

paradoxes of Europe were the main topics discussed by the German group. 

The approach of the three groups on Europe differed also in the proportion of the mention 

of the European Union in the presentation. The Finnish group didn’t emphasize the European 

Union as much as the Bulgarian team did. This has various reasons. I believe it has something 

to do with the history and the living standards in those countries. Finland is a welfare state 

with a powerful national history. Its independence was many times referred to and trust of the 

Finnish people in its government is probably higher than in other countries. This was actually 

discussed during the mind-mapping after the presentation. Countries in Eastern Europe don’t 

trust their governments and the politicians that much. The author of this chapter is Romanian 

and can back up this supposition. That’s why we believe that intensive focus of the Bulgarian 

group on the European Union comes from the hope for change and from trust in international 

and supranational organizations. The independence of Finland seemed to everybody as a powerful 

element of identity for the Finnish people and it is almost as if there was a shadow of 

mistrust about Europe on the part of the Finnish participants during the discussions. The German 

group had a mixed approach to that issue. Their presentations were made by a German 

who lives in a federal system and for whom the European Union automatically is far away, 

beyond the national federal levels, and by a Romanian who joined the European Union not 

long ago and who is therefore more preoccupied with this topic. We think that the level of interest 

and trust in the European Union can be derived from the particularities of each country. 

The end of the discussion about Europe and the European Union was characterised by another 

form of expressing thoughts about the topic. Two students drew pictures about how they 

see Europe and its future. Inga Ervig drew a picture about the development of the European 

Union out of the natural organism of Europe. Ivan Menkachev sketched his image about the 

future of Europe. He stated his fear that Europe could become a state like the United States 

of America and that, together with a future United States of Africa, would become part of 

a global government. Sadly we could document only the first drawing and we reproduce it 

here as a conclusion on the topic of Europe. The words that accompany the drawing belong 

to Inga Ervig. 

67

Fließtext 


“These dots are not usual dots. This 

bunch of dots represents the first humans 

who settled down in Europe centuries 

ago.” 

“Between these human beings culture 

began to arise. This is symbolized by the 

stars in-between the dots.” 

68


69 

“It would have been a bad habit not to 

share the cultural goods between each 

other. That is why humans started to 

trade in Europe.” 

“It did not take a very long time and 

trade was not sufficient enough for 

many people. They had the desire to visit 

each other to see cultural heritages 

and to experience different cultural traditions. 

People always took something 

back home from their travels and 

brought it to the next place they went. 

Those things could have been tolerance, 

open-mindedness, ideas, memories and 

friendships. This process went on and on 

– it seems that the result of these dynamic 

exchanges is like a vivid flower growing 

all over Europe.”


“When we looked at the picture drawn 

we thought ‚Doesn’t that look nice?’ And 

we decided to put a frame around it. This 

frame was quickly called the „EU“ and 

gives our picture the structure to keep its 

parts together. And if neither the flower 

nor the frame has died up to now, the European 

process is still happily growing.” 

The difficulty of recognizing “the heart of Europe”, its “centre” and its “identity” resulted in 

acknowledging that every one of us, citizens of Europe, represents the heart of it. Europe is 

every one of us. The fourth day of the IP in Helsinki proved that Europe can be found and 

explored only in international and intercultural exchange. Dialogue is the key to Europe. 

70

73 

CULTURAL INDUSTRIES IN 

EUROPE


cultural industries in europe 

An Overwhole View 

As we recognize when thinking about identity in Europe, arts and culture have always been 

considered to be integral ingredients of Europe’s identity and self-consciousness. The richness 

of cultural heritage from the first sculptures made by the human beings in South-Western 

Germany 30.000 years before ago, the first drafts from the caves in Altamira or Lascaux 

(10.000 B.C.) and the early archeological sites in Bulgaria as well as the diversity of cultural 

expressions from northern Scandinavia to the deep south in Sicilia, are appreciated not only 

as witnesses of an important past but as well as a basis for a European future which is united 

in variety and which takes its chances from its cultural diversity. 

The key word in this process of dealing with the future is creativity. It is considered as the 

main resource for economic growth in a continent where natural resources are limited and 

society is very well developed so that the costs of labour and public welfare are very high 

and without any economic chance in comparison to most of the countries in Asia and South 

America. So European economic policy refers to the idea that economic growth, working 

places and public welfare are in strict relationship to Europe’s capacity for creativity realized 

in scientific, technological, organizational, political, social and cultural processes which are 

all narrowly related to each other. This makes it difficult to define which of these processes 

initiates creativity and which are accompanying and fostering them. 

Worldmapper 

In order to get a plastic idea of global challenges and global changes scientist from the University 

of Sheffield and the University of Michigan have invented a system of maps showing 

not only geographic facts but the relationship between continents and countries in many 

different aspects of economic, social and cultural development. In order to understand the 

approach of worldmapper.org figure 1 shows the share of land and the share of absolute 

poverty in different parts of the world. 

74


Fig. 1: Share of land area and share of absolute poverty to different continents and countries in the world 

The facts seem to be clear: whereas in Europe, Northern America, Japan and Australia absolute 

poverty (defined to have less than 2 $ per person a days) has almost beenabolished other 

parts of the world especially Africa, India and China are suffering more and more due to a 

large and lasting growth of population. 

On this view of poverty and population the biggest problems of wealth and the future in 

Europe and the so called western world seem to be solved: “population and poverty are 

under control”. But this analysis may be arrived at too quickly as we know that demographic 

changes are challenging European societies very deeply. Our European population is going to 

become smaller, older, more colourful; the balance of economic basis, developed infrastructure 

and social systems are in danger. 

75 

Landarea 

Absolute 

Poverty 

(less 2 $ a day) 

www. worldmapper.org

Fig. 2: Share of population in the world in 1900 and 2050 

Population 

in the world 

in 1900 

in 2050 


www. worldmapper.org 

Figure 2 shows us the development of the world’s populations in its comparison. In 1900 

every third person in the world lived in Europe. At the end of the 20th century it was only 

every sixth and in 2050 it will be perhaps every tenth. No question, the importance of the 

European population is decreasing constantly with many economic and social and cultural 

consequences. 

Global Changes and New Industries 

The first consequence of the decrease of European population is the change from a world 

centred on Europe at the beginning of the 20th century to a multioriented world today. Europe 

has become an economic and political player beside others and these others are getting 

stronger and stronger every day. Especially China, India and Brazil are evolving very fast as 

emerging markets due to their strength in production as well as in consumption. An indicator 

76


of their strength in production is the shifting of whole industries especially to Asia (textile, 

steel, electronic products) and as a symbol for their market power can be taken the absolute 

numbers of population. 

For the “old Europe” economic opportunities have to be sought in the rise of new technologies 

– in software industries, in bio-engineering, in nanotechnologies and in the rise of services 

such as financing, logistics, tourism and cultural industries. Certainly, they can not emerge 

just by themselves, they must be considered as a result of scientific research and innovation 

in all dimensions of social development. And it has to be based on a political strategy which 

has to bring together these centrifugal forces. The EU has defined such a policy by the Lisbon 

Strategy. 

The Lisbon Strategy 

In 2000 the governments of the EU reached an agreement to develop the EU until 2010 into 

the most competitive and most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the entire world. This 

development known as Lisbon Strategy implied three main topics: 

› on the economic level: strengthening of research and development to process the information 

society and all kinds of relevant technologies 

› in social life: developping modernisation, social equity and successful education 

› with regard to the environment: decoupling of economic growth and natural resources. 

The Lisbon Strategy became also very important for the cultural sector as a whole and in particular 

for the cultural industries. It focussed attention on the economic dimension of culture 

as it had never before. Special interest has been given to 

› economic growth by cultural industries 

› working places in cultural industries (quantity and quality) 

› the influence of cultural creativity on economic dynamics 

› the influence of social life on development. 

The best way to strengthen innovation and creativity in a society by public means is to improve 

education. Therefore many international tests have been launched in recent years in 

order to analyze and to advance education on all levels. Figure 3 shows us the great efforts 

that have been taken place in tertiary education in Europe and some other parts of the world. 

The graphics show us that in 2002 the expenditure for tertiary education has been on almost 

77

Fig. 3: Strategy of knowledge-based economy: Spending on Tertiary Education 

Tertiary 

Education 

2002 

Tertiary 

Education 

Spending 

Growth 

1990 - 2001 



the same level in the USA, in Europe and India. This has been the result of a lasting spending 

growth especially in the USA and Europe in the previous decade. But when we consider in 

addition the different numbers of people living in these four regions we will come to the 

conclusion that the USA is still advancing in tertiary education, followed by Europe and China 

and India close behind. 

Some Global Data 

Those comparisons may give us an idea of coming global developments and we certainly 

should be attentive to them although we also have to confess that we are often missing coherent 

data. Different political and administrative systems in different countries are collecting 

data in different ways and in different combinations so that the bases for comparisons are 

not always the same. 

78


Further, if we want to evaluate the role of cultural industries in different regions we face the 

problem of allocation of value creation in international and highly connected economies. 

But identifying these problems is the first step to solving. So we can notice that successful 

attempts at better adjusted research in statistics are happening in all countries of Europe and 

else where in the world. 

The statistics lead us to the following general statements: 

› We can notice a high increase of cultural industries with the following indicators: 

» doubling in trade of press, literature, music, film, art from 1994 to 2002 

» growth of 300 % of audio-visual products in the last 20 years. 

› Cultural products are already very important for the world economy 

» 1 % of world trade involves with cultural goods 

» 2-3 % of world economy involves with cultural goods 

» 6 % of world trade involves with tourism 

» 10 % of world economy involves with tourism including a growing part of cultural 

tourism. 

› The world trade in cultural products is concentrated in a few countries: USA, Great Britain, 

Germany, France and Japan. 

› However, a new star is born with China: Since 2002 China has attained the rank of number 

3 in export of cultural products behind Great Britain and USA. 

› If we compare continental rankings in cultural exports in 2002, Europe has been number 

one (52 % of all cultural exports), followed by Asia (21 %) and North America on 3rd rank. 

› Concerning cultural imports the ranking is just the opposite: USA (1), followed by Great 

Britain and Germany (3). 

In order to get a concrete idea of these global developments and disparities we should take 

another look at worldmapper’s cartograms. Fig. 4 shows us the different powers of cultural 

production and cultural consumption in two selected media. 

79

Fig. 4: Global dimensions of production and consumption in selected media 

Books 

published 

(titles, 

not copies) 

1999 


Films 

watched 

(at commercial 

screenings) 


The cartogram above is based on the numbers of books (titles, not copies) published in the 

world. The disproportionateness is striking: More than one third of all books in the world are 

written and published in Europe. Here we have maintained the position of the old Europe as 

an intellectual power. But we can also identify once again the rising power of China (101.000 

titles) which nevertheless has become number two in publishing of books just behind Great 

Britain (110.000 titles) and far ahead of the USA (65.000 titles). 

If in contrast we look to the modern media of film and its consumption in different parts 

of the world we discover that the USA is one of the most important markets in the world 

but not the most important. From about 7.5 billion spectators at commercial screenings 1.5 

billion have come to cinemas in USA, but almost 2.9 billion have watched films in India. So 

Bollywood has become an effective counterpart to Hollywood. 

80


We could continue those comparisons in different sectors and media of cultural communication 

and in the end we would be confirmed our thesis of high and growing dynamics 

in cultural and creative industries. Instead of this, however, we will focus our view on the 

situation in Europe. 

Some Data on the Development of Cultural Industries in Europe 

In 2006 the European Commission published for the first time a study entitled The Economy 

of Culture in Europe. It was a result of the Lisbon Strategy and indicated the direct and 

indirect economic connections of cultural activities. Until then culture has mainly been considered 

as a means for the process of European unification. Now it began also to be a means 

for economic and social development because of its potential to create labour, to strengthen 

innovation and to foster sustainability. Moreover, by analyzing the basic data of economic 

development for the years 1999 to 2003 the study could show that the cultural and creative 

sector grew faster than the general economy and that it was therefore a vital force for 

development in Europe. Whilst the nominal growth of the European economy for this period 

was 17,5 %, the growth of the cultural and creative sector in these years was 12 % higher, 

i.e. 19,7 %. Furthermore, the figures show a positive trend to its contribution to the general 

wealth of Europe. 

Fig. 5 describes the average turnover growth of the cultural sector in 30 countries of Europe 

and its value added to the European GDP from 1999 to 2003. We note that the average 

growth per year in all 30 countries has been 8.1 %, but the contribution to GDP has grown 

by 12.3 %. That means that the cultural sector has become more and more important for 

the European economy. Especially high dynamics could be seen in the countries of Eastern 

Europe where a backlog in communicative infrastructure led to remarkable activities. 

The total contribution of the cultural and creative sector to the European GDP in 2003 has 

been 2,6 %. That is much more than the entire industry of food, beverages and tobacco 

(1,9 %) or the chemical industry (2,3 %). 

Considering the fact of shifting industries in the last decades, it is even more important that 

the cultural and creative industries have become an important factor for producing jobs. 

81

Average turnover growth 

(1999-2003 

Growth in value added to 

European GDP (1999-2003) 

Austria 5,4 % 2,8 

Belgium 5,2 % 7,7 

Cyprus NA % NA 

Czech Rep. 15,5 % 56,0 

Denmark 2,7 % -1,9 

Estonia 11,5 % 9,1 

Finland 7,1 % 11,1 

France 6,7 % 7,1 

Germany 4,9 % 6,6 

Greece 5,4 % 4,4 

Hungary 17,1 % 7,6 

Ireland 7,7 % 8,8 

Italy 5,3 % 7,3 

Latvia 7,7 % 17,0 

Lithuania 5,1 % 67,8 

Luxembourg 2,9 % NA 

Malta 0,1 % NA 

Netherlands 5,0 % NA 

Poland 6,1 % 13,0 

Portugal 10,6 % 6,3 

Slovakia 3,9 % 15,5 

Slovenia 17,9 % 5,4 

Spain 10,5 % 9,0 

Sweden 7,8 % 2,6 

United Kingdom 6,6 % 1,7 

Bulgaria 13,8 % NA 

Romania 20,2 % 29,0 

Norway 4,8 % 3,8 

Iceland 8,3 % 4,1 

Total EU 25 5,4 % 6,6 

Total 30 countries 8,1 % 12,3 

Source: Eurostat and AMADEUS – Data elaborated by Media Group 

Fig. 5: Contribution of the European cultural and creative sector to the European growth 


Fig. 6 shows the cultural employment in the 25 countries of the EU in 2004. In that time in 

total 5.8 million people were employed in the cultural sector: 3.1 % of all employees. 

An important factor in these positive effects on employment is cultural tourism (fig. 7). It 

contributes about 25 % to the number of employees in the cultural sector. To this point it 

should have become clear that the cultural sector indeed has become an important factor 

of economic development by its contribution to the growth of the European GDP and by its 

82


Fig. 6: Cultural employment in the EU 25 in 2004 (in thousands) 

positive influence on jobs. But one question remains: The question of a special contribution 

of the cultural sector to creativity. Can we find indicators that suggest a connection between 

cultural creativity and economic success? We can indeed. In 2004 the World Economic Forum 

published a study which showed the relationship between the current competitiveness ranking 

and the ranking in the use of design. The first indicator relates to economic success, the 

other to cultural creativity. The results have been persuasive (fig. 8). Very close relationships 

could be found in the cases of Finland, USA, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, 

Denmark, Austria, Belgium and some other countries where the rating in design was very 

close to the general competitiveness ranking so it can be considered not as the only factor, 

but as an essential factor for economic success. 

83

Fig. 7: Cultural and cultural tourism employment in the EU 25 in % of total employment, 2004 


Cultural Industries vs. Cultural Diversity 

The importance of cultural industries for the economic, social, cultural and environmental 

development of Europe in general should be deemed useful and forward-looking. But we 

should also consider some emerging problems at the same time. The most important problem 

can be seen in the conflict between the rules of cultural industries and the necessities of 

cultural diversity. 

Economic growth is primarily based on liberal economic structures and open markets. The international 

organization guaranteeing free exchange is the World Trade Organisation (WTO). 

In several treaties among its members it has defined the rules for free access to global markets 

not only concerning trades of physical goods but also of services: e.g. of music or theatre 

performances. Therefore the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) has become very 

84


Country 

Current competiveness 

ranking 

Design ranking 

Finland 1 1 

United States 2 2 

The Netherlands 3 7 

Germany 4 3 

Switzerland 5 6 

Sweden 6 8 

United Kingdom 7 10 

Denmark 8 9 

Australia 9 21 

Singapore 10 22 

Canada 11 15 

France 12 4 

Austria 13 12 

Belgium 14 16 

Japan 15 5 

Iceland 16 14 

Israel 17 13 

Hong Kong 18 24 

Norway 19 18 

New Zeeland 20 20 

Source: World Economic Forum 

Fig. 8: Global Competiveness Report 2001-2002: Ranking of countries on the basis of their competiveness and 

use of design 

important for the cultural and creative sector. It combines guarantees of open access with the 

cessation of forbidden subsidies. And exactly here we find the conflict with cultural diversity. 

For many cultural offerings such as public broadcasting or opera performances or film productions 

are based on public spending on culture. 

Moreover, we might also note that cultural identity in Europe and other parts of the world is 

not only based on cultural heritage and living communication but also on public protection 

and public financing. Therefore the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity 2005 has become 

a very important and necessary means to balance the different meanings and interests 

of culture between economic potentials and original self-will. Its aim is 

› to protect and to promote cultural diversity 

› to reflect the connections between cultural diversity, cultural industries and cultural policy 

85

selected literature 

Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission (Ed.) (2006): 

Übereinkommen über Schutz und Förderung 

der Vielfalt kultureller Ausdrucksformen. 

Magna Charta der Internationalen Kulturpolitik, 

Bonn. 

European Commission (Ed.) (2006): 

The Economy of Culture in Europe, 

Brussels. 

European Cultural Foundation (2005): 

The Creative Sector – An Engine for Diversity, 

Growth and Jobs in Europe, 

Amsterdam (www.eurocult.org/key-documents) 

Merkel, Christine M. (2007): 

Das UNESCO-Übereinkommen 

zur Kulturellen Vielfalt, 

In: Loock, Friedrich / Oliver Scheytt (Ed.): 

Kulturmanagement und Kulturpolitik, 

Stuttgart/Berlin (B 2.3). 


› to guarantee the national and international dimensions of cultural products in order to 

establish the possibility to produce, perceive, exchange and trade arts and cultural goods 

in all countries, but also to preserve the legal right of each country to protect and promote 

cultural diversity by political acts and financials means. 

Cultural diversity seems to be self-understanding in the tradition of European history – but 

this is not so in a global world, dominated by economic interests. Cultural industries and 

cultural diversity are both indispensible for future Europe – but the global arrangements have 

just begun to be discussed. 

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (2005): 

International Flows of Selected Cultural Goods 

and Services 1994-2003, 

Montreal/Paris (www.uis.unesco.org). 

UNESCO World Report on Cultural Diversity 

Paris 2008. 

www.worldmapper.org - used according to Creative 

Commons Licence 

© Copyright SASI Group (University of Sheffield) 

and Mark Newman (University of Michigan). 

86


bulgarian cultural industries in the 

european context 

Before looking at some figures revealing the condition of Bulgarian cultural industries as well 

as the problems of the methodology for their measurement, let us begin with some more 

general considerations. First, it is worth to remember that the term cultural industry, broadly 

used by politicians, cultural managers and scientists, was initially introduced by Max Horkheimer 

and Theodor Adorno in the entirely critical discourse of Frankfurt School rejecting 

mass culture and consumerism. For them, the culture industry corrupts the very nature of art, 

standardizes culture and commodifies society, creating objects rather than subjects. The culture 

industry claims to serve the consumers‘ needs for entertainment and delivers what the 

consumer wants but what is more, it “does not so much fabricate the dream of the customers 

as introduce the dreams of the suppliers among the people.” (Adorno 1991: 80) 

The agenda of cultural industries begins to appear in EU official cultural policy by the 

end of 1990s mainly in the context of their potential for job creation. Since the beginning 

of the 21st century culture is increasingly regarded as economy and catalyst for creativity in 

the framework of the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs. This accent becomes obvious in the 

Commission communication on a European agenda for culture in a globalising world (2007), 

where the role of cultural industries for the economy of EU receives an overall appreciation: 

Cultural industries and the creative sector are substantially contributing to European GDP, 

growth and employment. As an illustration, a recent independent study carried out for the 

Commission estimated that more than 5 million people worked in 2004 for the cultural 

sector, equivalent to 3.1% of total employed population in EU-25. The cultural sector contributed 

around 2.6% to the EU GDP in 2003, with growth significantly higher than that 

of the economy in general between 1999 and 2003 . These industries and the creativity 

which they generate are an essential asset for Europe‘s economy and competitiveness in a 

context of globalisation. 

Furthermore, the Commission underlines the necessity of exploring and promoting the role 

of culture in supporting and fostering creativity and innovation as the basis for social and 

88

ulgarian cultural industries in the european context 

Fig. 1: European Commission 

technological innovation, and therefore as an important driver of growth, competitiveness 

and jobs in the EU. 

Variety of Close Terms 

One can encounter various interconnected and even overlapping terms such as cultural economy, 

creative economy, cultural industries, creative industries, and copyright industries. In the 

European Parliament resolution of 10 April 2008 on cultural industries in Europe, culture is 

given a supreme value as a public good and end it itself, fulfilling individuals and benefitting 

society by fostering economic growth, employment and social cohesion. Here we also meet an 

elaborate description of the nature and scope of cultural industries. They encompass creation, 

production, dissemination and marketing of goods and services, the distinctive character 

of which lies in contents which are intangible and cultural in nature such as: film, music and 

89


Fig. 2: Source: Michal Soendermann’s presentation ‘Towards a Feasible Model of Statistical Comparison on Culture 

and Creative Industries in Europe’, Sofia, 12.2009 

publishing industries, the media and industries in the creative sector (such as fashion and 

design), tourism, arts and information industries. The product of cultural industries is typically 

protected by intellectual property rights. The resolution recognizes necessity of securing a 

special legal status and greater support for all cultural and creative industries, including micro 

businesses and SMEs as well as individual artists, to help these sectors achieve their full potential 

and also contribute to the Lisbon Strategy objectives. Obviously, there is also development 

of the Delegation’s opinion on the role of tourism treated as a component of cultural 

industries, while only an year earlier it had not been recognized as an activity belonging to 

the cultural industrial sector. (See Diagram 1, presented in 2007 by Sylvian Pasqua from European 

Commission, Directorate-General for Education and Culture). On the one hand, Pasqua 

differentiates between cultural industries including the traditional arts and mass media, and 

creative industries incorporating such more ‘practical’ activities such as design, architecture 

90


Fig. 3 

and advertising. On the other hand, PC and MP3 player reproduction is presented next to but 

outside of this classification as ‘related activities’. Finally, although the treatment of ‘heritage’ 

belongs to the core, tourism is entirely excluded from the field. 

Another sectoral breakdown of Cultural Industries presents in the same vein 11+1 main areas 

of cultural activities, including however the item ‘heritage’ but without explicitly naming 

‘tourism’ (fig. 2). 

The European creative economy tends to increase rapidly its production and employment 

capacity. In 2006 the creative sector as a whole was estimated to produce 780 billion Euros 

of the turnover and has engaged about 8,8-10 million employees (See Diagram 3). 

91


In the most recent document of European Commission, DG Education and Culture, entitled 

Green Paper: Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries, COM(2010) 183, 

cultural industries are defined as those industries producing and distributing goods or services 

which are considered to have a specific attribute, use or purpose which embodies or conveys 

cultural expressions, irrespective of the commercial value they may have. Besides the traditional 

arts sectors (performing arts, visual arts, cultural heritage – including the public sector), 

they include film, DVD and video, television and radio, video games, new media, music, 

books and press. This concept is defined in relation to cultural expressions in the context of 

the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural 

expressions. „Creative industries“ are those industries which use culture as an input and have 

a cultural dimension, although their outputs are mainly functional. They include architecture 

and design, which integrate creative elements into wider processes, as well as subsectors 

such as graphic design, fashion design or advertising. At a more peripheral level, many other 

industries rely on content production for their own development and are therefore to some 

extent interdependent with CCIs. They include, among others, tourism and the new technologies 

sector. These industries are not explicitly covered by the concept of CCIs used in this 

Green Paper though. 

Cultural Industries in Bulgaria 

As long as cultural industries are a domain of the cultural entrepreneurship, not surprisingly 

there is a certain ambiguity when speaking about this issue in post-socialist countries dominated 

until recently by a centralized state economy where private initiative was almost 

minimal but practically impossible in the ideological sphere of culture. Nowadays in the conditions 

of democratization of society and respectively, its culture, cultural entrepreneurship 

is still weak and subjected to financial vicissitudes of its main pillar, the NGO sector, and the 

downturn of the market. 

But even when some new segments of the cultural and creative industries have developed 

such as videogames, advertising, fashion and design, they remained obscure and beyond the 

scope of the national statistical observations. Traditionally, cultural statistics of the National 

Statistical Institute (NSI), Bulgaria observes the activity of: 

› Theatres 

› Museums 

92


› ‘Chitalishte’ (Reading/Cultural Centers) 

› Libraries 

› Audio-Visual Sector (film production, cinemas, radio and TV) 

› Publishing and printing houses 

The indicators of these annual statistical observations are mainly the numbers of visitors/ 

users/ readers, circulation and number of published titles, but never has any turnover has 

been estimated as if the Bulgarian cultural institutions continued to function in the greenhouse 

of the centralized economy. Here we shall present several examples. 

Cultural institutions - visitors 

2005 2007 2008 

No visitors No Visitors No Visitors 

thousands 

thousands 

thousands 

Theaters 75 1475 78 1636 78 1679 

Museums 229 3925 227 4060 222 4631 

Libraries[1] 48[2] 3242[2] 49 3303 47 3005 

[1] With more than 200 000 volumes. 

[2] Information as of 2006 

The average number of visitors to one theatre in 2008 grew to 22 000 in comparison with 

21 000 in 2007, and the visitors per performance grew from 149 to 154 people. The readers 

in libraries in 2008 are 253 000, and they decrease by 20.7% in comparison with 2000 and 

by 5.3% in comparison with 2007. 

Museums 

No Visitors 

(thousands) 

Years total Per 

museum 

93 

Lectures Organized 

exhibitions 

total Incl. in own In 

foreign 

associa- 

languages tion 

Concerts Discussions Video 

screening 

Of books 

2000 224 3938 17,6 42530 6664 1447 . 686 360 1646 

2002 220 3555 16,2 45631 8003 980 682 597 347 1182 

2005 229 3925 17,1 60311 11659 1044 589 657 521 1409 

2007 227 4060 17,9 63176 12839 1145 792 704 459 1292 

2008 222 4631 20,9 57595 9419 1221 790 696 448 1174


These statistical figures characterize museums as centrally subsidized traditional institutions, 

pillars of national identity, far from the spirit of cultural entrepreneurship. 

Cinemas 

2003 2006 2007 2008 

Cinema -No 149 66 62 57 

Screenings - thousands 136 157 140 160 

Visitors - thousands 3531 2580 2631 2429 

In 2008 the cinema visitors decreased with 202,000 or by 7.7% in comparison to 2007, while 

revenue from tickets grew by 2.6 million Levs (Bulgarian national currency), or by 24.2%. Radio 

stations grew in number from 67 in 2000 to 114 in 2008. The total broadcasting in 2008 

is 797 683 hours. In 2008 the 3 TV operators with a national scope (БНТ, бТВ и НТВ) and 

the 116 cable and satellite TVs broadcasted in total 747.000 hours. 

Published titles: 

Blue – newspapers; red – journals and magazines; green – books and booklets 

94


Circulation (Thousands): 

Blue – newspapers; red – journals and magazines; green – books and booklets 

The preceding two tables reveal a tendency of gradual diversification of the book market in 

Bulgaria (more published books by title) but the greatest is the interest in newspapers, their 

circulation being about 20 times higher in comparison with books and about 10 times higher 

than that of journals and magazines. 

Attempts to modernize the methodology of the Bulgarian cultural statistics are connected 

with the impact of the international community and the need for comparable regular standardised 

statistical information within the EU. For example, in the period August 2006 – February 

2007 a comprehensive study of the economic contribution of the copyright-based 

industries in Bulgaria was conducted on the initiative of the Bulgarian government and with 

the financial support of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The adoption 

of the NACE international classification of economic activities by the National Statistical 

Institute (NSI) in 2003 (Bulgarian National Classification of Economic Activities NKID-2003) 

was an important precondition for the study, allowing the application of WIPO methodology. 

Instead of CCIs typology, the researchers applied the typology of copyright-based industries 

according to WIPO methodology, including: 

95


› Core industries - those with highest contribution of copyright to the created value added: 

press and literature; visual and graphic arts; music, theater and operas, photography, motion 

picture and video, radio and television, advertising, software and databases. 

› Interdependent industries - manufacturing and trade of equipment, instruments and products 

used entirely or mainly in core copyright industries: computers, photographic and 

cinematographic equipment, radio and television devices, paper, blank recording materials. 

› Partial industries - those in which only a part of activities are related to copyrights and 

related rights: apparel, textile and footwear, furniture, jewellery, artistic arts, toys and 

games,domestic and home appliances and goods, architecture, activities of museums. 

› Non-dedicated support industries - these facilitate distribution and sales of copyrightprotected 

goods and services: telecommunications including the Internet, transportation, 

general wholesale and retail. 

This approach allowed treating and measuring culture as a productive economy (See the 

diagrams on the Economic contribution of the copyright industries and the Copyright Industries 

Share in GDP in comparison with other sectors of Bulgarian economy). Information was also 

received presenting the dynamics of the process: the growth of the sector for 2003-2005 in 

terms of its economic contribution and employment. 

Economic contribution of the copyright industries in 2005: 

96


Copyright Industries Share in GDP compared with other sectors in BG Economy: 

Employment in the sector of copyright-based industries: 

In 2005, 104 814 people in Bulgaria were employed in economic activities related to copyright 

and related rights, almost one in every 20 people employed. 55 861 people worked in 

the core copyright-based industries only, i.e. more than half of the people employed in the 

sector. 

97


Conclusion 

The CCIs sector in Bulgaria is developing quickly in the new fields of activities connected 

mainly with new technologies such as advertising, software and databases, as well as the so 

called interdependent activities, while the traditional spheres of fine and performing arts have 

suffered from stagnation further increased by the present economic crises. Nevertheless, the 

introduction of standard statistical approaches and systems of indicators for measuring the 

CCI sector is a chance for Bulgarian society not only to compare the situation cross-culturally, 

but also to rethink its strategy for the development of the Bulgarian culture. The numbers 

below presenting some important indicators from Bulgaria, Finland and Germany speak eloquently 

by themselves. 

Indicators/countries BULGARIA FINLAND GERMANY 

Cinemas (2007) 113 310 4832 

Cinema admissions per capita % (2007) 0.32 1.23 1.52 

Cultural workers in total employment % (2005) 1.8 3.3 2.8 

Self-Employed in Cultural Employment % (2005) 12.2 20.0 32.7 

Self-Employed in Total Employment % (2005) 9.8 9.7 11.4 

Total Gvmnt Expenditure on Culture per Capital 20.9(2006) 167.7(2005) 101.0(2007) 

Abbreviations: 

GDP: Gross Domestic Product 

GVA: Gross Value Added 

NSI: National Statistical Institute, Bulgaria 

sme: small and medium-size enterprise 

WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization 

98


references: 

Adorno, Theodor W. (1991): 

The Culture Industry: Selected Essays 

on Mass Culture, 

London: Routledge. 

Hristova, Svetlana (2008): 

Arts Management for disadvantaged groups 

in a society in transition: the case for Bulgaria, 

In: Enabling the Creators. Arts and Cultural Management 

and the Challenge of Social Inclusion. 

Ed. Jolyon Laycock. European Arts Management 

Programme in association, 

Oxford Brookes University 

Tchalakov, Ivan & Vladya Borisova, Donka Keskinova, 

Georgi Damyanov, Rossitza Arkova, Tsveta Andreeva, 

Jordan Kalchev, Todor Todorov (2007): 

2007 WIPO study of the economic 

contribution of the copyright based industries 

in Bulgaria, 

Sofia: University Publishing House “Stopanstvo” 

99 

Commission communication on a European agenda 

for culture in a globalising world (2007): http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2 

007:0242:FIN:EN:DOC 

European Parliament resolution of 10 April 2008 

on cultural industries in Europe (2007/2153(INI)): 

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc. 

do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2008- 

0123+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN 

National Statistical Institute: www.nsi.bg

jyrki simovaara 

finnish cultural exports 

Finnish cultural exports have been supported and coordinated by the ministry of culture since 

2005. The first report on the subject was a summary of all exports in the cultural field and a 

mapping of different sectors, their structures and visions regarding cultural exports. Since then 

all sectors of culture have been working on their export strategies. Financial support for exports 

projects has also been available for several years. 

The definition of cultural exports in these reports reveals one of the difficulties in the discussions. 

The 2005 report starts from a broad definition: “By ‘cultural exports’ we mean the 

transfer of cultural meaning from one cultural sphere to another”, but the implementation 

and the financial support attempts to differentiate between commercial and non-commercial 

exports. The ministry tries to separate the exportation of commercial cultural production 

from so called international cultural cooperation. This has aroused some discussions in the 

field of arts where business is not so popular. Most successful exports projects have started 

out on the non-commercial side and only later moved over to the commercial exports. 

Defining cultural exports as exchange of cultural meaning involves processes of interaction 

and cooperation. The definition covers both commercial and non-profit cultural production. 

Commercial and non-profit are kept apart in the funding. But the so called arm’s-length principle 

of cultural policy is weakening and instrumental values are getting stronger. 

This controversy between culture and economy was spotted in the 2005 report by Hannele 

Koivunen and it was analysed by means of the following image: 

100


Fig. 1: The famous heavy metal band Lordi as an example of a Finnish cultural export known all over Europe 

Society has developed into what we call a meaning-intensive economy and this brings arts 

and culture into the center of industrial development visions. The creative economy is seen 

as a commercial asset in international competition. Development efforts are directed to 

strengthen the value chain of cultural production (fig. 2). 

This so-called policy attachment is a major change in the discourse on arts and culture. 

Just a decade ago nobody would dare to omit the value of pure art, but nowadays it is okay 

to talk about zero percentage of gross national product when talking about the arts. It has 

been said that cultural exports should only cover profitable art and culture. Non-commercial 

art cannot be commissioned. 

According to statistics the value of cultural exports made up 1% of overall exports from 

Finland. We have to keep in mind that concerts, theatres, exhibitions (fig.2) and other artistic 

activities represent only 6 % out of this 1% and thus it is just a minimal fraction of the ove- 

101

Fig. 2: The value chain of cultural exports 


rall economy. The largest sectors of cultural exports, as they are defined in the statistics, are 

advertising, magazines and newspapers, radio and television. The import of cultural services 

and products is much larger than their export. 

In Finland’s domestic economy the added value of the copyright field is about 4% and 

the field employs about 4% of the work force. Economic growth in the cultural field is faster 

than in other fields. Exports are not on the level of other industries and the industrialist 

visions aim to bring the sector up to the level of other successful industries. The problems 

of cultural exports include: lack of production and marketing skills, linguistic barriers, small 

domestic market, lack of international distribution. The domestic market in Finland is small 

but active, Finns spend 5,6% of their expenditures on cultural products, which is the third 

highest percentage in Europe. 

102


Fig.3: An artwork of the Arctic hysteria exhibition made by the popular Finnish artist Marcus Copper 

The problem of pure art vs. applied and commercial artistic products could be compared to 

science, where research is divided in basic research and applied research. In science policy 

basic research is free from all controlling interests. This is less clear in cultural policy. In science 

the innovation chain is not seen as one-way and linear, but as a matrix with dimensions 

that extend from increasing our basic knowledge of the world to the practical application of 

knowledge (fig.4). 

The latest argument in the Finnish discussion revolves around the so-called “hybrid economy,” 

in which culture is a mixture of the market economy and exchange economy. Cultural 

producers exchange values and assets in communities, produce and consume at the same 

time, work during their free time and mix public and private resources (Taalas 2009). Networks 

of hybrid organizations will form an economy that is planned and governed through 

partnerships and communities. This kind of economy cannot be coordinated, financed or 

103

Fig. 4: Matrix of knowledge 


governed using traditional business administration models. There should be a new means of 

coordinating the hybrid reality of cultural economy. 

The vision for cultural exports in Finland in 2011 is presented as follows: “Cultural exports 

have grown into a recognised part of Finnish exports (fig. 3). Their value has at least tripled, 

and the creative industries have diversified the industrial structure and employment. Culture 

is a clearly stronger element in the image and brand of Finland. The welfare of individuals and 

groups working within culture has improved owing to exportation.” 

The Working Group decided that especially entrepreneurship, clusters and networks, international 

marketing and promotion, structures promoting cultural exports and the knowledge 

base, international cultural cooperation as well as a competitive legal operating environment 

should be developed. Cultural exports are based on innovative artistic groups and individuals, 

their creations, their will to reach an international audience (fig.4). This process in Finland is 

104


Fig. 5: Mental Finland 

supported financially by the Ministry of Education and the Arts Council. In addition to these 

there is a network of actors and operators: 

› Dance Information Centre, www.danceinfo.fi 

› Finnish Literature Information Centre, www.fili.fi 

› Finnish Music Information Centre, www.fimic.fi 

› Design Forum, www.designforum.fi 

› Finnish Film Foundation, www.ses.fi 

› Music Export Finland (MUSEX), www.musex.fi 

› Neogames, www.neogames.fi 

› Finnish Cirkus Information Centre, www.sirkusinfo.fi 

› Finnish cultural institutes abroad, www.insitute.fi 

105

Fig. 6: Pyramide 


Conclusion 

Even though it is much more common to import cultural products to Finland than to export, 

there is a variety of films, artworks and music that is popular all over the world. In order to 

popularise Finnish culture beyond the state lines it is very important to establish and maintain 

networks. 

106


Fig. 7: Tero Saarinen performing in his latest show HUNT, that is touring around the world 

sources 

Koivunen, Hannele (2005): 

Staying power to Finnish Cultural Exports, 

http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/ 

Julkaisut/2005/liitteet/opm_251_opm09.pdf. 

Taalas, Saara (2009): 

Kohti hybriditalouden haastetta. Ministry of 

employment and economy, 

http://www.tem.fi/files/25449/Luova_talous081209.pdf. 

107 

http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/ 

Julkaisut/2008/liitteet/opm43.pdf?lang=en. 

www.culturalexports.fi.

kolumnentitel 

Fließtext 

109 

projects

yvonne pröbstle 

cultural tourism 

A Promising Task for the Cultural Sector? 

Introduction 

Cultural tourism represents a relatively new field of research in cultural manage-ment. In the 

late 1980s, when the EU launched funding programs in order to support the development 

of cultural tourism, tourism specialists began to discuss the chances and challenges of this 

so far little-considered tourism segment. The reasons for this sudden attention was the shift 

from a buyer‘s to a seller‘s market and hence the need to build up innovative and competitive 

tourism products. At the same time market researchers recognised an increased interest of 

tourists in culture. 

Nowadays cultural tourism is no longer just a tourism issue, but is also being dis-cussed 

within the cultural sector. Due to the decrease of public funding the existence of non-profit 

cultural institutions is increasingly at risk. Therefore more and more responsible players try to 

strengthen their legitimacy with regard to cultural policy by an increased orientation towards 

their visitors. Especially in tourism destinations cultural tourists are considered as an important 

target group. During the last two decades many historical buildings were restored as they 

were increasingly frequented by cultural tourists. This circumstance led to the assumption 

that cultural tourism can contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage. 

Besides the attention of the tourism and cultural sector the public interest in cultural tourism 

has increased considerably due to the fact that case studies assessed a positive effect on 

the added value within a destination. In consequence the governmental authorities in many 

places have come to appreciate arrangements concerning cultural tourism. 

The following passages should provide some indications whether cultural tourism indeed 

represents a promising task especially for the cultural sector in Europe or not. Therefore cultural 

tourists as target group as well as the attractions of cultural tourism must be analysed. 

Furthermore, with regard to the students‘ project, the most important steps of a cultural 

tourism marketing concept should be pointed out. 

110


Fig. 1: European Commission 2009: 17 

The Cultural Tourists 

Recently the EU published a survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards tourism. The questionnaire 

included an item about the major motivation for the respondents‘ main holiday 

trip in 2008 (Fig. 1). 

“Rest / recreation” occupied the leading position while “culture” was only named by 7% of 

the tourists as their major motivation. But it must also be considered that be-sides the major 

motivation, tourists normally have a variety of motives which are re-flected in different travel 

activities (Fig. 2): 

This chart indicates that on the one side cultural tourists are not exclusively focused on cultural 

attractions. On the other side cultural institutions, events and sites can be interesting 

111

Fig. 2: European Commission 2009: 48 


for tourists, who at first glance seem to be non-cultural tourists because of their non-cultural 

major motivation for travel. In consequence of this awareness, tourism specialists began to 

distinguish between specific cultural tourists and general cultural tourists. For specific cultural 

tourists culture represents the key reason to travel. They choose their destination by the 

attractiveness of its cultural events, institutions and sites. From the general cultural tourists’ 

point of view the choice of the destination does not depend on the cultural offerings, but this 

fact does not exclude cultural interest and the visit of sites. In Germany about 14% of tourists 

are specific cultural tourists whereas general cultural tourists make up about 78%. Specific 

cultural tourists represent a relatively small market segment in tourism. Their demands are 

mostly satisfied by tour operations offering educational travels. Instead the general cultural 

tourists, who are mainly independent travellers, make up the more interesting target group 

112


in cultural tourism. Due to the coexistence of non-cultural and cultural interest, cultural protagonists 

have to be open-minded towards cooperation with providers of tourism services in 

order to get the attention of this target group. Therefore the disposition to cooperate represents 

a major factor of success in cultural tourism. 

Cultural Tourism Assets 

Besides the existence of an adequate demand for cultural tourism assets are need-ed, which 

can be visited by the cultural tourists. The following list represents an overview of cultural 

tourism assets and suggests that the meaning of cultural tourism can be viewed in a specific 

sense, but also from a wider perspective: 

› “heritage sites (e.g. archaeological sites, whole towns, monuments, museums) 

› performing arts venues (e.g. theatres, concert halls, cultural centres) 

› visual arts (e.g. galleries, sculpture parks, photography museums, architecture) 

› estivals and special events (e.g. music festivals, sporting events, carnivals) 

› religious sites (e.g. cathedrals, temples, pilgrimage destinations, spiritual retreats) 

› rural environments (e.g. villages, farms, national parks, ecomuseums) 

› indigenous communities and traditions (e.g. tribal people, ethnic groups, minority cultures) 

› arts and crafts (e.g. textiles, pottery, painting, sculpture) 

› anguage (e.g. learning or practice) 

› gastronomy (e.g. wine tasting, food sampling, cookery courses)” (Smith 2006: 31) 

A ranking of cultural tourism opportunities indicates that the popularity of sites diverges. The 

question of where cultural tourists in Europe go to in reality was answered by the Association 

for Tourism and Leisure Education (ATLAS) in 2007 (Fig. 3). 

This chart suggests that not all cultural institutions and branches can profit from cul-tural 

tourism to the same extent. Therefore an overall answer cannot be given to the question of 

whether or not cultural tourism represents a promising opportunity for the cultural sector. In 

order to assess if it makes sense to focus on cultural tourism, the players have to analyse the 

potential of a cultural event, institution or site. This requirement can be exemplified by the 

amount of tourists visiting Helsinki Cathedral, the Kiasma Museum of Modern Art and the 

Design Museum in Helsinki. An empirical study in 2008 revealed that 78% of tourists visited 

the Helsinki Cathedral whereas only 30% went to the Kiasma Museum of Modern Art und 

even fewer than 20% visited the Design Museum. 

113

Fig. 3: ATLAS 2007: 6 


After regarding supply and demand in cultural tourism and noticing that 

› not all cultural tourists are likewise interested in culture (specific cultural tour-ists and 

general cultural tourists) and 

› not all cultural offerings possess the attractiveness to be successful in the field of cultural 

tourism 

the most important steps in the creation of a cultural tourism marketing concept should be 

summarized. 

Important Steps in the Creation of a Cultural Tourism Marketing Concept 

Doing a cultural potential analysis is one of the most important steps in creating a cultural 

tourism marketing concept, because without attractive cultural events, institutions and sites 

114


no cultural tourist will visit a destination. Therefore first of all the cultural potential has to be 

described. To get a good overview, tourism specialists normally prefer an analysis organised 

by cultural tourism assets as listed above. The second step includes the evaluation of the 

analysed cultural potential in terms of criteria of touristic attractiveness. The cultural infrastructure, 

which was constructed by or for the inhabitants, is not necessarily as attractive to 

cultural tourists. This specific attractiveness can be evaluated in terms of different criteria: 

› target groups: Which cultural event/institution/site is attractive for which target group? 

Similar to the criterion of attractiveness, there are criteria by which one can choose target 

groups (target group analysis): 

» intensity of cultural interest (e.g. specific cultural tourists, general cultural tourists) 

» attraction area (e.g. regional, national, transnational) 

» duration of journey (e.g. day trip, short holiday trip, holiday trip) 

› competitors‘ cultural tourism products: Does the cultural potential include attractions 

which the competitors of the destination do not have and which supports a successful 

positioning based on a unique selling proposition (competitor analysis)? 

› accessibility: Are the single attractions accessible for cultural tourists (e.g. opening hours, 

transportation connection)? 

The above analyses represent the basis for the choosing of an adequate strategy. Strategies 

provide the framework for the final product development. Current strategies in cultural tourism 

are based on: 

› cooperation: For example, discount cards represent a widespread form of cooperation 

be-tween different providers of tourism services. From the tourists’ point of view they 

include a price advantage and an overview of tourism attractions and offers in the visited 

destination. Involved players of the cultural sector can use this form of cooperation to 

increase tourists’ awareness of the cultural offerings (e.g. Helsinki Card). 

› common themes: With the help of a common theme the range of products normally offered 

by a variety of different providers of tourism services gains visibility for the potential 

cultural tourist. Due to the increasing number of competitors in cultural tourism, product 

transparency should not be underestimated as a major competitive advantage (e.g. www. 

creativeaustria.at). 

115

ibliography 

European Commission (2009): 

Survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards 

tourism Analytical report, 

In: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/ 

fl_258_en.pdf 

McKercher, Bob; Du Cros, Hilary (2002): 

Cultural Tourism. The Partnership between 

Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management, 

New York/London/Oxford: Haworth Hospitality 

Press. 

OECD (Ed.) (2009): 

The Impact of Culture on Tourism, 

Paris. 

Richards, Gred; Wilson, Julie (Ed.) (2007): 

Tourism, Creativity and Development, 

Lon-don/New York: Routeledge. 


› personalisation: This strategy represents a special form of a common theme as the common 

ground consists of a popular figure (e.g. www.mozartways.com). 

› limitation: The strategy of limitation focuses on events. Cultural tourists are especially 

attracted by the limited time of the events (e.g. European Capital of Culture, festivals, 

special exhibitions). 

Conclusion 

This short overview of cultural tourism in Europe revealed the existence of a cultural tourism 

market. Nevertheless the protagonists have to become aware of the fact that cultural tourism 

does not run itself. Besides the willingness to cooperate with providers of tourism services, 

resources such as competence in developing and implementing a cultural tourism marketing 

concept are essential. This requirement represents a special challenge for the cultural sector 

as, so far, the majority of the players are not used to dealing with tourism affairs. So, with 

a view to the future it is up to lecturers to integrate cultural tourism into the curriculum of 

cultural management courses. 

Richards, Greg (Ed.) (2001): 

Cultural Attractions and European Tourism, 

New York: CABI Publications. 

Richards, Greg (Ed.) (2007): 

Cultural Tourism. Global and Local Perspectives, 

New York/London/Oxford: Haworth Hospitality 

Press. 

Richards, Greg (o. J.): 

ATLAS Cultural Tourism Survey. Summary 

Report 2007, 

In: http://www.tram-research.com/atlas/ATLAS%20 

Cultural%20Tourism%20Survey%202007.pdf 

116


Smith, Melanie K. (2006): 

Issues in Cultural Tourism Studies, 

2. Auflage. Lon-don/New York: Routeledge. 

World Tourism Organization (WTO)/European Travel 

Commission (ETC) (Ed.) (2005): 

City Tourism & Culture. The European Experience, 

In: http://www.etc-corporate.org/resources/uploads/ETC_CityTourism&Culture_LR.pdf. 

117 

links 

ATLAS Association for Tourism and Leisure 

Education / Cultural Tourism Research Group 

http://www.atlas-euro.org/ 

European Commission / Culture 

http://ec.europa.eu/culture/index_en.htm 

European Commission / Enterprise and Industry / 

Tourism http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ 

tourism/index_en.htm 

European Travel Commission 

http://www.etc-corporate.org/ 

ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on 

Cultural Tourism http://www.icomos.org/tourism/ 

UNESCO / Cultural Tourism http://portal.unesco. 

org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=36700&URL_ 

DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

thomas meyer 

cultural tourism project for helsinki 

Team Members: Budoor Alsheik, Laura Koskinen, Iulian Andonov, Zdravka Chukova, Stamena 

Peteva, Anni Hasunen, Minna Väänänen, Ivan Menkachev 

Overview 

The team which dedicated its work to create a cultural tourism project differed from the 

other projects in two aspects, apart from the actual task they had to perform. First, it was 

the only project in which no German student was involved. With Helsinki predetermined as 

the location for the project the students also had a relatively precise framework compared 

to other project groups. 

The Location 

Although the place was already set, in their location analysis the students found convincing 

arguments for Helsinki, as an attractive destination for national and international tourists. 

The students pointed out that Helsinki is highly attractive to many different target groups. A 

main advantage of Helsinki is its easy accessibility by all major means of transportation (train, 

plane and boat). Especially for tourists from Sweden, Estonia and Russia the Finnish capital 

is interesting because of the close proximity to Stockholm, Tallinn and St. Petersburg. On the 

other hand Helsinki has great cultural potential offering a great variety of cultural institutions 

and events, in the field of high culture as well as popular culture. Since the cultural industry 

is heavily funded by the government the entrance fees in Helsinki are affordable. That is high 

culture can not only be enjoyed by the upper class but also by people with lower income such 

as students, person in marginal employment and retirees. The group came to the conclusion 

that Helsinki is culturally appealing to almost every age group, independent of their family 

status and their cultural preferences. 

Three Concepts 

Instead of focussing on one target group, the project team decided to present three different 

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concepts, each one addressed to one specific target group. For this reason the team split up 

into three smaller groups. Whereas Laura and Minna were responsible for a concept intended 

for families visiting Helsinki on holiday, Budoor and Anni came up with an idea which was 

meant for young travellers as a target group. The last group, consisting of Zdravka, Stamena, 

Ivan and Iulian, introduced a concept focussing on specific cultural tourism mainly promoted 

in the neighbouring countries Estonia, Sweden and Russia. An interesting fact of the group 

configuration is that the team split up in a way that the two dyads consisted exclusively of 

Finnish students whereas the group of four people were only Bulgarians. 

Helsinki for Families 

The basic principle for conceptualizing a family-friendly cultural tourism package was identified 

by the group as answering the demand of families to have holidays which have as little 

stress as possible, giving the family unforgettable memories and simply fun. Of course this 

can only be achieved by a programme which includes different types of recreational activities. 

Therefore not only cultural events and cultural institutions but also sports and other types 

of entertainment have to be part of the package. The package also has to be adjusted to the 

season of the year as Helsinki has to offer a broad range of different activities depending on 

whether it is winter or summertime. In summer the programme, for example combines a 

cruise tour to the islands of Korkeasaari and Suomenlinna close to Helsinki. On the first island 

the family visits the zoo of Helsinki. After that on the second island the family explores the 

old sea fortress, has an enjoyable picnic and visits the toy museum. Sightseeing bike tours 

around the city combined with visits to the Serena water amusement park would be another 

option. 

In the winter time on the other hand sport activities such as ice-skating could be combined 

with indoor activities such as a visit to the National Museum of Finland. This museum 

is especially suitable since it features an area for children, where they have the opportunity 

to experience Finnish culture and history with their hands and minds. An important aspect 

to consider for family holidays is also the type of accommodation the package has to offer. 

Families can decide whether they want to stay in traditional cottage houses or in hotels, 

specializing in the needs of families. Cooperation with the tourists attractions and the accommodation 

sites plays a key role in the marketing strategy of the concept in order to achieve 

a high level of public awareness and receive special discounts. 

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Fig. 1: Vappu 

thomas meyer 

Vappu as an Attraction for Young Travellers 

A strategy based on limitation was chosen for young travellers as the target group. The limiting 

factor of the concept is set to be the Finnish Vappu day on May 1st, which is the celebration 

of the Finnish labour day. The group chose this event, because it offers the unique opportunity 

for young tourists to mingle with Finns when they are most open and approachable. 

During the day there are many concerts, speeches and events like the traditional washing of 

the Havis Amanda statue performed by students in their typical jumpsuits (see. fig. 1). 

Since young travellers like students are generally not able to spend much money on their 

holidays, the board and lodging of specific the package has to take this into consideration. 

Therefore cooperation with hostels like the Eurohostel or restaurants like the UniCafe are 

designated and indispensable for the package. 

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Fig. 2: Helsinki city map 

Addressing Specific Cultural Tourists 

The last concept focusses on the target group of the specific cultural tourist, that is tourists 

whose main reason for travelling is culture. Furthermore the target group was limited by region, 

as it was decided by the group to promote their package mainly to people from neighbouring 

countries: Russia, Estonia, and Sweden. A cooperation strategy is the basis of the package, 

which will be accomplished by the „We recommend to you“ discount card. Next to the card 

the package includes a two day public transportation ticket and a brochure with a tourist 

map and list of participating cultural institutions, hotels and restaurants. Accommodation 

partners offer in different price ranges. The cooperating restaurants in the programme mainly 

serve traditional Finnish cuisine. Most of the major cultural institutions and sights are on the 

list and the enclosed map suggests two-day schedule route for visiting them all (see. fig. 2) 

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thomas meyer 

In each cultural institution, restaurant or hotel visited the tourist gets a stamp. By collecting 

twelve stamps the tourist will receive a free Finnish design gift. Additionally a 25%-50% discount 

for a cruise trip on the third day to Stockholm, Tallinn, St. Petersburg is possible. 

The marketing strategy includes an own Internet homepage, as well as a Facebook and 

Twitter site. Last but not least it is the plan to work together with a network of marketing 

partners such as the Viking line, tourist agencies and Finnish design brands. 

Concluding Remark 

All in all the group enjoyed working together. Since many of the team members also were 

familiar with Helsinki and its offerings it was possible to benefit from that knowledge. However, 

the group experienced some difficulties in English as their working language: “of course 

it‘s harder to communicate in other than your mother tongue. It can be difficult to share your 

thoughts in English, even if you knew exactly what you wanted to say in your own language“, 

notes one of the team member in an interview. Another problem for the team was the size 

of the group, which made it difficult for them to split up the work. Nevertheless the group 

managed to overcome those obstacles and presented three interesting concepts. 

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grant white 

some notes on social media and 

cultural management 

The explosion in social media since their emergence in 1997 has created new opportunities 

for those who work in the field of cultural management. As with any new medium, the question 

immediately arises as to how cultural managers are to interpret and use social media 

in their work. This essay consists of a few observations and questions around social media 

and cultural management, a collection of thoughts rather than a systematic analysis of the 

relationships between the two. I have many questions, no answers! In any event, as both 

fields are still relatively new, any analysis at this point in time is bound to be provisional and 

necessarily open to revision. At the outset I should also make clear my own stance towards 

social media: I am a more-or-less-friendly skeptic, old enough to remember his mother learning 

how to program a computer using punch cards, and who himself wrote all his university 

papers on an electric typewriter. While no technological (neo-) Luddite, I am uneasy with the 

unreflective use of technology, a practice that the pace of technological development seems 

to make almost unavoidable today. 

Reading Between the Lines: Going Beyond Mere Use 

In a field that all too often emphasizes practical application over theory, the temptation is 

there simply to view social media as useful new additions to the cultural manager‘s toolbox, 

to be utilized in marketing, advertising, audience development, and other tasks. That is, social 

media are embraced and used by cultural managers, with little or no consideration of their 

wider significance. The hype surrounding Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Delicious, and 

other social media applications, and their embrace by a growing segment of the business 

and entrepreneurial communities, emphasizes the practical use of social media to maximize 

exposure and profits. In this atmosphere, it is to be expected that cultural managers would 

also approach social media in a similar way. 

Such an approach to social media, while understandable, is also arguably short-sighted. As the 

Canadian media theorist and critic Marshall McLuhan observed, a new medium of communi- 

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some notes on social media and cultural management 

cation brings a wide range of (unforeseen) cultural, social, and economic changes in its wake. 

So, for example, radio offered not only the possibility to broadcast information over a wider 

geographical range than before; it also altered the ways in which people organized their time 

(in order to gather around the family radio to listen to favorite programs), spent their money, 

and acted politically (the use of radio to deliver political propaganda comes immediately to 

mind: Franklin Roosevelt‘s famous Fireside Chats, broadcasts of Hitler‘s speeches). 

The point is that to approach social media simply as useful new tools misses their long-range 

implications and their impact on culture. In turn, this impact will shape how cultural managers 

do their job. What kind of world are social media creating, and how will the contours of 

this world affect how culture develops and is sustained? How are social media already changing 

the ways people live and interact with culture? If cultural managers begin considering 

these questions now as they do their work, they will be better equipped to negotiate the 

cultural changes accompanying the societal changes brought about by social media. 

Networks and the Development of a Community of Expertise 

It is a commonplace to note that social media exploit the networked character of information 

in the Internet age. For cultural managers this situation implies the necessity of exploring 

how their own field can benefit from the nature of information today. One potential area 

for exploration is how knowledge is made available among practitioners. Professionals have 

always had communities of expertise, of course. But in a new field such as cultural management 

where networks of knowledge are still being developed, social media applications such 

as Twitter offer the potential to create networks of expertise in which questions, problems, 

and possible solutions could be shared nearly instantaneously. 

It is relatively easy to create such a network (on Twitter, for example). The hard part comes 

in persuading one‘s professional peers that it is worthwhile to spend enough time participating 

in the network to make it worthwhile. There are generational issues here to be sure, but 

perhaps not the ones one might think. According to a study published in February 2010, for 

example, the largest number of Twitter users in the United States were aged 35-44. There 

is the additional question of the very definition of “expert” in the context of the Internet. 

Already there have been books lamenting the blurring of the boundaries between experts and 

amateurs (or dilettantes) caused by social media. In a field where questions definition of field 

are still debated, how does this question affect the development of networks of expertise? 

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grant white 

How Networked to Be? Professional Presence and Social Media 

The development of professional identity forms an important part of a cultural manager‘s 

education. Today there is the added consideration of the social media dimension of professional 

identity. How much time should one spend establishing and maintaining a professional 

presence in social media? It does seem that in the longer term building some kind of online 

presence will grow in importance for professionals of all kinds. The kind of presence one 

creates will likely depend on the professional context in which one works. In addition, to at 

least some degree there is also the element of personal inclination: some people are more 

interested in Web 2.0 technology than others. The question that has yet to be answered is 

whether such people will be at a professional advantage in the future. 

The issue of professional identity is also bound up with the questions of visibility and privacy 

in general in the context of social media. The January 2010 comments about internet privacy 

by Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and the ongoing debate over privacy on Facebook 

and other social media sites, suggest that the definition of privacy online is a matter to be 

taken with utmost seriousness not only personally, but also professionally. I suspect that, 

even more so than in the past, professionals in general (and cultural managers in particular, 

who could have a more public role to play than many professionals) must consider how firmly 

they wish to draw the boundary between their professional and personal selves online. The 

construction of the self has never been an easy matter to negotiate; I suspect that the Internet 

age has made it a task even more complicated to negotiate with integrity. 

Social Media and Sustainability 

“Carbon footprint” has become a catchphrase since the premiere of the 2006 documentary 

An Inconvenient Truth. More generally the question of sustainability has come more and 

more to the fore in the past five years. Sustainability has also begun to be an issue in cultural 

management as well, where the environmental impact of the use of resources in cultural 

events has begun to be taken into consideration by cultural managers. To put it another way, 

globalization (often seen as a positive value, at least in terms of culture) has come into conflict 

with concern over the environment (not something traditionally associated with cultural 

institutions). 

Might social media somehow contribute to the creation of sustainable cultural events? Certainly 

advertising through Web 2.0 applications rather than through print media means that 

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some notes on social media and cultural management 

fewer trees will be cut down, at least in the short term. Perhaps some dream of completely 

virtual cultural events, conducted online through one or another virtual reality platform (such 

as Second Life or an open source alternative). I am doubtful about the viability of such events, 

except as isolated interesting examples of the future possibilities of virtual worlds. As Juha 

Iso-Aho has noted in his article for this volume, there are ritual and physical dimensions to 

public events. These dimensions of experience (particularly the physical or corporeal) are 

simply unavailable in a virtual environment. 

Still, use of social media such as Twitter and YouTube could enhance the experience of cultural 

events, through ongoing comment upon and reaction to events via Twitter streams, and by 

means of posting video clips of events or of reactions from viewers elsewhere in the world. 

Live-streaming events could provide a relatively easy means of enlarging the scope of local 

cultural events, and provide the basic material for content created by participants not able 

to be present physically. 

Augmented Reality: Imposing one Reality on Another 

A more promising area, related to the scenario I described in the last paragraph above, is that 

of augmented reality. That is, through the use of a so-called augmented reality browser (such 

as the EU-funded Layar or Yelp Monocle), users are able to access information imposed on 

a physical location. This could be a street or building, although there is no reason that the 

technology is necessarily limited to those options. In theory the uses of augmented reality 

applications go far beyond tagging restaurants and drinking establishments with reviews and 

links to menus. For example, the buildings housing a city‘s cultural establishments could be 

tagged with information about current and upcoming events, ticket prices, opening hours, 

and other information useful to tourists and locals. More ambitiously, there is no inherent 

reason why any object or person associated with a cultural event could not be tagged with 

information accessible to an augmented reality browser. This possibility raises interesting 

questions around privacy and cultural information that deserve to be pondered by cultural 

managers. 

In terms of culture, the advent of augmented reality browsers raises the larger issue of how 

cultural managers can assist in making available the many layers of meaning associated with 

any cultural event or institution. Obviously this task goes beyond the technical matter of 

tagging and coding information to the broader question of what one counts as a culturally- 

127

ibliography and links 

Barabási, Albert-László (2002): 

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to 

Everything Else and What it Means for Business, 

Science, and Everyday Life. 

boyd, danah .m./ Nicole B. Ellison (2007): 

Social network sites: Definition, history, and 

scholarship, Journal of Computer-Mediated 

Communication 13 (1), article 11, 

In: http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd. 

ellison.html. 

Fisher, Max (2010): 

With Zuckerberg Privacy Controversy, Facebook‘s 

Bad Image is Getting Worse. The AtlanticWire, 

In: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/ 

opinion/With-Zuckerberg-Privacy-Controversy- 

Facebooks-Bad-Image-Is-Getting-Worse-3605. 

grant white 

significant “layer of meaning” associated with any given object and of who, in the context of 

Web 2.0 user-generated content, gets to decide what is significant. 

Conclusions 

Because social media have already brought (and will doubtless continue to bring) social and 

cultural changes, it behooves cultural managers to be aware of these changes and at least 

to be conscious of the possibilities and challenges social media present. In my view cultural 

managers need to be part of the conversation around the impact of social media on culture. 

To do so, those now preparing to be cultural managers need to receive a thorough education 

in the use (and abuse) of social media, in order to be competent to make decisions involving 

the impact of internet technology on cultural life. 

Keen, Andrew (2007): 

The Cult of the Amateur: 

How Today‘s Internet is Killing our Culture. 

Kirkpatrick, Marshall (2010): F 

acebook‘s Zuckerberg Says the Age of Privacy 

is Over. ReadWriteWeb, 

In: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ 

facebooks_zuckerberg_says_the_age_of_privacy_is_ov.php 

Lessig, Lawrence (2007): 

Keen‘s “The Cult of the Amateur”: Brilliant! 

(Lessig Blog), I 

n: http://www.lessig.org/blog/2007/05/keens_ 

the_cult_of_the_amateur.html. 

Study: Ages of Social Network Users (2010): 

Pingdom, 

In: http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/studyages-of-social-network-users/. 

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simon a. frank 

internet marketing for cultural 

projects 

Casting an eye over current expert publications dealing with cultural management it can 

often be read that the transfer of Web 2.0 ideas into marketing efforts resembles a „revolution“. 

If it remains questionable that this is the case, it is however clear that the development 

to Web 2.0 has opened up some new and interesting opportunities. In this article, following 

some brief considerations on planning online marketing efforts and „classic“ online-marketing, 

examples will be introduced giving a small impression of how online instruments and 

technology can give a new impetus to cultural marketing. 

Online Cultural Marketing 

Especially in connection with cultural marketing, internet marketing does not have to be 

considered as a dissociate task or function but has to be understood as an instrument within 

the marketing management process and public relations. Only when the appropriate marketing 

strategies such as objectives in terms of content and the precise objectives are specified 

and corresponding analyses are conducted, can it be decided which marketing instruments, 

including the internet, can be used. However, strategic planning, playing a central role and 

being the most frequent reason for failed online marketing efforts, cannot be taken into consideration 

at this point. It has to be kept in mind that a stable concept answering questions 

like „who are the addressees of these internet marketing activities?“ and „which objectives 

should be achieved (e.g. brand management, acquisition of new customers, acquisition of 

addresses, customer loyalty)?“ should be developed first. 

Classic Online Marketing 

„Classic‘“ Online Marketing means the tried and tested efforts which have been established 

as standards for more than ten years. Some of these important efforts will be introduced in 

brief and examples given below: 

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internet marketing for cultural projects 

Online Advertising (Banner Ads, Text Ads) 

Commercial websites such as art, literature and theatre portals, regional information sites 

and online ticket shops for the most part offer the opportunity of placing banner or text 

ads. Similar to the placing of ads in print media, it is possible to draw attention to one‘s own 

website with the help of graphic banners or advertising texts which are placed in specifically 

defined areas of a site. Compared with the classic way of posting ads, the advantage of such 

online advertising is that it can be evaluated and charged for exactly. Usually, there is no 

monthly or individual means of settlement in online advertising, the settlement is mostly 

done on a pay per view basis. For instance, when a gallery books 100,000 popups of its ad 

banner on an art portal, a certain price will be agreed on per popup. Unlike print media, where 

the rough number of readers can only be estimated on the basis of circulation, the technology 

of the provider guarantees that this advertisement will be seen by 100,000 surfers. 

Newsletter and Email Marketing 

More and more companies have been progressing towards doing the largest part of their 

communication via email. One of the particular reasons for this is cost. Since the average 

cost for an email contact with a customer is only 20 cents, it is much cheaper than using ordinary 

mail (with costs of approx. 5 Euros) or the telephone (with costs of approx. 10 Euros). 

Another advantage lies in the speed of writing and dispatching an email, enabling a quicker 

response to short-term events. So, for instance, it is no problem for a theatre to announce in 

the afternoon via its newsletter that tickets are still available for the evening show. However 

it is not always simple, due to the flood of spam and emails, to reach customers via email – 

an issue that cannot be taken into further consideration at this point. 

Affiliate Marketing (Performance Marketing) 

In recent years, pay per click, per lead or per sale have prevailed over pay per view when conducting 

a more exact planning of online advertising campaigns. With this form of advertising, 

also called Affiliate Marketing, settlement is, so to speak, done on a commission basis, thus 

pay per performance. With pay per click, the provider calculates a certain amount per visitor 

clicking on the ad banner (between 0.10 € and 2.50 €). With pay per lead, it might be, for 

instance, that the advertising medium calculates a certain amount when the ad banner is 

clicked by a visitor and an action, agreed on beforehand, is carried out. The advantage of Performance 

Marketing is apparent: payments are only due in case of „performance“, i.e. success. 

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Search Engine Marketing (and SEO) 

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a field with which web developers and online marketing 

experts have been busy for some years already. A short example will show why this can play 

an important role within cultural marketing. Today, 68% of all Germans make use of the 

internet when planning a city trip while less and less people are consulting a classic (cultural) 

guide from which most „cultural advice“ was taken previously. Meanwhile, the procurement 

of information looks very different. For travel planning, a search engine is consulted. There, 

the search terms based on the corresponding interest are entered, for instance, „modern art 

(in) Helsinki“. While a travel guide offers a limited number of suggestions, search engines like 

Google offer a myriad of hits for the query described above. So, it is of decisive importance 

to be present and well placed in search engines. How one can be found in search engines in 

the best way is a question dealt with by Search Engine Marketing. Search Engine Optimization 

(SEO) means the technique for how to present the content of one’s own website in the 

best, „search engine friendly“ way, so as to achieve an optimum ranking within these search 

engines. As an alternative or in addition to this is Search Engine Advertising. Google and 

most other search engine providers offer the opportunity to place context sensitive keyword 

advertising. Here, the advertiser books a number of keywords of his own choice, for instance 

„modern art“. If this keyword is sought by a search engine visitor, the booked ad texts or 

banners of this advertiser are shown before the actual result list. 

Web Monitoring 

Finally, it should be mentioned briefly, that there is a variety of new and indispensable possibilities 

(e.g. log analysis, cookies, Google Analytics etc.) for evaluation, analysis and marketing 

controlling and to measure the success of online marketing efforts. Only in this way can it 

be assessed whether or not marketing objectives (see above) have actually been achieved. 

Social Media Marketing – Web 2.0 

The expression „Web 2.0“ was coined at a conference held at the end of 2004 by the publisher 

Tim O‘Reilly who, one year later, further explained this expression in a much noticed 

article. Since that time, „Web 2.0“ has gone through all media as a buzzword. As its meaning 

has been modified and extended in many ways it is now, in a way, „old hat“ already. However, 

the following aspects of the „Web 2.0 philosophy“ still are of particular importance for planning 

online marketing efforts: 

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Fig. 1: Mobile Marketing 

› Inclusion of the collective intelligence of users: involvement of everybody instead of publication 

by only a few, e.g. through User Generated Content (UGC); 

› inclusion of the „Long Tail“ through self service architectures; 

› utilisation of the web as a platform (open, evolving structure instead of a fixed order); 

› development of software, also including the user and enabling communication. („Social 

Software“). 

Mobile Marketing 

The web is getting more mobile as mobile end devices like mobile phones are playing an ever 

more important role (see illustration): 

If the costs for mobile internet keep on decreasing, every mobile phone will be constantly 

connected to the internet in future. Because of the fact that the internet will no longer be 

only used at home or at work but also on the go, local based services are going to play a cen- 

133

Fig. 2: Who is using Twitter 

Fig. 3: Why do they use Twitter 


134


tral role. In the future, people will want to know where the next museum can be found via a 

mobile, which knows its own position through integrated satellite navigation. Or the other 

way round: For instance, if you go through an urban district you automatically get an email 

on the mobile suggesting going through certain streets ahead to find a gallery worth visiting. 

Also, blogging is getting ever faster with Micro Blogging Services like Twitter. One can already 

comment on a theatre visit while attending the performance or during the break with images, 

sound or video instead of commenting on it the next day (fig. 2) 

For these purposes, numerous cultural institutions already make use of Twitter, as a recent 

survey has revealed (fig. 3) 

However, future developments have to be observed with a critical eye. Certainly, Twitter 

will not be the „tool of the future“, however, mobile applications are going to play an important 

role within marketing. 

Community Marketing 

While it is already quite common in some sectors to conduct marketing efforts in online 

communities such as YouTube, Facebook or MySpace, it is still quite rare within the cultural 

industry. In this context, it is important that advertisements are not only placed in these 

communities, but that the institution plays an active role in this community by delivering 

interesting content („Branded Entertainment“) to these online communities (Social Media 

Marketing). This action is illustrated by figure 4: 

A successful example of community marketing was the campaign for Unilever (Dove soaps) 

conducted by the agency Ogilvy & Mather in 2006. 

› Upload at YouTube: 6. October 2006 

› October 2006 1.7 million views 

› „Top 15“ in Bloglink Charts 

› For comparison: 30 seconds in Super Bowl have the same impact (reach) but cost USD 

2.5 million 

This campaign, however, has not only revealed the opportunities but also the risks User Generated 

Content (UGC) and User Generated Advertising (UGA) may deliver (fig.5) 

An interesting example about the way to respond to critical reactions from the community 

is shown by the „Jesus Shot“ Video by EA-Sports (fig. 6): 

The opportunities and risks of community marketing for cultural projects can be summarised 

as shown in figure 7: 

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Fig. 4: The meaning of community marketing 

Fig. 5: How to deal with UGC 


136


Fig. 6: „Jesus Shot“ Video 

Fig. 7: Opportunities ans risks of community marketing 

137


How such an approach could look like for an institution of the cultural industry, the activities 

of the MoMA on YouTube can be taken as an example . For this well-known video community, 

the New York Museum of Modern Art regularly produces special clips which, like all other 

members of this community do, are made available to the public for free. These short, approximately 

5 minute long clips documenting, for instance, the setup of an exhibition, showing 

extracts from readings or promoting current exhibitions in the style of music clips or commercials, 

are not very different from the other videos of other YouTube-Members. The MoMA 

is also engaged in the exchange of videos and the communication process of this community. 

In this way, YouTube users searching for clips tagged with „New York“ and „Art“, can also find 

the MoMA clips. Unlike advertisements, users are not forced to watch the videos, but do 

watch them because they want to. Moreover, the community functions which enable users 

to comment on and review videos can be assessed in order to measure the community’s 

response. So, a YouTube user commented on a MoMA clip as follows: ”it’s great that this 

museum doesn’t mind giving art lovers a look into their art work unlike other museums that 

don’t even allow you to take photography”. This enthusiasm gives an idea of what potential 

a productive engagement with communities used by a million people every day can provide. 

The Right „Mix“ 

Although this article can only give an indication of the opportunities cultural marketing can 

offer, some fields of application have already become apparent therein. It is important to emphasise 

that it is usually not only one tool that leads to success but that it is a combination 

of instruments that plays a central role. This is shown in the illustration below. 

Even if one or more of the Social Media Instruments introduced in this article eventually 

turn(s) out to be a short lived hype and will be forgotten in one or two years time, it has 

to be emphasised that dealing width and experimenting with these current instruments is 

nevertheless indispensable for people working in cultural marketing. It cannot always achieve 

success such as was the case with the Megawoosh-Campaign by Microsoft or the „Where 

the hell is Matt“ Campaign , however, it can open up new opportunities for cultural marketing 

on a smaller scale. 

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Fig. 8: The right „Mix“ 

references 

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Web 2.0. Konzepte Anwendungen Technologien, 

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Suchmaschinenoptimierung. Professionelles 

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München. 

Anderson, Chris. (2006): 

The Long Tail. Nischenprodukte 

statt Massenmarkt. Das Geschäft der Zukunft, 

München. 

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Suchmaschinen-Marketing. Konzepte, Umsetzung 

und Controlling, 

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140

josephine ulrich 

project internet marketing for the 

eurocase festival 

Reflecting on Project Work 

Team members: Henrike Loer, Maria Kirchhoff, Josephine Ulrich, Inga Ervig, Ludmila Chachova, 

Ivelina Koleva, Tzvetelina Markova, Ari Levola 

Short Introduction 

We started to work on the projects on the fifth day. The plan was to finish the project work 

after six days. When every student joined one of the four project groups, we sat together 

talking about ourselves and we got to know each other. The project “Internet marketing for...” 

consisted of 8 members. We had three girls from Bulgaria. They do their bachelor degree studies 

in different subjects. One of them is studying international relations and the others want 

to become a teacher. The four German girls are doing their master degree in cultural management. 

One guy was from Finland where he is a bachelor degree student in the same subject. 

Developing the Idea of the EuroCase Festival 

The task was to constitute an internet marketing concept for some city, cultural institution 

or cultural project. 

After discussion we decided to work on the concept of a festival. In particular, a festival 

that takes place every second year for four days in one European country. It‘s called the 

EuroCase Festival and it is supposed to start in 2011. The first city will be the capital of Bulgaria: 

Sofia. Artists from several fields such as performance art, modern art, art design, music, 

art, theatre and musical theatre and artists from different nations will be invited to join the 

festival. There will be workshops for everyone and projects among and between the artists. 

The results from these projects will be shown on the last day of the festival. 

The most important thing about EuroCase is that it is based on the internet. Therefore we 

have to create a homepage. On this homepage the users should be able to generate “their 

own” festival in the sense of a Do-It-Yourself-Festival. The organisers will give the frame in 

which the users have to select the artists. They can also give ideas and create a discussion 

on bulletin boards. After the evaluation of the user’s opinion the organisers will render the 

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project internet marketing for the eurocase festival 

festival. They will try to make the organisation process as transparent as possible with the aid 

of Twitter and Facebook. The ambition is in some way to constitute a new social community. 

The corporate philosophy is that the EuroCase Festival should represent the European spirit. 

Everybody is allowed to shape the festival in some way. Democracy and participation play a 

decisive role. Every visitor should identify himself or herself with one thing – the festival. Thus 

culture connects people. 

Simon Frank told us a rule of thumb: We need about 100 users until the first person will 

make an entry. So we thought about how we can get hundreds of users. The idea was: If there 

is one user who tells 50 people about EuroCase, he will get a free ticket. 

We defined the target group next: They have to be interested in culture and be open-minded. 

Perhaps they are travellers or Erasmus students. It is also possible to generate interest 

among general culture tourists. Therefore they have to be between the ages of 16 and 50. 

It is the intention to project an image of transparency. The team of EuroCase has to be 

open-minded as well. They have to radiate the feeling of being European and being openhearted. 

EuroCase even wants to be a pool for inspiration and a platform for creativity. 

The next step was to form the groups. With the input of Simon Frank we were given information 

about the content which each group has to deal with. 

We built three groups: The first group developed the homepage for our EuroCase Festival. 

The problem of the second group was to establish a marketing plan with classical marketing 

tools. The third group had to think about the arrangement of marketing via social communities. 

The whole company created a design for the festival. Our identification was the Euro 

Suitcase. It‘s a case where you can see the flags from various European countries. Since our 

team members were from Finland, Germany and Bulgaria we put the flags of these countries 

on top, together with flags from other European nations, like Great Britain and Poland. The 

flag of the European Union was placed in the centre of the suitcase. The suitcase represents 

the European identity. 

The Homepage 

The symbol of the Euro Suitcase is the basis of the design of the homepage – it serves as the 

background. By means of PowerPoint the homepage group created some slides where one 

could explore the different features of the EuroCase homepage. 

One feature is the explanation of the EuroCase Festival: “EuroCase is a unique do-it-yourself 

festival that joins together musicians, artists, dancers and writers from all over Europe. It 

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Fig. 1 EuroCase Homepage 


aims at promoting and encouraging young artists, knowing no boundaries in an attempt to 

build up an European identity through art and culture. 

Do-it-yourself means that you can become a part of this festival, too, by joining our EuroCommunity. 

By creating a profile everyone can suggest, include or exclude artists or even 

have the chance to perform at EuroCase!” 

The users are able to build their own profile and to discuss the program on different bulletin 

boards, which are divided into topics. There they can make suggestions for the development 

of the festival. Members can be artists and future visitors. They are marked with special 

icons so that they can identify each other. The artists can upload videos of their performances. 

In a proper bulletin board people can vote for their favourite actor, musician or artist. So 

the homepage will be a mix of MySpace, a forum for discussions and a blog. 

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“This is not a community like any other! It is the passion for culture, the curiosity to meet 

people from abroad, the vision of the European identity coming to life which brings us together. 

The aim is to create the first EuroCase Festival. So let’s pack up the EuroCase with 

our favourite artists by posting a suggestion in the Do-it-yourself section! You can get in 

contact with other community members in our forums EuroMusic, EuroDance, EuroArt and 

EuroLit. Or you can also create a profile yourself and add new information to it. Let us know 

what kind of music you like and what other European artists you think are brilliant! 

We are looking forward to lively conversations and new ideas... “ 

To make a stronger association between the members and the organisation team, the homepage 

group gave special company information. In “about us” one can find some photos and 

explanations about the teams and their work. 

Classic Internet Marketing 

This group was at first looking for the right domain. At 1&1 you can secure your domain. They 

decided in favour of www.eurocase.org. 

Next they had to think about online advertisement. The advertisement has to address the 

same target group, it has to reach Europeans and it has to be seen by many people. Therefore 

we have to place an ad on highly frequented pages like www.google.com and www.facebook. 

com. And advertisements should be on a homepage which shares the same values and wants 

to support cultural activities. An example is www.artsmanagement.net or www.artports.com. 

With GoogleAdwords you can create an advertisement that is shown on the right hand 

side when someone is searching for something via Google. The advantage is that there is 

no minimum spending requirement. You can set a maximum cost of 10 cent for each click 

and you only have to pay for the results. There‘s an opportunity to affect local and regional 

targeting. 

Another marketing tool is a search engine. Banners for instance belong to search engine 

marketing. Keyword-Advertising like GoogleAdwords belongs to such a tool, too. Another one 

is a Paid Inclusion. Compared to Keyword-Advertising a Paid Inclusion is not marked. That 

means the user doesn‘t notice that the result of the search engine he is looking at is a bought 

entry. 

By means of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) you can influence the position of your 

homepage in the list of results. If you want to determine your Link Popularity you can use the 

PageRank-Optimization from Google. 

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Fig. 2 EuroCase Newsletter 


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Project Internet Marketing For The EuroCase Festival 

Fig. 3 EuroCase group on Facebook 

EuroCase will inform users with a newsletter. You can find a website called MyNewsletterBuilder. 

This will show you how to create one. It works quite well. The newsletter will be about the 

artists or about the workshops. And it will show the choices that have been made. 

Community Marketing 

A very important way of informing people can be found in social communities. A lot of people 

use internet communities to keep in touch with friends or just to communicate with people. 

It‘s a cheap way of doing some marketing and you will reach a broad audience. 

The website has to contain a Podcast. That should start one year before the festival. A news 

team from EuroCase will publish the news once a week. This could be about the most wanted 

artists and the reasons for their popularity. That will make the whole organisation process 

more transparent. 

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Fig. 4 EuroCase account on Twitter 


Many young travellers are a member of the Couch Surfing community. If you are in a foreign 

town, you‘ll be allowed to sleep on someone‘s couch without paying anything. There is howe- 

ver a precondition: you have to have gotten in contact via Couch Surfing. It is a huge commu- 

nity and those people using Couch Surfing correspond to our target group. A member of this 

social community can sign in and “Create an Event”. The marketing team of the festival will 

create this event and invite some people. 

Most agencies and festivals have a profile on MySpace. EuroCase will arrange a profile, too. 

There will be given the opportunity to upload photos, videos, to generate new friends and to 

realise our corporate identity so that everyone will get an impression of the festival. Images 

can help to consolidate the festival feeling. Our friends on MySpace will be the artists and the 

MySpace-community members. They have the possibility to comment on the festival for expressing 

their position. A further option is to create advertising by dint of MySpace. A festival 

can take advantage of uploading posters on other profiles so that a lot of people will see it, 

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even people who have little relation to the EuroCase Festival. 

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One of the biggest social communities is the Facebook-community. The community marke- 

ting group created the EuroCase group on Facebook. Everybody is able to become a fan of the 

EuroCase Festival. This group will inform about current activities, it will show pictures made by 

the team or by the fans. People can link themselves and discuss the different topics, such as 

which was the best band and what was special about the program. That is a way to keep the 

discussion alive beyond the festival. 

Another growing community can be found on Twitter. As often as possible the marketing 

team will make smaller updates and they will explain how the festival preparation works and 

what is going on. Twitter followers will be the first who find out which artists received permission 

to perform. 

In addition Youtube is an important platform. EuroCase will upload its promotion video here. 

The massage will be: We will connect people via culture and art while creating an European 

identity. We will upload artists’ videos as well. With Youtube you can reach quite a lot of people. 

When artists upload their videos on their own there will be our logo on the right hand side in 

the user’s profile. So it will be obvious that this artist belongs to our project. 

To get the attention of many people our artists and the EuroCase Festival have to be the centre 

of a discussion. That‘s why we will establish a competition: One artist will show something 

impressive that will attract attention. Our “non-artistic” members should try to imitate it or 

even to parody it. To give an example the community marketing group showed the Dove trailer 

with the content: Everybody is able to look like a model with the help of Photo Shop. It was 

followed by loads of people who parodied this video and started a video communication. Euro- 

Case will show the winning video at the festival and its producer will get two free tickets. That‘s 

how we want to start a visual discussion. Plenty of people will hear about it and keep it in mind. 

Reflection 

Under the circumstances of developing something completely new, it was hard to create a very 

complete concept. Thus, it was not possible to scrutinise every achievement. Since we needed 

one day to really define the project work it would have been easier if we had had a specification 

of what the internet marketing concept should be for. 

Nevertheless, it was a very interesting theme and everybody got new input. Handling the 

differences between people from different nations was an exciting experience. Everyone struggled 

to play a part in the project. Apart from some uncertainties, not at least because of language 

barriers, the atmosphere was friendly and honest.

juha iso-aho 

designing and managing events 

To manage events successfully, it is essential to understand what events are and why they 

exist in the first place. Events have a long history and a strong relation to the oldest forms of 

human behaviour. People have always gathered to celebrate different stages in the life cycle 

as well as the cycle of the seasons. Today we tend to look at events mainly as a form of cultural 

consumption and a part of the creative economy and tourism industry, but we must not 

forget the social and ritual background of this phenomenon. 

In any event, in this article the focus will be on events as cultural products. What is the 

role and position of events in the fields of culture, creative industries and tourism? How are 

events and festivals created, designed and developed? What kind of changes and challenges 

do events and their managers face today and in the next decades? 

Events As Cultural Products 

Events today form one of the most exciting and fastest growing forms of leisure, business, 

and tourism related phenomena. They have achieved an important role in society’s daily life 

and have managed to maintain that position through centuries despite political, economical 

and technological revolutions that we have witnessed. The range of events is enormous, 

covering everything from big, internationally organized sports spectaculars to smaller family 

ceremonies such as weddings (Shone & Parry, 2004). 

According to the typology of planned events by Getz (1997) we can distinguish different 

forms of event such as: 

› Cultural celebrations 

› Art and entertainment 

› Business and trade 

› Sport competitions 

› Private events 

› Educational and scientific 

› Recreational 

› Political or state events 

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This article focuses on the viewpoint of arts and entertainment events, bearing in mind that 

all kinds of events have a common ground in the human need to gather together for some 

reason. Also many of the practical tasks in management and production are alike whether 

you are organizing a rock concert or an annual meeting of a political party. 

Arts events and festivals have many important functions in the field of culture and in 

society in general. First of all, they are meeting places for artists and art forms and therefore 

also cradle for new cultural innovations. Secondly, they are an important means of distribution 

for cultural products such as musical compositions, theatre and dance productions and 

new films. In addition, they provide excellent chances for promising, but not yet well-known 

performing artists to reach new and larger audiences. 

As the institutionalized art world has traditionally been somewhat suspicious of having a 

too close relationship with business, events have often been more ready to co-operate with 

sponsors, partly because they have had to raise money from other sources than public funds. 

This situation has made events natural meeting places for culture and business. And furthermore, 

many companies have started to use events as tools for launching and marketing new 

products. 

One of the most obvious, but still astonishingly underdeveloped, functions of cultural 

events is its role as tourist attractions or program services for tourists. We will take a closer 

look at the relations between events and tourism later in this article. 

Can Events Be A Resource for Regions and Communities? 

Events are usually deeply rooted in the region, town or village they are organized in. This is 

why it is necessary to also understand their meanings and possibilities from the point of view 

of regional development. 

Festivals and events have important roles in the communities within which they take 

place. They are a part of the annual life cycle of the local community and thus take part in 

building the identity of people as well as the external image of the community. They affect 

the range and quality of cultural life, stimulate the economy of the region, and offer tools for 

the development of the tourism industry. 

Festivals have a special and important role in broadening the scope and raising the artistic 

quality of a local cultural program. The international influences and networks that become a 

part of the cultural life of the region through festivals are also invaluable for the development 

of the local artistic community. 

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Festivals and taking part in organizing of them strengthen the identity of the local community 

and build and improve the image of the region for visitors. An example of this is the 

city of Edinburgh in Scotland which has chosen to position itself as the “festival city”. As part 

of The Festivals Strategy of Edinburgh launched in 2001 there is also the task of involving of a 

broad range of local citizens and encouraging festival initiatives which address social inclusion 

goals for the city. Some smaller towns like Pamplona in Spain or Kuhmo in Finland owe their 

name awareness almost completely to the festivals organized in their town. 

Festivals are also a cost-efficient way for towns to offer high-quality cultural program to 

the public and at the same time they are good investments that support the regional economy. 

The organizations behind festivals tend to be non-profit organizations and a lot of the 

work is often done by committed volunteers with low costs. 

One of the festival manager´s important tasks is to convince the local authorities of the 

impact of the festival on the region and to show them the possibilities of using the event as 

a tool for further development of the area. This means that the festival organization as well 

must recognize other aspects of their efforts than just their artistic significance. 

Are Events A Part of the Tourism Industry? 

In addition to the contributions to the regional community already mentioned, festivals are 

also important producers of program services for the tourism business, giving visitors memorable 

experiences and sometimes even a reason for to visit. Different kinds of events can have 

different roles in the relationship between them and the tourism business. 

Some events generate tourism. In these cases events are a reason for visiting the region 

or town. An event that generates tourism can be everything from a large scale opera or rock 

festival with tens of thousands of visitors to an international meeting or congress of one or 

another artistic or scientific community for a couple hundred people. When estimating the 

economic impact for the tourism business one must be aware of certain factors. For example: 

How many visitors are coming from the event’s own economic region and how many from 

other parts of the country or even abroad? Are the visitors staying overnight and if so, for 

how many days? What is the economic status of the visitors and how much money they are 

expected to spend during their stay? 

After obtaining answers to these questions it may turn out that a specialized arts festival 

for 500 people, 90 % of whom come from outside the region, is more profitable to the tourism 

business than say, a one-day rock festival or a country fair for 10.000 people coming 

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primarily from neighboring towns. The point is that even specialized events with quite small 

amounts of visitors can be significant in an economic sense, especially when they bring new 

customers to the area. 

On the other hand, there are events that serve tourism, although they usually are not the 

actual reason for coming to the area. From the point of view of tourism, these events provide 

program services for visitors who have come for other reasons. A community that has 

managed to maintain a living relationship to its traditional celebrations and customs always 

has a lot to offer also to the tourism business as well. Local annual festivals such as New Year, 

Midsummer or openings of holiday seasons and harvest time fairs are interesting to tourists 

as program alternatives. 

Another group of events serving tourism are the ones customized especially for tourists. 

These kinds of events or program services are a possibility for the event organizations to also 

operate on a more commercial basis and to use their artistic networks and organizational 

skills for fundraising purposes. 

And of course, many of the events that for some visitors are the reason for visiting can 

and should be offered to tourists as program services even if they have not been aware of 

them in the first place. All too often it happens that the information about the local events 

has not reached the staff of hotels and restaurants. Sometimes the information provided by 

the events is not adequate, or there is a lack of willingness on the part of the hotel staff to 

promote events outside the hotel premises. 

There are also non-commercial events of the local community that exist independently 

of tourism, but might still be interesting for a tourist. This group of events consists of more 

private celebrations which still could be designed as exclusive event products if handled with 

subtlety. Opening and closing celebrations of school terms, traditional weddings or some 

local religious ceremonies would be memorable experiences for a visitor from a different 

culture because of their uniqueness. In these kinds of events the role of the event manager 

is not so much to organize the event itself, as it is to organize the possibility to “sneak in” to 

the celebration. 

Do Events Belong to the Creative Industries? 

Events can also be examined in the framework of creative industries. We usually include in 

the creative industries things like literature and print media, visual and performing arts, music 

composition and publishing, new media such as animation, games and internet content de- 

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sign, broadcasting electronic media and film and heritage activities. Events and festivals are 

rarely mentioned in these lists, but when you look at the forms of creative activity that are 

included it is easy to see that events and festivals are an important channel of distribution for 

all of these. Apart from that, they are forms of creative production in their own right. 

According to Richard E. Caves (2000) creative industries are characterized by seven economic 

properties, three of which are especially relevant where festivals are concerned. The 

first, the Nobody knows principle, means that demand uncertainty exists because consumer 

reactions to a product are neither known beforehand, nor easily understood afterwards. This 

is true with best-selling books and hit songs as well as successful festivals. Even more difficult 

than to predict short-term success is knowing which products will become steady-sellers or 

lasting classics. 

Normal market research methods used in manufacturing mass-market products are not 

very useful for the creative industries. This is also due to two other characteristics defined by 

Caves. By Infinite variety he means that products in creative industries are differentiated by 

quality and by uniqueness. Contrary to mass-produced products, every new product in the 

creative industries is a distinct combination of inputs leading to infinite variety options. For 

example, you would not like a beverage company to change the ingredients of your favourite 

soft drink every year, but from a theatre company you probably would constantly expect 

new kinds of productions and new ideas. This is also true with festivals. The basic concept and 

brand of the event should be clear and relatively stable, but the content should be, for the 

most part, new every year. 

Another typical factor defining the creative industries according to Caves is A list/B list. Skills 

are vertically differentiated and artists are ranked on the basis of their skills, originality, and 

proficiency in creative processes and/or products. This is why small differences in skills, talent 

and originality may lead to huge differences in success. Many of us can name three famous 

tenors, but only connoisseurs remember a fourth one. This is particularly clear when you examine 

the interest of the national media in festivals. A handful of events receive almost all the 

attention and the others are left with next to nothing. 

For these reasons there is no foolproof way of predicting the success of a festival. What helps 

is that the manager and/or the artistic director of the festival have a unique and original idea 

and that they strongly believe in it themselves. If the key persons in the organization are 

ambitious, stubborn and lucky their festival might end up on the A list. 

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Creative Management: From an Idea to an Event (and Back) 

As Steve Brown and Jane James (2004) have pointed out, “event management is simply but 

essentially, the design and management of an event”, but “unfortunately the structure of a 

typical event management organization and the job description for the typical event manager 

fail to include the `design´ component”. 

Steps toward a service design approach to managing of festivals and events can be taken 

by studying the process in the framework of the value chain of creative industries. The chain 

consists of inputs (in brackets) and outputs that are needed in the process of developing a 

product. 

› (Creating) Ideas 

› (Developing) Forms 

› (Packaging) Products 

› (Marketing) Commodities 

› (Distributing) Purchases 

› (Surveying) Customers´ experiences 

› (Evaluating) Improvements 

This is a two-dimensional analysis, because it allows us not only to follow the step-by-step 

process of product development, but also to see how many different kinds of professionals 

and services are needed even before a finished festival product is on the market. 

Every creative process starts with an idea. Ideas may seem to come out of nowhere, but 

usually they can be traced to an experience. If an experience needs to be shared in one way 

or each other, we are on the verge of the creating something. But getting a creative idea is 

not yet enough. In order to take form the idea needs developing. This refers to the fact that 

before even starting to organize any event you need to ask questions like: Why? Who? When? 

Where? What? (Goldblatt, 1997). 

If a festival proves to be the appropriate form for the idea, there is already a need at this 

point for a production team and/or an organizing committee to start the basic designing and 

planning the artistic, economic, logistical and organizational aspects of the event. People 

with different skills and positions such as artistic and technical advisors, graphic designers, 

fundraisers, media consultants, venue administrators and public authorities may be needed to 

outline the scale, budget and image of the forthcoming event. All this should be done bearing 

in mind that the original idea, the need to mediate the unique experience to a chosen target 

audience, must be at the core of all developing work. 

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The next link in the value chain after creating and developing is finding an appropriate packaging 

for the product. Is it a one-day or a one-week event or something in between, and 

when? Is there more than one venue to be used? Are there different parts of the program for 

different target audiences? What is the overall message that the name and visual imagery of 

the event sends? Is it possible to link other services (accommodation, food, travel) with the 

package? What is the price of the product for the customer? In addition to people involved 

in previous stages of the process, contacts with suppliers like printing houses and possible 

partnering businesses are needed. 

After the packages of the event product are ready they can be marketed to the target audience. 

The choices of media are made and marketing materials are produced. More partners 

and suppliers like newspapers, TV Channels, radio stations, internet services will be approached. 

But, even before starting marketing it must be ensured that the distribution and selling 

of the product are properly organized. 

In the festival context distribution has two separate meanings: the logistic and technical solutions 

which enable the audience to fully and safely enjoy the performances, and organizing 

the means for reserving and purchasing of tickets. The festival tickets must be easily available 

to the audience and payable by different methods. Agreements have to be made with sound 

and light service suppliers, stage equipment rental companies, security, catering and cleaning 

staff, and also with ticket retailers, banks and the paid or volunteer box-office personnel. 

For the further development of the product the audience response should be surveyed regularly. 

As important as this is asking all employees, members of the organizing committee, 

volunteers and partners involved about of the pros and cons of the planning, implementation 

and results of the event. This should be done routinely after every event. All the information 

and feedback that the management of the event can get from these questionnaires and discussions 

is essential for the continuous process of making the product better. 

This information can be analyzed in the framework of the value chain. Which links of the 

chain seemed to be the strongest and weakest? Was the original idea a sustainable basis for 

an event? Or would it be better just to write a song about the incident anyway? Maybe a 

one-week festival was too long? Could we reach the target audience with lower advertising 

costs? Was the lighting equipment adequate in the circumstances? Should we try internetbased 

selling of tickets next time? How did the audience respond? 

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The value chain of creative industries can also be used to prove the point that a festival is 

not an island in the community. Even in smaller events hundreds of people, organizations 

and private companies are involved in the organizational process in one way or another: 

supplying services, selling commodities, renting equipment and volunteering. This is why you 

should never just talk about the turnover of the event itself when estimating its economic 

value and impact. 

The Finnish example of the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (with 35.000 tickets sold annually 

in a north-eastern small town with fewer than 10.000 inhabitants) shows that a festival with 

a turnover of 850.000 € can generate an annual tourism income of 2.500.000 €. In addition 

to this the town economy benefits from tax income from the festival staff and the increased 

tax income from the employees of the local companies that supply services to the festival 

and its customers. 

Most festivals can perhaps not be considered as creative industry in the sense of being 

profitable businesses. In fact they usually are produced by non-profit organizations employing 

mostly volunteers and they are partially dependent on subsidies from the local authorities. 

Still they must be considered as an integral part of the cluster of the creative industries as 

well as of the local and regional economy. That is why they also should be guaranteed the 

chance by means of cultural policy to maintain that position without losing their integrity 

and faithfulness to their core values. Expectations of industrial-like event entrepreneurship 

may lead to neglecting the ritual and social origins of events and festivals. If we are not aware 

of this, instead of having original and lasting event traditions, we might end up savoring 

generic “event fast food” under global brands. Unfortunately we can already see signs of this 

kind of development. 

Event Management: Trends in the Last Two Decades 

For some years already the rise of professionalism has been a commonly recognized feature 

in event management. Due to the growing impact of creative industries in modern societies 

along with the simultaneous process of the decline of traditional heavy industry, the appreciation 

of entrepreneurial education and professional management skills has also entered the 

world of cultural organizations. 

In the pressure of turnovers of millions of dollars, complicated technical requirements, security 

instructions and increasing permission bureaucracy, even the often originally informally- 

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organized rock festivals have had to re-structure their management. Only a few newcomers 

in the field think that good festivals can be created overnight, either without professional 

planning or community support. And quite often you never get to witness their second or 

third festival. 

The most advanced festival organizations are also aware of the educational possibilities that 

have evolved during the last decade such as the degree programs in cultural management 

offered by colleges and universities. More and more festivals already recruit their personnel 

from among the graduates of these programs who in the best cases have already had practical 

experience of festival management before or during their studies. 

While the conditions for getting permits and governmental oversight have become stricter 

and, in certain cases, volunteers cannot even be used for all purposes anymore because 

of the licenses needed, new, more spontaneous ways of organizing events have evolved as 

a reaction. One example of this was an informal Finnish festival called Kaljakellunta (“Beer 

Floating”) to which thousands of participants arrived spontaneously in the summer of 2009. 

The authorities tried to sue the organizers for not having the necessary permissions, but failed 

because no organizer could be identified. The information about the event was spread via 

unorganized conversations on the Internet. 

The increasing amount of different kinds of internet-based communities is an interesting 

phenomenon from the point of view of festivals in other ways as well. These groups are an efficient 

channel and target of information especially for some very specialized festivals, which 

may be relatively small, but have committed audiences that may consist of people from all 

continents. In these cases no traditional media serves the purposes of the event better than 

the Internet. 

The question is, though, will these kinds of “tribes” feel in the future a need to travel to have 

their celebrations and gatherings or will they organize their events on-line over th Internet? 

Internet-based events and festivals have already been organized. The management skills that 

these kinds of events require will be more in the line of mastering of communication networks 

than in traditional logistics. 

Another aspect concerning travelling to festivals is the possible effect of climate change. If 

tourism as an industry collapses because of flight restrictions or rising prices it will certainly 

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affect the development of festivals as well. Thus the links between tourism and festivals that 

have strengthened in the last decades would weaken again. This could lead to a renaissance 

of locally-based community celebrations together with ones organized in communication 

networks. Whatever happens, it is hard to imagine that ancient forms of human behaviour 

such as festivals and events could ever vanish as long as human communities exist. 

additional reading: 

Caves, R. E. (2000): 

Creative Industries: Contracts Between Art 

and Commerce, 

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

Favro, D. (2008): 

The Festive Experience. Roman Processions 

in the Urban Context, 

In Bonnemaison S. and Macy C. Festival Architecture, 

Oxon: Routledge. 

Getz, D. (1997): 

Festival Management and Event Tourism, 

Reinhold: Van Nostrand. 

Goldblatt, J. (1997): 

Special Events – Best Practises 

in Modern Event Management, 

John Wiley and Sons. 

Karjalainen, T. (2008): 

The impact on Kuhmo of the Chamber Music 

Festival – Discussion and evaluation, 

http://www.kuhmofestival.fi/indexen.htm. 

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Picard, D.; Robinson, M. (2006): 

Festivals, Tourism and Social Change. 

Remaking Worlds, 

Clevedon: Channel View Publications, 11. 

Shone, A.; Parry, B. (2004): 

Successful Event Management. 

A Practical Handbook, 

London and New York: Continuum. 

Smith, M.; Forrest, K. (2006). 

Enhancing Vitality or Compromising Integrity? 

Festivals, Tourism and the Complexities 

of Performing Culture, 

In Picard, D.; Robinson, M. (2006). Festivals, Tourism 

and Social Change. Remaking Worlds, 

Clevedon: Channel View Publications. 

Yeoman, I.; Robertson, M.; Ali-Knight, J.; Drummond, 

S.; McMahon-Beattie, U. (2004): 

Festival and Events Management. 

An International arts and culture perspective, 

Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.

malena medam 

project management for an 

international music festival 

Team members: Assya Ivanova, Sarah Kienecker, Karoliina Mäkinen, Malena Medam, Anja Pohl, 

Suvi Runonen-Väinämö, Todor Simeonov, Dorothee Sommer 

Eight students of the IP-program participated in the project “Project management for an 

international and cultural fair”. The group consisted of two Bulgarian students two Finnish 

students and four German students. The aim was to create within four days a briefly-outlined 

business plan for an international cultural fair. Despite a deadline, no framework, conditions 

or restrictions were given. 

Working Progress 

Because of no given framework, the first difficulty was finding an appropriate exhibition topic 

everyone could work with. After approximately two hours of brainstorming and discussions 

the group decided to have an introduction round where each student should present his or 

her skills and interests. The result was a common interest in music. So it came down to one 

possible topic: music. Then, the decision had to be made concerning the form and content of 

the international music exhibition. 

Because a usual music fair would turn out to be too technical and not innovative enough 

for the students’ taste, everyone agreed upon changing the fair into an international music 

festival with music workshops. 

World music was chosen to be the music style of the festival. It includes any folk music as 

well as every mixture of different music styles and therefore it is internationally widespread 

and highly innovative. Furthermore world music is closely connected to political topics such 

as intercultural communication and globalization. The students considered Helsinki to be the 

right location because of knowledge, safety, economical and conditional reasons. Since there 

are no other important Finnish music festivals in winter and because the Finnish wintertime 

has not yet been sufficiently promoted by the tourist industry, four days and nights at the 

160

project management for an international music festival 

Fig. 1: The Rock Church was chosen as one of the three festival venues 

end of February 2010 were chosen to be the festival date. Through written brainstorming the 

slogan: “World Music – let’s melt the snow away” was created. The students also agreed on 

the following mission statement: 

“World Music goes Helsinki is the first city festival in Helsinki devoted only to World Music. 

The aim is to bring young artists from different parts of the world together as well as involving 

the public in the creative process. The focus of this project is on the development of 

new styles of music and dance.” 

After these basic decisions regarding frame and content, the eight students split into three 

groups: program, marketing and finance. There were students from at least two different 

countries in order to keep multiculturalism in every group. 

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Fig. 2: The festival line up 

malena medam 

The program group – consisting of two German students and one Bulgarian student – developed 

a broad program of concerts and workshops for the world music festival. They chose 

ten participating countries and planned over 50 workshops for either professionals or public 

and eleven concerts performed by international artists at three different locations. 

The marketing group – consisting of one German student and one Finnish student – developed 

a versatile marketing concept and created a one-year-schedule for various public relation 

tasks. Examples of media considered extend from different print media to radio broadcasts 

and online social media. Promotion through artists and testimonials, web pages or advertisement 

as flyers were planned, too. 

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Fig. 3: Ten countries were chosen to take part in the festival 

The finance group – consisting of one Bulgarian, one Finnish and one German student – compiled 

a cost projection first and then a financing scheme. 

The cost projection with a total budget of approximately 187 270 € is displayed in the model 

and is optimistic rather than realistic. For instance, no ten-percent risk costs are included and 

all costs were held to a minimum. 

The finance group had to find various financial sources. Since the entrance and workshop fees 

equity was not very profitable, the group focused on funding such as The International Fund 

for the Promotion of Culture by UNESCO, the Culture 2007-2013 fund of the EU or an Operation 

grant by the City of Helsinki. Furthermore, sponsors such as Nokia (“Get connected”) 

and partners such as the world music Label Putumayo, the National Opera and the Sibelius 

Academy for venues and other facilities were found. 

163

Fig. 4: A marketing schedule was developed 

malena medam 

In spite of the numerous funding sources, sponsors and partners, the finance group could not 

reach the break-even point. The conclusion was that: “regarding the financial aspects of this 

kind of project, the size of the event should rather be limited during the first years”. 

In view of the tight time schedule and the lack of supplies (not all students brought their 

notebooks) the project was very successful. The already mentioned conclusion of an impractical 

festival was by no means a negative result. With more time available, the festival program 

could have been restricted easily and thus have become financially feasible. 

Nevertheless some difficulties within the working progress did occur with regard to the broad 

student’s background diversities. All the Finnish and Bulgarian students came from different 

regions and studies within their countries. So the students neither hardly knew each other nor 

could rate each others skills and character. Another noticeable difference was the academic 

164


Fig. 5: The label Putumayo was the main partner for the festival 

level. While the Finnish and Bulgarians were all Bachelor’s students, the German were doing 

their Master’s degrees. Therefore, the German students were in part more experienced with 

regard to project work and teamwork. Of course the cultural differences and language borders 

were a challenge, too. It is hardly possible to define cultural differences in such a small group 

where individual personalities come to the fore. Some students were rather quiet and observant 

and others were more outgoing or active, irrespective of their nationality. 

Regarding all difficulties which diversity can cause, the students took it as a challenge to 

cross borders and enlist the creative potential which diversity contains as well. 

165

tatiana stoitchkova 

audience development in 

contemporary museums 

Audience dvelopment - as an essential issue in some national cultural policies in Europe - has 

attracted growing attention over the last decade. When we analyze the literature in the field, 

the concept emerges that museums should improve their performances and services, taking 

on a different approach to their audiences. The main contributors in the museum audience 

development literature have regarded the nature of different types of audience development 

(Kawashima, 2000), and marketing management and approach (Kotler, Kotler, 1998; Colbert, 

1995). 

Although it is clear why museums should confront visitors’ increasing expectations, it is 

not so clear how this can be made possible or what problems might arise. The present lecture, 

therefore, represents an attempt to deal with some of questions for an understanding of 

audiences. It will not provide exhaustive answers, but it will begin to explore some questions 

that need to be dealt with. There are some key terms which need examination. What is a 

museum? What is a contemporary museum? How to achieve wider audience development 

objectives? 

Barriers that are obstacles to a museum attendance are then mentioned: social, cultural, 

financial and physical. Attention will then given to the four types of audience development 

according to Nabuko Kawashima. 

Museums – Contemporary Museums 

Understanding of museums in the past 

Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century and in the early decades of the twentieth 

century, early cultural policy can be characterised as interventions in the field of culture, 

in the context of national identity. And in this regard the establishment of museums could 

be seen as a contribution to the social construction of the nation and the construction of a 

national public culture. In this sense museums determinated significant values to a society 

or community (determinated the value of artifacts and art) and were seen as some kind of 

‘great’ cultural institutions. In this regard museums are not neutral in value judgement. 

166

audience development in contemporary museums 

Take, for example, three museums. The three photographs of three museums in the Power 

Point presentation show museum architecture as an example of monumentality and spatial 

hierarchy. The National Museum of Finland building was designed by architects Eliel Saarinen, 

Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren, and was opened to the public in 1916. The Altes 

Museum was built between 1823 and 1830 after the design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and is 

one of the most important works in the architecture of Classicism. The National Historical 

Museum in Sofia was founded on 5 May 1973. The museum was moved to a former governmental 

residence in 2000. 

As the definition of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) states, that a museum is: 

“a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, 

and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and 

exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and 

their environment” (ICOM Statutes, 2001). 

These various functions contribute together to the understanding of a museum as a complex 

organization existing for many reasons: acquisition, conservation, research, display and 

communications. 

In 1965, Metropolian Museum curator Albert Gardner wrote: 

‘the museum is a modern hybrid, bred with mingled characteristics of the cathedral, the 

royal palace, the theatre, the school, the library, and the department store’ 

The above quote illustrates the varieties of activities generally called museum functions. 

There is an extensive body of literature concerning the changing priorities of museums nowadays. 

The body of literature may be also understood as a sign of the changing priorities of this 

cultural organization. Museums try to be more sensitive to audiences and consider visitororientation 

as an important principle of their work. They try to give greater attention to the 

attenders’ experiences in the context of more cultural diversity and other leisure activities 

(museums operate in a competitive context). 

It is also important to recognise that there is not only a change in museums’ function, but 

also a blurring of their boundaries into ‘edutainment’. The boundaries between aesthetic and 

social issues are also increasingly blurred. 

167

In marketing terms most authors see museums’ orientation as a shift from product orientation 

to audience orientation (Kottler, 1998; Klein, 2001). 

What is a contemporary museum? We have an example here in Finnland of the Helsinki 

Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma: 

As the mission statement of Kiasma states: 

‘...developing new museum projects and exhibitions, facilitating a more effective delivery 

of service to a diverse public.‘ 

‘to make experiencing art possible and effortless, thus making it easy for the viewer to create 

and open up to his or her own experience‘ 

(http://www.kiasma.net/index.php?id=312&L=1….) 

Berndt Arell notes: 

‘The most important thing in museum work is the production of meaning. Without meaning, 

any encounter between art and people remains just a passing touch. As in any relationship, 

art feeling is more important than seeing, a true meeting more significant than 

understanding’ (Arell, 2010:6). 

The term “ contemporary museums” is a difficult one to define. The concept of museum that 

we are choosing to label as ‘contemporary’ may have its roots in modern arts. But how to 

define what is art nowadays? The problem of contemporary art is its lack of popularity among 

the public. To quote Berndt Arell once again: 

‘The image of contemporary art is problematic precisely because so much is expected of it. 

A visit to a contemporary art museum is also regarded as a risk, because great expectations 

can never be satisfied for everyone. ‘ 

Or the term may take its definition from contemporary museum management and audience 

development. In other words definitions of ‘contemporary museums’ may be functional. 

In terms of museums’ management and audience development this means: 

› Becoming audience focused 

› Facilitating programs for a diverse audience 

› Audience development as a long-term policy 


168


Audience Development 

Audience development has been one of the new-discussed topics in the cultural sector in 

recent years. It is on the policy agenda in the UK and in Scandinavian countries. The UK has 

established the New Audiences Fund (1998). Here it is worth mentioning the New Audiences 

programme by the Arts Council of England (1999). The Department for Culture, Media and 

Sport (2000) in the UK developed a policy for museums and galleries concerning audience 

development . There is also a large number of projects involving museum employees, involving 

young people, people with disabilities and families as well. In other words, audience 

development is an essential issue in some national cultural strategies requiring a long-term 

policy and resources. It is an expression of the efforts of museums to reach out into wider 

communities and involve a range of people in cultural activities (Kawashima, 2000). 

It must be noted however that audience development as a long-term policy is not very 

popular in Bulgaria and only a small number of museums, for example, try to include this 

issue. To quote Birgit Mandel, 

‘Audience development is an active process of connecting new audience groups to art institutions. 

It develops new approaches to marketing and promotion, different ways of installing, 

curating and distributing arts and new educational ways of communicating with 

different target groups about ideas, content and aesthetics’ (Mandel, 2008: 161). 

According to Mandel ‘audience development combines management with direct mediation’ 

(Mandel, 2008: 160). 

Museums are complex organizations for many reasons: 

› multiple nature of the functions in society/community, 

› intangible nature of the outcome, 

› multifaceted nature of the value produced, 

Museums try to develop various projects and programmes to: 

› increase the number of visitors, 

› attract different kinds of visitors, 

› diversify the types and varieties of exhibitions and venues, 

› facilitate a more effective delivery of services to a diverse audience, 

› enrich their perceptual and aesthetic experiences, 

› use of communication tools to reach museum audiences 

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Museums try to do this in different ways. Various examples: 

› Museum Nights: For example, during the fifth European Museums Night in 2009, museums 

from 47 countries openеd their doors. The initiative comes from France and is under 

the patronage of the general secretary of the Council of Europe and UNESCO. During the 

Museum Nights, museums offered a wide range of special concerts and programmes of 

theatre, jazz, dance and new collection exhibitions. In marketing terms, this is an extension 

of a museum product, ‘the event as product extension’ (Klein, 2001). On the other hand 

it is clear that free entry provides additional benefits to existing audiences. 

› Another orientation is the idea of making the artifacts and exhibitions as accessible as 

possible, placing exhibitions in unconventional contexts:- public places such as parks and 

squares, schools, shopping malls etc. It is important to intensify the use of the place in 

front of or around the museum building. 

› Partnerships development and community consultation as an important tool in creating 

new museum projects and programmes, including consultation with the local city council 

and its regional arts board. 

Barriers 

Often museums make efforts to dismantle barriers to attendance by defining them as a first 

step. The barriers which deter people who might be interested in attending a new collection 

exhibition, such as those who feel that even free museums ‘are not for me’, are mainly social, 

cultural, financial and physical. 

Barriers to access could be financial: museums try to reduce the costs of attendance, including 

marketing techniques such as special discounts, open doors days or a night of museum. 

Furthermore, promotional discounts are often offered. It is hoped that lower income groups 

could afford such programs and venues. 

Barriers to access could be physical: projects which provide transportation for attenders; museum 

venues which have been renovated so as to install special facilities for disabled people. 

The geographical dimension could be a crucial factor in the sector. According to Bourdieu, 

geographical distance is correlated with social distance (Bourdieu, 1999, pp. 123–129). In- 

170


equality in cultural participation and differences in taste come from the possession of ‘cultural 

competence’ acquired through family socialisation and formal schooling . In order to 

improve this, museums are attempting to develop a system for nationwide/ Europe wide 

touring exhibitions. 

By defining various barriers museums are able to focus and to make efforts to make artifacts 

and exhibitions as accessible as possible, making events and venues more friendly in order to 

welcome more fragmented audiences. Programmes and projects aimed at ‘broadening the 

base’ could improve in lowering the economical and geographical barriers to participation. 

It is important to identify the different types of audience development. According to Kawashima 

(a very prominent researcher), there are four types of audience development in the 

cultural policy field – Extended Marketing, Taste Cultivation, Audience Education and Cultural 

Inclusion (Kawashima, 2000). 

Extended Marketing is oriented to audiences (potential or “lapsed”) who are essentially interested 

in the museum`s exhibitions. It is important to identify the non-attenders and the 

reasons for non-attending. The next step to be taken is to remove barriers to attendance 

(e.g. by installing vamps to the venue entrance and creating a welcoming ambience for nontraditional 

audiences) or to provide some specific incentives for attendance. 

Taste Cultivation relates to existing audiences (core audiences). It is about the depth and 

quality of perceptual and aesthetic experiences for existing audiences. As Kawashima notes, 

‘Taste Cultivation and Audience Education are mostly for existing audiences either to broaden 

their cultural scope (the former) or to enrich their perceptual and aesthetic experience (the 

latter)’ (Kawashima, 2000). 

Cultivation and Audience Education start from understanding what else the core audience 

might be interested in and how to offer some more additional benefits. It is about the 

depth and quality of experience for the existing audience of museum products and services. 

Bourdieu’s studies point out the importance of education and arts interests (for example, 

how the educational system facilitates transformation of cultural capital into educational 

capital – a specific form of symbolic capital) (Bourdieu, 1984). 

Audience development as a cultural inclusion is concerned with the goal of promoting 

equal access and inclusion. It combines social purposes in trying to focus on the under- 

171


representation of groups through offering them good access to museum products and services 

and encouraging their participation in cultural life (social policy – cultural policy). In 

addition, it refers to the ’targeting of non-attenders with the existing products and services’ 

(Kawashima, 2000). 

Arts marketing and audience development provide a different perspective on the relation 

between the museum and the audience. 

The core of the marketing concept is “market (or customer) orientation”, a management attitude 

according to which production should not merely be conscious of market needs, but it 

should also start from them (Kotler, 1998). The term ‘museums marketing’ suggests that the 

aim is to induce people who are already interested in museum products, services and venues. 

In other words, it tends to concentrate on existing audiences. 

Museums could begin to choose a market segment to target and then to design a product 

to provide the desired benefits for this segment. But museums have usually not done this, as 

they have felt that they should not change their cultural product to meet the desires of the 

public. Museums have usually used the segmentation process to find a market segment to 

which their existing cultural product will appeal (Kolb, 2000: quoted Colbert, 2003). 

The term ‘audience development’ is about persuading people outside of the museums, the 

targets that are not easily available audiences. Kawashima notes: ‘Not easily available audiences’ 

range from those who have almost never attended any exhibitions to lapsed or 

infrequent attenders’ (Kawashima, 2000). 

It can be said that audience development implies maintaining the core audience, building 

a broader audience base, attracting diverse audiences and building relationships with the 

community. 

Concluding Remark 

The above discussion demonstrates that audience development is beneficial to the museum`s 

effectiveness and competiveness. Audience development may lead to an increase in partnerships, 

opportunities and participation. Enabling people to participate in the cultural life of 

their community is embodied in Article 27 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human 

Rights. 

172


bibliography 

Arell, B. (2010): 

Kiasma is seeking a real relationship, 

Kiasma 44, vol. 12. 

Arts Council England (2004): 

New Audiences for the Arts, Arts Council England, 

London. 

Bennett, O. (1997): 

‘Cultural Policy, Cultural Pessimism 

and Postmodernity’, 

International Journal of Cultural Policy, 4,1: 67-84. 

Bourdieu, P. (1984): 

Distinction – A social critique of 

the judgement of taste, 

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

Bourdieu, P., (1999): 

The weight of the world – Social suffering 

in contemporary society, 

Cambridge: Polity Press. 

Colbert, F. (2003): 

‘Entrepreneurship and leadership in marketing 

the arts’, 

International Journal of Arts Management, vol. 6, 

no. 1, pp. 30–39. 

DCMS (2001): 

Libraries, Museums, Galleries and Archives 

for All: Co-operating Across the Sectors 

to Tackle Social Exclusion, 

DCMS, London. 

173 

DCMS (2000): 

Centres for Social Change: Museums, Galleries 

and Archives for All: Policy Guidance for DCMSfunded 

and Local Authority Museums, Galleries 

and Archives in England, 

DCMS, London. 

Gardner, Albert Ten Eyck (1965): 

Museum in Motion’ The Metropolitan Museum 

of Arts Bulletin 24 (Summer), 

ICOM Statutes, (2001). 

Kawashima, Nobuko (2000): 

Beyond the Division of Attenders vs Non- 

Attenders. A Study into Audience Development 

in Policy and Practice, 

University of Warwick. 

Klein, A. (2001): 

Kulturmarketing, Das Marketingkonzept 

fuer Kulturbetriebe, 

Deutcher Taschenbuchverlag, Muenchen. 

Kotler, N.; Kotler, P. (1998): 

Museum Strategy and Marketing. Designing 

Missions, Building Audiences, Generating 

Revenue and Resources, 

San Francisco. 

Kotler, N.; Kotler, P. (2000): 

“Can Museums be All Things to All People?: 

Missions, Goals, and Marketing’s Role”, 

Museum Management and Curatorship 18, 

271–287.

Vergo, P. (1989.): 

The New Museology, 

London. Reaktion Books. 

useful websites: 

Kotler, P.; Andreasen, A.R. (1996): 

www.artscouncil.org.uk 

Strategic Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations, 

www.familyfriendly.org.uk 

5th Ed, 

www.may2002.org.uk 

(Upper Saddle River, NJ). 

www.artsmarketing.org 

Mandel, M. (2008): 

Enabling the creators. Arts and cultural 

management and the challenge of social 

inclusion, 

Oxford Brookes University, 2008. 


174

maria kirchhoff / lidia jerke 

social minorities as a new audience 

for cultural projects 

Reflecting on Project Work 

Team Members: Flavius Ardelean, Phuong Chu, Laura Järvinen, Lidia Jerke, Simone Kottmann, 

Thomas Meyer, Maria Mavrodieva 

The Task 

One of the various project groups which worked on different tasks during the second week 

of the International Programme, was concerned with the topic “people with disabili-ties as 

new audiences for cultural projects”. The work of this group of internationally mixed students 

(four students form Germany, two Finnish and one Bulgarian student) was not bound to fixed 

guidelines, so that there was enough room for a free and creative process of first finding, 

then developing, and finally explaining concrete ideas to the other participants in the project. 

However, Tatiana Stoitchkova, tutor of the group, discussed the aim of the project with the 

students. It was to develop and present one proposal for a product or programme providing 

desired benefits for a specific disabled audience. In ad-dition to this, Tatiana Stoitchkova delivered 

some preliminary remarks to the group. Among these were, that: 

› realistic purposes should be the starting point of the project, 

› clear objectives and targets should be marked in the planning process, 

› all parties involved in the project should be included in the planning, 

› it would be important to continuously build up the relationship between the museum and 

audiences beyond the particular project. 

Important questions that should be answered by the proposal of the students were also 

mentioned. Such as: 

› How can the needs and expectations of this group be identified? 

› How should the programme be designed? 

› By what means can an institution such as a museum stimulate the interests of disabled 

audiences? 

› What aspects should be in the focus of the programme? 

176

social minorities as a new audience for cultural projects 

› What kinds of communication efforts are appropriate for the project and how should information 

be provided? 

Defining the Term 

Before the creative process of developing a concept for increasing the participation of social 

minorities in cultural activities could begin, it was necessary to define the term “social minorities”. 

Without a fundamental definition there would be no common ground upon which any 

ideas could be developed. Therefore, the project group chose the meth-od of brainstorming 

in order to get as many characteristic aspects regarding social mi-norities as possible. What 

are social minorities and what kind of minorities do we know? What experiences has each 

member of the group had with social minorities? 

A lively conversation regarding these questions was unleashed among the international 

project group. Personal experiences were exchanged and the question of cultural differ-ences 

in treating minorities was discussed. Resulting from this discussion, two kinds of minorities 

were felt to be of major importance in Bulgaria, Finland, and Germany: Mus-lims and blind 

people. In the end, the focus of the project was placed on blind people, who fascinated the 

majority of the group. However, the most important argument in fa-vour of choosing blind 

people was that the acceptance and general behaviour towards visually impaired people was 

felt to be similar in all participating countries. On top of this, the whole team could start at 

the same level of knowledge and explore a subject equally unfamiliar to all group members. 

This coincidence was seen as an ideal starting point for becoming familiar this new realm of 

information as a group. Thereby the unity of the group could evolve and be strengthened. 

Finding a Concept 

As the group’s focus on the obstacles blind people face in dealing with the society they live 

in intensified, one major problem became evident to the group: the question of the specific 

perception of art. In what way can art, especially visual art, be experienced with-out eyesight? 

What other channels of perception are there to “see” visual artifacts? First of all, one might 

focus not only on one specific sense but address all other senses at the same time: the sense 

of smell, taste, touch, and hearing. When following this line of thought, the idea of restricting 

the exhibition objects to paintings hanging on the wall had to be abandoned. Instead, 

the group intended to think more broadly about what kind of art applies to other senses or 

even to several senses at the same time. Therefore, the general concept for including visually 

impaired and blind people in the cultural process was agreed upon. It is the idea of a touring 

177


exhibition with regards to the specific needs of blind and visually impaired people. The conception 

of the exhibition should not, however, exclude the sighted but rather be a platform 

for blind and seeing people at the same time. This concept should initiate and stimulate positive 

effects on the integration of blind and visually impaired people into society. Since the 

team decided to create a touring exhibition – throughout Europe – another emphasis was 

placed on the idea of a European society, which is not bound to national borders. 

4 Senses. A Non-visual Art Exhibition - Preparatory Information 

The high point of the group work was the final presentation of the concepts prepared by the 

project teams. The team’s first step in communicating their idea of the touring exhibi-tion, 

“4 Senses. A Non-visual Art Exhibition”, to the other groups was to introduce the aim of their 

project. The exhibition seeks to improve the integration of blind people into society by including 

them in cultural programmes. Then, some general information about the world of blind 

people was presented to the audience. How are blind people viewed and treated on a European 

level? And how well does society support them in managing their everyday life? The 

engagement of society regarding the needs of blind people becomes evident on two different 

levels. While the European Blind Union, which was founded in 1984, is a movement operating 

on a European level, its mother movement the World Blind Union is concerned with the needs 

of the blind worldwide. Both initiatives seek to eliminate prejudices against blind people and 

to achieve their full participation in society. The European Blind Union is the only organization 

representing the interests of blind and visually impaired people in Europe. 

However, when it comes to analysing the integration of blind people into society, the students 

found out that quite a lot of services exist which support blind people in dealing with 

everyday life. Most importantly, they have the right to receive sufficient education, appropriate 

learning conditions and financial support. They may also seek help from var-ious services 

regarding all fields of life, from sports to career services. Literacy is another major issue for 

blind people. While Braille (dot writing) on the one hand, disconnects blind people from sighted 

people, it is, on the other hand, the only way for blind people to write and read. With the 

development of other technologies, such as new media, resulting in a deterioration of literacy, 

knowing the Braille alphabet is becoming increasingly important. Regarding cultural offerings 

for blind people, the group’s research found different concepts varying from museums using 

multisensory methods for educational programs for the blind (Metropolitan Museum of Art 

in New York), a complete museum designed for the blind (Museo Tiflológico in Madrid) to 

178


Figure 1: Selected slide from the power point presentation, prepared by the students, showing examples of possible 

artifacts for the exhibition. 

restaurants, in which guests wear black goggles and are served by blind people (Blindekuh in 

Switzerland). 

4 Senses. A Non-visual Art Exhibition – Exhibition Concept 

According to the general approach of the exhibition to appeal to all the senses besides the 

sense of sight, the project team developed various groups of possible exhibition objects. 

These include: 

› Paintings 

› Photography 

› Light Installation 

› Design Objects 

› Architecture 

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Figure 2: Selected slide from the power point presentation, prepared by the student, present-ing their ideas about 

accessibility checklists for the exhibition. 

› Sculpture 

› Short Films 

› Lithography 

Besides exhibiting art for the blind, the exhibitions also seek to promote artifacts created by 

blind people. Once again, it is the idea of bringing blind and fully-sighted people closer to 

each other, which shines through in this specific idea: the fascination of these pieces of art 

speaks to everyone regardless of his or her capacity to actually see the piece of art. 

Since the goal of the exhibition is to take the blind and their needs seriously, it seeks to make 

the visit as comfortable and valuable as possible for blind visitors. Therefore, the group paid 

special attention to the services offered around the core of the project, which is the exhibiti- 

180


on itself. There will be audio guides, captions in the Braille alphabet, taste shops, and a blind 

snack for both blind and fully-sighted visitors. A museum shop offer-ing a variety of products 

especially designed for blind people (such as miniatures of ar-chitecture, audio books, tactile 

memories, etc.) is also meant to address all visitors. Last but not least, security matters are 

to be adjusted to the special needs of the blind. Safety tape indicating stairs, assistive devices 

such as magnifying glasses for visually impaired guests, and a professional staff, experienced 

in treating blind people, exemplify the nu-merous precautionary means the exhibition will 

include. 

Unfortunately it is unavoidable to think about ways to finance the exhibition. In order to 

raise money for the realization of the exhibition, the project team listed a couple of sources 

they might be able to seek funding. Famous blind artists, such as Andrea Boc-celli and George 

Shearing, could raise the public awareness of the exhibition. By using donation platforms, 

such as betterplace.org, money for small projects and workshops could be collected. Additional 

funds could be raised by addressing major service clubs, such as the Rotary Club. The 

group found another possibility to raise money: sponsoring. They developed a strategy, by 

which only a couple of main sponsors could be chosen as official partners, such as Fielmann 

or Amazon. These should fit in the context of the exhibition. Possible donors are also large 

foundations, such as the Frankfurter Stiftung für Blinde und Sehbehinderte. 

Reflecting on the Project 

In order to evaluate the project work the group’s opinion on the process and outcome of 

the project work is tremendously important. By interviewing some of the group members a 

number of positive and negative aspects could be identified. First of all, the lack of time must 

be seen as a huge disadvantage. There was not enough time for the students to communicate 

with any blind people, leading to the fact that the concept of the exhibition was, in the end, 

made without the participation of blind people. Because the group existed of Finnish, German, 

and Bulgarian students, English was a foreign language for all group members. Thus, the 

language barrier had to be overcome before a creative exchange among the group members 

could begin. Nevertheless, it became apparent that the positive aspects of the project outweighed 

the negative. The social atmosphere within the group was described as open, creative 

and honest. Personal opinions were expressed and respected, so that the communication 

among the members of the international group was assessed as valuable. In the interviews, 

it was also evident that the group members were proud and happy to have formulated such 

181


detailed ideas about a possible project to raise the participation of blind people in cultural 

programmes and to improve the integration of the visually impaired into society. All demands 

and expectations were more than met and elaborated extraordinarily well. 

182

colophon 

This book is published on the occasion of 

the course “Culture as a Resource for Future 

Europe. Cultural Policy and its dimensions in 

three European countries: Finland, Germany 

and Bulgaria” held in Helsinki in February 

2010. The course and publication were 

made possible financially by means of the 

European Union, represented by the German 

Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Neither 

the EU nor the DAAD take any responsibility 

for the content of the course or the publication. 

All responsibilities rest with the editors 

and the authors. 

editors 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetlana Hristova 

Prof. Dr. Thomas Knubben 

Principal Lecturer Pekka Vartiainen, PhD 

editorial office 

Flavius-Alexandru Ardelean 

Lidia Jerke 

Sarah Kienecker 

Maria Kirchhoff 

Malena Felice Medam 

Josephine Ulrich 

editorial advice 

Grant White, PhD 

183 

graphic design and typesetting 

Tina Buhl 

Henrike Loer 

Thomas Meyer 

cover 

Tina Buhl, drawing by Inga Ervig 

texts 

Flavius-Alexandru Ardelean, B.A. 

Lecturer Simon A. Frank, M.A. 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetlana Hristova 

Lecturer Juha Iso-Aho, M.A. 

Lidia Jerke, B.A. 

Sarah Kienecker, B.A. 

Maria Kirchhoff, B.A. 

Prof. Dr. Thomas Knubben 

Malena Medam, B.A. 

Thomas Meyer, B.A. 

Lecturer Yvonne Pröbstle, M.A. 

Lecturer Jyrki Simovaara 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tatjana Stoitchkova 

Josephine Ulrich, B.A. 

Principal Lecturer Pekka Vartiainen, PhD 

Grant White, PhD 

© 2011 Institut für Kulturmanagement, 

Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg 

and authors 

www.kulturmanagement.ph-ludwigsburg.de 

Printed in Europe 

ISBN 978-3-924080-43-3 

Verlag Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg

184

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