An experimental Forum on culture and social innovation in Europe and in the Med area

READY TO CHANGE

Numerous artistic and cultural actors in the Mediterranean area, in Europe, and throughout the world have noticed the important changes in our societies and the difficulties resulting from these changes. As experimenters and explorers, they are putting their efforts into proposing new ways of operating in the cultural sector and beyond.

In this moment of multiple and confusing crises, the European Union is also searching for new perspectives through its EU 2020 strategy. Within this context, it seems important to highlight how cultural actors are coping with social transformations, with transformations of public policies, or with transformations of cultural and artistic practices (new collaborative practices, the integration of communication technologies, etc.).

During the Ready to Change Forum, we are hazarding the following questions: is it possible to combine our knowledge, our experiences, and our desires in order to take a collective position? Is it possible to demonstrate the determinant role that we are assuming in this moment of our history, one which is illuminating the meanings and reconstructing models of solidarity, and proposing new ways of thinking and new forms of organization and relationships?

We think it is possible, indeed! And we invite you during these three days to share this experience with us in order to make a point about our abilities to: initiate and monitor economic and social transformations, think about new ways of more solidarity-oriented social relationships, create new ways of distributing knowledge and wealth in our societies. During this Forum we propose to achieve a common declaration – the Manifesto, affirming our wishes regarding the redefinition of artistic and cultural action in the social sphere. We hope that this Manifesto will convey to European society not only our engagement and our analyses, but also our hopes, thus making citizenship, sharing, and solidarity one of the foundations of its construction.