euronews I talk – Paul Dujardin: Can Europe afford to be cultured?

http://www.euronews.com/ In this edition of I-talk host Alex Taylor asks: “Should we give money to encourage young artists? Or is it the struggle against adversity which pushes young artists to be creative, like in the good old days? More specifically can we really afford to live in a cultured continent?

Culture in Europe, we’ll put your questions to Paul Dujardin, chief executive of the Palace of Fine Arts in Brussels. The Palace of Fine Arts, it’s a very trendy place, please describe it in one sentence.”

Paul Dujardin: “The Palace of Fine Arts is an arts centre that is multidisciplinary, and where the production and support of creation are the priorities of the European mission.”

Alex Taylor: “So we interviewed young Europeans at the Grand Place here in Brussels, let’s hear some of their questions.”

*”Hello, my name is Vlad. I’m from Romania and I want to ask how European films can compete with the American blockbusters.”*

Alex Taylor: “In Europe can we afford to compete with these huge Hollywood budgets?”

Paul Dujardin: “Absolutely, I think that European film has been at the heart of cinema ever since the Lumiere brothers. And I think we’ve seen a recent trend – with the support of the MEDIA programme – that cinema is growing in Europe… ”

Alex Taylor: “But there are big inequalities between countries, France, for example, has a large film industry, and others don’t.”

Paul Dujardin: “Yes overall, but still we can see that Scandinavian, Danish, Norwegian, even Romanian cinema have all won the Grand Prize at European festivals, and we see that European cinema has grown by 25 percent, and we saw in statistics …”

Alex Taylor: “Around 25 percent of what?”

Paul Dujardin: “25 percent of the entire retail market of European cinema. And overall, we even see that American cinema is in decline …”

Alex Taylor: “In every country?”

Paul Dujardin: “In every European country.”

Alex Taylor: “Another question for Paul Dujardin.”

*”Hello, I’m Connie from Germany and I would like to know what options you can create in the future for young artists, for musicians, for students and people who go in that direction. What could be further improved? What are the possibilities for people?”*

Alex Taylor: “There is still an EU culture budget of 400 million euros between 2007 and 2013. Where does that money go?”

Paul Dujardin: “Well firstly, I’d just like to point out that along with politics and the economy, I would say that creativity is the third pillar of Europe. It is really man and his creativity – both in industry and in the creative market – which is very important for growth. It is more important than the car industry, more important than for example the total turnover of IT. We’re still at almost four percent of European GDP that goes into culture, and still today, about 15.5 percent… ”

Alex Taylor: “But who decides whether to grant the money? Do you do not agree that in the good-old-days the artists survived, it was perhaps their struggle to survive that strengthened them?”

Paul Dujardin: “No, not at all. I think there was always a financial backer, whether through ideology with the cathedral builders. Or through the great patrons. Or, I would say, through propaganda. There was always a middle class who were interested in improving their cities. Whether it be Brussels, Paris, or smaller towns, or for tourism in recent years as in Barcelona for example. There’s an economy and future jobs in culture today.”

Alex Taylor: “Another culture question on I-talk.”

*”Hello Mr. Dujardin. I’m Pascal from Belgium. There have been many initiatives aimed at promoting classical music to children. Do you have any ideas to do the same thing with jazz?”*

Alex Taylor: “In the end, you do things on jazz, but must we choose the musical genre? Should we promote other genres?”

Paul Dujardin: “Well, I would say that jazz has remained a great tradition, I think today in an integrated Europe, this equivalent of the ‘Great Wall of China’ that we want to build around Europe, to protect it, is certainly not a good idea. Jazz is a great tradition of other cultures, of migration. We now have 20 million Europeans of African origin, so we benefit from them and the tradition from the United States. It is a genre of freedom and creativity, that can certainly boost – along with classical music – their genres and improve musical education.”

Alex Taylor: “But who decides this? Is it the European Commission? It is the policy people or people like you who manage these institutions?”

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