Europe & East Asia Capitals of Culture - study on cultural cooperation

New study published on Cultural Cooperation between the European Capitals of Culture and Cultural Cities of East Asia: Opportunities and Challenges.

In the framework of the Forum on Cooperation between European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) and Cultural Cities of East Asia (CCEA) in Shanghai last November 2017, co-organised by the Cultural Diplomacy Platform, a study has been completed by expert Else Christensen-Redzepovic.

This study was commissioned by the European Commission and the EU Delegation to China with the objectives of assessing the potentials and challenges for developing a strategic partnership between the EU cultural flagship initiative “European Capitals of Culture” and the trilateral Japan, China, South Korea cultural cooperation initiative “Cultural City of East Asia”. The ECoC and CCEA cooperation could bring added value in achieving mutual understanding in values, cultures and lifestyle within a city perspective between Europe and East Asia. Strategic ECoC cooperation with third countries would strengthen the already established cultural cooperation between European cultural professionals, institutions and authorities and stakeholders in third countries which in turn would pool resources by acting jointly as Europeans in the world.

The study might also prove useful as background information and inspiration for bidding and designated European Capitals of Culture wishing to embark on cultural cooperation with Cultural City of East Asia.

The study answers the following problematics/questions:
• What is the added value of ECoC-CCEA cooperation?
• How to encourage stakeholders in the two regions to cooperate in the framework of ECoC and CCEA?
• What additional tools and resources are necessary to further increase the impact and effectiveness of a strategic ECoC-CCEA partnership and how can existing resources be better utilized?
• What are the main obstacles in cooperation in culture across the two regions – EU and East Asia?
• How can the cooperation between EU-East Asia be better facilitated?
• What should be the role of the EU in facilitating cooperation in the framework of ECoC-CCEA?

The study in structured in three main parts:
1. Historical development of the EU’s international cultural relations and its specific cultural relations with China, Japan and South Korea The role of the EU-China High Level People-to-People Dialogue (HPPD) and the EU-Delegation in China as enablers of EU-East Asia cultural cooperation.
2. Presentation of ECoC and CCEA (history, background, objectvies) Results of the questionnaire on potentials and challenges of ECoC-CCEA cooperation to capture the opinions from a segment of the cultural sector with extensive experience in cultural cooperation between Europe and East Asia and some with specific knowledge and experience in European Capitals of Culture.
3. Analysis of the potentials and challenges of the cooperation between the two initiatives. It explains the differences between the two schemes and therefore some incompatibilities but also their strengths and potential enrichments.

Three annexes complete the study with:
• In Annex 1, a synthetic table describing the main characteristics of both ECoC and CCEA and their differences.
• In Annex 2, the key points of the respondent’s answers of the survey from part 2.
• In Annex 3, the legal basis for the ECoC.

The complete publication can be found here.
More information on the EU-China High Level People-to-People Dialogue can be found here.
More information on the European Capitals of Culture can be found here.
More information on three Cultural Cities of East Asia 2018 can be found here: Japan, China, South Korea.