September 2025 marks a milestone for Europe’s cultural and creative sector

Culture Action Europe (CAE) coordinated Towards the Culture Compass: A Sector Blueprint, a comprehensive discussion paper shaping the future of cultural policies in Europe. MCA is proud to have contributed to this collective vision, alongside more than 30 cross-border European cultural networks.

A Shared Blueprint for Culture in Europe

As the European Commission prepares its next cultural strategy — the Culture Compass — CAE members have worked together to produce a complementary vision from within the sector itself. The Blueprint brings forward ten interconnected policy briefs on key topics vital to Europe’s cultural ecosystem: Artistic Freedom,Working Conditions, Artistic Research, Culture & Innovation, International Cultural Relations, Culture & Health and Well-being, Culture & Sustainability, Cultural Participation, Access to Cultural and Arts Education, Culture & Security, and Culture & Digital.

These briefs are grounded in extensive research, sector experience, and the shared belief that culture is a foundational public good, essential to democracy, well-being, and Europe’s ability to imagine and build sustainable futures.

MCA’s Contribution: Culture and Digital

In the chapter Culture and Digital – coordinated and edited by MCA –  we advocate for a cultural approach to digital policies that puts rights, fairness, and inclusion at the centre.

We believe that the digital realm is a cultural space where communities create, share, and represent themselves. That is why cultural rights must apply online as much as offline. We call on the EU to address risks of market concentration, bias in AI, and unfair remuneration for creators, while also protecting the right to remain analogue.

We stress the need to survey real needs before imposing digital tools, and to fund both digital skills and analogue practices as equally valuable. Cultural organisations must be included in shaping digital governance, serving as local hubs for participatory models that balance market logic with democratic values.

Finally, we urge investment in safeguarding heritage, tangible and intangible, through digitisation, while ensuring fair attribution, licensing, and revenue-sharing in AI frameworks so that creators and communities retain cultural agency

Read it here:
Towards the Culture Compass:
A Sector Blueprint

Why is it important?

The Blueprint arrives at a crucial moment. The EU is defining its next Multiannual Financial Framework (2028–2034) and rethinking the architecture of Creative Europe within the new AgoraEU programme. The document calls for:

• Stronger EU-level protections for artistic freedom and fair working conditions.
• Robust, long-term funding for culture — including digital cultural heritage — within future EU budgets.
• Recognition of culture as a pillar of democratic resilience, international solidarity, and sustainable development.

By contributing to this vision, MCA helps ensure that digital cultural heritage, access, and participation remain central to the EU’s cultural future.

Join the Presentation on 2 October

Culture Action Europe will present the discussion paper on 2 October during the next Campaign Meeting for Ask, Pay, Trust — a movement calling for fair recognition, remuneration, and trust for artists and cultural workers.
➡️ More information and registration here

We invite cultural institutions, professionals, and policymakers to read the Blueprint, engage in dialogue, and join the movement for a fairer, more open, and future-oriented cultural Europe.