The culture sector platforms met in Brussels for their annual plenary meetings from 25 to 27 May 2011. As a part of the structured dialogue that was set out in the European Agenda for Culture by the European Commission, the platforms met to discuss their work programmes and their past and future activities.

With the new (2011-2014) work plan of the Culture Council the platforms seek to provide input on the issues that are most relevant for their platform work. Therefore, the platform for “Intercultural Europe” as well as the platform for “Access to Culture” will seek to give input to the OMC working groups to be established by the EU member states on public arts and “intercultural dialogue” and “access and wider participation in culture” as well as to priority area C “skills and mobility”. The platform for “Culture and and Creative Industries” will continue to reflect on priority area B (=Culture and Creative Industries) that will also look into the possibilities of making use of the EU structural funds for the CCIs and its spill-over effect on other industries. A first workshop on structural funds took place in February 2011 and a set of recommendations regarding the inclusion of culture in the structural funds is currently being prepared. The EMC is co-organising a workshop with the European Association of Conservatoires (AEC), European League of Institutes of Arts (ELIA), European Composers Forum (ECF), European Theatre Convention (ETC) and European Network of Cultural Administration Training Centres (ENCATC) on “Education, Skills and Professional Training” which will take place on 22 September 2011 at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.