Although an emphasis on the importance of “Access to Culture” formed an integral part of the European Agenda for Culture from 2007, no cohesive policy vision had been elaborated by the EU concerning this. The Culture Platform on Access to Culture was set up to reflect the Commission’s interest to develop the issue of “Access to Culture” further in its agenda.

The Culture Platform on Access to Culture aimed at enhancing access to culture within education, cultural production and participation on the one hand, and strived for the promotion of its mainstreaming in public policies at European, National and Sub-National level on the other. Having identified three main topics of work, the Culture Platform on Access to Culture had created respective working groups with open membership:

Working Group on Education and Learning

The Working Group on Education and Learning analysed the benefits of exchange and the synergy between education, learning and culture as well as the role that cultural participation plays in diverse settings.

Working Group on Creation and Creativity

The Working Group on Creation and Creativity advocated for better conditions for artistic creation, encouraging access for all to creative processes, and the opportunity to explore the creativity of the arts sector within the wider field of “creativity and innovation”.

Working Group on Audience Participation

With the aim of enhancing European audience participation and its acknowledgement, the Working Group on Audience Participation supported the importance of acknowledging audience participation in all levels of policy making based on the broad spectrum of added value that a participative audience provides not only for the cultural sector but for society as whole, particularly with regards to civic participation and citizenship.