In the search for a European identity, culture is often regarded as a linking element, as a unifying factor in the sense of the EU motto “united in diversity”.
However, the competencies of the European Union in the frame of cultural policy are limited. Culture is subject to the principle of “subsidiarity” meaning that the responsibility as well as decision making power for culture lies within the member states. Bearing in mind the symbolic value of culture for Europe, it also has a place within the EU policies.

The workshop introduced the basic principles of European cultural policy and its role within the EU strategy Europe 2020. As a comparison, national strategies for cultural policy were presented and the participants were invited to exchange their experiences drawn from their home countries. In a final working session participants were invited to work with the most relevant documents on cultural policy at EU level and tried to extract issues on youth and culture for the formulation of the European Agenda for Youth and Music.

The workshop was led by Simone Dudt, Secretary General for Policy and Communication of the European Music Council and Stef Coninx, Secretary of the International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC) and EMC Board Member

In our work at Spiritus Mundi running projects nationally and internationally with youth and young adults from different social, economical and cultural backgrounds we strongly believe that in the encounter with other people, sharing experiences and stories from a different place – extraordinary things can happen, we’ve seen it many times and it is truly a beautiful thing to be a part of. Henrik Melius founder and chairman of Spiritus Mundi talked about the history of the Swedish based organisation touching on their work in places like Saudi Arabia, Israel and Palestine, as well as examples of projects and best practice in Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

There is a general notion that there are “creative” and “non creative” people, that there are creative jobs and non creative jobs, creative thinking and non creative thinking. When you ask people if they play any instruments or if they sing, you often get the answer – No, I’m afraid I’m not very musical! We contest these notions of “non creative”, “non musical” people. We believe that we are all born with the power to become both creative and musical, it’s just a matter of environment, possibilities and encouragement says Oskar Ling, creative producer at Spiritus Mundi. Spiritus Mundi has developed a model where people can meet and create together no matter what skill level or musical know how they may have.

Oskar Ling demonstrated the Spiritus Mundi technique used when introducing song writing, something that Spiritus Mundi has done with hundreds of kids during the last couple of years with great success. It included icebreaking exercises and hands-on song writing.

The workshop was led by Henrik Melius, founder and chairman and of Spiritus Mundi and Oskar Ling, creative producer at Spiritus Mundi.

- what's your story?
- what does what? who's where and what are they saying?
- you're the curator - now, curate!
- how to listen

In his workshop Peter Gregson gave participants new impetus for having a thought about branding themselves in the music industry as upcoming young artists and how they can tell their story online so that it's relevant today but accountable tomorrow.

The workshop was conducted by Peter Gregson, cellist and pioneer of contemporary music