Press Release: Egypt’s Cultural policies and EU collaboration: a step further

The regional EU-funded programme “Med Culture” held a wide set of consultation meetings with representatives of the Egyptian authorities, a number of international organisations present in Egypt as well as with cultural practitioners, with the support and collaboration of the EU Delegation to Egypt; respectively on Sunday, June 15, 2014 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Monday, June 16, 2014 at the Delegation.

Med Culture's official website is now online! Discover a wide set of databases, resources, news, info-graphics, etc. - on www.medculture.eu - You can also follow up on latest updates via Med Culture social media channels. This group will continue to be used for collaborative purposes (gathering views and ideas, exchanging lessons…) and for the main material of the programme that we would like to keep on the long term. Thank you for your understanding. Image  http://www.medculture.eu    Image  Facebook    Image  Twitter    Image  Instagram

The main objective of these consultations is to jointly identify priority areas in terms of Cultural policy and challenges facing the Culture and Creative sectors in Egypt. Participants were asked to contribute views and recommendations that can help choreograph the corresponding action plans that can be implemented in partnership with the Med Culture programme throughout the four years of the programme’s life span.

Med Culture is a regional EU-funded programme that kicked off last February with the aim to help pave the way towards the creation of institutional & social environments that will eventually validate culture as vector for freedom of expression and sustainable development.  As part of its regional mandate, the programme will also seek to develop activities & mechanisms that shall enhance networking and donor coordination in matter of Culture in the region. “Historically, Egypt has long been the epicenter of Arab popular culture. With the new "Med Culture" Programme we are looking to help pave the way towards enhanced integration of culture and cultural policies; in this context we hope to support inter-ministerial collaboration and wider participation by civil society actors and the private sector”, said Mr. James Moran, EU Ambassador to Egypt.

The EU has been a strong supporter of Egypt’s culture and art scene through a number of different cultural initiatives such as "Support to Cultural Diversity and Creativity in Egypt", the Anna Lindh Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue, which is based in Alexandria, in addition to other activities such as last year's photo competition titled "Visions of a Shared Heritage".

Cultural policies in Egypt have been taking a new course over the recent years and require time before they are assessed and brought closer to the needs of independent cultural professionals,   who constitute a dynamic evolving force in Egypt. Moreover, preserving cultural heritage, key in Egypt’s tourism strategy, needs to be streamlined with artistic, scientific and educational work in order to be viable beyond the economic returns it can bring.