Imagine the culture of tomorrow
In 2011, Arty Farty launched the European Lab project with the support of the European Union.
The ambition of this new platform was to provide a European focal point for a new generation of emerging and innovative cultural figures, to engage that generation in open discussions and shared commitments, and ultimately to come together to imagine what the future holds for culture.
Since 2011, the aims of the European Lab project have been defined around 5 basic pledges:
To actively support culture which is democratic, accessible to all, challenging and that strengthens links with citizens and public policy,
To warn elected representatives and policymakers, both in France and across Europe, of the need to support the emergence of new leaders of cultural projects,
To defend culture’s capacity to be a mechanism for emancipation, for social strengthening, and for economic and territorial development,
To affirm the role of culture as a weapon of mass reconstruction, at the service of both a democratic revival and a citizen reappraisal of the true value of the European project,
To strengthen the independent cultural sector and the new economic models for culture, in order to offer an alternative to traditional institutional structures and cultural capitalism, one that is capable of blending artistic rigour, economic capacity and public interest.
Today, the European Lab is organised across five key instances
The main European Lab Forum, held every May in Lyon, in parallel to the Nuits Sonores festival,
European Lab Tangiers, held every October in Morocco, specifically focussing on Euro-Mediterranean cultural issues,
European Lab Winter forum, held every December in Paris, both a laboratory and a sounding-board for the main event in Lyon,
URBS - Imagine the City of Tomorrow, a cycle of events aiming to emphasize the role of the city as a constantly-evolving political, cultural, technological, economic and social object,
Occasional isolated projects, sessions or forums, which may be organised to coincide with international events.