8.1 General context
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Main trends in young people's creativity and cultural participation
Cultural education
The Government of the German-speaking Community (Regierung der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft) recognises the importance of cultural education both for the personal development of children and young people and for society in general (e.g. in the area of the integration of people with migration backgrounds or people with disabilities).
Therefore, in cooperation with the Ministry's Department of Culture and Youth, the Minister of Culture has attached importance in the development of the Decree of 18 November 2013 on the Promotion of Culture in the German-speaking Community (Dekret vom 18. November 2013 zur Förderung der Kultur in der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft) in the German-speaking Community to cultural education being taken into consideration in all areas (promotion of professional cultural bodies, promotion of special cultural projects, promotion of youth culture etc.).
Since the passing of said Decree, cultural education and communication of culture have been the task of the numerous active funded service providers such as cultural centres, event promoters, producers, amateur art associations, music academy, creative workshops, adult education establishments, artists, museums, the Autonomous Higher School (Autonome Hochschule, AHS), artistic sites, etc. Now the schools have to be integrated into this process by bringing the cultural opportunities into the educational establishments. In view of the important social task of cultural education and the broad range of actors, an inventory should be made and a round table with the actors involved organised.
"Culture Makes the school" (Kultur macht Schule) is a project that aims at facilitating cultural experiences for children and young people. The schools can freely book cultural projects from the catalogue drawn up by the Ministry.
Cultural education is intended to inspire enjoyment of art particularly in children and young people and potentially discover and promote artistic talent. Cultural education makes a contribution to the self-fulfilment of the young people by enabling them to have access to art by learning various artistic techniques and giving them a closer understanding of various artistic genres. It also provides them with the necessary means and training for freelance artistic activity so that they can develop their own creativity. Together with that, method skills and social and personal skills are reinforced.
Cultural and creative landscape
Throughout Europe the promotion of the cultural and creative economy has come to the fore as the motor for location development, innovation and promotion of economic development that is an important unique selling point for the economic growth of a region. The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the "most creative" regions: according to expert opinion, the cultural and creative economy makes a very important contribution to economic value creation and creates a growth market for artists, cultural professions and creative professions. The cultural and creative sector is the bringer or even driver of jobs and creates independence. So its own future project has been developed for this market in order to put the focus on the promotion of the cultural and creative economy in the German-speaking Community too.
“How I Met My Idea”
"How I met my Idea" is a format organised by the Media Centre (Medienzentrum) and the Economy Development Agency (Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft, WFG) and marks out the framework for the economic region in the Regional Development Concept II (Regionales Entwicklungskonzept II, REK II): creative industry as economic opportunity. The range of events shows innovative business ideas, encourages independence and creates networks between the cultural and creative economists and likewise with the rest of the economy and society.
"Culture in Focus"
The seminars "Earning money creatively" or "How do I market my product and/or my service on the internet?" seminars serve three REK II intersections at the same time:
- Economic region: creative economy as economic opportunity (Business Development Agency and Media Centre)
- Educational region: increasing media skills (Media Centre)
- Border region: culture in focus and reinforcing networks (actors Department of Culture in the Ministry and Media Centre)
All these events, especially the workshops, help in the professionalisation of people working in the creative economy. In addition, they support independent entrepreneurship and innovative products, help in the search for new markets and promote business ideas. This takes place in cooperation with the Business Development Agency, which reaches new target groups for its services by these events. Partners such as "smart.be" join to give targeted economic advice to the actors of the creative economy.
Main concepts
Cultural education: cultural education means education for cultural participation. Cultural participation means participation in the artistically cultural life of a society in particular in its normal routines of life and actions in general. Cultural education is one of the conditions for a happy life in its personal as well as its social dimension. Cultural education is a constituent part of general education.
Cultural and creative economy: cultural and creative economy covers the cultural and creative businesses that are predominantly commercially oriented and deal with the creation, production, distribution and/or media dissemination of cultural/creative goods and services. The economically connecting core of any cultural and creative economy activity is the so-called creative act. This means all artistic, literary, cultural, musical, architectural or creative content, works, products, productions or services that serve as an economically-relevant basis for the eleven sub-sectors.