The recognition of cultural mobility

In the years around the end of the second millennium, the discourse and promotion of cultural mobility was still peripheral and mostly absent from the agendas of the main European and international cultural actors and institutions.

In that very moment, since the 1990’s and at a very accelerated pace with the beginning of the third millennium, the attention, interest and support for cultural mobility was rapidly shifting. The tenacity of a handful of cultural practitioners, the growth and development of cultural networks, among other societal transformations, have then provided fertile ground for stimulating international cooperation where cultural mobility was seen as an essential method and process.

The practice of mobility -in arts, culture and education- is directly linked to a development model based on internationalisation, exchange, and intercultural dialogue. Mobility implies generating another type of training, of knowledge, of professional skills and profiles with a clear international focus.

This phenomenon of cultural mobility -beyond its historical background and references- is based on a series of contemporary aspects, among others:

• The European policy models themselves, based on stimulating EU cooperation [1];

• the increase in international cultural cooperation, at European and global level [2];

• the growth of the phenomenon of artistic residencies (European Commission, 2016) [3];

• the very functioning of the labour market, which is increasingly international.

Within this context of different actions and dynamics, we can say that cultural mobility generates a wide range of effects, consequences and results that can have an impact on the personal and professional in the short, medium and long term.

The practices related to cultural mobility allow:

• Establishing a fruitful intercultural dialogue, coming into contact with other practices, cultures, beliefs and world views.

• Working, researching and developing projects in a trans-territorial way, operating in multiple places at the same time, in different areas and contexts.

• Provoking inspiration.

• Activating exploratory and experimental processes.

• Through mobility, interdisciplinary knowledge is generated, since it allows one to leave one's own sphere of knowledge. It allows as well to leave one’s own intellectual and physical comfort zone.

• Generating exchange and new contact networks.

• Broadening the vision and awareness of global and local challenges.

• Developing new competencies and skills.

Mobility became then the recognized and essential way to improve knowledge and artistic practice, to widen networks and expand opportunities. Funds were increasing [4], but new challenges were about to come.

Mobile, yes, but sustainable?

Cultural and artistic mobility -beyond the multiple positive effects mentioned above- has always been a mirror to acknowledge and discuss paradoxes, asymmetries, and contradictions of our global world. Visa issues, the obstacles to crossing borders depending on the color of the passport, the need to encourage a south-south mobility (going beyond the usual and easy connections), have been for a long-time key topics for discussion.

On top of this key argument, we nowadays have the burning discussion about the sustainable layers of cultural mobility. How much can we travel? What means of transport are we allowed to take? Does it make sense to travel so far away, to present my work/performance? The cultural and artistic sector has been rapidly taken by a strong ecological awareness that put into question the value and need of mobility.

The complexity of these reflections doesn’t allow simple and closed answers but is it clear that the rightful struggle for better environmental conditions and the efforts for sustainable development, cannot impede the human exchange and the search for those effects and results that cultural mobility provide.

Especially in the cultural and artistic sector -and here with a key focus on the natural development of performing arts and outdoor arts- mobility is key in the different phases of the artistic process (research/inspiration, production, presentation/exhibition).

When cultural mobility is called to face the challenges of sustainable development, it is then important to widen the perspective and apply a flexible and adaptive approach. Some thoughts for discussion:

• It’s not about reducing our human mobility and exchange, but the mobility of the products we consume. Humanity pollutes much more because moving useless things than moving people and thoughts. (SDG 12)

• Focus on new partnerships and strengthen the old ones. Increase and consolidate the connection and cooperation with other partners, allies and collaborators is a key aspect of mobility. (SDG 17)

• Draw your local itineraries. They can reveal much more than what you can expect. Mobility is not only an issue of distant places. (SDG 11)

• Include walking practices in your artistic process. It connects people and places, communities and spaces, in the most sustainable way. (SDG 3)

• Asymmetries. Focus on your own balance. What is right here can be wrong there. (SDG 16)

• Cultural mobility is first and foremost connected to knowledge. We learn by moving and getting in touch with new contexts and realities. We learn new words, concepts, skills, competences, ideas, ways of doing, etc. Mobility is then directly connected to training, education, and professional development. (SDG 4, 8)

The reflection on cultural and artistic mobility continues and it is certainly a very stimulating journey.

[1] A significant example can be found in the cooperation funds of programmes such as ‘Creative Europe’, ‘Horizon Europe’ or ‘Erasmus+’, among others.

[2] More information can be found in the ‘International Cultural Relations’ section of the European Commission website: https://culture.ec.europa.eu/policies/international-cultural-relations.

[3] European Commission, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (2016). Policy handbook on artists' residencies: European agenda for culture: work plan for culture 2011-2014. Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/199924.

[4] A key example is the creation of the Culture Moves Europe scheme, funded by the Creative Europe programme of the EU. With a budget of €21 million from 2022 to 2025, CME is the largest European mobility fund for the cultural sector to date.

Herman Bashiron Mendolicchio

Herman Bashiron Mendolicchio has a PhD in “Art History, Theory and Criticism” from the University of Barcelona. He is Lecturer at the Cultural Management Programme of the UB, and Coordinator of the Postgraduate Course on International Cultural Cooperation. He is currently teaching in different Universities and academic programs internationally. Herman combines academic research, cultural management, curatorial practices and artistic methodologies, collaborating with a wide range of networks, projects and organizations internationally.