MCP BROKER SHOW

1. About ..................................................................................................................................... 3

1.1. The project .................................................................................................................... 3

2. On stage ................................................................................................................................ 5

2.1. The Host ........................................................................................................................ 5

2.2. The Leaders ................................................................................................................... 6

2.3. The Speakers ................................................................................................................. 7

2.4. Content covered .......................................................................................................... 11

3. Backstage............................................................................................................................. 12

3.1. The flow ....................................................................................................................... 12

3.2. The operative team ..................................................................................................... 14

3.3. The Social Touch .......................................................................................................... 14

3.4. Food and drink ............................................................................................................ 15

4. Conclusions by Niels Righolt................................................................................................ 16

5. A very special venue ............................................................................................................ 21

6. On air ................................................................................................................................... 22

7. Multimedia ...................................................................................................................... 22

7.1. Photos ......................................................................................................................... 22

7.2. Recording .................................................................................................................... 22

7.3. Videos .......................................................................................................................... 23

8. People said… ....................................................................................................................... 23

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1. About

1.1. The project

MCP Broker is a project aimed to enhance and stimulate the cultural participation of migrants

by improving the capacity of their local cultural public institutions to interact with them. These

institutions are part of the receiving society, which has to live up to the challenge of managing

cultural diversity and ensuring intercultural integration. Central to these tasks is the

enhancement of the intercultural capacity of public cultural institutions by diversifying their

staff and governance bodies.

The purpose of the project is to support cultural institutions to become brokers and mediators

of the relationships in current societies marked by diversity; to open themselves to the

newcomers to society both as recipients of cultural productions and as cultural producers and

actors themselves.

To this aim, the project foresees the following activities:

1) The development of the benchmarking tool in order to manage the sector’s needs on how

to promote integration at different levels: audience and visitor relations; programme,

repertoire or collections; partners and collaborators for programming and profiling;

employees; board members; and suppliers.

2) A pilot research with 10-15 cultural institutions each in at least 6-7 EU countries in order to

analyse the management of cultural diversity within these institutions as well as to identify

obstacles and needs for the intercultural integration.

3) The implementation of Learning Partnerships (LPs) in order to equip the sector and other

key operators on how to promote integration. Learning Partnerships (LPs) will be developed

between cultural institutions which are advanced and less advanced in their field in terms of

diversity management; between cultural institutions and non-governmental organisations

rooted in migrant self-organisation; between cultural institutions and employment agencies;

between cultural institutions and schools.

4) Learning Partnership’s outcomes will be disseminated through European networks,

participation at thematically relevant conferences and organisation of the public conference in

Barcelona.

Interarts is coordinating and managing this initiative, in collaboration with Culture Action

Europe (Belgium), Intercult (Sweden), EDUCULT (Austria) and ECCOM (Italy). The project is

supported by European Integration Fund of European Commission DG Home Affairs.

START DATE: 15 October 2013

MCP BROKER SHOW

OBJECTIVES

To promote the engagement of the receiving communities in interacting with the migrants,

based on the mutual respect of their rights, obligations and different cultures,

To ensure equal treatment and improve diversity management in the public and private work

places, service provision, education systems, media and other important arenas

RESULTS

Public cultural institutions equipped in order to integrate migrants at different levels: audience

and visitor relations; programme, repertoire or collections; partners and collaborators for

programming and profiling; employees; board members; and suppliers.

Both migrants and the receiving society aware of the importance of migrant cultural

integration in the creation of intercultural society.

ACTIVITY AREAS

Advice.Cultural cooperation.Transfer of knowledge.Applied research.

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2. On stage

2.1. The Host

Niels Righolt is Head of Development at the Danish Centre for Arts &

Interculture (DCAI/CKI), Copenhagen, and Chairman of the board at

TrAP – Transnational Arts Production, Oslo.

Since 1993 he has worked as a teacher, PR-coordinator, Head of

Information, Producer, Artistic Director, Cultural Political Developer,

Cultural Consultant, Managing Director and Political Advisor within a

variety of cultural institutions and organizations.

Niels has worked for the K96 (Copenhagen Cultural Capital of Europe), the Municipality of

Frederiksberg in Copenhagen as a Political Advisor and as Head of Information for the cultural

department.

He has been Chief Curator and producer for Møstings Hus & Byggeriets Hus, Copenhagen and

was co-founder of the intercultural magazine Cultures. As Managing and Artistic Director of

the Dunkers Arts Centre in Helsingborg, Sweden Niels Righolt was responsible for

programming and strategic relations within the frame of one of Swedens major cultural

institutions.

For years Niels was a member of the transregional danish-swedish culture forum at the

Øresunds Commitee. At present Niels Righolt is a board member of The Platform for

Intercultural Europe (Bruxelles), The Dance Action Node Sweden in Stockholm, The Nordic

Forum of Interculture in Stockholm and Dansehallerne in Copenhagen.

Niels Righolt has a background in Literature, Modern Culture & Cultural Communication and

Spanish Culture & Language from the University of Copenhagen.

MCP BROKER SHOW

2.2. The Leaders

Founded in 1995, INTERARTS is a private agency with international projection to:

support the design of cultural policies; contribute to the processes of development

through the cultural sector; and facilitate the transfer of knowledge and

information in the field of culture. Our principal areas of activity are in the field of

cultural policies and cultural co-operation. Today we are active in innovative fields such as

those concerned with cultural rights and with the creative and cultural economy. We strive to

include a cultural approach in projects concerning human development.

Culture Action Europe was set up under the name European Forum for the Arts

and Heritage (EFAH) back in 1992. We have been actively working on European

cultural policy issues since then. We have immediate access to EU decision

makers and we are widely recognised as a unique resource of expertise on the EU and its

cultural policy. The EU institutions see CAE as the first port of call for informed opinion and

debate about arts and cultural policy in Europe. We are the biggest umbrella organisation

representing the cultural sector at the European level.

Intercult is an independent production and resource unit based in

Stockholm, Sweden. We have worked in Sweden and Europe since

1996, as initiator and leader of collaborative culture projects, networks and the development

of intercultural and international project competence. We take an active interest in national

and European cultural policy. We engage in trans-border cultural projects. We allow ourselves

to be challenged by the forces of contemporary diversity: voices and expressions.

ECCOM has been working since 1995 in the field of cultural management with

the aim of promoting an interdisciplinary approach to cultural organisations. In

order to better achieve its objectives, Eccom has implemented two

complementary tools: a non for profit association, which represents the

continuity with the original organisation founded in 1995, and a limited company with an

entrepreneurial approach to cultural management.

EDUCULT is an independent institute for research, consultancy and

management in the field of culture and education. Longstanding

experience, scientific competence and a broad knowledge of methods used

in social sciences guarantee a professional and efficient analysis of your

research questions. With the results we strive for quality improvement in the area of culture

and education.

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2.3. The Speakers

Abdallah Soliman (Known as Abdalla Daif) is a writer, theatre director and cultural

manager based in Alexandria. He has been working in theatre

since 1997. He was involved in the organisation of the first

independent theatre festival in Alexandria and has also worked

as a researcher at Egypt’s National Centre for Theatre, Music

and Folkore. Since 2004, he works as Programme Manager at

Gudran Association for Art and Development. He works using

art as a tool for social transformation, encouraging audiences to discover, imagine and co-

create possible new scenarios of social life. ‘My work seeks to bring contemporary artistic

practices closer to people who are usually removed from cultural and social participation, in

order to enable them to re-think their lives and our shared future in creative and critical ways’.

His programs allow contemporary artists to work on the streets and other public spaces like

cafes and markets, ‘establishing and developing a new generation of artistic spaces which can

achieve a high degree of sustainability on both financial and intellectual levels’. Abdalla has

worked with different local communities and groups in Egypt, Italy, France, Malta, Cyprus,

Jordan, Germany, Tunisia and Netherlands.

Antonio Gucciardo holds a Doctorate in Tourism Sciences (specialization in the economy

of culture and cultural marketing), a Business Law degree

(Laurea) from the Università di Palermo, Italy and a Master’s

Degree in Inter-Mediterranean Mediation from the Università

Ca’Foscari, Venice, Italy. Since 2005 he is general manager of

Interarts in Barcelona, a non-governmental organization

specialized in international cultural co-operation. He is member

of the commission for the adaptation to the European Space for Higher Education of the

“European Master of Professional specialization, Inter-Mediterranean Mediation: Economic

inversion and intercultural integration” (MIM) of the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona,

Spain. He has worked in the information department of the Universal Forum of Cultures –

Barcelona 2004, S.A and previously to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) –

Mission in Italy, coordinating office for the Mediterranean. During his career he has dabbled in

publishing some articles (few) in the following areas: Tourism, Migration, International

Relations, and Statistics.

Bella Lawson has Master degrees in Political Science and French and is an Officer of

Cultural Affairs in the region of Västerbotten (in the northern part of

Sweden). She is a specialist in diversity issues and has been working

with these issues within the cultural field since 2003. Starting off as

one of seven Multicultural Consultants in Sweden, a position at

regional levels launched in 2002 by the Social democratic

MCP BROKER SHOW

Government. Bella has always had a passion for human rights issues and founded in Umeå in

2005, together with two close friends, the Cultural Association Kulturstorm that aims to

broaden cultural life in Västerbotten and engage underprivileged children and youth in culture,

both as consumers and as producers. Bella has also been active in non-profit organisations

such as Crossing Boarders that develops methods for gender equality and is today active in the

Swedish Cultural Association TRYCK or PUSH in English, that consists of afroswedish cultural

workers and humanities researchers and that aims at visualising experiences and stories that

are missing today in Sweden.

Bella is multilingual and speaks fluently four languages: Swedish, French, Finnish and English

and understands Spanish and Mina (a language spoken in Togo) and has grown up in different

countries (Sweden, Togo, Finland, Benin and Zambia). Bella loves to travel and meet new

people. She has always had a special interest in issues concerning the African continent and

was, during three years, between 2008-2010, the project manager for a large event called

African Story Week in Västerbotten with lectures, seminars and workshops in visual arts, crafts

and dance, music concerts etc. in different municipalities in the region. The aim was to

broaden and problematize the common picture of the African continent as a continent filled

with poverty, war and misery.

Cristina Da Milano. After the degree in Archaeology (University of Rome), she has been

awarded the Diploma of Fine and Decorative Arts from

Antiquity to 1450 (Royal Society of Arts, London); the MA in

Museum Studies (Department of Museum Studies, University of

Leicester); the MA in Technological Instruments for the

Economic Evaluation of Cultural and Environmental Heritage

(University of Ferrara). She is a research fellow in the field of

museum education and communication, with specific regard to the issue of culture as a means

of social integration, subject on which she has published several papers. From 1996 she is

member of ECCOM (European Centre for Cultural Organisation and Management) and in 2010

she became president of it. As member of Eccom, she has been part of several research

projects at a national and international level on the issue of the social role of museums and of

lifelong learning processes within museums. She has also managed many European funded

projects within the framework of the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013 such as “LLML-

Lifelong Museum Learning” (2005-2006), “VoCH-Volunteers for Cultural Heritage” (2007-

2009); “Museum education for young people” (2007-2009); “ITEMS-Innovative technologies

for European Museum Strategies” (2010-2012); “MuseumMediators” (2012-2014);

“DIAMOND-Dialoguing Museum for a New Cultural Democracy” (2012-2014); “Open All Areas”

(2012-2014), as well as in the Culture 2007-2013 funded project “She-Culture” (2013-2015).

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Ida Burén is the CeO of Intercult, a cultural organisation that engages in projects that

combine an international outlook with an intercultural insight.

Since 1997 she has been engagement in Intercult and has

contributed to internationalise the Swedish cultural sector

through a variety of projects. Ida is a born projectleader,

networker and a driven cultural activist. Apart from her work

with Intercult, she´s been active in developing the independant

performing art scene in Gothenburgh, in developing Cirkus Cirkus

to become an international worldknown circus company and institution locally based in a

suburb community, founding the circus company Sencirk with streetchildren in Dakar, Senegal

and founding the SMartSe service for creative freelancers in Sweden. Ida is also a social media

activist, she tweets and she´s a frequent facebook user. She sees Facebook as a fantastic

meetingspace where she can engaged, share views and discuss with people from her broad

network; childhood friends, international contacts, politicians, relatives, collegues, the afro-

swedish diaspora etcetera.

Karim Dakroub. Theater Director specialised in puppet theatre, psychosocial expert and

clinical psychotherapist, professor at Lebanese University-

Institute of fine Arts. Consultant and trainer of using culture and

performing arts for social dialogue in societies affected by wars

and disasters. during last years worked intensively with

Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian refugees (In Lebanon, Syria and

Jordan).

Luca Bergamo has been the Secretary General of Culture Action Europe since March 2012.

For the first ten years of his career, Luca was a specialist in

artificial intelligence and IT. Since 1994 he switched his focus

to people. Along with Zone Attive, the company established

by the city of Rome upon his proposal, Luca has conceived and

driven some of Italy’s most revolutionary cultural initiatives. In

2004, he was appointed Director-General of the Glocal Forum,

an international foundation promoting peace dialogue in post-conflict areas through local

diplomacy and cultural cooperation. In 2007 he was called to lead the launch of the Italian

National Agency for Youth (ANG). Under his leadership, the ANG started a global initiative to

support youth activism for sustainable development worldwide. He built a coalition involving

major United Nations agencies and over 1300 civil society organizations from 104 countries.

MCP BROKER SHOW

Mercedes Giovinazzo holds a degree (Laurea) in Archaeology from the Università degli

Studi “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy and a Master’s Degree in Arts

Management from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Dijon,

France. Since January 2005 she is director of Interarts in

Barcelona, a non-governmental organization specialized in

international cultural co-operation.

Between 2008 and 2011 she chaired the “Access to culture”

Platform set up by the Education and Culture Directorate General of the European Commission

in the framework of the structured dialogue process with the non-governmental sector

foreseen by the “European Agenda for Culture”. Since October 2008, Chair of the Executive

Committee of Culture Action Europe, the European political platform for the arts and culture

(http://www.cultureactioneurope.org).

She teaches regularly in different postgraduate arts management courses on issues related

with international cultural cooperation.

Previously, she has been Director of Services and Deputy Director of Customer Services at the

Universal Forum of Cultures – Barcelona 2004, S.A. holding responsibilities in planning,

contracting and management of general services and customer services; Administrator at the

Division of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage, DG IV, at the Council of Europe,

intergovernmental organization with 47 member States and its headquarters in Strasbourg,

France, with responsibilities for the coordination and management of international cultural

cooperation projects; and, director of the Mastère Européen Management des Entreprises

Culturelles at the École Supérieure de Commerce de Dijon, France.

Michael Wimmer. Working as director of the Austrian Cultural Service (ÖKS) for many

years and with a background as music educator and political

scientist, Michael Wimmer gained comprehensive experiences

in the cooperation between the arts, culture and education.

He is a lecturer at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and on

cultural policy at the Institute for Theatre and Media Studies,

Vienna University. He is a consultant of the Austrian Ministry

for Education, Culture and the Arts and since 2007 a member of the ministerial expert

committee on the New Middle School.

On the international level, Michael Wimmer is an experienced consultant of the Council of

Europe, the UNESCO and the European Commission, who asked him to join the EU Expert

Network on Culture. He is also a member of the scientific committee of the International

Conference for Cultural Policy Research (iccpr).

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2.4. Content covered

9am: Welcoming participants.

10am: Welcome by the host. Intro to the program, highlights,

agenda, contents, and sessions. Welcoming by the Project

Partners.

10:20am: Institutional opening message: setting objectives for the Conference.

10:30am: The project story. Interview with Project Coordinating Partner. Introducing the

experiences and conversations with the project Partners.

11:30am: Short refreshing break (just a few minutes to unwind).

11:50am: The benchmarking tool. Interview presentation + open dialogue.

1pm: Lunch break + guided networking activity.

2:30pm: Diversity management in cultural institutions: Review and dialogue from a

Mediterranean approach.

4:45pm: Closing remarks for Day 1, key ideas and tips for Day 2.

7:30pm onwards: Cocktail & dinner.

9:30am: The Learning Partnerships (LPs): to make a long story short.

10am: Challenges ahead: an interesting opportunity to go on, the walk’n’talk workshops.

11:30am: Short refreshing break.

12pm: LPs results & highlights.

12:35pm: MCP Broker website presentation.

1pm: Institutional closing remarks and MCP Broker final key messages.

2pm onwards: Lunch break + chill-out & after-show networking.

4pm: OFF SESSION: “DECIDES ESPAÑA. Equity in access to Sexual and Reproductive Health for migrant young and women in Spain”. Open session.

4pm: OFF SESSION: Meeting of the Art and Culture working group of the Anna Lindh Foundation Spanish network (REFAL). Closed session.

6pm onwards: Cocktail & dinner.

10am: Study visit: Museu D'Historia de la Immigracio de Catalunya. http://www.mhic.net/

Content: - The project Story http://www.slideshare.net/MCPBroker/the-project-story

- The becnchmarking tool http://www.slideshare.net/MCPBroker/the-benchmarking-tool

- Pilot example of how to use the benchmark http://www.slideshare.net/MCPBroker/pilot-example-of-how-to-use-the-benchmark

- From pilot phase to continuity

http://www.slideshare.net/MCPBroker/from-pilot-phase-to-continuity

MCP BROKER SHOW

3. Backstage

3.1. The flow

The basics of the conference

Why? According to the LogFrame, and specifically linked to Activity 5 of the Results and Deliverables block 4 (R4A5), the project will organize a “Final public conference in Barcelona for dissemination of project outputs and outcomes to a wider public. The conference will be organised by the project coordinating partner, Interarts, and actively involve all project partners”.

Where? Barcelona

When? 1th june-2nd-3rd July 2015

Who? Organised by the project coordinating partner, Interarts, all the partners of the project will be actively involved. The audience will consist of 200 participants, mixing the project community, international experts, local and regional institutions representatives, local and Spanish stakeholders, media, and citizenship linked to the analysed field.

How? The language of the conference will be English. Translation to Spanish will be provided.

Going on with the dialogue…

After the development, during the project, of the benchmarking tool, the map of the status quo of diversity management in public cultural institutions in 5 EU countries, the pilot research, and the 4 types of Learning Partnerships, this is a timely moment to put everything in common and continue with the dialogue, from 3 different perspectives:

1. Generate joint knowledge of the project, informing and feeding a debate among all the project partners and teams, in an agile and flexible way in order for everyone to be part of the conclusions and results.

2. Disseminate and discuss outputs and outcomes of the project with a wider audience of experts, media, institutions and citizenship.

3. Make one step further to deliver a final agreement or declaration of the project in order to contribute to the academic, methodological, social and policy debate in our field. This is link to one of the Actions

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described as “Conversion of project outputs into advocacy positions for the EU structured dialogue with civil society on cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue”.

The flow It is becoming harder to keep an audience present, interested and active during 2-day events, especially when it comes to effectively communicate about technical and complex issues. When intending to have relevant impact and address a promotion on professional networks and stakeholders, while favouring networking and the creation of new links to enhance knowledge and policies, it is needed to find such an agile program in which every participant can be engaged and active. The conference, in this sense, should flow through the different parts and contents in a way everyone could fluently learn and contribute.

The show According to this concept, we define the Final Conference as talk-show-like event, flowing through the different sessions combining interviews, debates, and informative multimedia content (videos, contributions, opinions, documentary pieces, etc.). Thus, the program will be almost completely transformed into a script. The event will be completely broadcasted by streaming video.

The layout The event will be organised like a TV set, and there will be a host for the whole “show”, introducing different parts and moderating the contents and debates.

The venue According to the concept and development above presented, we consider the venue should comply with 2 principal requirements:

1. To be linked in some way with the field which MCP Broker has developed.

2. To suit the idea and layout described.

MCP BROKER SHOW

3.2. The operative team

Diego Luis Morales took care of the coordination of all the presentations, on stage issues and

everything related to the Host and the Flow of the Conference. Always ready to adjust

everything in few minutes, for the audience to have the best inputs and timely reflections.

Joan Miquel Piqué has been taking care for the Conference to deliver coherent, timely and

quality content. He lived to and for the Conference to be as attractive as fruitful. Coordinating

all the multimedia and documents.

Núria Marsal & Núria Ponce have been dealing with all the logistics of the conference: flights,

accomodation, transfers, and always flexible for every last minute and unexpected issues. They

have been in the shadow for the more than 200 people involved in the Conference, for

everything to be smooth and surprisingly easy.

Sandra Bautista has been the link and the glue between Interarts and everyone involved one

way or the other in the Conference. Endless coordination and uncountable versions of

everything, including remarkable doses of effort and patience.

Verònica Platas has been in charge of all the organization, taking care that everything is at the

right place in the right moment, for the comfort of the speakers, attendants, and everyone

involved in the final conference. Impossible to escape of her.

3.3. The Social Touch

Lanyards, notebooks, pens… The Conference

wanted everything in the hands of

participants to have the Social Touch.

The social economy company Apunts www.cetapunts.org/es was born in 1993 within the Joia Foundation, a Catalan non-profit organization created in 1983 by the civil society (with professionals of mental health) in order to provide those free mental health services which, at that time, were not covered by the public administrations.

Apunts’ first office was located in a small establishment in Barcelona city center and it

provided a photocopy service to students from the close-by university. This is how Apunts was

established as a special work center for Joia Foundation, with three key objectives: to

normalize the situation and give an example of the working and social abilities of people with

mental health conditions; to create job opportunities for this collective, constantly living in a

stigmatized situation; and to create a new way of private funding for the entity.

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Apunts is constantly

working to achieve the

excellence in its two

major challenges: to fully

normalize the labor

inclusion of people

affected by mental health

disorders, and to become

a reference model of

social economy company

thanks to its maximum

efficiency and

effectiveness towards its

customers.

3.4. Food and drink The name “Ikastola” immediately makes the citizens of Barcelona think about “sandwiches,

salads and beer”, the products than, for more

14 years, have been the stars of this little

establishment. Its owners, 4 partners from the

Basque Country (“Ikastola” is the school were

students do study in Euskera language), came to

Barcelona 15 years ago to settle in the city.

Almost by chance, they found a small bar about

to be closed on Carrer Perla 22. Then, they

accepted the challenge to create a new

restaurant where they could serve their food

and foster a great atmosphere for their

customers. And they made it. Ikastola has

nowadays become a referent in the

neighborhood of Gracia. Since a few months

ago, they have a new project going on: the

catering Ikastola. The friendliness of its staff and

their simple but attractive elaborations with

local and quality products and an exquisite

taste, delighted those attending the MCP

Broker Show.

MCP BROKER SHOW

4. Conclusions by Niels Righolt

MCP Broker

Final Conference Conclusions by Niels Righolt

Reflections on the MCP Broker project final conference at Hangar in Barcelona on

June 30 – July 2, 2015 organised to socialize the lessons learned from the project

and to share the ways in which the partners addressed the issue of benchmarking

diversity management in public cultural institutions.

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Getting Started

The setting, set design and overall dramaturgy of the

program defined a very important part of the conference.

The former industrial site of Hangar and its rough interior

provided a perfect frame for the scenography. A scenic

lounge-setting with a ‘living room’ atmosphere was the

centre of attention for a half-moon of chairs, designed to

create a maximum of interaction between the ‘audience’

and the project partners: all in all over 130 professionals

from the partner countries (Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Italy

and Spain) but also from other countries (Germany, Uganda,

Colombia, Tajikistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan). It

proved to be a very good idea to set the scene for an

inclusive dialogue and the design made it easy to facilitate

the multi-voiced dialogues and debates.

After the formal routines of welcoming participants, getting

everyone in place and introducing the three-day program,

highlights and contents, the final conference took off with

two official messages from the European Commission, in

the form of videos, by Ms. Belinda Pyke (European

Commission's Director for Migration and Mobility,

Directorate General for Migration) and Mr. Michel Magnier

(Director for Culture and Creativity, Directorate General for

Education and Culture European Commission). Both

messages remarkably emphasised the importance of arts

and culture as a vector for social change and as an

instrument for a more inclusive society. In doing so they

made a perfectly curved pass to Mercedes Giovinazzo,

director of Interarts, the host organisation in Barcelona.

MCP Broker – The story

With Mercedes we reflected on the MCP Broker project

partnership, its activities and process as well as on its

outcomes. We started off by illustrating the initial

assumptions underlying the project and by highlighting the

initial willingness to engage with the realities of public

cultural institutions in the five participating countries

(Austria, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Sweden). Despite the

existing differences in the composition of the cultural

sector, the scope of national cultural policies and funding

structures, etc. Mercedes underlined the fact that the

Brokering

exchange

of

knowledge

“A project like this

really underlines the

necessity for

transnational

exchange of

knowledge”

“We have learned

more from this project

in terms of how we

work, than I thought

was possible”

“Just by raising

awareness on the

topic of diversity

outreach and inclusive

strategies, we have

undergone a change

of practice in my

institution – or at least

now we apply a much

broader focus”

“This project might

just be the game

changer in the way we

work on these issues”

Comments from

participants in the

project.

MCP BROKER SHOW

institutions which were invited to take part in the project activities acknowledged the

importance of addressing issues such as transition, change, interaction and inclusivity. She

underlined that the project has enabled for an overall process of understanding which brought

to the forefront the need for the arts and culture sector to understand and interact with new

citizens. It also highlighted that, whereas the EU applies a structural approach in terms of

definitions, such an approach is not always easily understood or applicable. For instance, the

MCP Broker project has been funded through the European Integration Fund for “third country

nationals” whereas the use of the term ‘migrants’ in the project title might have initially

implied that a wider sense be given to the term. Moreover, all along, the project has had to

focus on the realities of the participating institutions in order for it to be relevant to them.

Indeed, many institutions navigate between a public policy framework and their respective

missions; also a great number of other issues of course influence their modus operandi: the

effect of the financial crises, decreasing resources, a shift of the domestic political focus and

priorities, increasing demands for reaching out for more – and new – audiences, lack of

knowledge / staff competencies etc.

However difficult the situation looks for quite many of the participating institutions, the real

benefit of being part of the project turned out to be exactly that: participating in it! Exchanging

knowledge, experiences, having the opportunity to discuss the issues and tools introduced

with colleagues, practice exchange during the project lifetime and, not least, being able to

bring the institution into a ‘state of mind’ where professional hesitation, investigation and

reflection was given space and thus moved the institution towards a more reflective approach

on its inclusive practice. This turned out to be the true benefit of the MCP Broker project,

something that was immediately reflected in comments and reflections from the room in the

following lively discussion.

Making the benchmarking tool matter

Introducing the benchmarking tool, Ida Burén from Intercult in Stockholm was accompanied by

Cristina Da Milano and Simona Bodo from ECCOM in Rome. They presented their overall

reflections on how the benchmarking tool, which had been refined in the initial phase of the

project, had been applied and reflected on the needs expressed by the cultural institutions

that had used it. Cristina Da Milano sketched its contents, underpinned some of the challenges

met in the usage of the tool and concluded by underlying that it needs to be adjusted and

completed with further parameters related to the everyday reality of cultural institutions in

order for it to become truly relevant for cultural institutions at large as a strategic tool for

change and increased participation. This point was supported by the cases presented by both

Ida Burén and Simona Bodo.

Interestingly enough the ensuing discussion with the conference participants showed, that

even though there are some relatively evident lacks in the tool as it is, it still has worked quite

well as a process facilitator by raising the users’ awareness on standards, way of thinking,

institutional practices, ‘blind spots’, new approaches, etc. As an example, the adjustments

made by Intercult have made it become a tool which reflects and connects to the DNA of most

cultural organisations. Both Ida Burén and Simona Bodo pointed out that the more aware the

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institutions, the more relevant the tool became. In fact, even though the institutions

considered themselves to be relatively advanced in their thinking on diversity issues, at the

beginning of the process most institutions scored in a low position according to the

benchmarking tool. But, towards the end of the project, that pattern changed and there were

a more coherent balance between the cultural institutions’ perceived self-image and their

actual performance according to the benchmarking tool.

Diversity management – or how to navigate in a ‘sea’ of diverse demands

After a both highly enjoyable and lively network session the first day ended with a plenum and

panel debate on diversity management in cultural institutions - a review on the project and a

dialogue with a specific cross-Mediterranean approach. Again the institutions’ difficulty to

navigate between their own missions and artistic agendas, the representational politics and

supportive structures and how to deal with and ensure a higher diverse presence from their

potential users formed a backdrop for the conversation. Ida Burén and Cristina Da Milano were

accompanied by Luca Bergamo from Culture Action Europe, Michael Wimmer from Educult

and Antonio Gucciardo from Interarts in the formation of a highly reflective dialogue on the

lessons learned from the project, its process and, not least, an interesting tour of the status of

diversity management in the five countries. Both Michael Wimmer and Luca Bergamo nuanced

the cultural landscape in terms of how institutions could meet and deal with the challenges

relating to their programming practice, recruitment policies, and choices of partners and

transversal collaborations with other sectors, just to mention some of the points given.

Trans-Mediterranean reflections

The above-mentioned panel was then joined by Abdallah Soliman from Gudran in Alexandria in

Egypt and Karim Dakroub from Khayal in Beirut for a trans-Mediterranean debate on issues

relating to migration, identity making and culture as a factor for the integration of newcomers.

Not surprisingly, the present situation in the Middle East influenced the last part of the debate.

Both Abdallah Soliman and Karim Dakroub expressed the hope that European institutions and

cultural organisations would seek for a more nuanced picture and understanding of the

complex cultural identities and patterns existing in the South of the Mediterranean sea, both

to the benefit of cultural exchange and possible collaborations between partners on both

shores but also as a way into European reality for the presumably thousands and thousands of

people wanting to flee the animosities and horrors taking place in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in

the region: a point made far more visible after the MCP Broker conference in late summer and

early autumn, when up to one million refugees have sought shelter in Europe. The panel

agreed that Europe should confront issues other than those relating merely to religion and

politics in order to frame a more cohesive and inclusive dialogue with cultural operators and

individuals from the Maghreb and Middle East. A point much supported by the participants;

for instance, Christine Merkel from the German UNESCO Committee, who also emphasised the

need for a more respectful and curious approach from Europe in terms of understanding who

we are ‘talking’ to and the cultural background that they have.

MCP BROKER SHOW

Next steps

The second day was designed as a Learning Partnership activity through which to address the

challenges ahead: in three different workshops, participants were asked to focus on their

needs and the necessary strategies to meet them. As in the previous day, participants stressed

the fact that they perceived a changed approach as to how the issues of culture and migration

are being addressed and that, for such an improved understanding, an instrument such as the

MCP Broker benchmarking tool is very useful. No doubt the previous intense day’s debate with

colleagues and experts from all the participating countries helped create an atmosphere of

reflection, progressive investigation and curiosity on the different experiences this crowd of

highly experienced professionals brought to the table. As a result, and in agreement with the

project partners, Luca Bergamo from Culture Action Europe suggested a possible follow-up on

the conference in the form of a specific working group with a first meeting scheduled to take

place during Culture Action Europe’s annual conference which will be held from October 15 to

17, in Gothenburg, Sweden: 23 of the participating organisations in the conference signed up

for this working-group and have committed to the continuity of the activities of the MCP

Broker project. It shall be interesting to see how a complex and well-anchored initiative like

MCP Broker can spread in new ways into the culture sectors many diverse levels. It was also

agreed that a specific website, dedicated to the issue of diversity management in cultural

institutions, be launched: the website will be ready by autumn 2015 for all those interested in

pursuing work on this issue (www.mcpbroker.eu).

Final remarks

The MCP Broker final conference was, in my opinion, an outstanding example of how it is

possible to design, frame and execute a conference in a way which allows a maximum of

participants and speakers to be heard and contribute to the discussions and debates.

Obviously, the fact that almost everybody in the room had been working with or had been

engaged in the MCP Broker processes in their home countries helped provide the notion of

being invited to an extended family gathering, where the level of interaction was way above

the average. I have the highest respect for the calm, ‘loungy’ and well-executed

professionalism the organisers from Interarts showed before, during and after this conference.

It was simply a great pleasure and it made my job so much easier.

Niels Righolt

September, 2015

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5. A very special venue

Hangar is a centre for art research and production, offering support to artists. Hangar’s

mission is to support the visual artists and creators during the different phases of their art

production processes as well as to contribute to the best development of their projects. For

doing so, Hangar facilitates them the equipments, facilities, production assistance and a

suitable context for experimentation and free knowledge transfer. The centre offers an array

of services and a framework that allows for the research and development of art productions

in their entirety, or partially. Hangar follows up on the results by including the projects in

various networks and platforms, or by detecting possibilities for their incorporation within

other fields.

Hangar’s headquarters are in a building -loaned by the Barcelona City Council- that is located in

the Can Ricart complex, an industrial environment within the Poblenou neighbourhood in

Barcelona. The architecture is from the mid 19th Century, and was originally designed for the

textile industry. Up until the closure of industrial activity in 1991, different companies

established themselves in the building that Hangar now occupies.

At present, and after the centre was extended to the adjacent warehouses, the buildings used

by Hangar cover a total surface of 2,600 m2, and are distributed in the following way:

- the first building was the first to be occupied by the centre and takes up a total surface of

1,800 m2, distributed along two open plan floors. The space includes 15 individual artist

studio spaces; a co-working space with 9 spaces; two multi-purpose rooms, and an area

that houses the centre’s offices.

- a second warehouse, ‘the Ricsson’, mainly houses a multi-purpose sound stage,

comprised of a sound stage of approximately 150 m2, changing rooms, a production

room, and control rooms.

- a third building, known as Microfugues, contains the video, image, programming,

streaming, and interactivity labs; a multi-purpose room, and a classroom.

- a residency with 4 bedrooms.

Furthermore, Hangar offers services such as equipment rental, technical assistance, consulting,

and production follow-up. Hangar also develops art research projects, and run its own

activities programme, which includes, among others, presentations, workshops, and other

learning activities for artists.

Hangar is mainly funded by the Regional Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City

Council, and enjoys the specific collaboration of the AECID for its grants programme, the Banc

de Sabadell Foundation for resident artists’ activities, and the Ministry of Culture, the

Provincial Council of Barcelona, and the European Commission for the development of specific

projects. The Visual Artists’ Association of Catalonia Private Foundation is in charge of running

its management, and a programme commission, renewed every two years, takes care of its art

direction. Hangar’s management model and its vision as a public service focused on production

and research makes Hangar a space that specialises in providing support for artists.

MCP BROKER SHOW

6. On air

https://twitter.com/MCPBroker

https://storify.com/MCPBroker/mcp-broker-final-conference

https://www.facebook.com/MCPBroker?ref=ts&fref=ts

7. Multimedia

7.1. Photos https://mcpbrokerconference.wordpress.com/visual-resources/photos/

7.2. Recording

The MCP Broker Show’s video has been created by the

audiovisual team of “La Bonne”, the Centre de Cultura de Dones

Francesca Bonnemaison (CCDFB): a private non-profit making

entity where women work to promote new ways of building

wisdom and knowledge in all fields. La Bonne is a place for meeting, exchange and creation of

feminist cultural projects mainly working in three areas:

Audiovisual sector: audiovisual training with a political positioning; workshops on creative

documentary; audiovisual tools’ courses; seminars on feminist issues; screening of films

directed by women; etc.

Performance: a meeting point for artists’ performance art.

Project incubator.

Since the beginning of its activity, in 2003, the CCDFB has organized different activities in

specific thematic fields for the purposes of promoting reflection and debate on the new trends

within feminism and multiculturalism: social promotion (boosting cultural creations), social

cohesion, the empowerment of women, etc. through tools such as exhibitions, seminars,

cycles, workshops, etc. including all kinds of cultural dimensions: music, poetry, philosophy,

literature, visual arts, photography, radio, audiovisual media, trans-media platforms, etc.

Besides, their personal experience as feminists, creators and artists, enables them to analyze

the gender and multicultural issues within any cultural content.

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7.3. Videos

MCP Broker Show https://youtu.be/AHggfj3giow

Institutional opening message by Belinda Pyke. Director for Migration and Mobility. European

Commission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9We1zLIZXM

Institutional opening message by Michel Magnier. Director for Culture and Creativity.

European Commission- Directorate General for Education and Culture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJB4OWznE2M

8. People said…

We had 48 responses of all participants to the conference.

We asked them with a score of 1 (poor) - 5 (excellent)

- Rate the event organization

- Rate the venue and location

- Rate the content of the Conference

- Rate the speakers at the Conference

Obtaining the following results:

4,6

4,1

4,0

4,3

Organization Venue Content Speakers

MCP BROKER SHOW

Which elements of the Conference would you highlight?

- La heterogeneidad de los participantes, tanto ponentes como asistentes genera mucha

riqueza y diversidad en las perspectivas y en los aportes. La metodología combinada de

sesiones magistrales con sesiones colaborativas permitió aprovechar el conocimiento y la

experiencia de todos. El equipo organizador estuvo sumamente dispuesto y amable, toda la

logística tanto técnica como de transporte y alimentación estivo muy bien coordinada. Aún

para quienes asistieron sin haber estado implicados directamente en el proyecto, la

temática fue de mucho interés y generó aprendizajes muy significativos. Muchas gracias.

- La generación de redes.

- Los espacios para compartir i las conferències.

- Profesionalidad, tema de mucho interés, perfecto conductor del evento.

- Fué amena y estimulante, pero me hubiera gustado que fuera un poco más interactiva, ya

que la interactuación estaba muy dirigida y se propició poco diálogo.

- I enjoyed the "informal" format of the conference and the high level of debate. Perhaps it

would have been useful to have more time for workshop and networking activities.

- Programa bien articulado, participación activa de los participantes y nuevas redes que se

han creado como resultado de los tres días.

- Sharing best practices (I would have dedicate it more time).

- El formato.

- Polìtica y humanidad

- Metodología, Debate, diferentes organizaciones, diferentes visiones, espacio de encuentro

enriquecedor. Gracias.

- The benchmark tool.

- Great opportunity to share experiences; EMPATHY among participants; strong need issue is

NETWORKING!!!

- Destacaría varios elementos. El primero sería las nuevas y más creativas políticas

culturales. Las diferentes experiencias por cada país y cada país en un contexto distinto

pero igualitario. Lograr la inclusión de los migrantes en las derivaciones que van generando

las nuevas decisiones, a nivel de exigencias y nuevas propuestas para desarrollar cambios

drásticos dentro del marco europeo.

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- Excellent host.

- INFORMATIONS, PRACTISE, PARTECIPATION, INCLUSION, MULTIPLE VOICES, SUSTEINABLE

RELATION, OVER STEREOTYPE.

- Welcoming.

- The workshop in small group.

- La visión de una cultura transformadora.

- Benchmarking tool.

- La participación de ponentes de diferentes países.

- Hospitality, attention to every one.

- La dinámica seguida.

- El formato y las dinámicas me parecieron muy adecuados, amenos e inspiradores.

- A great moderator, interesting and important topic, great discussions and networking

between the sessions! Great organisation as well! Interesting group session. Thank you!

- The discussion roundtable in small groups.

- Sharing working experiences and objectives.

- Lack of real participation! 35 minutes of workshops in small groups was not enough to

build something together! Feeling that everything was decided in advance and that our

contribution was not expected. Our experience in Brussels (2 different cultures "dealing"

with diversity in 2 different ways = laboratorium for Europe) should have been more

valorized.

- Haber conocido a los demás participantes europeos.

- Exchange in small working groups.

- The Walk and talk experience.

- Small groups.

- Walk and talk workshop.

- Open dialogues, working groups.

- El foro ha sido estupendo y ha permitido conocer además las experiencias nórdicas. Creo

que las mesas de trabajo podrían llegar a ser diseñadas desde el punto de vista de la

dinámica grupal para que se logren debates e intercambios mas potentes aún. Sabemos

MCP BROKER SHOW

que estáis en el buen camino. Se necesitan ahora mesas en las que la gente exprima sus

cerebros y logre acuerdos y planificaciones mas fortalecedoras de las redes. Otra cosa, las

fiestas ayudan a generar redes. En un ambiente tan informal, bien podría haberse

organizado una pequeña fiesta cada noche, la experiencia dice que favorece alianzas. :-)

- The network opportunities.

- Las entrevistas y la sesión de trabajo en grupos.

- Video clips, experience sharing by the various partners and Equity in acess to sexual and

reproductive Health for migrant young and women in Spain

Has the conference been useful for you?

- Very Little = 1

- Little = 4

- Much = 32

- Very Much= 10