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ECF UK Seminar Series, concluding seminar 28 January
EUROPE: UNITED OR DIVIDED BY CULTURE
On this page you can find information about the following aspects of the European Cultural Foundation UK National Committee

ECF UK National Committee
Contact Details
ECF UK Seminar Series
Mission Statement
Committee members

European Cultural Foundation UK National Committee (ECF UK)

Set up in 1969 by Lord R.A.B. Butler as “The British National Committee for Cultural Co-operation in Europe (European Cultural Foundation)”, the ECF UK National Committee is one of a number of independent national committees, the creation of which has been encouraged by ECF Amsterdam.

The ECF UK provides a forum for UK debate on the role and place of culture in Europe. It also co-operates with other bodies to organise and/or promote seminars, research, publications and other relevant activities, and to raise funds in support of this work.

Please note that ECF UK cannot fund projects, however ECF Amsterdam does have a funding and grants scheme.

For further information about ECF UK aims and activities please see our mission statement. Also see below for a complete list of ECF UK Committee members.

International intelligence on Culture is the Contact Point and Administrator for the European Cultural Foundation (UK Committee).

ECF UK Contact Details

Rod Fisher (Co-director)
Simon Mundy (Co-director)
Dacia Viejo-Rose (Project Co-ordinator)

ECF UK
C/o International Intelligence on Culture
4 Baden Place, Crosby Row, London SE1 1YW
Telephone: 020 7403 0777
Fax: 020 7403 2009
E-mail: [email protected]

ECF UK Seminar Series 2003/2004 – Culture in an Enlarged Europe

This seminar series, which started in January 2003 is organised in conjunction with the Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA) at Chatham House, London, where they are held. The final seminar in the series will be in October 2004; a publication is also being planned to bring together the issues addressed throughout the seminar series.

Europe: United or Divided by Culture?

In an enlarged European Union the limits of understanding of what being European means are been re-examined. On the borders of the EU we find new neighbours once seemingly distant and now brought into close proximity. In the past two years clear differences, if not outright rifts, between Europeans have come to light in how we perceive the world and in our hierarchy of values. Will these rifts become insurmountable? What cultural ‘problems’ will enlargement raise? How will the governance of culture be effected? What will be the response of local identities to the enlarged concept of ‘European-ness’? What impacts will these have on cultural co-operation?

The panel of speakers includes Dr. Garret FitzGerald, former Prime Minister of Ireland, Ion Caramitru, the Romanian Shakespearean actor and former Minister of Culture, Ambassador Delfin Colomé, Spanish composer, writer and former Director of the Asia-Europe Foundation, John Tusa, Director of London’s Barbican Centre, Patricia Quinn, former Director, Arts Council, Ireland, and Prakash Daswani, Director of Cultural Co-operation and Music Village. Gottfried Wagner, Director of the European Cultural Foundation and Lord Maclennan of Rogart, Chairman of the European Cultural Foundation’s UK Committee will also make contributions discussing recent activities of the ECF, the forthcoming UK Presidency of the EU and perspectives on the European Constitution. Simon Mundy, poet and former President of the European Forum for Arts and Heritage will be rapporteur. Other speakers will be confirmed.

Chatham House
10 St. James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LE
Friday 28 January 2005
3.30 – 7.00pm (including post seminar reception)
£20.00 (£10.00 artists/students) including post-seminar reception

Please contact us if you would like to receive further information or book a place for this seminar

Previous seminars in the series:

Global or Local? Examining the future environment for European Culture
EU Support for Culture – Rhetoric or Reality?
Must Europe Speak English?
Politics & Identity – Does Cultural Co-operation Change Anything?
Does Media Concentration Accelerate the Loss of Cultural Diversity?
What Values Underpin Cultural Policies in Europe?
How Common is the Common European Culture?
The Convention on the Future of Europe: A Community Without Culture

Previous speakers have included:

Nikolaus Van der Pas, Director of Education and Culture, European Commission
Gabriele Mazza, Director of Education, Council of Europe
Dame Gillian Beer, President-elect of the British Comparative Literature Association, Professor Emeritus of English Literature at Cambridge
Philip Dodd, Director, Institute of Contemporary Arts
Roy Perry, Member of European Parliament
Lord Puttnam, Film Director
Yudhishthir Raj Isar, Professor, American University of Paris & former Director of Cultural Policies & of the International Fund for the Promotion of Culture, UNESCO
Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, Former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Lord Hattersley, Writer & former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
Dr. Garret Fitzgerald, Former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland
Dr. Dragan Klaic, President of the European Forum for Arts and Heritage

ECF UK Mission Statement

The UK National Committee of the European Cultural Foundation seeks:

To promote the objectives and programmes of the European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam, and its role in furthering cultural co-operation and building partnerships to strengthen the European cultural dimension and stimulate intercultural dialogue.
To provide a forum for UK debate on the role and place of culture in Europe today and in the future to support the European Cultural Foundation’s role as an advocate for culture in European policies.
To provide information and guidance on ways the European Cultural Foundation can assist UK-led or initiated cultural projects.
To organise and/or promote seminars, research, publications and other relevant activities in support of the aims and the objectives of the UK Committee.
To co-operate with other organisations, foundations, companies and institutions in furthering these objectives, though joint activities and programmes.

Committee Members

The National Committee meets on a regular basis and is in the process of defining two new priority areas that will shape the activities of ECF UK for the year to come.

Rt. Hon. Lord Maclennan of Rogart. (Chairman ECF, UK Committee)
Mr David Barton (retired)
Mr Hywel Ceri Jones, Chairman. Executive Board, European Policy Centre, Brussels and former Director General of Employment Policy and Industry Relations, European Commission
Mr Geraint Talfan Davies. Chairman, Arts Council of Wales and Former Chairman, Welsh National Opera
Mr Graham Dixon. BBC Radio 3; Chairman of the European Broadcasting Union Music Group
Mr Robin Guthrie. Former Director of Social & Economic Affairs, Council of Europe; Former Chief Charity Commissioner for England and Wales; and Former Chairman, Yorkshire Arts
Mr Nigel Haigh OBE. Member, Management Board, European Environment Agency
Ms Sue Harrison. Director, Arts Division, British Council and Former CEO, North West Arts
Mr Robert Hutchison. CEO, Oxford Inspires; Former CEO, Southern Arts and Former Deputy Director, North West Arts
Dr Richard Mayne. Writer and broadcaster on Europe, Jean Monnet and the European Community
Ms Munira Mirza. Researcher at the University of Kent at Canterbury and Development Director, Policy Exchange
Mr. Robin (Robert) O’Neill CMG. Former British Ambassador to Belgium and Austria
Prof. John Pinder OBE. Chairman, Federal Trust; Chairman, James Madison Trust; and Honorary Professor, College of Europe
Rt Hon Chris Smith MP. Former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Director, Clore Leadership Programme
Prof. George Wedell. Former Director General, European Institute for the Media
Mr Robert Willer. Lawyer
Mr Alan Lee Williams OBE. Director, The Atlantic Council
Dr. Enid Wistrich. Visiting Professor, School of Social Sciences, Middlesex University