1st AR&PA Forum: Economics of Cultural Heritage. Brussels, June 2009

Content:

The objective of the Brussels meeting is to achieve international consensus to establish policies among all stakeholders involved to boost the development of a sector that creates stable, quality and non-outsourced employment. 

María José Salgueiro, the regional government Minister for Culture and Tourism, chaired the 1st Forum on the Economics of Cultural Heritage, an international meeting organised by the Junta de Castilla y León to boost European cooperation on heritage, enabling this cultural industry to create wealth, economic development and social cohesion.  

Distinguished representatives from companies, institutions, public authorities and R&D&I centres attended the forum, along with cultural heritage management experts from several European countries, including Portugal, Italy, France and Belgium. During the forum, the Junta de Castilla y León headed a discussion and a session to share experiences capable of stimulating a sector that creates stable, quality and non-outsourced employment. 

One of the major successes of the event was the agreement reached on proposals and plans of work by all the international Cultural Heritage stakeholders, which culminated in the Charter of Brussels, signed by all the forum participants, on the economic role of Cultural Heritage, as well as the creation of a European network for recognising and publicising this role. 

This forum also served as a meeting point for sharing experiences and views, not only between different institutions but also between different countries, enriching knowledge and approaches for future strategies. Proposals and future working plans were also devised to make progress on the growing role that Cultural Heritage action and conservation tasks must have in generating and boosting regional economic development; and the foundations were laid for a network of heritage stakeholders that will enable the exchange of knowledge through regular meetings. In short, the way was opened for future collaboration agreements with important and prestigious heritage bodies. To do this, a decision was made to set up a European network to support Cultural Heritage. This network will further the work carried out in this first forum and will arrange future meetings.

The success of the First Forum on the Economics of Cultural Heritage was largely due to the recognition abroad of the pioneering, exemplary and innovative heritage management work carried out by the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Junta de Castilla y León (regional government).

The institutions, bodies and companies that took part in the forum and signed the Charter of Brussels included: Madame Myriam Serck, Director of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Belgium; Ms. Andrea Galvao, deputy director of IGESPAR from Portugal; Manel Rueda, Deputy Director General of Architectural, Archaeological and Paleontological Heritage of the Generalitat de Cataluña (regional government of Catalonia) in Spain; Isabel Rodriguez-Maribona, Director of Cultural Heritage at Labein-Tecnalia in Bilbao, Spain; Juan Carlos Prieto, Director of the Santa María La Real Foundation in Aguilar de Campoo, also in Spain; Andrea Rattazzi, ASSORESTAURO representative, from Italy; Mr. Antonio Coronel, Manager of ARESPA, Spanish Association of Historical Heritage Restoration Companies; Marion Dedieu, Vice President of the European Association of Restoration Companies; and Ana Magraner, from the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.

Letter from Brussels regarding the role of Cultural Heritage in the economy and the creation of a european network for its recognition and dissemination

In Brussels on 30th June 2009, the undersigned, who are members of and / or are representatives of Public Administrations, Institutions, Companies and Experts in the sector for the conservation, restoration and management of Cultural Heritage as part of the objective for analysing the scope and nature of the influence exerted by the various activities related with this issue in the economic system of the countries and communities in our European area, and with regard to intensifying the role played by Cultural Heritage to date in meeting the objectives set during the meeting of the Heads of State held in Lisbon in March 2000, to make the European Union “the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” by 2010

Propose:

1. That given its essential and intrinsic value, Cultural Heritage must cease to be considered as a burden that is only worthy of consideration during a period of economic boom, and must be considered as a non-renewable asset that both administrations and citizens must view as a basic Public Service that is the object of mandatory concern, as well as being a fundamental right for their wellbeing and development and always necessary for social cohesion in a multicultural environment.
2. That from this perspective a strategy directed at the socialisation of Cultural Heritage values must be initiated as from the first phases of education, and during all of its periods, that guarantees the necessary knowledge and universal accessibility to goods and services of which the culture sector is comprised.
3. That the activities directed at the conservation, restoration and management of the goods of which Cultural Heritage is comprised represent a network of elements that are able to dynamise the economy of our countries into a competitive advantage with other activities that are subjected, to a greater extent, to the cycles and situations that are produced periodically. Moreover, this is a sector which is primarily made up of small and medium-sized enterprises that represent a strong economic and social fabric.
4. That it must be obvious that this economic sector, as an alternative to other predominant models, is able to create stable, specialised and quality employment that cannot be relocated. These economic policies are therefore drawn up as a public and private investment with a high rate of social profitability.
5. That it is necessary to recognise the boost that these activities give to the progress and transfer of research, development and innovation both through new technologies applied to conservation, restoration and dissemination, as well as the undertaking to discover new models that are sustainable and efficient for the management of heritage.
6. That Cultural Heritage constitutes a valuable and irreplaceable resource. It acts as an element that revitalises cities and territories and is able to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants, to stimulate investment and to create country branding. This resource is seen to be particularly essential for the development of peripheral territories affected by the process of depopulation.
7. That the investment by the different economic stakeholders in goods pertaining to Cultural Heritage favours the integration of European society in all its variety, fomenting the identity and feeling of belonging of each of its people as well as disseminating social values that have historically characterised our Community: tolerance, democracy, diversity and pluralism.

And, as a result of the above, those who endorse this Agreement undertake, within their respective areas of action and competence, to disseminate these principles as far as possible, as well as to stimulate and foment any strategies aimed at maintaining and increasing the greatest possible level of investment in all of the activities of which the Cultural Heritage sector is comprised by virtue of considering it a strategic sector of opportunity for current and future development which must not be wasted.

They also propose to set themselves up as a stable working group as a European network for the knowledge and dissemination of the role of Cultural Heritage in the economy. This network is considered as open to the incorporation of those institutions and experts who so request it.