The European Commission has launched a public consultation to evaluate and possibly revise its main policy instrument to support the digital transformation of the cultural heritage sector.
In this day and age, digitisation of cultural heritage can help in conservating, renovating, studying and promoting European cultural assets. Digitised cultural heritage items made available online are also valuable resources for education, entertainment o further re-use.
As part of an initiative funded last year under the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the European Commission is gathering proposals for organising a series of at least 5 screenings between May–September this year.
The main event specifications are as follows:
1. The screening must take place in a culturally important location.
2. The screening may take place during local celebrations, especially linked to heritage (eg. the 100th anniversary etc.).
3. The heritage film to be screened has to be a non-national European film.
Proposals for different venues and concepts for these events are now being gathered.
Concrete suggestions of possible venues, possible dates and a rough estimation of costs are needed.
Please send questions and proposals directly to Ms Irina Sofletea (Irina.SOFLETEA@ec.europa.eu).
Deadline for sending in proposals is 20 March 2019.
7 May 2015 – Yesterday, the European Commission has published its “Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe”. One of the pillars of the DSM Strategy is the upcoming copyright reform. Vice President Andrus Ansip has repeatedly said that the present EU copyright rules are not fit for the digital age and that citizens should be able to access media content from everywhere in the EU.
The Commission announced to publish legislative proposals before the end of 2015, “to reduce the differences between national copyright regimes and allow for wider online access to works by users across the EU, including through further harmonisation measures. The proposals will include: (i) portability of legally acquired content, (ii) ensuring cross border access to legally purchased online services while respecting the value of rights in the audiovisual sector, (iii) greater legal certainty for the cross-border use of content for specific purposes (e.g. research, education, text and data mining, etc.) through harmonised exceptions,(iv) clarifying the rules on the activities of intermediaries in relation to copyright protected content and, in 2016, (v) modernising enforcement of intellectual property rights, focusing on commercial scale.”
All of these actions are of course tied in with economic interests, but the non-commercial sector is also clearly mentionned: The proposals will include harmonised exceptions at least for research and educational purposes.
Communication from the Commission “A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe”
Read the press release
15 August 2014 – In connection with the policy report”Towards an integrated approach to cultural heritage”, the Commission has published an overview of activities and funding programmes related to cultural heritage, including film heritage: Horizon2020, Europeana, Creative Europe and the Structural & Investment Funds, ERASMUS etc. It encourages cultural institutions to seize these opportunities and to work closely across Europe to ensure that cultural heritage contributes to more sustainable growth and social cohesion.
Europe as a political body needs to recognize the value of cultural heritage, beyond economical and financial legislations. It is a powerful instrument to build a shared identity and a sense of belonging amongst and between European citizens, as stated in the declaration “ A new narrative for Europe”.
Communication – Towards an integrated approach to cultural heritage for Europe
Declaration – A new narrative for Europe
20 November 2013 – On 13 November, the final session of the stakeholder’s dialogue Licences for Europe took place in Brussels. The initiative was set up jointly by the Commissioners Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda), Michel Barnier (Internal Market and Services), and Andrea Vassiliou (Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth) in February this year. The purpose of the four working groups was to deliver quick solutions for bringing more content online. ACE was member of working group 3 “Audiovisual Heritage Institutions” represented by Nicola Mazzanti. After 10 months of discussions ACE and rights holders representatives agreed on principles and procedures about digitising, restoring and making available European film heritage. The statement was signed in presence of the three Commissioners by ACE, the Federation of European Film Directors (FERA), the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA).
Official press release
Licences for Europe official website
Statement of Principles and Procedures for facilitating the digitisation of, access to and increased interest of European citizens in European cinematographic heritage works
Commissioner Kroes speech
Commissioner Barnier speech
30 May 2013 – Large scale digitsation projects, mainly undertaken by libraries and archives, are absolutely indispensable for the promotion of the knowledge society and public access to culture. These projects are all confronted with the challenge of copyright. To date, European Institutions don’t have a specific solution for mass-digitisation.
Over the past two years, three European initiatives have been set up in order to facilitate (large scale) digitisation and the access to works which are still in copyright: The Directive 2012/28/EU on Orphan Works, the Memorandum of Understanding on Works out-of-Commerce between libraires, publishers and collecting societies (2011), and the structured Stakeholder Dialogue “Licences for Europe”, a joint initiative launched by the Commisioners Barnier, Kroes and Vassiliou in February 2013.
Aim of the conference organised by CRIDS – Centre de Recherche sur Information, Droit et Société (Université de Namur) is to envisage the impact of these initiatives on the digitisation process and the availibility of works online. Nicola Mazzanti, ACE president and director of the Cinémathèque royale de Belgique, will speek about the necessity of digitisation in the audiovisuel sector.
Location: Fondation universitaire – Rue d’Egmont 11, 1000 Bruxelles
Tarif: 150 EUR
3 September 2012 – This year’s Cinema Expert Group – Subgroup Film Heritage takes place at the Cinematek in Brussels on 16 October 2012. The Cinema Experts Group is annually organised by the Audiovisual and Media Policy Unit of the European Commission, where experts from all over Europe meet to discuss best practices and policies related to film heritage. Attendance to the meeting is by invitation only. Agenda updates and related documents are available on http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/reg/cinema/experts/index_en.htm
29 August 2012 – Presentations made at the ACE workshop “A digital agenda for film archives”, held on 28 June in Bologna, are now available online. 26 experts from 18 European countries discussed the practical, financial and political impacts of digital archiving. It was the 1st in a workshop series called “Management strategies for film archives in the digital era”, which will be continued in 2013.
Presentations:
Digital Agenda For Film Archives ( Mikko Kuutti, National Audiovisual Archive, Helsinki)
ACE Digital Agenda (Thomas C. Christensen, Danish Film Institute, Copenhagen)
DAEFH study- What now? (Nicola Mazzanti, Cinematek, Brussels)
23 May 2012 – On 29th October- 3rd November 2012, the 4th EuroMed conference on Cultural Heritage will take place in Lemesos, Cyprus. It is under the Patronage of UNESCO and in cooperation with the European Commission and under the Auspices of the 2012 Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU. The conference brings together researchers, policy makers, professionals, fellows and practitioners to explore some of the more pressing issues concerning Cultural Heritage today. In particular, the main goal of the conference is to focus on interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research on tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage, using cutting edge technologies for the protection, restoration, preservation, massive digitisation, documentation and presentation of the Cultural Heritage contents. Researchers and practitioners willing to participate to the EUROMED 2012 conference are invited to submit papers on original works addressing the following subjects and research themes:
The 15 best submitted papers will be published on a special issue of the International Journal Heritage in the Digital Era. The deadline for the paper submission is extended to 15th June 2012. More detail information regarding the call for participation, the themes and the paper submission can be found at: http://www.euromed2012.eu/.
