The Compendium community consists of members of the Compendium Association, the Association’s board and the Compendium’s expert authors. This dedicated group of cultural policy experts and Compendium supporters meet once a year during our annual Assembly. In addition to official meetings for both members and experts, the Compendium’s Assemblies have an elaborate programme on cultural policy in general, featuring panel discussions and keynote speakers. Every Assembly revolves around a specific theme, for example the future of cultural policy in 2019 and arts education in 2018.

In 2020, the annual two-day Assembly was postponed to 2021 due to the current pandemic circumstances. Instead, two official meetings for members and experts took place online at the end of September to discuss the past, present and future plans for the Compendium.

International Cultural Policy Conference and the 5th General Assembly of the Compendium Association in Bucharest, Romania
Hosted by The National Institute for Cultural Research and Training

With the title “Culture & Cultural Policies in Times of Crises – Effects, Roles & Transitions” the conference started by culturally framing and conceptualizing three of the main crises affecting us today; the Ukraine war – representing a humanitarian and democratic crisis in Europe, the COVID-19 pandemic – disrupting and transforming social and economic systems around the world, and the climate crises – threatening everyone’s social and environmental future and well-being.

Experts and conference participants continued discussing the roles and means the cultural sector and its policies offer to the mediation of those crises. What role do democracy, cultural education and freedom of artistic expression play in crises management? Finally, members of the Compendium community and guests shared different methods and strategies to enhance change and modification.

For a complete overview of the two-day event, including the keynotes, main outcomes, and photos taken, please click here.

2nd Assembly of the Association of the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends
Hosted by the Ministry of Culture

On Wednesday June 5th and Thursday June 6th, more than 50 attendees participated in and took lessons from six main sessions, including those revolving around the theme Imagining the Cultural Policy Future.

In her keynote speech on the opening day, Professor Eleonora Belfiore argued that cultural policy models are facing a moral crisis, referring to the systematic exploitation of cultural workers contributing to the publicly funded practice: “This problem might be resolved if we work collaboratively on an activist research agenda in which public cultural institutions and funders should be held accountable in the name of fairness and social justice.”

For a complete summary of all the Assembly sessions in 2019, including the thought-provoking keynote on the complex notion of cultural sustainability by Professor Emeritus Yudhishthir Raj Isar, please review the full report here.

1st Assembly of the Association of the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends
Hosted by Rijeka 2020 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media, the City of Rijeka and the Council of Europe

On Tuesday October 9th and Wednesday October 10th, the first Assembly of the Compendium Association took place. The Assembly was opened by Ernst Wagner (ENO) with a keynote speech on challenges faced by arts education in times of globalisation, nationalism and interculturality: “We need to strengthen the relationships between associations from four pillars dealing with arts education: research, policy, advocacy and practice. What we understand arts education to be, depends largely on our cultural, but also our linguistic backgrounds. We need a glossary that will help us be more effective and productive, in working together on arts education.”

For a complete summary of all the Assembly sessions in 2018, including the inspiring keynote by Kate Wimpress (North Edinburgh Arts) on good practices regarding the involvement of local communities in arts projects, please review the full report here.