Cultural Mobility Flows Between the United Kingdom and the European Union

Cultural Mobility Flows Between the United Kingdom and the European Union

This publication follows a Mobility Webinar on UK-EU mobility organised by On the Move together with Wales Arts International and Arts Infopoint UK in order to discuss cultural relations between EU Members States and the United Kingdom, with a focus on the visual arts.

It presents the main takeaways of the conversation as we greatly benefited from the input of representatives based in the UK and in EU countries, including On the Move members D6: Culture in Transit, Arts Council England, DutchCulture/TransArtists or Res Artis, who shaped and brought value to the online conversation.

Moreover, it also presents the analysis of calls for cultural mobility opportunities in all disciplines posted to the On the Move website as well as the takeaways of an extensive desk research that delve into the recent literature on the topic.

Finally, this publication outlines recommendations to cultural operators and decision-makers for providing contextual support that are informed by years of dialogue with local stakeholders and the daily work of Mobility Information Points (MIPs) that have been increasing their effort to better help UK- and EU-based arts professionals when dealing with post-Brexit issues, from visas to customs rules. These recommendations aim to create the circumstances for fruitful cultural relations.

This publication receives the support of the European Union, part of On the Move multi-annual programme.

General coordination: Yohann Floch
Authors: John Ellingsworth, Yohann Floch, Veronka Köver
English editor: John Ellingsworth
Graphic design and layout: Marine Domec

Cultural Mobility Flows Between the United Kingdom and the European Union

Key figures

38%

of calls involving UK organisers or a UK destination involved online/remote activities - more than twice as many as those involving EU member states.

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31%

of UK calls from January 2020 - June 2023 received funding from EU programmes such as Creative Europe, Horizon 2020, and Erasmus+.

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Only 6%

of UK calls were focused on opportunities to present work. For Germany, the figure was 12.6%.

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‘What these governments want is for Brexit to become so normalised that we just accept it as part of life. This permanent sense of [discomfort] allows us to keep pushing, to go this is not right, this is not what we feel is normal, this is not progress. Because this will perhaps, if not reverse things, start creating holes in this border.’

Alessio Antoniolli, Director of Gasworks & Triangle Network

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