Last 25th of May, OTM hosted its first Cultural Mobility Forum on an online and onsite (Helsinki) setting, together with the support of the Nordic Culture Point in Helsinki, Finland and Howlround, both On the Move members. A first of a series of 3 years that brought together more than 55 members of On the Move and a wide arrange of local, national and international stakeholders in the field of culture and arts.
Why a Cultural Mobility Forum?
On the Move is the international information network dedicated to artistic and cultural mobility, currently gathering 60+ members from 27 countries and representing the interests of 1870+ affiliated organisations and individuals in Europe and the world. Co-funded by the European Union, On the Move aims in 2022-2024 to support all mobility stakeholders to build responsiveness to global interdependencies and challenges, including social and societal ones.
As part of its multiannual programme, each year On the Move proposes a Cultural Mobility Forum to collectively investigate international artistic and cultural mobility trends. As a unique knowledge platform, the network works together with its members and partners to design thematic panel discussions. These in turn address the main points from On the Move’s annual Cultural Mobility Yearbook monitoring mobility opportunities and funding schemes, analysing flows and obstacles, and raising awareness of burning issues.
Focus 2022: digital mobility
The Covid-19 crisis has brought transnational cooperation almost to a halt. As researcher Milica Ilić has written, this disruption is bound to have consequences that will mark the sector for years to come. With little or no international travel, arts professionals are turning to their local environments, further changing the landscape for transnational work, and accelerating a trend which in some countries was already in motion due to political shifts or ecological concerns. The full effects of these changes are yet to be understood but could potentially have lasting consequences for a generation of artists, in particular those from less privileged environments where mobility, more than a choice, is a necessity.
In this enriching day of discussions, exchanges and workshops, 10 different panellists shared their expertise on 4 topics related to digital mobility: environmental sustainability, professional development, inclusion and cross-border artistic collaboration.
If you could not attend the event or missed one of the panels, do not worry! We have uploaded all of them to our Youtube channel:
- Panel on Digital Inclusion
- Panel on Digital environmental sustainability
- Panel on Digital international professional development
- Panel on Digital cross-border artistic collaboration
Moreover, many resources and materials were shared and disseminated during the Forum. Here you can find a compilation of all of them in case you want to dig deeper into the topic of digital mobility:
Last but not the least, for further reference, you can also take a look at our flagship publication: OTM Cultural Mobility Yearbook, where we analyse the trends of digital mobility, its benefits and disadvantages.