European prize for young writers and artists

13 October 1993

Doc. 6958

1403-7/10/93-4-E

REPORT

on a European prize for young writers and artists

(Rapporteur: Mr Ragnar ARNALDS,

Iceland)

Summary

It is proposed that the Council of Europe co-ordinates with European art festivals the award of an annual European prize for young writers and artists. The Rapporteur suggests rotation through the different States Party to the European Cultural Convention and the different fields: music and dance; poetry, fiction and drama; and the visual arts and architecture. Such a prize could both encourage artistic creativity and enhance the image of the Council of Europe, but without imposing a financial burden on the Organisation itself.

I. Draft recommendation

1. The Assembly is well aware of the importance of encouraging young people and promoting excellence in the fields of literature and arts in Europe.

2. With industrialisation and the development of contemporary entertainment, the fight for the public's attention is hard. Awarding prizes is a classic way of drawing the public's attention to what is considered of particular interest. Awards can thus enable the public to appreciate what is outstanding at any given time and be of direct and practical value to the development of the arts.

3. The Council of Europe has shown great initiative in European cultural issues and should further strengthen and establish its leading role.

4. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

i. set up in the form of a partial agreement, a European prize for young writers and artists. The prize, which should be awarded every year, should acknowledge outstanding works in the fields of:

a. music and dance,

b. poetry, fiction and drama,

c. visual arts and architecture,

produced by young people throughout the area covered by the European Cultural Convention;

ii. reach an agreement to include the award ceremony of the prize in an appropriate European arts festival, held successively in each of the countries signatories to the European Cultural Convention. The costs of the ceremony and of the promotion of the prize-winning works of art should be borne by the country hosting the festival.

II. Explanatory memorandum

by Mr ARNALDS

Introduction

1. There is a general consensus on the need to find ways of improving conditions for artists, especially young artists, and help them in their struggle for public attention and through the always difficult start of an artistic career. There is ample reason therefore for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to urge the governments of member states to strengthen the social and economic situation of artists as a whole.

2. Although individual artists would no doubt benefit from the proposed European prize for young writers and artists and from the ensuing attention, the prize is not, however, envisaged primarily as an advantage for the artists themselves but as a means to develop the arts.

3. At the same time a European prize in the fields of literature and the arts could serve as a unifying symbol. Any form of cooperation under the leadership of the Council of Europe is in itself beneficial. A joint prize for young writers and artists will enhance the European nations' sense of a common European cultural heritage.

Arts festival

4. Arts festivals, large and small are held all over Europe. The setting-up of a European prize for young writers and artists involves a special European arts festival under the auspices of the Council of Europe where the awarding of the prizes would be announced. But there is no need for this to be an additional arts festival. The member countries of the Council of Europe could come to an agreement to make the awarding of the prize a feature of the arts festivals already being held in all the member countries.

5. The reason for the proposal to announce the winners of the prizes at the arts festivals being held by turns in the member countries is simply that the announcement of the winning artists and their works would draw attention to the arts festivals chosen as the European arts festival and therefore it appears safe to assume that the festival in question would assume most of the cost of appointing juries and awarding the prize.

Details of execution

6. This report assumes a prize to be awarded to young artists, for example under the age of thirty. The prize should be awarded every year, in rotation. One year: music and dance; next year: poetry, fiction and drama; the third year: the visual arts and architecture.

7. In an agreement between those member countries of the Council of Europe which decide to take part there would be provisions on which institutions within the Council of Europe would have charge of the awarding of the prize, on procedures for appointing the juries and on the nomination of works and artists for the prize.

Trial period

8. There is naturally some speculation on the success of such a prize and how well it will work in practice. Therefore it seems reasonable to decide on an initial five-year trial period.

The consumer's point of view

9. There is widespread concern that the gap between fine arts and the general public is widening. The fight for the public's attention is hard. The decline in reading of both books and newspapers along with the tremendous increase in visual entertainment, disperses the public's attention so that it has become extremely difficult for young writers and artists to draw attention to their works.

10. There is a tendency among many people to regard prizes and awards as a sort of trivialisation, but what these people do not realise is that the awarding of prizes is a form of education and a classic method of attracting mass attention, thus enabling the public to appreciate what is outstanding at any given time and therefore is of direct and practical value to the development of the arts.

Prizes in Europe

11. Of course there are numerous prizes for arts and literature in Europe. The Nordic Council Prize for Literature and Music, for instance, is just one of many prizes awarded at the regional level in Europe. Another is the European Literary Prize awarded by the Commission of the European Communities.

Former initiatives by the Council of Europe

12. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has given extensive attention to the arts and literature in the past two decades, as illustrated by the following texts:

—Re solution 624 (1976) on the democratic renewal of the performing arts,—

—Re commendation 781 (1976) on Council of Europe action for the future of the performing arts,—

—Re commendation 917 (1981) on the designation of 1985 as European Music Year, —

—Re commendation 964 (1983) on a European award for non-violence,—

—Re commendation 1011 (1985) on the situation of professional dance in Europe, —

—Re commendation 1018 (1985) on private sponsorship of the arts,—

—Re commendation 1043 (1986) on Europe's linguistic and literary heritage,—

—Re commendation 1059 (1987) on the economics of culture,—

—Re commendation 1073 (1988) on follow-up to the European Music Year,—

—Re commendation 1104 (1988) on dance and —

—Re commendation 1135 (1990) on literary translation.13

13. In its replies to the above-mentioned recommendations the Committee of Ministers has stated that it shared the concern expressed by the Assembly. However it has not succeeded in implementing effective measures to protect and promote literature and the arts in Europe.

14. In 1984 the Council for Cultural Co-operation set up a European Theatre Prize, which was intended to "draw public attention to little-known persons or institutions making an innovative and original contribution to dramatic art, to contribute to the enrichment and influence of contemporary European culture and to give the Council of Europe an opportunity to make its activity in the cultural field better known to the outside world".

15. The prize, which did not seek to reward "well-tried" authors but rather to detect innovating efforts, was awarded for the first time in October 1985 in Venice. The CDCC, in its appraisal of the effectiveness of the prize, acknowledged the impact it had had in the theatre world and the contribution it had made to the renown of the winners. However it considered that the costs of the selection procedure (ten times higher than the amount of the award itself) were "hard to justify". Although proposals had been made to reduce the costs for the Council of Europe the fact is that the European Theatre Prize was never again awarded.

16. In 1987 the Commission of the European Communities proposed to associate the Council of Europe to a European Architecture Prize and the Council of Europe proposed that its European Theatre Prize be combined with actions that the Commission intended to launch in this field. The two organisations agreed to discuss the matter further in order to make concrete proposals but these never emerged.

17. The strange fate of the European Theatre Prize, which was awarded only once and never had the chance to prove its worth, should not discourage new attempts to award prizes in the filed of the arts.

18. On the other hand, the limited experience of the European Theatre Prize should point out that arrangements should be made so that award costs fall only to a small extent to the Council of Europe and are mainly borne by the arts festivals which each time have the privilege of presenting the results and benefit from the financial advantages of the publicity such a prize award represents. In this respect the European Theatre Prize is not similar to what is proposed in this recommendation.

19. While the list in paragraph 12 bears witness to the Assembly's initiative in the field of art and literature in past years it also illustrates that there has not been much activity in these fields in the past five years. It would appear, therefore, that the time is ripe for the Parliamentary Assembly to renew its efforts in this area.

20. There is ample need for the Council of Europe to draw attention to itself and its leadership role in the field of European cultural cooperation, at a time when its activities are being eclipsed by the European Community and many people make no distinction between these two bodies. A European prize for young writers and artists would, among many other things, serve to strengthen further and establish the Council of Europe's leading role in European cultural issues.

Reporting committee: Committee on Culture and Education.

Budgetary implications for the Assembly: none.

Reference to committee: Doc. 6586 and Reference No. 1781 of 4 May 1992.

Draft recommendation adopted unanimously by the committee on 28 September 1993.

Members of the committee: Mrs Fischer (Chairman), Sir Russell Johnston, Mr de Puig (Vice-Chairmen), MM. Alegre, Arnalds, Bauer, Bell, Berg, Bonnici, Bratinka, Cem, Decagny, Deniau, Mrs Err, Mr Ferrari, Mrs Fleeetwood, MM. Galanos (Alternate: Hadjidemetriou), Gül, Mrs Guourova, Mrs Hawlicek, Mr Hint, Baroness Hooper (Alternate: Sir Keith Speed), MM. Kalos, Koucký, Landsbergis (Alternate: Saudargas), Baroness Lockwood, MM. López Henares, Małachowski, Mesoraca, Monfils, Muehlemann, Müller, Pahtas, Mrs Persson (Alternate: Mrs Hjelm-Wallen), Mr Pilarski, Mrs Robert, Mr Roseta, Mrs Ryynänen, MM. Schädler, Schmidt, Schreiner, Seeuws, Soell, Spacek, Ms Szelényi, MM Tatarella (Alternate: Caccia Paolo), Tummers, Vajda, Verbeek (Alternate: Eversdijk), Zlobec.

NB: The names of those who took part in the vote are printed in italics.

Secretaries to the committee: MM. Grayson and Ary.