STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Street Artists in Europe
development is still in another phase in this part of Europe: many deteriorated, run down areas
still need adequate policy-making in order to be integrated in the urban development. In this
mission, street artists very often find themselves in conflicts with local actors: not explicitly
with the local municipality, but also (and maybe even more), with the economic investors who
want to shape the areas according to their interests. As a result of their weak budgets,
Municipalities are often subordinated to these investors. In these circumstances they are
logically against street artists even if the latter intend to take in charge some duties of the
municipality, such as social and spatial integration or the reinforcing of public solidarity…. This
has been stressed by the representative of the New Theatre Institute of Latvia from Riga,
specialised in the organisation of festivals in peripheral, abandoned areas: ‘There is a need for a
different attitude from the part of the municipality. While working on state-owned sites, the
duration of our presence is always limited. The state and the city aim to sell the land to private
businesses as soon as its value reaches a certain level. For instance, the cultural events organised
in abandoned factories are endangered by private businesses which are more and more willing to
rent out these spaces for a market price. The same scenario is obvious in the case of the old port
territories, where certain buildings were given to cultural NGOs for a limited time, in order to
attract audience and potential investors, buyers. The same with the old military district, when it
gets popularised, the state gets it back from the cultural NGOs, and sells it. All these processes
turn the situation of the independent cultural infrastructure into a more difficult one’ 299 .
These problems are of course not unknown in Western European countries either. However
there is still a great difference in how street arts are considered, and, as a result, how they are the
regulated in these countries. Here, street arts and their objectives are treated as integral and
useful parts of the artistic and social movements in general: they are not only tolerated but also
subsidised by the public sector. On the other hand, they have to respond to more and more
severe regulations. In the former socialist countries, street art events that want to reveal some
social or spatial inequalities are very often considered by local power, but also by local
inhabitants as a provocative and dangerous movement that only wishes to destroy civil values...
2.5. Street arts, festivals and the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) programmes?
Street arts and culture in general are today entirely accepted as determining factors of urban
development. The European Capital of Culture (ECOC) program had been created during the
1980s in order to help European cities to represent their cultural life on a European level. By the
1990s, the main objectives of ECOC have been gradually transformed and the programme
acquired a new approach. The main objective of the programme is hence to help cities to
improve their position in the international urban competition by increasing their economic and
tourism performance; to help them to create new jobs and new opportunities for investments, to
reinforce their urban identities, to enlarge their cultural activities and to integrate excluded
social groups into these activities. In one word, ECOC programme acquired an up-to-date vision
on the role of art and culture in the development of cities.
As it has been stated in the report of Robert Palmer concerning the role of street art in ECOC
programmes: 'All ECOC cultural programmes included projects taking place in public space.
Street parades, open-air events and festivals appeared prominently across the board. For some
cities this was very high on their agenda and was often part of a strategy to increase
participation in culture. Both the creation of art in public spaces and the organisation of specific
299 Interview with a member of the New Theatre Institute of Latvia.
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PE 375.307