STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Street Artists in Europe
culture. The rating for street art is in general too low. The governments from the cities don`t
have financial margin anymore and so they reduce social and cultural benefits. The situation
will exacerbate from year to year…and the question if we can afford to this kind of culture will
also be queried from year to year.’ (Germany)
‘Dutch street theatre is entering a difficult period, minimal funding less and less new
productions. Minimum performance possibilities. They are earning relatively less and less on
the street-festivals, it is hard to exist. The major festivals are all suffering from reduce financial
support, which immediately has his effect on the program. Generally speaking the major
festivals want more [from the artists] for less. The other effect is the quality of Dutch street
theatre is not improving, it is being overtaken by all our neighbours, Help!!.’ (Netherlands)
In countries where there is established funding for street arts, money comes from a variety of
sources, national, regional and local; most festivals and companies are funded through public
money. Respondents claimed minimal interest from private enterprise (from nothing to 10%) –
with the exception of Romania’s single festival which has 20% private investment. Some
festivals acknowledge support in kind from commercial sources and in some places, commercial
organisations directly fund the local Town Centre partnership, which then funds street arts.
In Belgium and France, there is a national recognition of the role of street arts, with decrees and
statutes (however, calculation of the figures given for Belgium, the street arts uses just 0.04% of
the cultural budget!) In Belgique Francophone, there is also a special fund called ‘Art et Vie”,
which offers a ‘guarantee against loss’ to agreed festivals; otherwise, Namur is nearly alone as a
town investing directly in its street festival; whereas in the Flemish half of Belgium, there is
significant regional and city investment – Gent, Antwerpen, Hasselt and the province of
Limburg.
In France the Ministry of Culture and its regional departments (les DRACs) fund many different
street arts projects – festivals, creation centres and companies, a training programme and a
national development agency, along with the current street arts development initiative Le Temps
des Arts de la Rue. Individual towns and cities also invest significant amounts of money in their
annual festival programme. Additionally, there is regular interest and support from local media
– the press, radio and television – enabling the profile of an event to be higher than could be
gained from expensive advertising.
However, even with this level of support, some programmers feel they need to be loyal to their
home-grown performers:
"Yes it's true we do support many small street theatre companies in France which are already
very fragile, in a social context that is in crisis. But we do want to be able to meet and
programme other foreign groups."
In Italy, support comes indirectly, to the local authorities:
“The only region having issued a specific law for street arts is the Regione Piemonte by this law
a special fund is determined year by year, in order to support many city councils involved in
organization and promotion of street arts festivals. Most city councils try to give operational
help and support in order to ease performances, to detect proper pedestrian areas for shows,
providing parking and service facilities. They also issue local laws in this context.”
The Irish Arts Council has come closer to street arts via the country’s immense tradition of
parading:
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PE 375.307