UNIC is one of the 35 organisations selected to participate in the Dialogue Cycle on Gender Balance in the Cultural and Creative Sectors, organised by Voices of Culture at the initiative of the European Commission. As gender equality is one of the five priorities in the current Work Plan for Culture (2019 -2022) of the Council of the European Union, the aim of the exercise is to identify the needs and initiatives of the cultural sector in this field.
The two-day brainstorming meeting - the first part of the dialogue cycle - took place at the Goethe-Institut Prague and brought together representatives from the selected 35 organisations representing the voices of cultural and creative sectors in Europe. The objective was to provide a framework to exchange views and best practice, decide on main priorities and propose measures that address the drivers of gender gaps in the sector.
Through a variety of working exercises and group discussions, participants were able to tackle different issues and aspects of the topic and to prioritise and put forward recommendations around four main areas, including gender balance leadership, education and training, sexual harassment and equal access to opportunities.
This served as a great opportunity for UNIC to share our experience of the UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme and exchange thoughts with other organisations from the sector on how we can work together to achieve better gender balance.
At the end of the second day, an editorial team was formed and tasked with drafting the brainstorming report that will be presented to the European Commission in November.
Looking forward, the Dialogue meeting with the European Commission will take place on 6th of November in Brussels.