The newly published Culture Report / EUNIC Yearbook 2014/2015 entitled 'Europe: Closed Doors or Open Arms?' discusses migration into Europe.  A conference on the theme is organised in Oslo by EUNIC Norway on October 14.

"The Third World is knocking at Europe’s door, and it is coming in, whether Europe wants it or not". The Italian writer Umberto Eco verbalises an issue that is currently concerning media and policymakers in Europe.  In the face of increasing migration across the Mediterranean, which has resulted in hundreds of deaths, the EU’s new agenda is discussing refugee quotas and military attacks on human traffickers. At the same time, Europe’s age pyramid is shifting. Experts tell us that Europe needs a million young migrants every year to compensate for its increasing numbers of pensioners. And what about the migrants already living in Europe – without adequate levels of integration into society as a whole?

Which strategies currently exist in EU Member States? Have they been successful? How can we make best use of the potentials of culture, and which concepts are needed to improve the cultural integration of migrants? How can Europe cope with the contradiction between repressive refugee policies and rational approaches towards migration? And finally, how can EUNIC, the European network of national institutes for culture, promote the cultural integration of migrants?

In the Culture Report/EUNIC Yearbook 2014/2015, a string of renowned scholars, authors and writers, including Francis Fukuyama, Bassam Tibi, Umberto Eco, Richard Sennett and Zygmunt Bauman look for answers to these questions.

The Culture Report/EUNIC-Yearbook 2014/2015 "Europe: Closed Doors or Open Arms? Culture and Migration" is available in both German and English.
Online on media.ifa.de/kulturreport

The Culture Report/EUNIC Yearbook is being published by the ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen – Institute for International Cultural Relations) in cooperation with the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) in Amsterdam and EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture).

Further information from EUNIC

A CONFERENCE on Culture and Migration is organised by EUNIC Norway in Oslo on October 14:

How can cultural institutions in Europe contribute to an intercultural society? Europe is facing nowadays very important issues on migration, identity and mobility. The political response on immigration has till now been confined to a security problem. Nevertheless, Europe must also step up to the challenge of deepening its knowledge and awareness of its own cultural diversity and try to shape a possible European identity steeped in diversities. Through few European examples this seminar will try to answer the following questions via an interdisciplinary approach: How can intercultural dialogue, culture and arts, lead to a better understanding of cultural diversity and migration? More specifically: how museum and cultural programming can help us to think differently the question of migration, mobility and identity?

14 October 2015 (9am -3pm): Open conference organised by EUNIC Norway in Litteraturhuset (Wergelandsveien 29, 0167 Oslo, Norway) Participants: Saphinaz Amal Naguib (Norway), Sabrina Morena (Italy), Catherine Withol de Wenden (France), Carlos Mínguez Carrasco (Spain), Arnd Kolb (Germany), Katherine Watson (The Netherlands)