Hey Hivers!
It is with great excitement that we are sharing with you a new project we have been working on since the end of last year. Over the next month we will be presenting the world with this project, introducing all of our partners and developing the showcases and programs as we move toward our first events in the summer. This little video presentation gives a first impression of our mission and our mentality.
The past decade we have seen the dark forces of nationalism rising, threatening the progress made on the continent since the end of the second world war. While the economies of Europe have grown more interconnected, its culture has quietly grown in the shadows.
Unknown to many of its inhabitants, Europe has developed a unique identity through a unification of the diverse people and their traditions. Influenced by the concept of identity construction as presented by Saul Bellows in his Nobel Prize-winning novel Humboldt's Gift, the lack of an identifiable culture can be used to explain the reluctance of many Europeans to view themselves as such.
In order to combat the rise of nationalism, the people of Europe must recognize the budding culture of which they are a part of.
Europe has transcended its place as a collection of nations and is rapidly developing a culture of its own.
When we think about our culture, we identify a set of norms and traditions which permeate every aspect of our lives. The economic system in which we operate has drawn Europe's markets together out of necessity, but it is our artistic, culinary, and normative developments from which we derive our cultural identity. The free movement of persons and massive waves of immigration over the past decades have created a truly European culture. This new culture remains nuanced and we believe it is imperative of the artistic community to recognize their role in this development and to present the European Culture not only to the world but to the citizens of the European Union itself. Only through the recognition of this renewed "European" culture can we avoid a reversion to our nationalistic past and truly be United in Diversity.
It is out of this necessity for a European identity that EU4YA has derived its purpose. Through our experiences traveling across continental Europe and performing and interacting with local citizens and municipalities, we believe there is a failure of pan-European cultural messaging. In the absence of such events and programs, it is imperative that the creative community take it upon itself to clearly expose the new European cultural identity of which we feel a part of. EU4YA identifies that there are countless others who share our beliefs and vision, and we want to take a pivotal role in fostering relationships between regional artists, organizers, and the general public.