The European Music School Union (EMU) has added its signature to an open letter signed by more than 70 cultural organisations, networks and institutions across Europe. The letter urges EU policymakers to allocate at least 25 % of the budget for the newly proposed AgoraEU programme to its cultural component, and to make funding procedures more accessible while guaranteeing fair pay and social security for artists.
EMU notes that the current Culture strand of AgoraEU is slated for €1.8 billion – roughly €260 million per year – which translates to just nine cents of every hundred euros spent in the next EU budget cycle. The coalition argues that this modest share falls short of the needs of Europe’s cultural and creative sectors, which are confronting an acute funding crisis, systemic precarity and emerging threats from generative artificial intelligence.
Stronger investment, the EMU and its partners contend, would sustain music schools, ensembles and educators by securing stable project financing, supporting cross‑border collaborations and ensuring that teachers and students receive adequate resources and social protections. The letter cites the EU’s Joint Declaration ‘Europe for Culture – Culture for Europe’ as the political framework that should be backed by a robust AgoraEU cultural budget.
Source image: musicschoolunion.eu.
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