Brussels, 08/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - The conference on cultural patronage held on 8-9 April in Madrid on the initiative of Pilar del Castillo, the Spanish Minister for Education, Culture and Sports, and Viviane Reding, the member of the European Commission responsible for Education and Culture, will be attended by those responsible for major European museums and corporate and university patronage, and directors of foundations, will provide an opportunity to take stock of the situation in Europe and to discuss how patronage can be promoted and developed.
"Patronage is now a key factor in funding culture. Action by Community and national authorities must be geared to encouraging a state of mind which is more conducive to patronage, especially transnational patronage, in Europe. The conference in Madrid is intended to identify how far the mechanisms for doing this need to be set up or improved in order to give our cultural diversity more scope to spread throughout the continent and the world" said Mrs Reding. In her introductory address, Ms Reding also declared that she hoped that this would contribute to the relevant fields in the EU and improve inforamtion and its diffusions so that cultural resources wee better used and in an optimal way in Europe. Ms ready stated that she was prepared to set up an inter-service working group at the Commission, which involve the different areas of European cultural patronage. In a communiqué, the spokles person underlined that, "the level of private funding of culture is still fairly low. However, patronage can complement or facilitate sorely needed action by public authorities in this area, which is all the more crucial now, since the cultural borders of the European Union encompass countries in which this public/private partnership is an absolute necessity".