The purpose of the public event is to get to grips with what's really happening with contemporary art funding in Europe. For instance, what are the proportions between public and private funding, for individual practitioners and for institutions in different parts of Europe? Is public funding disappearing? If so, what can we do beyond lamenting the situation? If no, what is happening to public funding as it is clearly going through major changes? The conference will examine if and how art is affected by different forms of funding. Is it for example possible to identify clear differences in terms of what kind of art is being produced and how it is being presented by different funders? The event will also discuss if the situation today is stable. If not, in which direction does it develop? What are the arguments behind these developments? What are the visions and fears for the future? It is also particularly interesting to look at what kind of policy making is supporting the existing structures since the motivations for funding art vary, as do the expectations on what art can deliver. So the question becomes: what do funders want to promote today? What do they want to prevent? If a funder has an aim to support contemporary art in its different manifestations in a particular context, what funding strategies would be the most fruitful?

Questions about funding often come out of ideas around art as a free and independent way of dealing with human reality. But at whose expense can art – potentially - be free? Or is this just an illusion? One of the keynote speakers will be Munira Mirza, UK writer, researcher and lecturer on issues related to cultural policy and identity. An important target group for the public event is policy makers across Europe, as well as opinion makers such as media people, artists and curators.