Entertainment unions gathered in Prague to discuss training and skills

From 29 to 30 of January 2025, European Social Partners in the Audiovisual and Live Performance sectors behind Creative Skills Europe organised a second regional conference on skills for Central andEastern Europe in Prague, Czechia. The partner organisations are the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Pearle* Live Performance Europe, the Media, Entertainment & Arts sector of UNI Europa (EURO-MEI), the International Federation of Actors (FIA), the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ).  

Martina Pecková Černá, Head of the Cultural and Creative Industries at the Czech Ministry of Culture welcomed the participants to Prague and gave an overview of the state-of-play for the cultural and creative professionals in Czech Republic.

Organised with the local support of the Arts and Theatre Institute‘s InfoPoint for the international cooperation CzechMobility.Info, the conference put the spotlight on key challenges faced by the audiovisual and live performance sectors such as the digital shift, the green transition, gender equality and inclusion, as well as access to training for all sector professionals.

The conference brought together over 70 participants from the fields of journalism, broadcasting, film production, live performance, etc. Organisations represented employers, trade unions, policymakers and educational institutions from different countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Poland and Slovenia. Together with experts coming from other European regions, they explored the ways training and skills initiatives can help address the main challenges faced by the live performance and audiovisual sectors.

The conference was also the opportunity to present and discuss with professionals of both sectors in the region the European Framework of Actions on Skills in the Audiovisual and Live Performance sectors adopted by European Social Partners in 2023. The document aims at improving the relevance, quality, accessibility of and participation in lifelong learning for cultural and creative professionals across the EU.

This regional conference is the second of a series of three to be organised in 2024-2025. It is part of a project, implemented jointly by the social partners and co-funded by the European Union, to promote and disseminate the Framework of Actions on Skills at regional and national level, and support the development of new solutions in the acquisition of skills. One last regional conference for Northern Europe will be organised in the coming months.