<aside> <img src="/icons/location_gray.svg" alt="/icons/location_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Venue: AT60 - House of the Austrian Economy, Avenue de Cortenbergh 60, 1000 Brussels, BE
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/calendar_gray.svg" alt="/icons/calendar_gray.svg" width="40px" /> May 5th - 8:45 - 17:00
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/video-camera_gray.svg" alt="/icons/video-camera_gray.svg" width="40px" /> In Person & Online
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/compose_gray.svg" alt="/icons/compose_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Registration In person: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sdece26-strategic-dialogue-on-the-european-creative-economy-on-site-tickets-1983557268185?aff=oddtdtcreator
Online: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sdece26-strategic-dialogue-on-the-european-creative-economy-online-tickets-1983561268149
</aside>
Join us in person in Brussels for the 2nd Strategic Dialogue on the European Creative Economy (#SDECE26), a high-level policy forum dedicated to shaping the future of creative work in the age of Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how cultural and creative work is created, produced, distributed, and monetised across Europe. For artists and creative professionals, this shift is already reshaping working realities — often faster than policy frameworks can respond. The central question we will address is clear: How can Europe ensure that AI strengthens, rather than undermines, artists’ working conditions, rights, and long-term career sustainability?
Building on the 2025 Strategic Dialogue (#SDECE25) and the CreativeFED White Paper on Strategic Cultural Autonomy, as well as the European Commission’s High-Level Round Table on Artists’ Working Conditions, #SDECE26 moves from principles to implementation.
This edition creates a dedicated space for policymakers, Members of the European Parliament, sector organisations, EU-funded projects, artists, researchers, social partners, and technology stakeholders to engage in a forward-looking dialogue on AI and fair work.
What to Expect
#SDECE26 reframes artists’ working conditions as a strategic European issue, linked to competitiveness, democratic resilience, and cultural diversity.
AI is not just a technological development. It is a policy choice.
Join us to help shape it.
| 8.45 – 9.30 | Registration |
|---|---|
| 9.30 – 9.45 | **Opening and Welcome |
by Gerin Trautenberger, CreativeFed president** | | 9.45 – 10.00 | **Keynote: From Principles to Practice: Shaping AI Policy for Fair Work and Sustainable Creative Careers in Europe
by EU Commissioner Glenn Micallef**
This keynote sets the political and strategic frame for the day by positioning AI as a policy choice rather than a technological inevitability. It highlights Europe’s responsibility to ensure that AI reinforces fair working conditions, creative autonomy, and sustainable careers, while recognising artists and creative professionals as central to Europe’s cultural, democratic, and economic resilience and underscoring the need for coherent policy action across AI, culture, labour, and skills. | | 10.00 – 10.30 | **Keynote on Competitiveness and multi-financial programme
by MEP Mr. Christian Ehler**
This session will focus on the intersection of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) and Artificial Intelligence within the broader context of European competitiveness. Framed as a keynote on competitiveness and the multi-annual financial programme, it explores how strategic investment, policy alignment, and innovation funding can strengthen the role of CCIs in an AI-driven economy. The discussion highlights the opportunities and challenges AI presents for creative sectors, including intellectual property, value creation, and technological adoption, while emphasizing the need for forward-looking financial instruments and coordinated European strategies to ensure sustainable growth, resilience, and global competitiveness. | | 10.30 - 11.00 | **Reflective AI: An alternative paradigm for creative practice
by Vera Van der Burg, PhD researcher at TU Delft Designing Intelligence Lab**
Dominant narratives frame AI as either threat or efficiency tool for creative professionals. This talk proposes a third path: AI as reflective material. Artist and PhD researcher Vera van der Burg shares her practice of slow, material-focused engagement with image-based AI systems, from training models on personal archives to integrating ceramic practice with AI generation. She demonstrates how AI can support artistic self-examination rather than replace creative work, and invites the audience to reimagine what our tools could look like if we prioritized reflection over efficiency and automation. | | 11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee Break | | 11:30 – 12:00 | Provocation: **AI and Creative Work: Friend or Foe? Navigating the Tension Between Innovation and Fairness
by Romain Boonen, Strategic AI Advisor & Trainer and Founder at Empowork Culture**
This session will explore the dual role of AI in the creative sectors: as both a powerful tool for innovation and a potential challenge to fair working conditions. It will address the tensions between advancing creative possibilities and ensuring that AI contributes to equitable, sustainable careers for creatives. The session will provoke thought on how AI can be shaped to benefit both creativity and fair work, offering insights into how policy can support this balance in the future. | | 12:00 –13:30 | **Strengthening Europe’s Capacity to Reskill and Upskill the Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) in the Age of AI: A Policy Workshop on the CYANOTYPES Framework
By David Crombie, CYANOTYPES / HKU University of the Arts Utrecht**
This session will explore how Europe can strengthen its approach to reskilling and upskilling the cultural and creative sectors in response to AI-driven transformation, through the CYANOTYPES Framework. Focusing on AI literacy, creative-AI co-creation skills, and contractual literacy, the framework ensures skills development aligns with the realities of artistic careers and fair working conditions. Through interactive breakout discussions, participants will generate policy recommendations on making upskilling efforts accessible, fair, and compatible with social protection and paid learning time, aiming to create actionable proposals for the EU's long-term AI strategy in the cultural and creative industries. | | 13:30–14:30 | Lunch Break | | 14:30–15:30 | **Future-Proofing Creative Careers
by Becky Riches, CREDEX / Materahub**
As AI reshapes the creative landscape, how do we ensure artists aren’t left behind?
This session explores how microcredentials could help bridge the skills gap, turning informal expertise into portable, professional currency.
We’ll discuss how embedding these credentials into EU policy can: • Secure Fair Pay: Linking skills to remuneration in AI-driven markets. • Boost Mobility: Creating sustainable, borderless career paths for creators. • Drive Policy Change: Integrating microcredentials into funding and public procurement.
Join us as we develop the roadmap for a fairer, more resilient cultural sector. | | 15:30–16:30 | **Innovating Work in Crafts: AI for Fairer Creative Careers
By Jonas Kasper Jensen, CRAFT-IT4SD / Aarhus University**
This session will explore the role of AI in shaping the future of the cultural and creative sectors, with a particular focus on crafts, working conditions, and policy development. The discussion will examine how AI-driven tools can enhance productivity, support skills development, and open new opportunities for craftspeople, while also addressing challenges related to job quality, fair working conditions, and long-term employment in the sector. Special attention will be given to ensuring that technological adoption contributes to professional stability rather than precarity. The session will also address the policy dimension, highlighting the need for coherent EU strategies that integrate AI, sustainability, and the craft sector. It will conclude with key policy recommendations aimed at fostering innovation, improving working conditions, and supporting the long-term resilience of cultural and creative industries. | | 16:30–17:00 | Closing Session: **From Dialogue to Policy Action and the regional dimension, CCI Beyond 2028
by Gerin Trautenberger, ECBN/CreativeFed president**
The closing session will summarise the key conclusions of the day and consolidate the main policy recommendations emerging from the discussions. It will highlight clear priorities for EU action on AI, skills, and working conditions, outlining how policy can strengthen fair work and sustainable creative careers across the cultural and creative sectors. |