<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
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<aside> <img src="/icons/calendar_gray.svg" alt="/icons/calendar_gray.svg" width="40px" /> May 5th - 9:00 - 17:00
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<aside> <img src="/icons/video-camera_gray.svg" alt="/icons/video-camera_gray.svg" width="40px" /> In Person & Online
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<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
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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.
| 9.00 – 9.30 | Registration |
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| 9.30 – 9.45 | Opening and Welcome |
| 9.45 – 10.15 | Keynote: From Principles to Practice: Shaping AI Policy for Fair Work and Sustainable Creative Careers in Europe |
| 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. | |
| 10.15 – 10.30 | Keynote |
| 10.30 - 11.00 | Reflective AI: An alternative paradigm for creative practice |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 | Microcredentials: A Policy Approach to Fairer Creative Careers in the Age of AI |
| This session will explore how microcredentials can address the rapid pace of change in the cultural and creative sectors driven by AI, and how they can be embedded within EU policy to ensure fairer, more sustainable careers for artists. By providing portable, EU-recognized proof of competencies, microcredentials offer a practical solution for upskilling and reskilling, supporting career mobility and fair remuneration in AI-driven creative markets. The session will focus on recognizing informal and non-formal learning, common in artistic careers, and will develop policy recommendations on how microcredentials can be integrated into EU skills, employment, and cultural policies, ensuring they are linked to funding eligibility, public procurement, and career progression in the context of AI. | |
| 15:30–16:30 | Innovating Work in Crafts and Arts: AI and Artistic Research for Fairer Creative Careers |
| This session will explore the intersection of artistic research, AI, and the greening of the cultural and creative sectors, with a particular focus on crafts. It will bring together projects focused on advancing the green transition through artistic research and those dedicated to preserving and innovating within traditional craft practices. The session will highlight how AI-driven innovation can drive sustainable, low-impact creative practices and develop green skills for artists. It will also emphasize the importance of artistic research as a core part of the green transition, ensuring that these efforts contribute to fair working conditions, long-term employment, and professional stability. The session will conclude with key policy recommendations on how to integrate sustainability, AI, and crafts into EU policy, funding, and long-term strategies for the cultural and creative sectors. | |
| 16:30–17:00 | Closing Session: From Dialogue to Policy Action |
| 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. |