Author: Elodie Makhoul, Research Assistant, Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity in EU Law: Exploring New Paths (DANCING)
On November 14-15, Culture Action Europe, leader of the Culture and Health platform, an initiative funded by the European Union (EU), hosted a two full-day conference to discuss the potential for culture to support and benefit the health and wellbeing of people. This initiative epitomises the importance of culture for well-being and the role that the EU can play in ‘supporting artists working at the intersection of culture, health, and social sectors across Europe’. The platform responds to the recommendations of the CultureForHealth Report (2022), which indicates, inter alia, the need to support the role of culture for well-being and health as well as to map good practices.
While the definition of wellbeing is frequently debated, wellbeing is most often associated with health, both mental and physical, however, wellbeing can also manifest in various other ways. Indeed, Eurofound describes subjective wellbeing as how people perceive the quality of their lives, and overall happiness, pointing to an emotional assessment of how individuals might feel. Another vision of wellbeing could be assimilated to encompass social inclusion and cohesion. Over the past few years, a great amount of research has emerged, linking the impact of cultural life on wellbeing and the way in which engaging in cultural activities could lead to achieving a healthier life. The research argues that culture can positively impact various aspects such as physical health and mental health; social inclusion; subjective wellbeing; and even contribute to engaged, resilient communities.
According to a World Health Organisation Report, participating in culture such as arts-based activities can involve different types of engagement mechanisms that facilitate health and wellbeing outcomes. For example, the studies led by Culture for Health demonstrate that many different health-benefits can come out of cultural activities, such as:
music and singing, which would help alleviate stress and anxiety, and promote social engagement and connection;
dancing, which can foster social engagement and physical activity;
photography and film, good for stress-reduction and self-expression;
or even visiting heritage sites and museums which can play an important role for social inclusion and general knowledge.
Culture has the potential to be a great motor in building social cohesion, developing new means of communication and empowering people. Furthermore, while participating in culture can benefit the general public, cultural involvement, such as arts-based activities might actually be even more helpful for individuals with various physical or mental conditions. For example, a report by the What Words Centre for Wellbeing that focused on arts projects for people with clinically diagnosed mental health issues found that, ‘projects based on engaging with visual arts in non-clinical settings show that such engagement can be liberating, and transformative – in “normalising” ways – for participants’. The research was found to help reduce social isolation and improve confidence. Indeed, a huge aspect of human wellbeing lies in experiencing a sense of belonging by engaging in social spaces which encourages collaboration through art-based activities.
Article 6 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU states that the Union only has supporting competence in the area of culture (and also in relation to health), however, it incorporates several initiatives to promote wellbeing, notably through culture. Indeed, €95.5 billion between 2021-2027 have been mobilised for EU funded Horizon Europe projects, some of which aim to stimulate innovation and the use of new technology but within the creative and cultural industries such as the New European Bauhaus, which is discussed in this symposium by Alessia Palladino. The EU has also placed a focus on access to culture for persons with disabilities, which is emerging as a distinct theme of cultural policy. As noted by Ferri and Subic in an article published back in 2022, this links to different objectives, one of them being ‘social inclusion’, and even more broadly, ‘wellbeing for all’. In that regard, the DANCING project which investigates the intersection of cultural participation of persons with disabilities and cultural diversity in the EU, recognises that upholding the right to participate in cultural life of persons with disabilities contributes to wellbeing of all and to better social cohesion. While this multifaceted and multilayered project has a distinct focus, it provides important findings such as that supporting the right to equal access to culture for people with disabilities, may further contribute to broader research on the role of culture in ensuring wellbeing for all in society.
Author: Alessia Palladino, Research Assistant, Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity in EU Law: Exploring New Paths (DANCING)
In her Mission Letters, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has entrusted the Commissioners Raffaele Fitto (Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reform), and Jessica Roswall (Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy) to further develop the New European Bauhaus (NEB).
The NEB is an initiative introduced by the Commission in 2021 with the goal of fostering sustainable solutions to transform the built environment of the European Union (EU). It aims to create a new design that represents the paradigm shift required by the European Green Deal (EGD), which entails a set of policies and investments to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050. The NEB is a multifaceted tool and is informed by three core values: aesthetic, sustainability and inclusion. This blog, written within the remit of the DANCING project, argues that the NEB, in pursuing inclusion at large, can play an important role in enhancing access to culture for people with disabilities.
DANCING Logo
The right to participation in culture for persons with disabilities is explicitly provided in Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). This provision, which is at the core of the DANCING project, highlights the importance of access to culture and the role of people with disabilities in enriching culture and society. If read in conjunction with the principle of participation as well as with the other key rights elucidated in the CRPD, it is clear that access to culture empowers persons with disabilities and allows them to fully participate in community life. In that regard, cultural participation can also be seen as key to wellbeing, as sustained in the DANCING project.
The NEB is in fact consistent with the overall ethos of the CRPD in relation to participation of persons with disabilities in all decision-making process affecting them, in that it went through and also requires for future NEB initiatives a co-creation phase, in which different civil society representatives engage and manifest their needs. The NEB also embeds a Design for All approach, i.e. a specific type of design that grants buildings and objects to be usable by everyone to the greatest extent possible.
Besides a general approach that is consistent with the CRPD, the NEB focuses on the renovation of cultural buildings. The NEB’s tools and resources highlights that cultural buildings like museums, theatres, libraries and cultural centres are vital to enhance community engagement. Further, cultural buildings also have a relevant influence on the perception of the overall built environment, hence they can have an effect on how the remaining built environment will be designed. In fact, cultural buildings are often a landmark of a specific area, and they can have a deep cultural meaning for the local community. Hence, implementing the NEB can not only support renovation initiatives that grant everyone physical access to culture, but can also have a butterfly effect and influence other players to engage with inclusive and accessible building processes.
Finally, the link between culture and circular practices, makes accessibility strictly intertwined with another core value of the NEB, i.e. sustainability. A building that is suitable for a higher number of people is less likely to undergo other adjustments in the future, thus becoming more sustainable.
Being an initiative that started in 2021, the NEB has encompassed some projects that have been fully completed. Among these, there is the Multi-sensory Museum, a project that, in line with the NEB, bridges art and technology to achieve sustainability, beauty and social inclusion. This project brought together designers and people with disabilities to create a space that “draws the museum visitor in through all the senses” to express inclusion through architecture and provide a new way to experience a museum visit that is accessible to all. This project well-epitomises the importance of this EU initiative to enhance access to culture for persons with disabilities.
On the whole, the NEB has already played and could play a powerful role in enhancing access to culture for people with disabilities. It remains to be seen whether the new Commissioners will be able to leverage on the results that the NEB has achieved so far and further develop this initiative, which has a great potential to boost inclusion and well being of persons with disabilities.
Author:Delia Ferri, Principal Investigator, Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity in EU Law: Exploring New Paths (DANCING)
The Marrakesh Directive, widely commented upon by copyrights scholars, introduces a mandatory exception to the harmonised rights of authors, empowering beneficiaries (i.e. people who are blind, have a visual impairment, people that have a perceptual or reading disability and people who are otherwise unable, due to a physical disability, to hold or manipulate a book or to focus or move their eyes to the extent that would be required for reading) and authorised entities (AEs) to convert a printed work into an accessible format without prior authorisation of the copyright holder. In substance, the Marrakesh Directive allows, without prior authorization of the copyright holder, conversion of existing printed material (books, newspapers, magazines, sheet music, and related illustrations and any other kind of written works, regardless of the media in which they are made available) in accessible formats (e.g. the creation of an audiobook from a printed volume) and the reproduction of accessible format copies (making additional copies of books in Braille). The Regulation, which is complementary to the Directive, provides for a copyright exception allowing for the cross-border exchange between EU Member States and Non-EU Member States who are party to the Marrakesh Treaty of accessible format copies of certain works that are ordinarily protected by copyright.
The EAA and Accessibility of Printed Material
Without engaging in the technicalities of the EAA, which I have commented on generally in an article published in the European Law Review in 2020, for the purpose of this brief blog, it suffices to highlight that it provides for a wide obligation for publishers to address accessibility concerns ex ante and produce accessible e-books. In fact, it has been highlighted that, when it comes to ebooks ‘the EAA is very thorough’ as it ‘takes into account the whole value chain from book production to consumption’. Although the EAA was enacted in 2019 and should have been transposed by the Member States by 2022, accessibility obligations will come into effect from 28 June 2025.
The EAA and the Marrakesh Package
The imminent coming into effect of EAA accessibility obligations has prompted some publishers to suggest that, in fact, the Marrakesh Directive in particular has lost, at least partially, its relevance. The Fédération des Editeurs européens highlights that the EAA is “a game changer in terms of the commercial availability of accessible books” and the enhanced availability of commercially available accessible copies should prompt for a careful approach in terms of disability copyright exceptions which should be reflected in any revision. The Fédération des Editeurs européens suggests that AEs should be able to “focus even more on cooperation with stakeholders, to avoid duplication and conflict with the commercial exploitation” of works, and similar arguments are put forward by the French Publishers Association (SNE). However, as highlighted in the recent “Study to support the evaluation of Directive (EU) 2017/1564 and of Regulation (EU) 2017/1563, which implement into EU law the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled”, the EAA and the Marrakesh Package diverge in their material and personal scope and do not clash or overlap. The EAA in fact will improve availability of ‘born-accessible’ works. However, it will only cover one format, that of e-books, and only apply to works published in digital formats after the cut-off date of 28 June 2025. Notably, the EAA has also a different personal scope than the Marrakesh Package. While the EAA covers people with disabilities, meaning that ebooks will need to be accessible to all people with disabilities (not just people with print disabilities). Further, given that the EAA does not apply to micro-enterprises, it substantially exempts small publishing houses from its obligations.
The qualitative research conducted in the DANCING project from the perspective of organisation of persons with disabilities further highlights that the EAA, in spite of its importance to support access of people with disabilities to printed material, neither diminishes nor hampers the relevance of the Marrakesh exception to copyright, which needs to be applied consistently. In particular, qualitative data collected through 10 semi-structured interviews with umbrella disability organisations active at the EU level – designed, deployed and conducted between June 2023 and January 2024[1] – revealed the need to fully and consistently apply the Marrakesh copyright exception and confirmed the importance of the Marrakesh Treaty and of the EU legislation transposing it. A thematic analysis ‘a la’ Braun and Clarke, unveiled that persons with disabilities do see the Marrakesh package as ‘one of the key initiatives from the EU on access to culture for persons with disabilities’ (NGO/OPD_1). One participant further added:
we have heard from certain industry that since now we have the European Accessibility Act that maybe the Marrakesh Treaty is not needed and that is entirely not true… Because I mean even if the Accessibility Act cover ebooks, which are important for access to culture obviously and education, this doesn’t mean that the Marrakesh Treaty is not needed… [by contrast it is essential] to have accessible formats specifically designed for persons with disabilities such as braille, ebooks, DAISY, you know, easy to read books etc. So we see that some industry players are using the Accessibility Act to say, hey now the Marrakesh Treaty is not needed anymore. And that is obviously not true… (NGO/OPD_1)
Another interviewee suggested that
…the [Marrakesh Package] have had a very significant impact and not even fully felt yet …. and I know we have been working a lot with national organisation[s] for blind people… around access to increasing access to alternative formats and … with […] publishers around making books accessible in alternative formats so if you need a digital version that you can listen to with your text to speech that you can get that really easily and quickly. Which is, I think, such a transformation from the past (NGO/OPD_9)
This tallies with the consideration that digital publishing is still relatively underdeveloped and uneven across the EU. Thus, regardless of the different scope of the two acts, the Marrakesh package is also perceived as essential because of existing accessibility shortcomings in the publishing.As one interviewee suggested that ‘[n]ot all the industries are on top of things when it comes to accessibility…’ (NGO/OPD_6). Interviewees also confirmed, in line with previous research, that the Marrakesh Package has stimulated access to, and enhanced availability of, printed material in accessible formats. Such impact is destined to remain even after June 2025.
*This blog post is a short dissemination output of the project entitled ‘Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths – DANCING’ which commenced in September 2020 (https://ercdancing.maynoothuniversity.ie/). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No 864182). It reflects only the author’s views and does not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ERC. I am grateful to Dr. Ann Leahy and Ms Eva Krolla for their support in the data collection process and in carrying out the interviews. I also wish to acknowledge with thanks the contributions of interview participants.
[1] The project encompassed a wide set of interviews. This particular dataset comes from 10 interviews with representatives of umbrella non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working on disability issues at the EU level and organisations of people with disabilities (OPDs). For the purpose of this research, OPDs were identified according to the definition proffered by the CRPD Committee in its General Comment No. 7. The CRPD Committee ‘considers that organizations of persons with disabilities should be rooted, committed to and fully respect the principles and rights recognized in the Convention. Ethical approval was obtained by the relevant Maynooth Ethics Committee.
*This blog post is a short dissemination output of the project entitled ‘Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths – DANCING’ which commenced in September 2020 (https://ercdancing.maynoothuniversity.ie/). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No 864182). It reflects only the author’s views and does not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the ERC. I am grateful to Dr. Ann Leahy and Ms Eva Krolla for their support in the data collection process and in carrying out the interviews. I also wish to acknowledge with thanks the contributions of interview participants.
Author: Eva Sophie Krolla, Research Assistant, Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity in EU Law: Exploring New Paths (DANCING)
