On the Move (OTM) is the international information network dedicated to artistic and cultural mobility, currently gathering 60+ members from 27 countries. Co-funded by the European Union for the project Mobility Spaces (MxS), On the Move aims in 2022-2024 to support all mobility stakeholders to build responsiveness to global interdependencies and challenges, including social or societal ones.
General Meeting
Hosted by the Nordic Culture Point, the international network gathers its members for its annual general meeting. As an active member, FACE participates in the life of the organisation. This first IRL gathering after 2 years of pandemic is the occasion for OTM members to contribute to the activities of existing thematic working groups, namely Mobility Info Points, (En)Forced Mobility, Mobility Funding as well as two new ones: Green Mobility, International Mentoring.
Cultural Mobility Forum
As part of its pluriannual programme, On the Move proposes every year a Cultural Mobility Forum to investigate collectively international artistic and cultural mobility trends. As a unique knowledge platform, the network conceives together with members and partners thematic panel discussions to address the main points tackled in the annual Cultural Mobility Yearbook monitoring mobility opportunities and funding schemes, analysing flows and impediments and raising the awareness of several burning issues.
► Focus 2022: Digital Mobility
The Covid-19 crisis has brought transnational cooperation almost to a halt. Paraphrasing researcher and FACE board member Milica Ilic, this disruption is bound to have consequences that will mark the sector for years to come. With little or no international travel, arts professionals are turning to their local environments, further changing the landscape for transnational work, and accelerating a trend which in some countries was already in motion due to political shifts or ecological concerns. The full effects of these changes are yet to be understood but could potentially have lasting consequences on a generation of artists, in particular those from less privileged environments, where mobility more than a choice, is a necessity.
As On the Move President Marie Fol observed it, there have been many debates on the value of international mobility and physical encounters, as well as on digital practises – their limitations and challenges alongside their joys and opportunities. While acknowledging that cultural mobility has suffered from a wide range of problems in the past – ranging from unequal access to funding to unnecessary administrative burdens – several voices have observed that digital mobility could open new pathways and answer pressing needs in relation to issues such as diversity, inclusion, access, and the need for more balanced power relations. Is the digital shift providing all that it seems to promise?
More information here.