On July 16, the Community Policy Statement of the new government of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (FWB) was published, outlining its priorities for 2024-2029. What about culture and the media? There are many proposals and statements of intent that reaffirm the desire to support artists and creativity. Here are the main points:

The “culture and media” section covers 10 of the document’s 78 pages. Among the most important measures: opening arts funding to the private sector through sponsorship and participatory financing. This includes the creation of an “Arts Foundation” and tax breaks, to be negotiated at the federal level. The government also plans to defend at the European level the idea that music streaming platforms should contribute to the financing of production in FWB.

However, questions remain about the evolution of the FWB’s own cultural budget. While the private sector can certainly increase the resources available, it cannot replace the public contracts essential for artistic freedom and independence.

On the social and fiscal front, the executive wants to “strengthen” the status of art workers. In particular, it proposes to remove this status from ONEM’s social security budget and administration, and to “clarify” the tax regime for copyright and related rights. While strengthening these statutes is a stated priority, the review of recent reforms obtained after years of negotiations still raises serious concerns.

The new government also wants to “support” the growth of new technologies, especially AI, while considering their regulation in terms of intellectual property protection at the federal and European levels.

The government also wants to ensure that artists in the FWB are fairly rewarded in terms of grant applications and subsidized operators, improve their training and revise broadcast quotas to encourage their broadcasts on public media at peak times. The government also wants to strengthen their presence on digital platforms by checking recommendation algorithms.

Finally, it also proposes creating a one-stop shop (like the Culture Counter) for artists and cultural entrepreneurs through the creation of a “House of the Arts,” which would also bring together all the federations.

In summary, the Community Policy Statement presents a set of proposals and intentions consistent with several of the priorities advocated in our memorandum. However, many of the measures remain unclear in terms of their practical implementation and budgetary feasibility. Moreover, many initiatives have yet to be negotiated at the federal and European levels, leaving some uncertainty about the outcome.

As always, the devil is in the details, and it will be essential to remain vigilant as to whether these commitments are actually implemented over the next four years.

Stay tuned!