Berlin Conference 2025 “New Paths to Democracy"
The Berlin Conference 2025, organised by Stiftung Zukunft Berlin in cooperation with the civil society initiative A Soul for Europe, the European Festivals Association, and the Evangelische Akademie zu Berlin, once again reaffirmed the importance of dialogue between the arts and politics. Artists, festival leaders, civil society representatives, and local, national, and European political representatives gathered on 6–7 November in Berlin under the theme “New Paths to Democracy: Cultural Participation as an Instrument of Democratic Resilience”.
As a long-standing contributor, EFA brought the perspective of the festival community into the discussions, highlighting the role of festivals as platforms where citizens experience, question, and shape democracy through culture, as well as reflect on the challenges the sector is facing when it comes to living democracy locally.
Sir Jonathan Mills, composer and festival director, opened the Long Table Conversation “Art as a Bridge - How Culture Makes Democracy Tangible” by reflecting on cultural participation as a lived rehearsal of democracy, where people meet, listen, and translate themselves to one another. Drawing on the idea of consilience and Umberto Eco’s reminder that “the language of Europe is translation,” he argued that Europe’s strength lies in its plural civic imagination. Festivals, he noted, make this tangible: they bring people together in spaces of encounter, dialogue, and celebration, where presence and participation cultivate the civic habits that sustain democracy. For Jonathan Mills, democracy grows from the ground up - in local cultural spaces where trust, imagination, and community are continually shaped and nurtured.
Haris Pašović, theatre director and director of Sarajevo Fest, emphasised the importance to involve decision-makers, as the conference is built on the exchange between civil society and political actors, and that holding it on 9 November urges us to reflect on the significance of a world without walls; while Robert Piaskowski from Poland’s National Centre for Culture emphasised the urgent need to rebuild trust in society, noting that cultural institutions have a key role as networks that foster mutual understanding and strengthen connections between people.
Kristiina Avik, Head of Culture for the City of Tartu, Gergely Őrsi, Mayor of Budapest’s II District, and Rafael Eish, Music Advisor for the City of Bergen, shared how their cities collaborate with festivals to engage citizens, strengthen communities, and nourish local democratic life, all three EFFE Seal for Festival Cities and Regions holders. In this context, EFA also presented its new publication by Elena Polivtseva, Festivals in Context: The Role of the Arts in Local Cultural Policy, built on insights from these and other EFFE Seal cities and regions. Discussions surrounding the publication highlighted a shared conviction: when local authorities and festivals work hand in hand, they practice democracy and better meet the needs of their communities.
A central moment came with Jonathan Mills’ reflections and remarks and the end of the conference. He emphasised the importance of keeping cultural thinking at the centre of political conversations: “We are not in a conference of military strategists; we are here as cultural leaders thinking about what our response should be.” He urged cultural leaders to confront the profound political and societal challenges of our time without being paralysed by them, warning against letting narratives of conflict overshadow the transformative power of culture: “There is a danger… to be overwhelmed by the conflict part of the dialogue, rather than the central role that culture can play.”
He called for a new, more powerful advocacy narrative: not one focused on individual disciplines, but on the scale and democratic significance of Europe’s cultural grassroots. “Do not present it as a siloed, egoistical argument about your sector,” he urged. “Make this a deep grassroots argument about the fundamental rights of European citizens to participate in their cultural life.”
Finally, he offered a poetic yet incisive reminder of why culture matters for belonging and democracy, quoting philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty: “Just as places are sensed, senses are placed.” Festivals, libraries, and cultural spaces, he argued, are the anchors that allow citizens to shape and understand their place in the world.
The Berlin Conference remains a platform for continuous dialogue - where artistic voices meet political responsibility, where ideas move into practice and political action, and where the European project continues to be built and rethought through culture.