Mission / Statutes

The original mission of the Association - whose primary name was "Scientific Council for ERICarts e.V." -  was to establish an "interdisciplinary institute for basic and applied research in the cultural and media fields" (Art. 2.3 of the Statutes of 1993). This goal was achieved through the formal establishment of the ERICarts Institute in 2004, following the Assemblies held in Strasbourg and Berlin (where also the new name of the Association was adopted).  ECURES now participates in the decision-making process of the ERICarts Institute (in its Board of Governors) and members take part in its comparative research projects.

Members of the ECURES e.V. share the common objective of advancing cultural research through conferences, publications and other means, thus implementing the mission of the Association (see details in Art. 2 of the current Statutes):

• Actively promote scientific and cultural co-operation throughout Europe and with the Southern hemisphere;
• Work for increased transparency and competence in European cultural policymaking;
• Support cultural researchers by e.g. facilitating exchanges and contributing to their professional training;
• Help improve methodologies and instruments used in cultural research;
• Empower members by encouraging participation in each others research projects.

Since a few years, ECURES placed emphasis on taking care of the interests of experts collaborating in the Council of Europe/ERICarts Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe.