On 29 and 30 April 2025, On the Move hosted its fourth Cultural Mobility Forum in Riga, Latvia, co-hosted by NDPC, Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture and in partnership with Riga Cirks and HowlRound. More than 140 people registered for the event (with an additional 389 people registered online), involving members’ representatives of On the Move together with a wide range of local, national, and international stakeholders in the field of culture and arts.
Why a Cultural Mobility Forum?
As part of its multiannual programme co-funded by the European Union, each year On the Move proposes a Cultural Mobility Forum to collectively investigate international artistic and cultural mobility trends. As a unique knowledge platform, the network works together with its members and partners to design thematic panel discussions. These in turn address the main points from On the Move’s annual Cultural Mobility Yearbook monitoring mobility opportunities and funding schemes, analysing flows and obstacles, and raising awareness of burning issues.
Focus 2025: Revisiting the International Mobility of Young and Emerging Arts Workers
The 2025 Cultural Mobility Forum, articulated around four panel discussions, aimed to foster critical dialogue on the pathways forward for young and emerging artists and culture professionals, offering perspectives on how international mobility, inclusivity, and sustainability can be reimagined for a resilient arts and culture sector.
As the world emerged from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the career trajectories of young and emerging artists and culture professionals faced profound challenges. For many, their early careers began in the context of remote-only training, virtual internships, or online graduations, conditions that hindered vital networking and sector engagement. The pandemic interrupted the journeys of emerging artists and, in too many cases, led to abandonment of artistic pursuits altogether. Data is scarce on those who may have reoriented their paths, raising questions: In 2025, who is genuinely prepared to pursue an artistic career in the face of such profound uncertainties? How do digital development, mobility justice issues, climate concerns, and international world uncertainties influence their appetite to embrace an international pathway?
If you could not attend the event or missed one of the panels, do not worry! We have uploaded all of them to our YouTube channel:
- Panel discussion 1: ‘Arts education and cultural management programmes: embedding the internationalisation of practices’
- Panel discussion 2: ‘Transitioning to the international arts & culture ecosystem: revisited motivations and challenges’
- Panel discussion 3: ‘Points of departure, points of arrival: young arts workers reviewing international relations’
- Panel discussion 4: ‘Takeaways and recommendations’
For further reference, you can also take a look at our flagship publication, On the Move Cultural Mobility Yearbook 2025, where we analyse cultural mobility trends with a particular focus on young and emerging arts workers.
Additionally, you can look through the pre-Forum webinars:
- Webinar #1: European Platforms for the Promotion of Emerging Artists (19 March 2025) – video recording here
- Webinar #2: International mobility funders supporting young and emerging arts workers (9 April 2015) – video recording here
- Webinar #3: The international mobility of young arts workers: trends, facts and funds (23 April 2025) – video recording here
Finally, as a result of the strategic meeting with mobility funders, which was held in Riga, Latvia on 28 April 2025 at the premises of the Ministry of Culture, Latvia, the participants decided in the conclusion of the meeting to work on some key recommendations to devise mobility funding schemes specifically targeting young and emerging artists and culture professionals. You can read these recommendations here.
Acknowledgments for the local support
On the Move would like to thank very much NDPC, Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture and Riga Cirks for their support and wonderful hospitality, as well as HowlRound for their great support for the online streaming. On the Move is also very grateful for the support of the European Union (under the New Solidarities’ project funding 2025–2028), the Asia-Europe Foundation for their support commissioning an arts reporter from Indonesia, and DutchCulture | TransArtists for their support to commission an arts reporter from Ukraine.
