The international congress ‘The New European Cultural Landscape and the Jewish Experience’ brought together people from the academic, cultural and political spheres. Using the Jewish narrative as a case study, it explored how minorities fuel the creative process in arts and science and how this will shape Europe in the future. The Congress was held at the Museum of Modern Art, in Stockholm and was supported by the Culture 2000 programme of the European Union.

Here is the statement from the organizers, published in the catalogue of the conference:

“Europe faces great economic, cultural and social challenges. Fueled by startling demographic shifts, new reactionary platforms threaten the fabric of democracy. The Europe of the modern era, a centre of liberal and avant-garde culture, its at a pivotal moment. The Jews, a minority group, contributed greatly to the European modernist movement and became a leading force in it. They managed a successful coexistence between Jewish tradition and the dominant society, regarding themselves as Europeans above all. If the history of Jewish life in Europe is no success story – the Holocaust looms large – Jewish cultural contributions shine bright. They were an astonishing success at the time and, in hindsight, remain so.

The history of Europe’s Jews attests to the generous creative energy of a minority culture. Today, Europe is home to many new minorities and European society needs a bridge-building process that ultimately will accommodate the many cultures and identities the demographic shifts have transplanted. The aim of this international congress is to bring together people from the academic, cultural and political spheres in order to explore the role of minorities and integration in fueling the creative process within arts and science in the shaping of future Europe, using the Jewish narrative as a case study.

The New European Cultural Landscape and the Jewish Experience will look critically at recent immigration trends in Europe and the rise of anti-democratic movements. Has alarm about immigrants unleashed anti-democratic sentiments on the part of the hegemonic population? How can Europe and its minority groups tackle the rise of anti democratic developments? How have long–established minority groups fared in the wake of the new tensions? Are we reinstating a class society that marginalizes its less privileged members, including its ethnic minorities? How can these threats be overthrown? Can arts and science function as a bridge-building process? Does ethnicity enter into the creative process? Does the creative process strengthen ethnic identity? Is the creative process an effort to reach beyond the creator‘s ethnic group?

To understand these processes better, the role of cultural creativity by a minority group will be explored – albeit briefly – through a critical analysis of Europe’s Jews: the Jewish emancipation and acculturation project in Europe; the role of Jews in the modernist movement and the Jewish Diaspora from Europe and its effect on new host cultures. Finally, however, is the Jewish experience an appropriate case study? Does this history provide hints as to how to tap the creative energy of minority cultures in Europe today? What does it suggest about the challenges of acculturating and, at the same time, maintaining ethnic identity?

The New European Cultural Landscape and the Jewish Experience is a forum for discussion about a nexus of significant issues. It initiates a process of fostering a Community of people with shared concerns and serves as the first step towards creating a tangible network for future discussion. The Jewish Cultural Heritage Foundation looks forward to future pan-European, interdisciplinary and cross–cultural congresses to continue the work begun in Stockholm.’