HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
President, European Cultural Foundation
The future of Europe is not fixed. We have to imagine where we want to go and what we want to work towards. Both citizens and leaders need to think creatively about the road ahead. We need creativity to innovate, to help overcome challenges and recognize and seize opportunities.
Artistic expressions and culture stimulate creativity and stretch our minds to include new ideas and different ways of thinking. Unleashing this power enables us to think in terms of possibilities instead of limitations; in terms of progress instead of deadlock, and in terms of cooperation instead of competition. But to tap into this, we have to use words that have real meaning and that touch our emotions.
Imagination helps us to open our minds and be curious about the unknown, to be interested in others and to celebrate their success. Without such openness, we cannot connect with one another. Without such openness, we cannot build bridges together or break through real or perceived boundaries. Isn’t this what Europe needs, now more than ever? With our activities, the ECF aims to create the space necessary for new perspectives on the pressing issues we face.
We feel a particular responsibility to reach out to young people and help them discover and express their creativity and imagination. This serves as a much-needed counterweight to the public debates that tend to be dominated by doom and gloom. Such doom and gloom can stifle aspirations, hamper freedom and limit the ability to dream. And if we stop dreaming, how are we ever to find the road ahead for Europe?
What’s more, young people like artists hold up a mirror and help us visualise the future. Their honesty lays bare the moral dilemmas we often gloss over, not in the least part because we’re using complicated language.
ECF and our partners believe in a Europe that looks boldly outward and seeks its place in the world. We invite you to join us on our journey of discovery and share with us your passion, your fears and ideas – in brief, your creativity. It is precisely by combining a rich diversity of views that we stimulate creative thinking and thus solutions for the road ahead.
Europe needs your engagement more than ever before. If we don’t do it for ourselves, let us be motivated by our responsibility for generations coming after us.
HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
President, European Cultural Foundation