As we now approach the end of the Swedish Presidency, we are pleased to present the final and printed report of the Visby meeting on “Conditions for Creative Artists in Europe”, which took place from 30th March to 1st April 2001.

The seminar had some 150 participants from almost thirty European countries. The majority of participants were creative artists active in the fields of literature, visual arts and composition.

It is our impression that the meeting was a great success. Many have expressed their appreciation. The most important aspect of the meeting was perhaps the fact that it brought together artists (or their representatives), experts and ministerial officials in this European context. Consequently, the issues discussed were concrete and of crucial interest to those primarily concerned. Another important trait was, of course, that representatives of the candidate countries took part on equal terms. This enrichened the seminar considerably and gave it a progressive atmosphere. Last but not least, the meeting gave testimony, not only to the importance of creative artists in Europe but more specifically to how poorly they are rewarded for their creative work. Hence, a lot remains to be done in this area.