MusiQuE is happy to present the Vienna Declaration on Artistic Research, a Policy Paper advocating for the full recognition of Artistic Research on the European level.

More than one year ago, the main organisations and transnational networks dealing with Artistic Research at European level and beyond decided to join forces to increase the visibility and recognition of Artistic Research across Europe.

The declaration aims at (1) presenting a clearer, better articulation of the concepts and impact of Artistic Research within the Frascati Manual – the OECD classification manual for collecting statistical research data. This clarification will assure the realisation and acknowledgement of successful research activities in the field, and, consequently, contribute to (2) the restructuring of funding policies and programmes at regional, national, European and global levels in such a way that they support Artistic Research in line with the sciences and humanities, and (3) the securing and embedding of practice-based third-cycle studies in Higher Arts Education, in all countries across Europe, to further develop Artistic Research and underpin the contemporaneity of the curriculum.

The signatories of this paper ask for the following actions to be taken by all relevant parties:

  • To support and work towards the establishment of AR as an independent category within the Frascati Manual, establishing the opportunity for harvesting research data and statistics from the AR field;
  • To ensure that funding policies and programmes both at national and international level include AR, provide the necessary resources and infrastructure, as well as cater for the existence of expertise in AR on the relevant decision-making panels;
  • To ensure that the range of AR outputs is fully recognised at national and international level and eligible for formal quality assurance and/or career assessment procedures;
  • To ensure through appropriate legislation the creation of legal frameworks that permit Arts HEIs to offer 3rd cycle study programmes and relevant degrees in AR.
The Vienna Declaration on Artistic Research can be found on the following link.

Besides MusiQuE as co-authors and signatories of the Vienna Declaration are the following organisations:

  • Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC)
  • The European Grouping of film and television schools (Cilect / GEECT)
  • Culture Action Europe
  • International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media (Cumulus)
  • European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE)
  • The European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA)
  • The European Platform for Artistic Research in Music (EPARM)
  • EQ-Arts
  • Society for Artistic Research (SAR)
The initiative is open to the involvement of other international organisations providing legitimate interest. If an organisation is interested and willing to join the initiative can do so by contacting one of the co-authors of the declaration.