The first edition of Live|Arts|Lab was devoted to exploring ways to promote fairer access to global culture markets. We used  “Principle #5: Fair Market Access” of the Fair Culture Charter as a starting place. This fascinating project weaves together the aspirations of the last 50 years of cultural policy initiatives that seek to redress post-colonial inequities in the global cultural sector. But then it makes a bold move that is strategic and pragmatic: taking a cue from the “Fair Trade” movement , it proposes a (yet-to-be-defined) public/private initiative aimed at creating consumer demand for fairness along the entire cultural value chain. Fair Market Access is central to the Fair Culture Charter. We assembled a remarkable collection of industry and policy leaders, and discussed five broad questions:

• a perfect, fair, and just world—would musicians and their music move around the world? How do we know when fair market access is achieved? What does success look like?

• What can be done to promote fair pay for disadvantaged artists along local, regional, and global cultural value chains?

• What can be done to increase the value of diverse cultural expressions in advantaged communities?

• What can be done to promote non-discrimination and gender equality along local, regional, and global cultural value chains?

• What can be done to promote the development of the cultural sectors in disadvantaged communities?

Results: The Lab’s fellows reiterated numerous concerns frequently voiced by industry professionals, cultural workers, artists, and policy experts, regarding promoting fair global market access through:

• simpler, more affordable, and more reliable visa and tax protocols to facilitate international tourings, especially for artists from Global Majority countries, 

• stronger protections for artists and industry regarding freedom of artistic expression,

• fairer remuneration for artists and arts workers, through stronger civil society advocacy on topics of cultural rights, especially regarding artists rights to revenue in streaming and A.I. applications,

• more sophisticated integration between local, federal, and international cultural policy, especially regarding implementation of policies promoting preferential treatment of cultural production from disadvantaged communities, 

• corporate best practices that prioritize long term investments in artistic development of individual artists, creative communities, and emerging markets, with special focus on underrepresented or disadvantaged artists, creative communities, or markets,

• education of audiences and citizens, designed to promote interest in cultural diversity,

• mentoring from artists and cultural workers to policy makers, and other cultural leaders, and

• fairer access to technology in underserved communities and regions, which impacts the physical access to market.

Broadly, however, the most innovative discourse during the Lab occurred where policy and industry professionals leveraged the opportunity to explore collaborative solutions. Globally, the culture industry, the civil society, and the culture policy sector are often adversarial, or at least treat each other with significant distrust. The L|A|L @ Music Week Poland was a remarkable experience for its participants primarily to the extent that industry leaders, advocates, and policy makers had a chance to explore the synchronicities of their goals, and begin conversations that envisioned the possibility of mutually beneficial policies and practices that would better serve the interests of fairness. And in this capacity, there was broad agreement of the important role of fora like Live|Arts|Lab.