For the 2012 edition of the joint AER and Youth Summer Schools, we propose a topic that some might underestimate in times of crisis. While everyone is looking at ways of getting out of the crisis, we want to be bold and suggest culture, and more specifically culture and creative industries, as one tool to help us get back on our feet.

Investing in culture and cultural industries is not a waste of public money but, as many economists recognise, a way to promote an innovative and profitable sector.

Experts and practitioners and youth engaged in their communities from across Europe will tell us, among other things, about the economic potential of culture, and the role of regions to promote it with some focus on rural and ultra peripheral regions.

We hope to see many of you in the Azores!