In collaboration with several international organisations Freemuse launches an investigation of visa and work permit procedures in order to influence policy makers and administrators.

Major cultural organisations such as European Council of Artists, European Live Music Forum, and European Forum of Worldwide Music Festivals now join Freemuse in a major international initiative analysing the problems and challenges that concert organisers, artists and cultural organisations face when they bring international artists into Europe, or from one country in Europe to another.

"The European Union has signed the Unesco Convention on Cultural Diversity. One of two of the articles in the convention specifically call for 'adapting measures in developed countries with a view to facilitating access to their territory for cultural activities from developing countries', but we still need to see this happening," says Ole Reitov, Freemuse's Programme Officer who is coordinating the initiative.

During the international trade fair WOMEX 2007, held in Spain in October, a seminar organised by Michel Winter of Divano Productions discussed the complex visa and work permit issues. Freemuse then offered to host the collection of case stories and present a “white paper” to the European Parliament, the EU Commission and colleagues at national and European artists organisations.

The initiative has quickly been joined by international organisations with huge expertise and experiences in the field of cultural presentations and cultural exchange.