What does independent culture need to survive? 

In May, we went to Lyon for Nuits Sonores and European Lab to hear from people working in different parts of the independent culture and media ecosystem. 

Robyn Chien is an artist and cultural worker whose practice is rooted in collective forms of working. She told us about organising, and about challenging the expectation that cultural workers should be flexible, creative and willing to work for free. 

Erica Romero Pender works with Live DMA, a network of live music organisations. We spoke about the economics of touring, the difficulty of sustaining small venues, and what it means for emerging artists when there are fewer spaces between small venues and large arenas. 

Johan Weisz is the founder of StreetPress, an independent French media largely funded by its readers. He told us how independent media can build trust with audiences in ways large media companies can't, and we also touched on media concentration, regulation and cultural diversity. 

Jennifer Laourou works with Artistic Freedom Initiative, supporting artists who are immigrants, exiled or affected by repression. She told us what artists need in order to work and make a living, and about the role of public funding systems that keep some distance from governments. 

These are four perspectives are part of a wider question we're currently asking: can we still make it? 

Filmed at Nuits Sonores, Lyon, May 2026.