Over the last five years, European Spaces of Culture has established itself as one of the most strategic actions at European level that is turning the Joint Communication "Towards an EU strategy for international cultural relations”, and the values and principles of cultural relations, into concrete practice.

With the Preparatory Action nearing its end, funding was renewed by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport, and Culture (EAC) to continue the programme until the end of 2025. This renewed funding allows suppporting a new set of pilot projects across the globe that represent an innovative and contemporary model of collaboration and are based on the principles of fair partnership.

Why get involved?

• Become part of new local and global networks, and a larger cultural relations movement!
• Obtain funding and gain greater visibility
• Go beyond the promotion of national cultures
• Expand and develop knowledge, networks, and practices

Call for Ideas

The purpose of this Call for Ideas is to identify ideas for new innovative cultural relations projects that can inform EU policy development in the field of international cultural relations. The call requires proposals to be co-created by European and local partners in the spirit of equal partnership. Projects should have the potential to be upscaled and translated to a different context.

A financial envelope of 420,000 euros is available to support projects with up to 60,000 euros each. Co-funding from the partners or any third party is not required but highly encouraged.

As the global cultural sectors are increasingly conscious that culture can – and must – contribute to achieving the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), European Spaces of Culture creates an opportunity to make this commitment explicit and concrete. All proposals are therefore required to indicate concretely how they contribute to achieving the UN SDGs and identify and justify specific SDGs. Whenever possible and relevant, projects will foster free spaces of speech and artistic expression, particularly in fragile or illiberal contexts.

All proposals need to be submitted by a team of partners, all actively engaged in the design and implementation of the project: at least three EUNIC members, three local partners, and the EU Delegation in the country concerned should be involved in the project. All proposed projects should take place somewhere between 1 June 2024 and 31 October 2025.

The impact that can be attained when working together far supersedes the impact that’s achieved when working alone.

Phomolo Sekamotho, Hear My Voice, partner in European Spaces of Culture’s Right to Speak in South Africa

How does the application and selection process work?

The application to be submitted includes a concept note form – laying out the global idea of your project, the local context and desired impact – and an estimated budget. In addition, all project partners need to sign a support letter. Templates for all are provided by EUNIC. An independent jury of experts will evaluate all incoming applications and select the best ideas in January 2024.

Selected project teams will then be invited to submit a final project plan, with a more detailed activity plan and budget. The EUNIC team will facilitate this part of the process collectively with all teams. Once the final plans are approved, projects are ready for implementation. Note that this means that there will be no further selection or elimination of projects!

Timeline

• 13 September: Launch of the Call for Ideas
• September - November: Series of webinars for potential applicants
• 17 December: Deadline for submission of project ideas
• January 2024: Selection of project ideas
• February - April 2024: Further refinement of project ideas into proposals
• April: Deadline for submission of final plans
• May 2024: Approval by the jury and EUNIC together
• June 2024 - October 2025: Implementation of projects

How to apply

The following documents need to be submitted to spacesofculture@eunicglobal.eu by 17 December 2023 (23:59 CET):

• Concept note form completed in English
• Estimated balanced budget completed in English and drawn up in euros
• Support letters from all identified project partners

Find all relevant templates and documents for your application here (download before working on the files!)

EUNIC support

Please do not hesitate to reach out the Spaces team at the EUNIC office in Brussels if you have any questions about the call or the application process by contacting Robert Kieft via Robert.Kieft@eunicglobal.eu and Roxane Schavoir via Roxane.Schavoir@eunicglobal.eu. We encourage you to start working on your application as early as possible to be able to resolve any potential issues in time. Please also consult the European Spaces of Culture Frequently Asked Questions for any question you may have about the Call or the application process.

Webinars will be organised to inform the EUNIC network and the network of EU Delegations and their partners about the call and application process, including webinars dedicated to specific regions and in specific languages (in cooperation with EUNIC members’ headquarters). These webinars are listed on the EUNIC website, but the first two webinars will take place on 19 September at 10.00 and 16.00 CEST.

The team at EUNIC has developed the toolkit “Creating a spirit of dialogue” to guide aspiring project teams through some of the main aspects of project design, from identifying the local need to taking concrete steps to set up the partnership, which is available for download here.