The call supports cultural projects that improve access to culture and foster inclusion and mental well-being for internally displaced people and refugees from Ukraine

Telegram.hr interviewed André Wilkens on how to fight the culture war.

Political power is increasingly exercised through stories about identity, belonging and legitimacy.

For over seventy years, the European Cultural Foundation has invested in the people and places that keep Europe open, creative and connected.

Libraries are Europe’s everyday democratic infrastructure.

The Culture Compass for Europe offers a vision and measures for an elevated place for culture on EU level which we applaud. Our aspirations during the Culture Compass consultations were to unfold an ambitious vision for Europe to which citizens can relate to, providing hope, inspiration and direction, which would embody Europe's key principles of democracy, solidarity, sustainability and diversity. We hope that the Compass will allow to test real-life solutions in practice.

Many Europeans still believe that democratic cooperation can protect rights, maintain fair standards and strengthen everyday civic life.

The Pavilion’s voyage has ended, but its questions remain. Among its echoes is Fables of Wickedness for a Liquid Europeby Gonçalo Tavares.

Hosted by Friends of Europe, the 22nd edition of this annual gathering invited open, cross-sector dialogue on how the continent can stay competitive, democratic, and united in a rapidly changing world.

Launched in October 2025, Culture Helps Solidarity is a Creative Europe–funded project that supports Ukrainian arts and cultural professionals to sustain creativity, resilience, and community connection during and after the war. Led by the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam) with Insha Osvita (Kyiv), zusa (Berlin), and the Veteranka movement (Kyiv), it combines three grant schemes (individual- project-, and collaboration grants) and a rich programme of mentoring, learning, and exchange. Calls for proposals will open gradually from January 2026, distributing over €1.4 million in support to more than 200 individuals and organisations. The project affirms that culture is not a luxury in times of crisis, but a lifeline for rebuilding lives and solidarity across Europe.

The European Sentiment Compass 2025 shows that Europe’s fight with Trump’s America is not just about policy, but about meaning, who we are, what we value, and where we belong.

Security is not just about defence budgets and borders. It is also about belonging.

Together with our partners, ECF will continue pressing for an ambitious and coherent budget that places culture where it belongs: at the centre of Europe’s shared future.

As Amsterdam marks 750 years, the World Cities Culture Summit and a special Domo Talks event gather European leaders to explore how culture strengthens democracy, trust, and resilience.

The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) is looking for an Executive Advisor (Directiesecretaris) to join its team in Amsterdam.

The European Sentiment Compass 2025: 'Reality Show: Why Europe must not cave in to Trump's culture war' asks how Europeans can define their politics, values and identity, and defend a Europe that writes its own script.

Domo Talks launches in Amsterdam with Cities that Connect, exploring how international cultural collaboration can strengthen belonging, civic trust, and resilience in Europe’s cities.

Independent media is essential to healthy democracies, but in Europe it is facing unprecedented threats - economic, political, and technological, write Civitates in their report "Beyond the Headlines."

The Europe Challenge 2025/26 supports 60 library-led initiatives across 26 countries to tackle climate, demomcracy, and digital challenge through community-driven action.

Culture of Solidarity Fund grantee DemocraTease on why maintaining optimism is not naive; but a necessary prerequisite for sustained effort and collective action in the ongoing struggle for open societies. 

Display Europe, the pan-European news platform co-funded by the EU and initiated by the European Cultural Foundation, wants to provide an alternative to corporate tech platforms and the black box algorithms that shape what news people see.

The European Commission proposal for the EU’s next long-term budget is the first step in a long negotiation process but it already signals important developments for culture, media, and civil society in Europe.

Culture is not a luxury, it is the foundation of Europe’s democracy, resilience, and shared identity and deserves to be funded.

Inside the archive are traces of some of the most significant cultural initiatives to shape post-war Europe.

In a year of rising tensions and shrinking civic space, ECF supported cultural initiatives that connected people across borders.

The first 13 cultural actors to receive LOKAL support for backing up their crucial local initiatives in different regions of Eastern, Western and Southern Germany were announced. In LOKAL - a new programme for culture and public engagement - ECF partners with the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb).

This is Europe being reimagined—not in institutions, but in neighbourhoods, by people who believe that culture is how we live together well

Find ECF’s contribution to the Commissioner's consultation round on the Culture Compass.

Every year on 9 May, Europe Day marks the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration. At the European Cultural Foundation, it’s never just a date. It’s a call to action, to imagination, and to solidarity. From street conversations to policy salons, Europe Day came alive in every corner of Amsterdam.

Domo marks a new chapter in Amsterdam. Not a merger but a co-location, Domo brings together four independent organisations under one roof: DutchCulture, Cultural Emergency Response, Prince Claus Fund, and the European Cultural Foundation (ECF).

At the European Cultural Foundation, we believe every foundation should be a climate foundation. We don’t see this as a shift away from our cultural mission, but as a deepening of it.

In one month, May 9th will mark Europe Day, an important day for all Europeans to celebrate our shared heritage, cooperation, and the ongoing pursuit of unity. Join us and our partners in celebrating Europe Day!

Apply Now for The Europe Challenge 2025/26. Deadline is 29 May 2025 at 12h00 CEST.

Ethics, Power, and Trust: Display Europe's event at the upcoming International Journalism Festival.

Reflecting on the Mutual Learning Session: Policy Learnings and Community Engagement event by CrAFt.

Eight hubs comprising twenty-three organisations have been selected for the third round of the VAHA programme.

This report captures the key contributions from the fifth annual Cultural Deal for Europe policy conversation, and highlights the policy messages from the various sessions.

In March the EU project CrAFt 2025 took place in Brussels, under the banner 'Shaping Sustainable Futures'. The event gathered participants from across Europe to discuss the role of collaborative governance in sustainable urban development and reflect on the project’s achievements.

For the first time, the European Cultural Foundation’s 70-year archive—documenting decades of cultural cooperation, European integration, and cross-border solidarity—will be housed at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence, ensuring public access to a rich collection that has shaped and reflected Europe’s cultural and political evolution.

Welcome to the first edition Handing Over the Mic, a new podcast series launching by the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics where influential voices from the Global South share their perspectives on Europe—its past, present and future.

Civitates launched an open call to support organisations working on national level enforcement of EU tech regulations in seven countries: Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Romania, and the Netherlands.

'Culture: the Compass for Europe's Future. Cultural Deal for Europe annual policy conversation' takes place on February 4 2025, from 14:00h to 18:00h. Learn more at culturaldeal.eu

We announce our 2025 - 2029 strategy.

Following our second round of the Democracy Resilience edition of the Culture of Solidarity Fund we welcome thirteen grantees in our community. These collaborative, creative initiatives will reinforce Europe’s core values and inspire Europeans to reengage with their democracies in a hopeful and forward-looking manner. 

New programme LOKAL supports cultural organisations in cities and communities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants, kicking off in Germany firstly. The programme is a collaboration between the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and the European Cultural Foundation.

Under the banner 'Imagining the Future of Europe' the festival concluded The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings from November 7 -9. For three days, a multidisciplinary programme put artistic creation and reflection at the heart of the debate on Europe’s future, promoting meaningful dialogues between artists and local communities.

Between January and October of 2024, the European Cultural Foundation hosted a listening tour to explore the potential of culture in responding to key European challenges.

Since 2019 the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and the European Cultural Foundation present a selection of documentary films that encourages public debate on Europe, in the pathway Life in Europe. During this year's IDFA, November 14 to 24, we jointly host two DocTalks during the festival;  longer conversations with directors and invited guests.

At the end of The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings Rhine route, the crew hosted a series of public events in Rotterdam. To celebrate and to welcome members of the public to take part in activities built around the themes of the project, reflecting the discoveries made on their two week journey.On September 30 The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings stationed at Brutus Garden: Images and sound collected during the Rhine journey were projected around the space, along with a performance by local composer and guitarist Aart Strootman.We seized the opportunity to conduct some mini-interviews with members of the Rhine crew, curators of The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings and staff-members of the European Cultural Foundation.

"Why is it so important to prioritise culture in the current European legislative term and how do culture, arts and cultural heritage play a vital role in the future of Europe?" That is the central question of 'Championing Culture for Europe's Future. Cultural Deal for Europe annual policy conversation 2024'.

Our third European Sentiment Compass - Welcome to Barbieland: European Sentiment in the year of wars and elections - identifies three blind spots European political leaders have that illustrate the difference between the principle and the reality of the EU’s Enlightenment ideals.

The first of four artistic crews participating in The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings set sail on the Danube on August 27. This marks the start of four journeys on four European rivers crossing 11 countries and travelling a combined distance of 1394 kilometres in which 37 independent artists and curators participate.

We move to a new office space: Per 1 September 2024, we will be temporarily located at Spaces. At a later stage we wil move into our new permament location.

On 27 August in Baja, Hungary the first of four artistic crews participating in 'The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings' will set sail on the Danube.

The Earthquake Solidarity Fund initiated by Allianz Foundation and their Hubs partner Postane - to which we contributed - picked the first eight projects to support.

In an op'ed for EU Observer our Head of Public Policy makes the case for a one billion euro European Cultural Deal for Ukraine.

Our annual magazine offers you a panoramic view of the issues we are addressing with our activities, those of our grantees, and those of partners and friends. In short, it touches on the many lives lived on our continent and how they interconnect, how diverse our Europe is and how we have so much in common.  

The European Pavilion 2024: Liquid Becomings brings together artists and curators from 17 nationalities. Their names and the routes the four boats will be sailing from August 27 onwards were announced on June 29 during an event in Belgrade.

We call for a Cultural Deal for Europe: for culture to be included in the EU’s funding programmes, sustainable development strategies, relations with the rest of the world, vision for our future. Can we also count on you to help us place culture at the heart of Europe?

The latest edition of the Culture of Solidarity Fund supports European transnational initiatives that mobilise voters for the 2024 European Parliament elections. This edition has been developed in collaboration with Evens Foundation, Allianz Foundation & partners. 

Our COS RD grantee Caricartoons has launched a campaign to raise public awareness, encourage people to vote and support freedom of expression through press cartoons, ahead of the European Parliament elections.

On June 7 DISPLAY - our ground breaking media platform anchored in public values - takes centre stage during the session 'A sovereign media datapsace in Europe' at the Public Spaces conference.

Share Europe aims to become a European philanthropic initiative that empowers civil society, promotes hope, visions, and practical solutions,

As each year our partners of the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam present you a selection of documentary films that encourages the public debate on Europe.

On February 14 The European Pavilion 2024 was unveiled. The jury deciding on the 500,000 euros commissioning grant unanimously agreed on awarding the proposal Liquid Becomings. This proposal was put forward by the consortium led by the independent artists' collective espaço agora now, and comprising the organisations FLOW, MS-Fusion, Teatro Meia Volta and United Artist Labour. 

Display Europe, the new pan-European media platform has launched in Brussels. It is anchored in public values and inclusivity.

We invite individual journalists and small media organisations to apply for a micro-grant.

Press release: Meet the five finalists selected for The European Pavilion 2024.

Rien van Gendt invites philanthropy to reflect, challenge, rethink and reorganise action to make sense and to make a difference.

The Europe Challenge is an annual programme that brings together teams from libraries and communities across Europe to address social isolation, inequality, disinformation, climate crises and other local challenges by developing, sharing and implementing creative solutions with support from the European Cultural Foundation and its partners. This edition runs from January to September 2024.

We sat down for a short conversation with Sepake Angiama, chair of the open call for The European Pavilion curatorial proposals jury. Her organisation, iniva, participated in The European Pavilion in 2021-2022 with the DRIFT Pavilion project.

We are delighted to present the members and chair of the jury for the first Commissioning grant to host and curate the European Pavilion 2024. The role of the jury is to select the recipient of the Commissioning grant from a shortlist of up to ten candidates drawn up by the European Cultural Foundation team. The jury is made up of seven members, each with voting rights, and a non-voting chair. They represent a wide range of cultural backgrounds, expertise and practices.

Our Director André Wilkens and our Head of Public Policy Isabelle Schwarz call upon the EU and member states to regain confidence in liberalism and in their own citizens.

New traineeship program focused on promoting and diversifying philanthropy with a European purpose, in close collaboration with Allianz Foundation.

André Wilkens is back on Eurozine's 'Gagarin' podcast: Europe has failed to recognize the threats right in front of us. Now, we must adapt rapidly and mitigate the losses. But inevitable change brings with it incredible opportunities too.

As you flip through the pages of our annaul magazine, you will be greeted with remarkable content that celebrates the beauty, resilience, creativity, and unity of our European cultural community.

For Europe Day '23 we provided an agenda with Europe Day events across the continent and near you and featured an online Europe Day festival on 9 May. We featured real-time coverage of various Europe Day events and view original content as well as an exclusive selection of documentary films.Watch an in-depth highlight of the day - including the recordings of the Launch of the European Sentiment Compass, Pop the Vote and Re:framing Migrants in European Media.

Can a newsroom reach its full journalistic potential without racialised or with migrant background professionals? Can good journalism be done without an anti-racist and migrant perspective while reporting? The people and initiatives featured in SHIFT have set themselves apart through their independent reporting on asylum, immigration and the media, providing invaluable insights and models of good practice.The shift is happening – be a part of it!

'Re:framing Migrants in European Media' is a project co-funded by the European Union that we run together with five partners. The project changes current media narratives by assuring appropriate media representation of migrant and refugee communities across Europe, empowering self-representation. In a new episode of the Re:framing migrants podcast, they dive into getting to know the hosts of the podcast, Mohammed S Bah and Barly Tsibanda. The project also showcases the Collaborative Incubator by Beyond the Now, which brings together socially engaged artists and investigative journalists alongside digital activists to facilitate experimentation and risk-taking (mixing methodologies and approaches to storytelling), and for new collaborative alliances to be formed.

To celebrate #EuropeDay23 we invited guests to our party to contribute their favourite EuropeDay song. The spotify playlist is the compilation of your contributions, for #Europeisyours.

Into Europe is a channel offering a cautiously optimistic outlook on Europe's future while overcoming European biases and differences. In their #EuropeDay explainer they ask: What is the European Union doing to increase a European feeling, and what does that mean for the future of Europe?

In their latest episode The Europeans Podcast interview Bojana Grujic of the Novi Sad City Library in Serbia and Myrto Tsilimpounidi from the Feminist Library at the Feminist Autonomous Centre in Athens, both participating in The Europe Challenge that offered them support, resources and funding.

A joint statement on supporting cultural relief work after the Türkiye & Syria earthquakes by Cultural Emergency Response (CER), Prince Claus Fund, DutchCulture, European Cultural Foundation. 

Ettijahat - Independent Culture and Action For Hope العمل للأمل announces the launch of the Ahliyeh (civil) initiative, which will provide an emergency response to those affected by the earthquake that hit northern Syria and southern Turkey in February.This initiative will last for six months in cooperation with a number of international and local civil society organisations, civil groups working in different fields, and institutions in the arts and culture sector. Ahliyeh (civil) initiative is supported by our Culture of Solidarity Fund. 

Following the publication of the book ‘Philanthropy Back to the Drawing Board' by former ECF president of the board Rien van Gendt, the author and our director André Wilkens sat down for an exchange of thoughts on the challenges and outlooks for philanthropy, the need for self-reflection and, ultimately, the relation between philanthropy and democracy.

The third edition of the Cultural Deal for Europe Annual Policy Conversation, entitled Culture is the new energy for Europe took place on 28 February 2023 in Brussels. The three co-organisers - Culture Action Europe, Europa Nostra and European Cultural Foundation - welcomed 135 participants on-site and more than 300 attendees online, in dialogue with three Members of the European Parliament and a keynote by the Vice-President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas. Ukraine was front and centre at the conversation, with the dire conditions of artists and cultural workers, the difficult situation for the cultural sector and the destruction and damage to heritage sites all in the spotlight.

We stand in solidarity with the victims of the devastating earthquake in South East Turkey and Northern Syria. Many of the communities who we work and connect with in our Vaha and Tandem programmes as well as Re:framing Migrants in the Media are heavily affected.

Our director André Wilkens shares in his New Year's message today's crises can, and must, create a New Energy for Europe!

The European Cultural Foundation is looking for a Grants Coordinator

The European Cultural Foundation, together with the German-Turkish Youth Bridge, the Goethe-Institut, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and Stiftung Mercator, are shocked and sharply criticise the brutal verdict against Osman Kavala announced on 25 April by a Turkish court. The Turkish promoter of art, culture and open society has been in custody since 2017 under changing, unfounded accusations and was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment under especially hard conditions in defiance to a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

ECF Supervisory Board is delighted to announce that it has chosen Gerry Salole as its next Chair. He will succeed Rien van Gendt who is currently holding the Chairmanship at interim.

It is with great regret that we need to inform you that a COVID-19 positive case was tested today within the organizing event team. This means we have to postpone our today’s #CulturalDealEU Annual Policy Conversation as neither the organizing team nor the technical could be taking part. For the safety of everyone involved, we see no other option than to postpone the event to a later date in December which will be communicated to you ASAP. 

In July 2020, we kicked start our initiative for a European Pavilion with brainstorm meeting that brought together a group of curators, artists, and foundation representatives. The meeting was part of an exploratory process in which we gathered different perspectives and interests, and reflected on whether the creation of a European Pavilion in a completely ‘new’ way is a significant symbol of a positive European sentiment and solidarity.

We publish various newsletters to keep you updated on all things European Cultural Foundation, and beyond.

What a strange year it has been in Europe. On the one hand, we have been closer together than ever before. From Finland to France, Poland to Germany: in one fell swoop, citizens of countries across the continent experienced how drastically a pandemic can change day-to-day life. Travel restrictions and border controls have divided us to a degree we haven’t experienced in a very long time. Even during the summer holidays, it wasn’t easy or sometimes even possible to meet up to talk about life in the midst of the global pandemic. When, if not now, should Europe come together for a conversation?

European Cultural Foundation, Fondazione CRC and Fondazione CRT invited organisations from the Piedmont (Cuneo province in particular) and the Aosta Valley to apply for the third round of the European Culture of Solidarity Fund. Set up at the beginning of the pandemic crisis, the fund continues to support imaginative cultural initiatives that reinforce European solidarity and the idea of Europe as a shared public space.This round is now closed. We thank you for your applications.

The Calvert Journal invites you to their Calvert Journal Film Festival; 7 days of New East cinema online, a digital film festival showcasing the diverse cinematic talent of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The festival will feature 7 films, screened online for free during the week from 12 to 18 October; each day a different film will be available for 24h.

This year’s Lampa Conservation Festival took place in September. In the session our director, André Wilkens, took part in, technological advancement, changes in social fabric, rising inequality, climate change, the global pandemic, geopolitical struggles were the topics to be discussed. What kind of future awaits us, and how to prepare for it?

Together with IDFA we present two documentaries by Polish director Miroslav Dembinski shedding light on the current situation in Belarus. The two films are free to watch for a week. Start date: September 17 2020.

The third edition of Forum on European Culture took place September 17 - 20.According to the organisation “Now more than ever, we need the power of artists and thinkers to imagine a better future for Europe.” Want to find out what they imagined? Youtube!

Over 250 European cultural leaders and arts organisations have signed an open letter - drafted by D6 Culture in Transit - urging the UK’s Secretary of State, Rt Hon Oliver Dowden to reverse the decision to take the UK out of Creative Europe, the EU’s funding programme for the cultural and creative sectors. #Together4CreativeEurope

Today the EU Council meets as “the EU has called the Belarusian political leadership to participate in a genuine and inclusive dialogue with broader society to avoid further violence. The EU supports the Belarusian population in their desire for democratic change.” You can follow the video conference via this link.We hope the outcomes will support the changes in Belarusian society now that the society experienced “a revolution in its mentality, a complete reboot of its thinking process,” as visual artist and writer Artur Klinaŭ had hoped for in his 2015 contribution to our Another Europe book.

Today is a sad day. Our friend and colleague Osman Kavala is in unlawful detention for 1000 days today.

VAHA [meaning OASIS in Turkish] will connect and enable up to 50 independent arts and culture spaces and organisations for public programming to shape 16 local hubs interconnected within an international solidarity network. Open call to participation closed September 14.

All across Europe, citizens (including those who are not formally recognised as such) are creating new online and offline spaces where working together and generating solidarity is what matters. Fifty cultural activists and change-makers will explore ways to collaborate on initiatives to strengthen European Public Space. Originally scheduled as a real-time meeting in Rijeka in April, the program took an online form. In the week from 22 to 28 June, several live events will take place online.

Our Head of Programmes Philipp Dietachmair is one of the seven voices invited by Wroclaw Cultural Guide to answer questions about current situations, operations, and plans going forward.

70 years ago Schuman presented his plan to reconcile and rebuild postwar Europe. Are there any lessons to learn for our post-COVID reconstruction, ECF director André Wilkens asks himself.

In a blog post to the European Foundation Center (EFC), our director André Wilkens touches upon Europe's (dis)united response to COVID 19 and the need for a European moment of solidarity. He also introduces our new Culture of Solidarity Fund, that will support initiatives that help build this culture of solidarity we need to grow out of this crisis.

The Coronavirus has affected much of the world and will do so for some time to come. Europe is under increasing pressure as we speak. We have cancelled all our travelling and events for the upcoming six weeks, and our staff works from home.

Following the outbreak of the Coronavirus, we are monitoring the developments and assess the effect on our work on a daily basis. A growing number of international exchange events have been cancelled due to the outbreak.

A small report on two events we co-organised with the ACES of the University of Amsterdam: analysing the spaces of the European far-right, and co-creating a speculative fiction scenario for Europe.