LOKAL, programme for culture and engagement

When people and opinions noticeably drift apart, it’s all the more important to have places where people can meet, engage in dialogue, and ideally find a way to overcome their differences. With LOKAL – Programme for Culture and Engagement, the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and the European Cultural Foundation want to support cultural organisations in cities and communities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants. The aim is to establish new partnerships and initiate participative art projects.

The programme is specifically targeted at cultural organisations – for example, art and cultural associations, sociocultural centres, theatres and libraries – which are facing challenges from increasingly antiliberal local developments or find themselves struggling to counter them. The programme enables them to seek new allies, such as local, midsized businesses, sports clubs or nursing homes, to jointly develop artistic projects. In these projects, professional artists will collaborate with residents on location on issues that directly impact their communities. In this way, the programme will help establish new, strong networks in at least 26 cities and towns throughout Germany.

Background of Lokal

Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska, artistic director of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, shares the motivation for the programme:
“Sociocultural centres and initiatives, art associations or theatres outside of large cities often find themselves all alone when it comes to promoting cultural engagement. At the same time, as in many other countries in Europe, they’re feeling growing pressure from anti-democratic forces and others. That’s why we’ve invited cultural organisations to participate in the programme LOKAL and network with new partners. Collaboration in artistic projects can enable a community of responsible citizens to grow at the local level. And such communities are vital to spur engagement and ingenuity for a vibrant local culture.”

BPB president Thomas Krüger adds: “In order to thrive, democracy needs places of negotiation and experts in ambiguity. This is where art and civic education overlap. In close cooperation with the German Federal Cultural Foundation, bpb wants to do its part to facilitate open discourse and strengthen civil society. To this end, we need interdisciplinary alliances that put themselves out there and demonstrate solidarity in increasingly troubled times. In addition to training people in ambiguity with and through art, the programme LOKAL is also about cultivating a democratic resistance.”

ECF director André Wilkens continues: “The challenges of polarisation and the disparate cultural demands faced by urban and rural communities are largely the same throughout Europe. At the same time, there are a significant number of new ideas and successful examples of solidarity-based collaboration in many regions outside the large metropolitan hubs, which we can and should share amongst ourselves. In this respect LOKAL is a cultural contribution to achieving better common solutions and greater societal cohesion in Europe.”

Application and funding

Cultural organisations are invited to submit their applications for LOKAL funding in digital form by 14 February 2025. All cultural organisations (with or without a physical venue) which offer cultural events on a regular basis are eligible to apply. Applicants are required to submit a short profile substantiating their local commitment to social engagement. This programme will finance networking activities in at least 26 locations with up to 240,000 euros expended over a four year period to help establish local partnerships and enable them to jointly develop artistic projects. For those interested in applying, detailed information is provided in our corresponding funding guidelines.

All applicants – especially those who have never previously applied for funding through the German Federal Cultural Foundation – are invited to participate in four application workshops at selected locations in Germany. The first workshop will take place on 15 January 2025 in Eberswalde; additional workshops are planned in Gera on 17 January, Ludwigsburg on 21 January and Hildesheim on 23 January 2025.