Our Europe Day Campaign is a Fine Act

Europe Day is a moment that brings people together through local events, gatherings and cultural activities. It offers a chance to reflect on what Europe means in everyday life and how it is shaped through participation, dialogue and shared experience.

In partnership with Fine Acts, a global creative studio for social impact, the European Cultural Foundation has invited 14 artists from across Europe to create a collection of illustrations that bring this moment closer to people’s daily lives. Not as an abstract idea, but as something visible in how we meet, relate and share space.

The artists – Pepe Serra (Spain), Gustaf Öhrnell Hjalmars (Sweden), Aurélia Durand (France/Denmark), Mattia Riami (Italy), Barbora Keherova (Slovakia), Rozalina Burkova (Bulgaria), Anina Takeff (Germany), Ada Zielinska (Poland), Steve McCarthy (Ireland), Tinna Halldórsdóttir (Iceland), Tanya Korniichuk (Ukraine), Lily Kong (UK), Nebojša Cvetković (Serbia), and Aleksandra Nina Knezevic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – bring different perspectives into the collection, reflecting the diversity of experiences and ways of seeing Europe.

Across the illustrations, Europe appears through familiar settings and gestures. People gathered around a table, walking side by side, supporting one another, or reaching across distance. These everyday moments show how culture brings people together and how a European sentiment is built through shared experience.

The collection is designed to be shared and encountered in daily life. Postcards can be exchanged with friends and family. Posters can appear in neighbourhood spaces. Pop-up exhibitions will surface in different locations, inviting people to pause, look and connect.

Through these images, Europe Day becomes something people can see, recognise and take part in not only on 9 May, but in the spaces where everyday life unfolds.

Illustration by Aurélia Durand