European Neighbourhood

ECF has been active in capacity building, knowledge exchange and cultural policy development throughout wider Europe for many years, especially through the European Neighbourhood programme.

The European Neighbourhood programme has stimulated civil society working in culture to influence policy reform and societal development in the Balkans, Kaliningrad, Moldova, Turkey, the Ukraine and countries of the Arab Mediterranean region over the past ten years.

We will continue to invest in the next generation of cultural organisations and actors in EU neighbourhood countries by helping develop their capacities and build networks.

Our over–arching goal is to see change-makers and creative networks develop from the different projects we run and to find more formalised ways of influencing government and local economies, as a natural part of any democratic society, on a regional, national and EU level.

Activities

• Tandem - Cultural Managers Exchange Programme - a exchange initiative for partnership development across the EU and the European Neighbourhood - specifically operating with cultural managers from EU countries teaming up with cultural managers from Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey. In 2012 we started a pilot project involving cultural managers from selected Arab-Mediterranean countries called Tandem/Shaml.

• Trio is a two-year project operating in Moldova which uses resource mapping and planning by local cultural operators, to support the existing underutilised cultural infrastructure in rural parts of the country. The programme will conclude in spring 2013.

• We provide arts innovation grants – in conjunction with local partners; arts management training and capacity building programmes around the EU neighbourhood in conjuntion with expert guests and local partners.

• We publish and co-publish arts guides, cultural policy research and arts management publications in many European languages.

For more on our work email: Dilia Ham, European Neighbourhood programme - neighbourhood[@]eurocult.org