Grants

ECF's grants programme stimulates transnational cultural collaboration, artistic expression and the mobility of artists and other cultural players.

We support all kinds of artistic and cultural expression: music, visual arts, theatre, dance, film, documentary, multimedia, photography, design, fashion and cultural-capacity building. Over the last five years, ECF has supported over 1000 projects across 59 countries. Download the full list of ECF grants awarded in 2012 here.

ECF has three different grant schemes

  • Collaboration Grants are awarded to cultural organisations for developing and realising a project in partnership with organisations from the cultural sector and at least one organisation from another sector. The lead applicant must be an independent, non-profit, non-governmental cultural organisation based in one of the countries of wider Europe (the 47 countries of the Council of Europe plus Kosovo). The project partner(s) must be organisations from the cultural sector (both independent and institutions/for profit enterprises) and from other sectors (e.g. academic institutes, governmental bodies, commercial enterprises etc.) based either in the countries of wider Europe or in the Arab-Mediterranean countries. For the full list of countries and exact guidelines see the Collaboration Grants page.
  • Balkan Incentive Fund for Culture (BIFC) Grants are awarded to cultural initiatives conceived by organisations in, or cooperating with, the countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia (FYROM), Montenegro and Serbia).
  • STEP Beyond Travel Grants are awarded to up-and-coming artists and cultural workers (priority is given to individuals up to 35 years and/or in the first 10 years of their career) travelling between EU and countries directly bordering the EU.

(The Artistic Grants scheme came to a close in 2009, the projects funded in 2009 are described here.)

Not sure if you are eligible? Try out our eligiblity wizard to find out whether you should apply!

Where we fund

Our different grant schemes support projects in the following countries:
Albania,  Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (FYROM), Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, The Netherlands, Norway, Palestinian Territories, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Supported by ECF Grants

 1395 Days Without Red is an awarded film project, produced by Artangel (UK), together with partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Spain, and in collaboration with Anri Sala and Šejla Kamerić.

1395 Days Without Red
1395 Days Without Red

The resulting two films involved residents of Sarajevo and the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra in re-creating the Siege of Sarajevo and will be touring throughout 2011 and 2012 - see Artangel's website for further dates and details. 

Our Focus

  • Our grants programme supports projects that harmonise with our three guiding principles which emphasise: empowering people through art and culture, connecting sources of knowledge, and linking cultural policy and practice.
  • Our grant schemes bring together people of different backgrounds and perspectives, and can also relate to the particular locations and activities of ECF’s two central programmes: European Neighbourhood and Youth & Media.

ECF looks for projects that reflect these priorities through our applications processes and independent research.

Find out more and how to apply

Not sure if you are eligible? Try out our eligibility wizard to find out whether you should apply!

Please carefully read the individual sections of the grants schemes, as well as their application guidelines, before emailing any questions to our grants team via Esther Claassen, Grants Administrator (eclaassen[@]culturalfoundation.eu).

To download our logo

If you have been awarded a grant and would like to download our logo, please go here.