In and around Europe, in specific local contexts, we help to strengthen the structures that support cultural life. We assist cultural organisations to develop sustainably, and bring together the cultural sector and public policymakers so that cultural policies will be effective and inclusive. We strongly advocate a comprehensive cultural strategy for Europe, in all its diversity.

CANPAINS & ACTIONS

Culture's importance in integrating Europe is gaining wide acceptance now. Our lobbying efforts include co-launching the civil-society alliance now known as Platform for Intercultural Europe.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

We have been working with local partners to help make them cultural actors of change, strengthening cultural development in parts of Russia, the southern Mediterranean, Turkey, Moldova and Slovakia.

RESEARCH

Our support for effective cultural policies for Europe extends to the field of cultural policy research. We commission important papers and award a prize for outstanding research in the field.

REFLECTION & DEBATE

Our ‘reflect, recommend, lobby and act' approach to major European cultural issues has borne fruit in recent years in the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region.

EU CULTURAL FOREIGN POLICY

The European Union is incorporating culture more consistently and systematically in its external relations. We at the ECF have championed a well-thought-out 'cultural foreign policy' for the EU. To this end, we organised a conference and commissioned two research projects on EU external relations.