Meet our second round Democracy Needs Imagination grantees

In the second round of our Action Grants under the theme Democracy Needs Imagination we wanted to support people who are working for European democratic values. People who are fighting for their rights as citizens, for their right to public space and personal freedoms, and for their right to creative expression. The call ran from September 9th to September 27th 2019, and was a follow up to our call to action in the run up to the European Parliament elections. Again, we received hundreds of applications, which strengthened us in our belief there are many of you out there working for a more inclusive, more democratic and more fun Europe. Meet the new grantees!

Bring back culture!

Together with many other organisations we were part of the "Bring back culture, Mrs. President" campaign led by Culture Action Europe. Now that the commission is installed and commissioner Mariya Gabriel's portfolio includes culture we co-signed an open letter to EU leaders pleading them to support the European Parliament’s proposed budget for the Creative Europe programme. Because we believe investing in our culture is investing in our future.

Therefore we call your attention to this letter asking for doubling of the EU culture budget: "We call on the European Institutions and Member States to recognise the EU added value of cultural investment and translate it to sufficient support in the next EU budget. Ensure that 1% of the budget of each EU policy field is allocated to culture. Double the budget for culture"

Please sign it, share it, and send it to your Ministers of Culture, Finance and Foreign Affairs today!

Lost in Media

Since the publication on June 28 this year the book “Lost in Media” has been presented at various venues throughout Europe, including in the European Parliament. "Lost in Media: Migrant Perspectives and the Public Sphere" gathers critical responses to the representations of migrants in the media in Europe through nine essays by prominent writers, artists and journalists. Ever since the 'migrant crisis' hit the headlines in 2015, migrant perspectives have been lost in mainstream media. If migrants do appear in media coverage they are represented as characters in other people’s stories, or as something other. This volume challenges this narrative of dispossession through essays by and interviews with artists, journalists and authors.

On this dedicated page we keep track of the presentations. podcasts, and republications. 

Stories of Europe

In 2019, we celebrated 65 years since our launch. The celebrations coincide with the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and marks 80 years since the outbreak of World War II; it is also the 40th anniversary of the first European Parliament and the half centenary of Apollo 11’s expedition to the moon.

In this bookazine - a free download - we reflect on how events in Europe shaped us and how we helped shape events in Europe.

Europe is a state of mind

At the festive celebration of our anniversary we also premiered the video clip Europe is a state of mind highlighting our beginnings, values we cherish and people we work with.

Courageous Citizens

We launched our grant call Courageous Citizens in 2018. The grantees of the call are finalising their projects. We have collected their stories of successes, difficulties and surprises in an interview series. This photo by Andrei Becheru captures handcrafts in Bucharest, for the project of Raluca Croitoru and Elena Butica.

2020 and beyond...