“Culture Helps / Культура допомагає”. Collaboration grants for integration through culture up to EUR 40.000

“Culture Helps / Культура допомагає” — a project co-funded by the EU Creative Europe Programme and implemented by Insha Osvita (UA) and zusa (DE) — opens a call for applications for collaboration grants. You can receive up to EUR 40.000 for the implementation of international partnership projects between 2 or 3 organisations, focused on the integration through culture for people, who were forced to leave their homes because of the Russian full-scale war against Ukraine.

The Collaboration grants programme offers support for cultural organisations that emphasises work with people, who have been forced to move to safer regions of Ukraine or Creative Europe countries (all EU Member States as well as certain non-EU countries) because of Russia’s war against Ukraine. The project idea must be focused on displaced people or refugees, facilitate their integration into new contexts through culture to promote dialogue and mutual understanding, and offer activities that respond to processing war trauma and support of their mental health. Additional efforts should be put into involving families and children in the project activities. The proposed activities can have the form of workshops, co-creation processes, educational projects, art therapy or similar.

Facts on the Collaboration grants’ programme

“Culture Helps” includes 3 calls for Collaboration grants, this is the second call. You can find the results of the first round here.
The next and final call will be launched in February 2024. Each call will support around 10 collaboration projects.
The maximum amount of the grant is EUR 25.000 for collaboration between 2 organisations, maximum EUR 40.000 for collaboration between 3 organisations.

To apply for the grant, you need to be (eligibility criteria)

Applicants should be based in Ukraine or another Creative Europe country (all EU Member States as well as certain non-EU countries) and correspond to one of the following categories:
- non-profit organisations,
- public or private bodies, provided that
  - they can prove the organisation’s non-commercial status
  - the project proposal will not generate any profit
At least one of the applicants must actively work on the integration of displaced people or refugees from Ukraine into new realities and communities through culture, in particular families and children.
Applicants should not receive funding from any other Creative Europe scheme for the project(s) they apply with.

It is possible to team up for 2 or 3 partner organisations to prepare the collaboration. For the 2nd and 3rd round applications, each collaboration needs at least one partner from Ukraine and one partner from another Creative Europe country.

Organisations looking for partners to apply for the collaboration grant have the opportunity to participate in online moderated community calls that will serve as a helpdesk, providing assistance with grant applications and facilitating matchmaking between organisations.

The community calls take place on September 26 and October 10, 2023, 15:00 Berlin time / 16:00 Kyiv time.

Also, you can join our Slack channel – an online platform to exchange and meet potential collaboration partners. Please get in touch with us via culturehelps@zusaculture.org in order to receive an invitation.

Application and timeline

Applications need to be submitted in English via this link. You can find all questions from the form here and the proposed budget template can be downloaded here.
Deadline for applications is November 14, 2023, 22:59 Berlin time / 23:59 Kyiv time.
Results of the selection process will be announced no later than December 14, 2023.
Activities under this call can start from December 15, 2023 and should end by July 31, 2024.
Reporting deadline by August 31, 2024.

Selection process and criteria

The selection process will include:

Check for eligibility – make sure you are eligible to apply for the call, otherwise your application will not be considered.
Assessment of proposals by jury.

The following aspects will be assessed:

Relevance to grant objective: organisations’ portfolios and project concept (25 points).
Quality of partnership, capacity and competences of the team (15 points).
Uniqueness/innovation of partnership (5 points).
Feasibility of collaboration project’s concept and budget (10 points).
Perspective of collaboration beyond project period, contribution to building long-term relations between cultural actors based in Ukraine and Creative Europe countries (10 points).
Environmental awareness in the proposal (3 points).

Up to 10 projects with the highest score will receive a grant of up to EUR 25.000 for a collaboration between 2 organisations or up to EUR 40.000 for a collaboration between 3 organisations.

Representatives of all selected collaborations are obliged to participate in mentoring activities, online webinars and one network meeting.

Do you have any questions left? Use one of the possibilities to prepare a better application:

Join the online info session on September 12, 2023, 15:00 Berlin time / 16:00 Kyiv time. Please register via the link for the session and after registration you will receive an invitation with a Zoom link at your email (if not received, please check your spam).
The info session will be conducted in English. It will be recorded and published on our social media for those who cannot participate.
If you have further questions, contact us via email: culturehelps@zusaculture.org.

“Culture Helps / Культура допомагає” is a project co-funded by the European Union under a dedicated call for proposals to support Ukrainian displaced people and the Ukrainian Cultural and Creative Sectors. The project is a cooperation between Insha Osvita (UA) and zusa (DE).