«Culture Helps Solidarity / Культура допомагає: Солідарність»: Open Call for Project Grants — first round, February-April 2026

Community (Dis-)Connections: How Culture Helps and Has Its Limits

Culture Helps Solidarity supports arts and culture professionals from Ukraine to sustain creativity, resilience, and community connection during and after the war. Running until 2028, the programme combines three grant schemes – individual grants, thematic project grants, and collaboration grants – with a rich programme of mentoring, learning, and peer exchange. It is co-financed by the EU through the Creative Europe programme and implemented by the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam) with Insha Osvita (Kyiv), zusa (Berlin), and the VETERANKA Movement (Kyiv).

At least 60 Project Grants will be awarded across four thematic calls, with a minimum of 15 projects supported in this first round. Each project may receive up to €7,000. Three additional calls, each with its own thematic focus, will be launched over the course of the programme. More information about the upcoming themes can be found at the end of this call for proposals.

Introduction & Thematic focus

This first call for Project Grants is launched at a moment when community connections across Ukraine and within Ukrainian diasporas continue to be reshaped by the consequences of war. Forced displacement, relocation within the country or abroad, and the return of both women and men from military service have altered social landscapes, creating new forms of distance between people and disrupting familiar ties. Many communities are still in the process of forming new relationships, often without a shared sense of understanding.

Yet community connections remain central to people’s support, resilience, and emotional wellbeing. They frequently develop under conditions shaped by trauma, structural barriers, and tensions between individual needs and collective action. These challenges affect many groups, including displaced persons, diaspora communities, families with children, and vulnerable groups such as veterans.

Cultural and artistic practices offer distinct ways of responding to these complexities. Socially engaged art, community based and dialogical practices, collaborative approaches, and the sensitive use of therapeutic elements can create spaces where people reconnect across differences, rebuild trust, and imagine new forms of belonging. Through creativity and empathy, artistic processes can help communities move beyond immediate limitations while also acknowledging the ethical and emotional boundaries of cultural work.

This call supports cultural and artistic initiatives that respond to the changing landscape of community (dis‑)connection. We invite projects that help people navigate the social and emotional complexities of displacement, transition, and return by creating meaningful encounters, enabling shared cultural participation, and fostering renewed forms of solidarity.

What are we looking for?

This call supports small-scale cultural projects that strengthen community connections among people affected by the war in Ukraine. We invite initiatives that create opportunities for people to meet, share, and rebuild trust through cultural and artistic practices.

We prioritise cultural projects that work with communities whose social ties have been disrupted or reshaped, including:

displaced persons and refugees,
people navigating relocation within Ukraine or abroad,
veterans and women veterans, who may experience specific vulnerabilities,
communities facing social fragmentation or emotional strain.

Projects may take many cultural forms, such as co‑creation processes, participatory or dialogical practices, collaborative or experimental art, community storytelling, or mobile and accessible cultural formats. What matters above all is that the proposed activities create genuine possibilities for people to connect across differences, strengthening emotional wellbeing in safe and appropriate ways. They should respond sensitively to the specific dynamics and vulnerabilities of the communities involved and reflect the call’s overall thematic focus on building community connection and renewed belonging. Ultimately, we are looking for initiatives that use cultural practice to open space for shared experience and contribute to new forms of solidarity.

What do we offer?

We offer grants of up to €7,000.

Grants can cover a large variety of costs including production costs, marketing and advertising costs, rental and running costs for studios and cultural venues, IT, communication and production tools and materials, and – upon special request and where appropriate (e.g. when lost/destroyed) – purchase of other goods, means, or services necessary for the implementation and execution of the project.

Grants can also be used to cover travel costs, expert fees, artists’ honoraria, legal services, staff- and operational costs. However, these amounts must all be proportionate and justifiable.

Although co-financing is not mandatory, it is recommended that the grant is used to cover a maximum of 80% of the total project budget.

The project timeline may be up to 6 months. Activities related to the project may not take place before the start date (1 July 2026).

The submission deadline for proposals is Thursday, 16th April 2026, 13:00 Amsterdam time/ 14:00 Kyiv time.

Deepen Your Understanding – Join Our Webinar

To explore the thematic focus in greater depth, we invite applicants to join our webinar:

Community (Dis-)Connections: How Culture Helps and Has Its Limits
Date: Thursday, 5 March 2026
Time: 15:00–18:00 Kyiv / 14:00–17:00 Amsterdam
Language: Ukrainian with English simultaneous translation
Link to register: https://form.typeform.com/to/Et6fyAM2

Hosted by Insha Osvita, the webinar will present practices and stories from projects working with diverse communities in Ukraine, across Europe, and crossborder. It will highlight approaches to community engagement, explore how cultural tools can help address fragmentation, and examine where the limits of cultural work lie.

Programme

Introduction (Insha Osvita)
Alona Karavai – How connections and ruptures work in the “Scattered Communities” — program for artists who have remained in Ukraine or left due to the war
Yevgeniya Nesterovych – Guardians of Memory: how to create spaces of safety for difficult conversations
Veteran Olena Herasymiuk (Hera) – Art Therapy Integration of Veterans, Metaphorical Maps “MAK 4.5.0”
Anastasiya Khlestova, ZIEGEL, Forming Ukrainian art community: case study in Graz, Austria
Q&A

Participation in the webinar is optional, but it will be taken into account in the assessment and may positively influence the evaluation.

Eligibility Criteria

Applications must be submitted in English or Ukrainian and must include a complete application form and budget;
Applicants must be above 18 years old;
This call is open to both individuals and civic, public or private organisations based in Ukraine or in any of the Creative Europe countries, operating in the cultural, creative, or civil sector;
The proposed project must not receive funding from any other Creative Europe scheme;
Proposals submitted by political parties will not be considered;
Strictly humanitarian initiatives or individual requests for cost-of living support will not be considered.

Selection Criteria and Process

Relevance to the thematic focus – Does the project use cultural and artistic practices to strengthen community connection and foster meaningful encounters? Does it address the needs of vulnerable groups, such as veterans and women veterans, displaced persons, diaspora communities? Does it clearly respond to the call’s focus on building connection, trust, and renewed forms of belonging?
Capacity and competence of the applicant – Does the applicant demonstrate appropriate experience and motivation to work with the target communities? Is the team composition (if applicable) adequate for the proposed activities?
Quality and coherence of the proposal – Are the aims, methods, and results well-articulated and realistic? Does the proposal demonstrate understanding of the communities involved, including the specific needs of veterans? Is the timeline feasible and the budget justified?
Authenticity and experimentation – Does the project offer a fresh or distinctive cultural approach to fostering community connection? Does it explore creative or participatory methodologies that are suitable for working with communities experiencing fragmentation or vulnerability?
Sustainability of action – Does the project show potential for continued impact beyond the grant period? Is there consideration of environmental responsibility?

Following an eligibility check, proposals will be assessed by a team of internal and external experts from a wide range of geographic, cultural and professional areas. At least fifteen projects will be selected for support in this round.

Timeline

20 February 2026 call for proposals open
5 March 2026 thematic workshop
15 April 2026 call closed
Mid-June 2026 proposals assessed and selected
1 July 2026 start date of selected projects
31 December 2026 end date of selected projects
31 January 2027 submission deadline for final reports

Projects may not begin before 1 July 2026.

How to Apply?

You can find more information -including the budget template- and submit your application via this link: https://culture-of-solidarity-fund.grantplatform.com/.

We are organizing an online info session on the 9th March at 14:00 Amsterdam time / 15:00 Kyiv time where participants can enter into a Q&A session with the partners regarding the application process and criteria. You can register via this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/j-FoujgURGuz8_U6ykQL5Q#/registration

Applicants are encouraged to develop their proposals through human expertise, critical thinking, and artistic or professional judgment. Proposals that rely primarily on AI-generated content or concepts may be given lower priority in the assessment process.

Should you have further questions, please contact us at chs@culturalfoundation.eu.

Culture Helps Solidarity / Культура допомагає: Солідарність is co–funded by the EU Creative Europe Programme and implemented by the European Cultural Foundation (NL), Insha Osvita (UA), zusa (DE), and the VETERANKA Movement (UA).

Looking Ahead: Future Opportunities for Your Work

As you consider this first call, here is a glimpse of what’s next. Over the course of the program, we will launch three additional thematic calls, each paired with a workshop to deepen your practice and connect you with peers across Ukraine and Europe. Please keep an eye on the upcoming announcements that may (better) resonate with your experience, your community, or your artistic approach.

Call & Workshop No. 2: Memory in Action — June 2026
This round focuses on gathering and sharing the stories of women veterans with dignity and care. We will explore how lived experience can inform honest, nuanced remembrance practices that avoid stereotypes or heroization.

Key themes: Trauma-informed storytelling, ethical frameworks for personal archives (photos, intimate memories), and community-led commemoration that supports visibility and agency.

Call & Workshop No. 3: Community Spaces as Safer Environments — January 2027
In this round we will examine how community spaces serve as anchor points for people in displacement. The focus is on creating environments where belonging is nurtured and integration becomes a shared responsibility between newcomers and local residents.

Key themes: Defining “safer spaces,” intergenerational resilience, guidelines for working with people with combat experience, and destigmatizing mental health through open conversation.

Call & Workshop No. 4: Ecologies of Care — May 2027
The final call addresses the ecological rupture caused by war. We invite cultural initiatives to respond to the destruction of Ukraine’s ecosystems not only as a human tragedy but as an opportunity to reimagine our interdependence with the “more-than-human” world.

Key themes: Living with damaged landscapes, ancestral knowledge, and regenerative futures.