The €9.9 Cultural Exchange fund closed its second open call for proposals in March 2009. The fund intermediary, the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, has now released a list of projects selected for funding. In total, nine cultural cooperation projects will receive €1.5 million in grant support. The majority of the approved projects are related to music and theatre performance.
Among the projects to receive grant support from the Cultural Exchange Fund is the Complex of State Music Schools no 1 in Warsaw, which will receive €0.2 million to fund the Polish-Norwegian Youth Academy of Music, in collaboration with nine different partners in Poland and Norway. The Edvard Grieg Museum and the Ole Bull Academy are among the Norwegian partners involved in the project. Icelandic partners are also involved in several cultural exchange projects. One of these is Dance Bridge, receiving €0.7 million in grant support. The project is initiated by the Silesian Dance Theatre in collaboration with the Association of Independent Theatres in Iceland, Iceland Dance and the Norwegian Samovarteateret.
The cultural exchange fund was established in 2008, and supports and encourages bilateral cooperation projects between cultural institutions and artists in Poland and the three donor states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. An additional €5.5 million from the EEA and Norway Grants was allocated to the fund in April 2009. Now at €9.9 million, the fund is a significant source of financial support for bilateral projects within the fields of music and performing arts, cultural heritage, plastic and visual arts, as well as literature and archives. The fund is planning a new open call already in June 2009, and unsuccessful applicants from the second round are encouraged to apply again.
The full list of approved projects can be found here.
Read more about the cultural exchange fund here.