Thursday, November 27, 2008

Central European Foundation's Arts Program

Central European Foundation - Celebrating Arts & Culture Programme (deadline: 15 Dec)

Central European Foundation (CEF) announces its third call for proposals to support projects in arts and culture in Slovakia (SR) and the Central European (CE) region*. Our primary focus continues to be breaking down geographic, cultural and financial barriers that keep artists and culture managers from working together in the region.

The goal of the program is to support projects from Slovakia and the Central European region* that focus on developing artistic works, events and performances and presenting them to the widest possible audience. Projects of all artistic genres and diverse themes may be submitted for financial support with several exceptions. Under this call CEF will not support production of feature films that entail major investment (with large budgets) and will not support folklore events or folklore festivals.

The year 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the democratic revolutions in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The foundation seeks to honor this anniversary by supporting projects that address the phenomenon of the revolutions in 1989 and their ramifications for society and culture. For this reason, the foundation will also welcome applications under this call for projects that address this anniversary in an additional category. These projects should, for example, address social or cultural questions related to the events of 1989. Another goal is to help facilitate awareness or interpret the events of the period for the younger generation that did not live through them. Because of the key symbolic and political significance of the Berlin wall, CEF encourages cooperation with partner organizations from Germany as well (see below for funding criteria).

In keeping with our broader mission, the foundation will continue to give priority to international, cooperative projects that foster the following three principles as defined below:
o Creativity: projects create new works in any one genre or combined genres, or revive lost traditions; projects find innovative ways to bring culture into daily life;

o Cooperation: projects involve cooperation across regional or national borders; and cooperation among nationalities and ethnic groups, social groups and sectors of public life. Projects that support mobility of artists and culture managers and involve partners from more than two countries are a point of emphasis; and
o Continuity: projects pay attention to sustainability and long-term impact and address possibilities for continued presence after the funding period is over. This may include educating future artists and/or pedagogues.

General Administrative Guidelines:
1. Applicants must be either an organization FROM SLOVAKIA or a team from Slovakia and any of the following countries: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. The grant application must be made by an organization from Slovakia. In projects that include German or Austrian partners, CEF will not fund administrative or production costs of partners from these countries.
2. Eligible grantees are nongovernmental organizations or public institutions headquartered in Slovakia that have been functioning actively for at least one year. For-profit entities are not eligible to receive grants.
3. CEF will cover up to 60% maximum of the total project budget. The applicant must be able to demonstrate its ability to co-finance the project.
4. There is no minimum or maximum size of a grant, but projects with a total budget over SKK 200,000 (EUR 6,600) will be given preference.
5. Projects must be publicized adequately in the media by the applicant as part of normal activities. Applicants should provide a promotion and media plan as part of each application.
6. The beginning of project implementation must be in 2009 and the project activities must be completed at the latest by 2010.
7. Applicants who have already received support from CEF during a previous grant round are eligible to apply.
8. Applicants must submit an application form, a detailed description of the project and a budget prepared according to the budget template given. The application form, requirements for the detailed project description (checklist) and budget template can be downloaded below.
9. Budgets should be submitted in Slovak crowns or Euros.
10. Each applicant may be a leader on only one project.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Those interested in a grant may apply if they meet the criteria listed above and if they send a completed application form and the necessary additional documents by regular post to the foundation address by December 15, 2008 at the latest (projects must be postmarked Dec. 15 or before). A copy of the application must also be sent electronically (e-mail) to cef@cef.sk by December 15, 2008 at the latest.

SELECTION PROCESS: The Board of the Central European Foundation makes the final decision on the results of the grant round. All applicants will be informed of the selection results individually. An updated list of approved projects will be regularly published on the foundation’s website. The selection may last 3-4 months. We request that applicants take this timeline into account when designing their projects. There is no set number of projects that will be supported under this call. The foundation reserves the right not to fund any projects submitted. The application form, checklist and budget template can be downloaded HERE. For reasons of lack of time, foundation staff will not offer personal consultations of project and will not check the completeness of applications before the deadline.

Please submit all materials to CEF at: Central European FoundationSasinkova 12811 08 Bratislava, Slovakiae-mail:
cef@cef.sk

*The definition of the Central European region for this call is: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

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