Pro Helvetia supports and promotes...
Additional information, application deadlines, documentation
Guide for Applicants 2003 (PDF file 188K)
Applying to Pro Helvetia, the Arts Council of Switzerland
What is Pro Helvetia?
Pro Helvetia, the Arts Council of Switzerland, is a foundation under public law of the federal government of Switzerland, which is its sole source of funding.
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Pro Helvetia can award grants for the development, presentation and dissemination of cultural projects and works that serve the cause of artistic and cultural production, advance cultural mediation in Switzerland, foster cultural exchange among Switzerland’s linguistic regions or promote cultural relations with other countries. Pro Helvetia places particular emphasis on present-day cultural production.
In Switzerland itself, Pro Helvetia works exclusively according to the principle of subsidiarity: it supports only such projects as also receive cantonal or municipal support.
Is your project eligible for Pro Helvetia support?
Before preparing an application, please consult the following list to determine whether your proposal falls within the scope of Pro Helvetia support. You must be able to answer a clear “yes” to at least one of the questions:
- Will your project be devised or presented by cultural practitioners resident in Switzerland?
- Was it or will it be developed by Swiss cultural practitioners residing outside Switzerland?
- Does your project deal with key aspects of Swiss cultural life?
- Does it promote cultural exchange among the linguistic regions of Switzerland?
- Does it foster cultural exchange between Switzerland and other countries?
Additionally, it should fulfil the following criteria:
- It is of significance to Switzerland at large or to at least one linguistic region.
- It possesses the character of a pilot or model project.
- The cultural practitioners realising it are professionals.
Or does your project fall outside the Pro Helvetia remit?
Not everything that is Swiss is necessarily culture. And not everything that is culture can be supported by Pro Helvetia.
Pro Helvetia cannot consider your application if you
- request an educational grant (scholarship);
- seek funding for a project or work in the context of your education (dissertation, thesis or other academic study);
- submit a project connected with children’s or youth work in or outside school or relating to adult education;
- request support for participation in competitions or juries;
- wish to finance projects in the field of development cooperation;
- are looking for money to help develop or maintain infrastructures or purchase equipment.
- are seeking contributions to operating costs or requesting recurrent subsidies.
Nor can Pro Helvetia consider applications
- connected with jubilees;
- devoted primarily to the promotion of tourism and the economic sector;
- for projects intended as profit-making ventures.
Institutions other than Pro Helvetia are responsible for the promotion of certain areas of art and culture at Federal level:
- The Federal Office for Cultural Affairs (BAK) for the promotion of projects in the field of visual arts, design and film
- The Swiss National Science Foundation (Nationalfonds) for the promotion of scientific research and scientific publications
- Culture and Development (Fachstelle Kultur und Entwicklung) for applications requesting up to CHF 15,000 to promote local and regional events (series, tours, small-scale festivals and artistic co-productions in the fields of music, theatre, dance, visual arts and literature) in Switzerland featuring primarily artists from the continents of Asia, Africa, and South and Central America.
- The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit, DEZA), for the promotion of events of inter-regional significance in Switzerland involving primarily art and culture from Asia, Africa, and South and Central America and including all film festivals from the southern hemisphere.
If in doubt, please contact the Pro Helvetia department responsible, who will help you direct your application to the correct address.
Are you submitting an application to some other federal agency? If so, you cannot submit your application to Pro Helvetia at the same time. To preclude the possibility of duplication, no project is eligible, in identical form, for subsidies from more than one federal agency.
Please note: You cannot assert any right to Pro Helvetia support for your project.
Which discipline area of Pro Helvetia is responsible for your application?
Before preparing an application, please read the information under category «Discipline areas» to determine which discipline area of Pro Helvetia your application falls into and study the relevant criteria and procedural rules.
Pro Helvetia is divided into the following specialised discipline areas, each of them with a slightly different approach to cultural promotion:
Pro Helvetia also supports inter- and multidisciplinary projects touching upon several discipline areas. Applications concerning two areas are considered jointly by the relevant panels. Those touching on three or more disciplines fall within the province of
