Pro Helvetia supports and promotes...
Additional information, application deadlines, documentation
Discipline areas
- Visual Arts
- Film
- Music
- Literature and the humanities
- Theatre
- Dance
- Culture & Society
- International
- Inter- and Multidisciplinary Projects
Guide for Applicants 2003 (PDF file 188K)
Culture & Society
Objectives
In the Culture & Society sector, Pro Helvetia supports cultural projects relating to timely social issues. The accent is on multidisciplinary projects fostering understanding and encouraging dialogue among regional, linguistic, national, ethnic or other communities at home and abroad.
Activities
Grants can be awarded for projects geared to establishing a relationship between cultural practice and social development:
- projects that foster social discourse by cultural and artistic means. Pro Helvetia places special emphasis on the artistic and intellectual exploration of current social and cultural phenomena;
- activities that heighten sensitivity to cultural diversity and social change and encourage exchange, the transfer of experience and the building of social and cultural bridges;
- projects focusing on the cultural practices of the widest possible range of population groups. The active participation of the population is a priority. Projects should encourage creativity and be geared to collective creative processes. Preference is given to projects addressing groups with a limited cultural infrastructure and difficult access to the resources of cultural life.
- projects that contribute to reflection on the societal significance of art and culture and that heighten sensitivity to the societal significance of cultural practice.
Cultural mediation
In Switzerland Pro Helvetia supports pilot projects that fall thematically into one of the priority areas mentioned above or encourage reflection and development of approaches at the interfaces of culture and education.
In particular, grants can be awarded for:
- conceptual events and conferences;
- publications and thematic exhibitions in the field of cultural mediation;
- art-related socio-cultural pilot projects;
- socio-cultural and culture-mediating pilot projects in the field of new information and communication technologies.
Everyday and popular culture
Pro Helvetia promotes projects designed to reflect everyday and popular culture in a contemporary light.
Grants can be awarded for:
- exhibitions and publications on subjects relating to Swiss social anthropology or everyday culture;
- specialist conferences of national or international significance on subjects relating to Swiss social anthropology or everyday culture;
- networking projects involving local and regional museums;
- the conception and realisation of permanent exhibitions at local and regional museums and of changing or touring exhibitions, so long as they are in line with the timely approaches taken by the Culture & Society sector.
Intercultural dialogue
Pro Helvetia promotes pilot projects at home and abroad that advance efforts to address the issue of art and society in the cross-currents of global, national and local culture.
Grants can be awarded for:
- projects relating to long-term priority areas as defined by the Culture & Society sector;
- events and networks;
- publications and exhibitions.
Culturemobile
Culturemobile assists groups interested in pursuing cultural ideas or schemes in their surroundings and offers professional support in devising, organising and carrying out projects – on the basis of a participative approach. Support is given in the form of accompaniment of the process, advice, animation or the provision of an infrastructure. Projects accompanied by Culturemobile are financed, developed and realised by the initiators themselves. Where necessary and possible, partnerships are concluded or specialists called in.
Criteria
The general Pro Helvetia criteria apply. Moreover, in the Culture & Society sector Pro Helvetia can only consider
- model projects with the potential to trigger impulses;
- projects of supraregional significance (local and regional activities only in Culturemobile projects);
- projects that aim at optimal realisation in light of the target group and on-site conditions;
- initiatives offering broad sectors of the population the opportunity to participate in both planning and realisation.
Restrictions
The general exclusionary criteria apply.
Moreover, in the Culture & Society sector Pro Helvetia cannot finance:
- recurrent projects with identical content;
- operating costs or regular activities of existing institutions and organisations;
- projects designed solely for an institution’s own benefit (inner workings, training and continuing education of personnel, house information leaflets, advertising, homepages);
- the acquisition or restoration of buildings, cultural monuments or exhibition pieces/cultural assets;
- projects in the field of development aid.
Procedural rules
When submitting an application for publication grants, please use the appropriate application form (“Publikationsbeiträge”, in G/F/I) and consult our information sheets (“Merkblatt für die Gesuchseingabe” and “Merkblatt für die Gesuchseingabe (Ausstellungen in Orts- und Regionalmuseen)”, in G/F/I) under category «Forms and information sheets».
