House of Europe Supports Culture in Ukraine during COVID-19

Since April 2020, the European Union-funded House of Europe programme has supported more than 53 cultural institutions from almost all regions of Ukraine to help them meet the challenges of the pandemic. A special support package in response to COVID-19 amounts to 0.8 million euros. The results of the support package implementation were presented by the EU Delegation to Ukraine together with the House of Europe program on 21 July 2020.

“Our main goal is to save cultural institutions from extinction and help creative people keep working and creating. Their work not only supports unity and motivation in society during the crisis: after all, creativity, innovation and criticism are among the most powerful assets of progressive, European Ukraine,” said Frederic Kune, the Head of “Social and Regional Development” Department, First Counselor at the European Union Delegation in Ukraine.

Support from EU during the crisis:

• 35 organisations received infrastructure grants covering the cost of equipment for remote work, as well as rent and wages – up to 9,000 euros for each organisation.
• 10 grants for digital cooperation, which finance innovative cultural projects in digital format, implemented jointly by organisations from Ukraine and the EU – up to 25,000 euros for each project.

Eight grants for the winners of Hataton, the largest online marathon of ideas in Ukraine, which was held in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine and gathered 1,163 participants in IT and culture – up to 25,000 euros for each idea.

Full information on grants in response to COVID-19, a list of winners, and a description of all successful organizations and projects can be found here.

“It is a great feeling when the grant program becomes real, when abstract foundations turn into living ideas, people’s projects. But when it happens during the pandemic, despite everything, the feeling is even stronger. While working on the COVID-19 response package, we met a huge demand – the motivation of each team to make efforts and restructure their projects, with the support of the European Union through the “House of Europe,” for the needs of emergency situations. The results of the projects are inspiring – both for us and, hopefully, for the entire cultural sector in Ukraine,” said Christian Dimmer, House of Europe Program Manager.

In addition to grants for cultural institutions, more than 1,000 artists, creative entrepreneurs and cultural professionals have received individual one-off scholarships of €100 to mitigate the effects of the crisis on them and their families. They could choose and take one of the training courses for cultural professionals from the online course library, curated by the House of Europe team. After successful completion of the courses, these professionals applied for a scholarship, which served as an incentive and impetus for new searches.

House of Europe also supports those who have already taken advantage of the program, thanks to a special line of grants for graduates. After the quarantine, various networking events are to take place for House of Europe alumni.

Thanks to the House of Europe, the European Union will continue to support artists, cultural institutions and the creative industries in Ukraine. Professionals from the culture and creative industries, as well as Ukrainians working in education, health, social entrepreneurship, the media and youth, can go to the House of Europe website to learn more about new support opportunities.

Reference information:

House of Europe is a program funded by the European Union, designed to support professional and creative exchange between Ukrainians and their counterparts in the EU. The program focuses on culture and the creative sector, education, medicine, social entrepreneurship, media and youth work. House of Europe opened in October 2019. The program has a budget of €12.2 million and provides 22 separate support lines that allow Ukrainians to participate in internships, study tours, networking, residencies and other forms of professional exchange in the EU.

House of Europe pays special attention to the regions of Ukraine: in addition to the mobile pavilion, the program develops the pop-up-format of “House of Europe,” collaborating with local hubs and creative entrepreneurs in Rivne and Dnipro.

The Goethe-Institut in Ukraine runs the House of Europe program. The British Council, the French Institute and the Czech Center are consortium partners of the project.