...to the second issue of Alert 2010 - with the latest news of European funding, deadlines, events and opportunities.

75% success rate for UK applications to strand 1.2.1 of the EU Culture programme - see "EU: Funds & Prizes" below...

More information on arts & culture funding sources...

Information on EU and non EU funds is now being added to the new fundscompare.culture.info database - recent additions include some UK and international funding sources for projects, mobility or residencies. Visit this website to view details of these opportunities - and, if you have received funding from any of these, then feel free to add your own review / comments / star rating for the funding programme.

If you have any contributions or feedback for the Alert, we would like to hear from you - please email info@culturefund.eu.

CulturEuro Seminars

EUCLID has announced the next series of their popular and informative CulturEuro seminars: 

• Liverpool, Blackburne House, 23 March
• Leeds, West Yorkshire Playhouse, 25 March
• Glasgow, Centre for Contemporary Arts, 30 March
• Newcastle, Civic Centre, 6 April
• Nottingham, Holiday Inn Express, 8 April
• Norwich, The Garage, 20 April
• Brighton, The Lighthouse, 22 April
• Edinburgh, Scottish Arts Council, 6 May
• Cardiff, Local Government Data Centre, 18 May
• Belfast, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 15 June

Seminars will run from 1.30 to 4.30 pm, and the cost is £78 (no VAT). Delegates will receive a comprehensive information pack. Full information and booking details can be found at www.cultureuro.info.

Culture Programme - new UK Cultural Contact Point

Just a reminder that Visiting Arts is now the UK Cultural Contact Point, following an agreement with EUCLID and a successful bid to the DCMS and the EC. Geoffrey Brown, Director of EUCLID, will continue to work as an Adviser to Visiting Arts in respect of their new role as CCP. Christoph Jankowski has now been appointed as European Information Officer at Visiting Arts, with specific responsibility for the CCP work. He has worked with EU Culture programme-funded projects before and brings his knowledge of several EU languages to the UK CCP. He will work closely with Geoffrey in the future.
Email info@culturefund.eu
Website www.culturefund.eu 

Funding Calls and Deadlines: Trans-National Funds

Culture Programme (Please also note slightly revised deadlines for some strands):
Strand 1.3 - Projects with Third Countries (Armenia, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Moldova, occupied Palestinian Territory, Tunisia and Ukraine) - 3 May
Strand 2 - Operating Grants for networks, ambassadors, etc. - 15 September

Other imminent deadlines (to end April 2010) are listed below:

Media 2007
Producer's support - TV Broadcasting: 5 March
Preparatory Action MEDIA International: 31 March
Distribution - Selective Scheme: 7 April
Distribution (Transnational) - 'automatic support': Generation: 30 April
Development - Slate funding: 12 April
Development - Single project: 12 April
Development - Interactive projects: 12 April
Training: Initial training: 30 April
Promotion: Audiovisual Festivals: 30 April
For further deadlines, see http://deadline.culture.info

Europe for Citizens
Networks of Twinned Towns: 1 March for projects starting between June & December
Projects initiated by Civil Society Organisations: 15 February
For further deadlines, see http://deadline.culture.info

Lifelong Learning: Leonardo da Vinci Programme (vocational training)
Apply to ECOTEC in the UK for the following:
Mobility & Placements / Preparatory Visits: Further 2010 deadlines not yet announced
Small Co-operation Placements: Further 2010 deadlines not yet announced
Larger Transfer of Innovation Projects: Further 2010 deadlines not yet announced
Apply to the EACEA in Brussels for the following:
Multilateral Projects, Networks, Accompanying Measures: Further 2010 deadlines not yet announced

Lifelong Learning: Grundtvig Programme (adult education)
Apply to ECOTEC in the UK for the following:
Visits & Exchanges: 18 March
Work Placements: Assistantships: 31 March
Small Co-operation Projects: Senior Volunteering Projects: 31 March
Apply to the EACEA in Brussels for the following:
Multilateral Projects, Networks, Accompanying Measures: Further 2010 deadlines not yet announced

Lifelong Learning: Transversal Programme
To participate in a Study Visit for Education and Vocational Training Specialists in the 2010-2011 academic year: for visits taking place from September 2010-February 2011: 31 March (apply to ECOTEC)
Multilateral Projects, Networks, Accompanying Measures: 31 March (apply to EACEA)

Life+ Programme (for the environment, including natural heritage)
New UK Contact Point: Beta Technology
No 2010 deadlines announced as yet.

7^th Framework Programme
All calls for co-operation projects in the socio-economic sciences and humanities theme have now closed. Further calls for 2010 have yet to be announced.

Funding Calls and Deadlines: Third Country Funds

DG EuropeAid: EU-China Civil Society Dialogue
Deadline: 7 May
1 million EUR will be available for projects seeking to support the consolidation of a structured ongoing dialogue between European and Chinese civil societies.
More information here

Funding Calls and Deadlines: Interreg IV Funds

Different parts of the UK are eligible to apply for certain strands of the Interreg IV programme. Below is a summary of some of the imminent deadlines for some of these strands.

Interreg IV Strand B:

North West Europe Programme (whole of UK)
Sixth Call: open from 12 March to 9 April
More information here

Strategic Clusters (for IV Strand B NWE approved projects only) - open until 10 March
More information here

North Sea Region Programme (east side of England & Scotland)
Call for applications open from 1 March to 7 April
More information here

Northern Periphery (Scotland and N Ireland)
FifthCall: open from 6 February to 24 March
More information here

Interreg IV Strand C (all of UK)

Capitalisation Projects
Deadline 5 March for applications, including the following sub-themes:
- Employment, Human Resources and Education
- Cultural Heritage and Landscape
More information here

European Young Journalist Award 2010 - last chance!

The European Commission's Directorate General for Enlargement has again launched the European Young Journalist award. The competition is open to journalists and journalism students aged 17-35 from print media, online media or radio and will run from 20 October 2009 until 28 February 2010. Submissions should focus on EU Enlargement from a creative and thought-provoking angle. Participants must be citizens of one of the EU member states, candidate countries, potential candidates or Iceland.

European Parliament Prize for Journalism

The European Parliament Prize for Journalism will be awarded for the third time in 2010. It will be given to journalists who have covered major issues at a European level or promoted a better understanding of the EU institutions and/or EU policies. There will be four different categories for the prize:

• Written press
• Radio
• TV
• Internet

The winner in each section will receive 5,000 euros. Individuals or teams up to 5 people are eligible to contribute with articles or reports. The contributions must have been published or broadcast between 1 May 2009 and 31 March 2010 in one of the official languages of the European Union. All entrants must be nationals or residents of an EU Member State and a registered journalist. Entries will be accepted until 31 March 2010 inclusive. The prize will be awarded in October 2010.

A jury will be set up to select winners in each category in the UK, with an overall jury, led by a European Parliament Vice-President, selecting the four winners EU-wide. application forms and the full rules of the Prize are available on the European Parliament's UK Office website at www.europarl.org.uk or at our special website dedicated to this new prize www.eppj.eu. The BBC TV programme The Record Europe was a joint winner of the TV prize in 2008. In 2009, the winners came from Germany, Hungary and Poland.

Find out more about the European Parliament

Travel grants available for civil society group visits to Brussels and Strasbourg
Civil society groups wishing to know more about how the European Parliament works are invited to take up the offer of a small allowance to help your group travel to Brussels or Strasbourg, the seats of the European Parliament. Conditions apply and allocation is on a first come first served basis for 2010 (minimum group size is 20, a meal subsidy of 35 euros per person and a small travel subsidy available (e.g. London-Brussels 90 euros per person). If you are interested, click here to find out how to arrange a visit.

A European Manual for Cultural Operators - How to Develop a European Cultural Project

The French Cultural Contact Point (CCP), Relais Culture Europe, have published this very useful guide. Download the guide as a PDF document.

Partner Searches

Visit http://partners.culture.info to read the latest postings of people looking for partners  here are some of those added since the last Alert:

• The European Regions of Culture campaign is seeking three additional partners to join their existing partnership group - Cornwall, (UK), South Ostrobothnia (Finland) and Kujawsko-Pomorskie (Poland)

• The Association Minerva (Italy) is looking for partnership for an educational program proposal for adults active in the tourism operators and professionals, for the announced Lifelong Learning Programme financing within the Leonardo Programme.

• A Romanian NGO based in Bihor, north west Romania, is looking to become a Co-organiser in a European cultural co-operation project.

Culture Programme: UK applications score 75% success rate !

75% of UK applications to Strand 1.2.1 (1-2 year projects) of the Culture Programme have been successful following the 1 October 2009 deadline. This is an excellent result for the UK - twice the overall average of 34.3%, and second only to Estonia, who had a 100% success rate (on the basis of submitting just one application which was successful).

In the results from the 1 October 2009 calls for both strands 1.1 (3-5 year projects) and 1.2.1. (1-2 year projects), a total of 38 UK arts and cultural organisations are involved as lead organisers or co-organisers in successful projects.

You can download the lists of successful projects from the following webpages:

Strand 1.1
Strand 1.2.1

UK applicants clearly write good applications and have an excellent success rate - why not consider submitting an application for the next deadline (1 October 2010) for strand 1.2.1?

European Capital of Culture 2015: Mons (Belgium)

The panel responsible for selecting the European Capitals of Culture for 2015 have recommended that Mons in Belgium should be one of the two cities that will share the title. Its formal nomination by the EU Council of Ministers will take place around November 2010. The Czech Republic will also host a European Capital of Culture in 2015. Its choice will be announced after a final selection meeting in Prague on 8 September 2010.

Celebrating 25 years of the European Capital of Culture
23-24 March 2010
Brussels, Belgium
The European Commission will be hosting a celebratory event and strategic conference to mark the event, to look back at the achievements of the past 25 years, and to reflect strategically on its legacy and impact. The conference will be opened by EC President Jose Manuel Barroso and Jack Lang, former Minister of Culture for France, who was the founder of the idea along with the late Melina Mercouri, former Minister of Culture for Greece. The event will begin in the early afternoon on 23 March. In the morning there will be an information day for future bidding cities. There will also be the opportunity to exchange practices with certain past, current and future cities. A strategic conference will take place on 24 March, which will be open to past, present, future, and potential bidding Capitals, as well as other interested stakeholders.

New European Commissioners now confirmed

The European Parliament has confirmed the new European Commission by 488 votes to 137, with 72 abstentions. As reported last month, this includes Androulla Vassiliou (Cyprus) as the new Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth.

2010: European Year For Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion

Please visit the following websites for more information:

• European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion

• The UK's national programme of events

Launch of EU Roma Web Portal

The European Commission's Directorate General (DG) for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities has launched the EU Roma web portal. It works as a central source to gather and present information on Commission activities and funding supporting Roma inclusion. It also links to the NGOs and international organisations active in this field. Finally, it provides updated information on the recent major research and studies on Roma inclusion in Europe.

Visit http://confer.culture.info for full details of the following events, plus many others.

Legacy Now 5 + Legacy Plus - Interim Uses and East London's Olympic Legacy
2-4 March 2010
London, UK

Celebrating 25 years of the European Capital of Culture
23-24 March 2010

"Mapping and evaluating existing platforms (websites) within the cultural sector aimed at stimulating debate and cross-border exchange of matters concerning European culture."
19 March 14:00-16:30
Brussels, Belgium

EU projects in favour of the Roma Community Conference
10-11 March 2010
Brussels, Belgium