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A cultural project can be a variety of things: the creation of artistic work, media projects or cultural policy development as well as capacity building of cultural operators or international collaboration of arts managers, et cetera. ECF likes to see projects that are involving people with different backgrounds (ethnic, religious, national or otherwise), but they should also relate strongly to artistic/cultural expression (theatre, visual arts, literature, et cetera).

The Balkan Incentive Fund for Culture is specifically aimed at cultural cooperation projects by organisations from the Western Balkans (i.e., Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo/a, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia). Cooperation with organisations outside these countries will not be excluded. However, as the BIFC aims to improve the cultural infrastructure in the Balkan region specifically, ECF thinks this will be accomplished in the best way when non-Balkan partners are included as partners, and one of the Balkan organisations will be the main applicant. In exceptional cases, organisations from other European countries can also be supported as the main applicant when the project would greatly benefit cultural development in the Western Balkan region.

Definitely, as long as they are developed through a bottom-up approach and are based on genuine, mutually beneficial partnerships. However, for projects with a scope reaching far beyond the Balkan region, it would probably be more appropriate to apply for the ECF Grants Programme.

No, as long as the project fits in within eligibility criteria and corresponds to all requirements listed in the How to Apply booklet, ECF is open to most disciplines and art forms. However, ECF is particularly interested in cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial projects (by “cross-sectorial”, ECF means non-artistic or cultural organisations). Please look at our lists of projects supported for examples of grants awarded in recent years.

Rhiz.eu is an intercultural meeting place developed to give its members an easy and fun environment for communicating and collaborating with each other. It was created by the ECF, one of the founders of the BIFC. Rhiz.eu is a trans-European project that aims to be an interesting artistic project in itself while acting as a bridge between communities. ECF expects to gather loads of profiles, stories, project info, etc. – and to have vivid discussions.

Collaboration/Cooperation should be something that goes beyond merely the hosting of foreign work, a project partner’s attendance at an event, or a financial contribution to the project. ECF is looking for projects which involve different cultural organisations working together in the planning, development and realization of the project. The collaboration aspect is one of the most important factors on which projects are being selected.

ECF does not usually support bilateral projects based primarily on well-established patterns of collaboration. National institutions are frequently active in this field. BIFC does not support the operating costs or regular activities of cultural organisations, but only specific actions that can be considered a project. Events that are focused only on the presentation of culture (showcasing, exhibiting, etc) are not very likely to be supported.

See also our list of project categories that are not eligible for support.

No – this would only occur if the local funding situation were so extreme that it prohibited any development in the cultural sector. Even in such cases, priority would be given to projects that reflect at least some kind of cooperation with organisations or individuals from neighbouring regions.

There is no specific requirement regarding the number of countries that should be represented. What ECF likes to see is evidence of genuine cross-border collaboration in all stages of the project – planning, development and implementation. ECF is not interested in superficial consortia built for fundraising purposes. Regional and smaller-scale projects are as welcome as pan-European collaborations. However, ECF will not usually award grants to local or bilateral projects that could be supported through national or regional funds.

Organisations can only be supported once as a leading organisation and once as partner organisation in another project for the duration of the grant (maximum 18 months). This means that one organisation may be involved in two different projects for the duration of both projects as lead and partner, respectively. Please note: if you are simultaneously involved as a partner in two different projects applying to a BIFC grant, ECF may have to discard one of them. It is therefore of paramount importance that you make clear agreements with your project partners on the funding resources you plan to apply to and that you inform them if you are already partnering in another ECF-supported project. 

Usually ECF does not support the same organisations more than once in a period of 18 months. Before you apply with a new project, make sure the previous one has been finalised administratively by the Grants department (meaning that the final reports have been processed).

The form ECF uses is meant for a wide variety of projects, which means that not all questions are equally relevant for all categories. For example, not all projects can expect to have a big political impact, and the distinction between target group and audience is not always applicable. But please take every question seriously, and think about how it relates to the project you are proposing.

Like mentioned in the section Partnerships, partnership for the BIFC is about genuine cooperation in the execution of the project. Please only mention partners that are involved in the execution; co-financers can be mentioned in the budget section. If you have more than three partners, please mention the three most important ones in the first section, the other ones can be brought up in the ‘other expertise’ section.

Use this space to explain clearly what you will actually be doing, and don’t only express the good intentions you have. It may sound silly, but ECF actually sees a lot of application forms where people forget to mention what the actions of the project really consist of, losing themselves in descriptions of goals, intentions and other more or less abstract notions. There is plenty of opportunity for this in other sections of the application form.

Write down who the key people in the execution of the project are, and why they are suited for the job (experience, training, expertise). Just mentioning that the people involved in the project are good is not sufficient: justify your opinion.

Expenditure
Make sure that you show what you based the figures mentioned on. For example, if you mention travel costs, show how the estimated cost relates to the expected number of people travelling and the expected cost per person.

Of course, the costs mentioned have to relate to the activities you are going to undertake. Just using the categories of costs ECF mentions in the form with some abstract numbers is not sufficient, ECF really want to gain insight in how you plan to spend the money.

ECF wants to see the expenditure for the entire project, not only the amount you would like the BIFC to contribute.

If the complexity of the project cannot be expressed in the simple budget format ECF uses in the form, please fill in a simplified version of the expenditure in the application form following ECF's format and add your own Excel document as an attachment to the registration page (not mandatory).

Income
Make sure the total amount of funding you expect equals the total expenditure you have mentioned. 

Indicate clearly for each funding source whether it has been secured already (the funder has agreed to contribute) or whether it is requested only (the decision on the funding request has not yet been taken).

ECF thinks it is very important that each project shows a certain level of local commitment (be it financial or in-kind support), and is not solely dependent on international sources.

The level of cooperation between you and your partners should also be reflected in the budget. This means that everyone needs to contribute to the project, whether in hard cash or in-kind. So, for example, if your partner is offering the meeting venue, or putting in man-hours (project officer, intern, volunteers, etc), this can be considered as in-kind contribution to the project.