国際交流基金 The Japan Foundation Performing Arts Network Japan

Arts Organizations 世界の支援団体

Nov. 10, 2022

欧州連合文化機関(EUNIC)
EU
European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC)

The European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) is a network of organizations dedicated to the promotion of cultural diversity and the building of mutual understanding both inside and outside the EU by means of cooperation between public cultural institutions and relevant ministries of the EU Member States, with the ultimate aim of strengthen international dialogue and cooperation through culture. EUNIC’s headquarters is located in Brussels. The network is made up of a total of 38 organizations from 28 countries in the EU member states and the United Kingdom (which left the EU in 2020), and the members include public institutions specializing in international cultural exchange and related ministries and agencies of cultural and international relations. In June 2022, Johannes Ebert of the Goethe-Institut was appointed as President of EUNIC.

The 2020-2024 business policy “Strategic Framework” calls for the strengthening of cultural exchanges through cooperation among member organizations and with partner institutions and stakeholders around the world, while advocating the important role of culture in international relations as a key a partner of the EU in defining and implementing EU cultural policy, exchange strategies, and strengthening networks.

In addition to being active in the EU member states, EUNIC has formed what it calls “clusters” all over the world, and particularly since 2012, it has been focusing on strengthening its international network through these clusters. The number of clusters increased from 80 in 2012 to 136 (in 104 countries) as of June 2022. In Japan there are clusters in Tokyo and the Kansai region of Western Japan (Osaka, Kyoto).

One of EUNIC’s main programs is the “Cluster Fund” launched in 2012 for the purpose of contributing to the vitalization of the clusters and the strengthening of relationships with local institutions. Funded by donations from EUNIC member institutions, the Cluster Fund is a program supporting a variety of joint projects between the member institutions and the clusters, and by 2021 has provided a total of 146 projects with funding totaling some 1.3 million euros. Applications can be made by the individual clusters for a maximum amount of 20,000 euros in the form of grant to fund up to 60% of a project’s total cost. In fiscal 2021, applications for 23 projects were approved, and many of them directly influenced one or more of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including those involving the arts and the environment.

In 2019, a new program named “European Spaces of Culture” was launched. This is an open-call program soliciting proposals for innovative models of cultural exchange jointly conducted by European cultural institutions and local partners outside the EU. This is one of the projects that embodies the EU’s foreign cultural strategy, which has shifted its focus since 2007 from disseminating European culture and values to encouraging cultural exchange based on people-to-people relationships.

The program was implemented based on an agreement between the European Commission, which is the EU’s policy enforcement body, and EUNIC, and as a preparatory stage from 2019 to 2023, a pilot project divided into three phases was initiated. In Phase 1 (2020-2021), six projects were implemented in Benin, Mongolia, El Salvador, etc., and in Phase 2 in 2022, 11 projects were adopted in countries including Brazil, Cameroon, China, and Moldova, etc. In June 2021, an international conference was held to discuss the future of cultural exchange in the EU, bringing together more than 400 representatives from the project teams of the selected projects, as well as policy makers and officials from the cultural exchange institutions involved.