STEP Beyond Travel Grants

STEP Beyond Travel grants fund up-and-coming artists and cultural workers - with a priority to individuals up to 35 years and/or in the first 10 years of their career - to travel between EU and countries bordering the EU. Since 2003, STEP  - which stands for ‘Supporting Travel for European Partnerships’ - Beyond Travel Grants have supported the movement of hundreds of people across European borders by providing between €250 and €700. In 2010, we awarded 159 individual travel grants of between €250 and €700.

Funding mobility and exchange links closely to ECF’s overall objectives and specifically to our European Neighbourhood programme, which currently works with organisations in Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey. Also high on our agenda is support for people and projects in the Arab-Mediterranean regions. We especially welcome applications for STEP Beyond Travel Grants from these regions.

STEP Beyond Travel grants support artists and cultural workers based in one of the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, The Netherlands, Norway, Palestinian Territories, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

All the activities of the ECF mobility fund are revolved around three strategic guiding principles:

1. Empowerment of people through art and culture – support is given to different communities in Europe to encourage the exchange and empowerment of under-represented groups.
2. Connecting sources of knowledge – sharing and connecting knowledge is vital in creating an open Europe.
3. Linking policy and practice projects that help build an open Europe by contributing to cultural policy development locally, nationally, regionally and at a European level.

Eligibility

• Artists or cultural workers of any contemporary artistic or cultural discipline (individual or representing a cultural or artistic independent organisation);
• Based in Europe or in its neighborhood;
• Maximum 35 years old.

What countries can you travel to and from?
In order to facilitate the functioning of the fund as well as to reach its aims, the larger pan-European area has been divided in two groups.

• Group A: The 27 Member States of the European Union; The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
• Group B: In Europe: Western Balkans(Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, (FYROM),Montenegro and Serbia), Belarus, Moldavia, Russia, South Caucasus (Armenia,Azerbaijan and Georgia) Turkey and Ukraine. In the South and East Mediterranean: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya,Morocco, Palestine Territory, Syria and Tunisia.

Types of grants

The STEP beyond offers three types of grants (350, 500 and 700 Euro) based on travel distances and average travel costs. The eligible applications are evaluated by the STEP beyond team during the pre-selection phase, after this assessment ECF decides which proposal it will support. Both awarded  and rejected applicants are notified by e-mail around one month after the application submission date.

In case of group travel:

• a maximum of three individuals applying for the same event;
• group applications need to be submitted by the host organisation.

Application procedure

Please follow the steps outlined below to apply for the STEP beyond travel grants:

• Download and fill out the STEP beyond application form.
• Fill in completely the Registration Form.

If you still have questions about the procedure, you can always contact us via e-mail: stepbeyond[@]eurocult.org. 

Read more and apply here

Learning Arabic Language and Culture in Morocco

An Arabic Language and Culture session is a special activity that the Forum Communication des Cultures (FCC) organizes this year. The sessions will be held in Youssoufia/Rabat, Morocco.

The objectives of this activity are:

- Giving to people the opportunity to get basic knowledge about Arabic language and culture. That knowledge could be useful for him in their studies or in their daily life or in their travels in countries speaking this language.

- Giving the opportunity to people to get in touch with the Moroccan culture and its way of life, and in consequences achieve a fruitful cultural exchange.

- Giving the opportunity to people has some basic knowledge about this language to brush up it and be adapted to different ways to use it.

- Trying to connect Volunteers with friends from abroad so as to correspond between them in English or Arabic as a tool to promote their international understaning and knowledge and establish new friendship.

The courses are given by teachers’ members of FCC, who've got special training for this mission. Those teachers are flexible in managing those courses and are ready to cooperate with the participants so as to fulfil their expectations.

13 hours of learning courses per week are envisaged (Monday to Friday, morning from 9.30 to 12.00). The curriculum includes Arabic Culture, Calligraphy, Arabic language courses, Pronounciation.

At their arrival the participants will be given the FCC Arabic Language Guide.

The intercultural exchange sessions that will be organised during the Arabic program is an occasion offered by FCC to all the participants so as to present, exchange and discuss together the knowledge they got from the families.

Accommodation

The participants lodge and eat in families during the whole period. Staying with a family is a tool for FCC to give the occasion to the participants to use the Arabic language and also to discover the Moroccan way of life. All the participants are asked to respect the families’ environment and don’t behave against the local tradition; they are also asked to be sociable and are open mind so as to built good and fruitful communication with their members.

Dates

Five periods are available, and the participant who would like to attend the following period will be welcomed. 

1st Period: 05/01/2012-05/02/2012
2nd Period: 05/02/2012-05/03/2012
3rd Period: 05/03/2012-05/04/2012
4th Period: 05/04/2012-05/05/2012
5th Period: 05/05/2012-05/06/2012

Fees
Registration Fees 20 EUR
Extra fees: 100 EUR/month

Registration 

A candidate should send a motivation letter and the registration form (can de found here) to forcc.net@gmail.com

Participant has to show a strong motivation and discipline in learning a different culture and language.

Deadline for application for the 1st session: 20/11/2011.

For more information or details, please contact: forcc.net@gmail.com

More about the organization:  http://fccm.weebly.com/

Vacancy for EVS Volunteer in Poland

Centre for Creative Activity is looking for EVS volunteer for the period of February-November 2012. Our project is about promoting voluntarism, building local activism. Volunteer is a person involved in making actions, workshops for youth and children, can also to adults. During EVS you will be involved in coordinating local and international projects, fundraising, writing application for grants and working at school:))) also sometimes you will be involve in travelling in a region with promotion of youth in action and your country! 

Tasks

EURODESK INFORMATION POINT  - answering mails, updating website , making databases (for ex: grants, international summer courses etc)  - helping with international events 

NDIVIDUAL WORSHOPS - This activity depends of a volunteer him/her self. Depending of the wanted activity and the profile of volunteer that we will host, they will have opportunity to develop their own activity by share of his/her own interest (which means that if they are good in theatre they will have chance to organize theatre worshops or if they are good in belly dance, we will start new open for local youth).  Our main target are kids and younsgters till end of university 

WORKING ON A FIELD - In this part we planned to bring volunteers in projects on which we work, like:  - helping with local actions like: helping with studies for youth - organising free time activities for kids and youth such as concerts.  - promotion of the European integration process ( in a political and social meaning) by developing.  The four main areas, where we plan that the foreign volunteers could involve in are:  - cooperation with European School Clubs (ESC) - informal unions between the students and teachers in different types of schools from the following voivodeships: LUBUSKIE, WIELKOPOLSKIE, DOLNOŒL¥SKIE. The volunteers will travel around those voivodeships to give lectures and make workshops in kindergardens, schools about their own countries (traditions, history, educational system, young people's lifestyles) and the European Union (especialy educationals programms for youth). Apart from this the volunteers will help our volunteers to organise Europan day and Europan Youth Conference. To show the possibilities in EU for young people.  This part can be flexible, because volunteers will be involved in everything that we will do in a certain moment. If we will organize art festival they will have opportunity to be involved. In periods where field work is not necessary volunteers will have chance to develop their own  3) St. Staszic Complex of Schools in Wschowa  - helping Career Councelour with office work and leading worshops for youth 

 

Criteria

We would like to welcome a volunteer in the age between 18 - 30 y.o. with as much artistic as realistic soul, who is enthusiastic and keen to do a lot of different activities, who would like to either teach teenagers important things about dance, music, theatre and/or acting or, help with creating/editing webside of our partners institutions and our NGO. We plan that the volunteer to his/her advantage will learn many things about Polish culture and language. We need a person who would like to share with kids, and youth what is "youth in action" and what kind of europan programmes they can use in their lifes. That person should like working with children and teenagers and have communicative command of English language.It would be also perfect if person is experienced in writing grants application and fundraising. Selected candidate will be contacted in order to receive further information about the procedure and to explain details about our organisation and the available acivities in Centre for Creative Activity.

  

Procedure

ALL INTERESTED VOLUNTEERS SHOULD SEND:  

- CV  and cover letter 

- Movie about herself/himself (with info how they can contribute project , why they choose our project) 

TILL 10.10.2011 - 23.59 CET TO THE EMAIL EVS@FUNDACJA-CAT.PL.  MAILS SENT TO KONTAKT@FUNDACJA-CAT.PL WOULD BE REJECTED AUTOMATICALLY!!! We prefer if sending organisation can apply in its own country, becuase our project is still running (first one)

• Contact person: Marlena Pujsza Kunikowska
• Organisation: Centre for Creative Activity
• Location: Leszno, Poland
• Deadline: 10/10/2011
• Start: 27/02/2012
• End: 26/11/2012

International Youthcamp 2011

International Youthcamp2011 will take place on 12-14 August 2011, in Ballerup, Denmark. Active young people from all over the EU will meet to jointly develop ideas, debate democracy and establish networks across geographical borders. The activities at the Youthcamp will strengthen the young people in their work developing projects for and with young people in their local area, and engaging other young people in the democratic decision-making processes.

The camp consists of a series of workshops, where Danish and foreign presenters talk about e.g. inter alia, international political cooperation, project development and youth participation. The camp also offers social and cultural events, such as film, music, swimming, video art, song writing and much more. As a participant in the camp you will help to shape the camp and its contents.

Youthcamp Organizer Group consists of young people from Fingal in Ireland, Nacka in Sweden, Adalar in Turkey and Ballerup in Denmark.

The personal goals for the participants of the camp are to:

LEARN IT – share knowledge and experiences!
SHARE IT – create networks and relations!
DO IT – participate in social and cultural activities!

The underlying and bigger goal of the camp is to tell the world, the political leaders and the people around us that young people have dreams and ideas and want to express their opinions and to get their voices through to the political leaders. 

Eligibility  

Youthcamp2011 participants must be between the ages of 15 and 25 when the camp is held (12-14 August 2011). The Youthcamp is for young people, who have some experience with the democratic process through youth projects, youth councils or youth organizations.

Conditions for participation

Participants younger than 18 years must be accompanied by an adult or a leader over 18. The name of the leader must be provided on the registration form.

It is possible for several people from the same project, youth council, etc. to attend. If you attend as a group, the group’s other participants must be included on the registration form. If you attend as part of a group, it must be stated who is responsible for the group on the registration form.

Accommodation, food and activities

Youthcamp2011 provides accommodation, food and water for the participants free of charge. Activities described in the Youthcamp2011 programme are also free for the participants, but they must pay for OFFSITE activities requested which are not offered by Youthcamp2011.

Transport and travel costs

You are responsible for your own transport to and from Copenhagen Airport/Train Station, a mini-bus will be provided to collect you and transport you to the camp. Youthcamp2011 provides directions, timetables, etc. at www.youthcamp2011.eu, where you can also download the mini-site for mobile phones. The participants pay their own travel costs to and from Youthcamp2011. 

Registration  

Registration for Youthcamp2011 is available on the website at www.youthcamp2011.eu. Deadline - August 01, 2011.

For more information contact the Youthcamp secretariat at info@youthcamp2011.eu

International Student Week in Timisoara (ISWinT) 2011

ISWinT team is proud to announce that preparations for this year’s festival, which will take place between the 18th and 27th of July, are in full swing. ISWinT (International Student Week in Timisoara, Romania) is an international festival that gathers participants from all over the world each year since 1994. The purpose of this festival is to give the students from different countries the opportunity to communicate freely, to express their opinions in a productive manner, while enjoying a taste of our local culture. The theme for this summer is “Celebrate Innovation. Keep Tradition”. The reason behind this particular choice of words is to emphasize the antithesis that appears between tradition and innovation, two sides of a continuously flipping coin.

During the 10 days of festival the participants have the opportunity to make new friends, discover the Romanian culture, discuss and express their opinions during the workshops or while attending the conferences. As a means to relax and have fun, they get to attend parties, themed evenings, or afternoons dedicated to recreational activities, such as games, sports, or simply escape into the tranquility of nature. Romania's beautiful landscapes are revealed during the two-day trip when we will visit the surroundings of Timisoara. 

Program

The festival program is composed of 13 different workshops and a number of cultural events and study trips.

Costs

There is a 100 euro participation fee that will cover accommodation, food (3 meals/day), free entrance to parties and all the places we will visit, the costs for the trip in the surroundings of Timisoara, transportation around the city during the festival and materials for the workshops. The 100 euro fee does not include travel expenses to and from Timisoara and visa costs.

Application and Eligibility

All you have to do is fill out the application form until May 15, 2011, and we'll contact you by June 10 if you are selected! There are also some conditions required for eligibility: it's absolutely necessary for you to be an 18-28 years old student. The working language of the festival is English.

If you have any questions, end an e-mail to: contact@iswint.ro

http://iswint.ro/

Annual Open International Festival of Multimedia Art “Multimatograf-7”

This year the Annual Open International Festival of Multimedia Art "Multimatograf" will take place for the seventh time. It will be held on April 23-24, 2011 in Vologda, Russia. "Multimatograf" is an outstanding event in the field of animation. Creative spirit, unordinary mixture of unordinary ideas and technological «know-how», computer art availability - that are the principles that we base upon.

The festival is primarily aimed to support independent young artists, who are eager to realize their creative potential and wish to share their ideas and message with the world through the means of multimedia art. Festival participants are usually those young people, who have active life position and intend to make the world a more beautiful place. In the six years the Festival gathered more than 500 works from all over Russia and abroad – Ukraine, Belorussia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, the USA, Mexico, Denmark, Canada, etc.

Application

If you do animation, music videos, video-art and you want to share your ideas and want your work to find its audience – you are welcome to the Festival!

The works must fall into one of the four nominations:

1. Cartoon

2. Video-art

3. Music video

4. Wild

Costs 

All the works must be non-commercial. The organizers also don’t charge any participation fee and all the festival events are free for the participants. They will include a number of master-classes, seminars, work screenings, an exhibition of retro-computers, gala-concert, after-party.

Founders and organizers:

- Vologda Oblast Youth Non-governmental Organization “Creative Group “TONNA”

- Vologda Oblast Committee of Physical Education, Sport and Youth Affairs

- Vologda Oblast “Sodruzhestvo” Youth Center

Deadline for work submission: April 11, 2011.

More information at: http://www.multimatograf.ru/about

E-mail: mf@to-tonna.ru

ISWiB 2011 - “Communication in Action!”

ISWiB 2011 applications are now open! ISWiB 2011 (International Student Week in Belgrade) will be held for the fifth time this year, in the period from 10th till 17th July 2011 in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, under the motto “Communication in Action!”. The festival will gather approximately 200 participants from the whole of Europe, with the aim of exchanging opinions and views about the hot issues that a modern society has to face, as well as overcoming global differences through a communication, personal contacts and mutual understanding.

ISWiB is a meeting platform for young people with different cultural backgrounds; it is a place to get to know each other, establish new friendships and discuss various topics, from various points of view. Through close communication and cooperation, interactive lectures and workshops, students will be able to gain new knowledge and exchange ideas in the fields of PR & marketing, environmental protection, green economy, online media, youth activism, debate, theatre, NLP, graffiti, photography and filmmaking. Students will also have an opportunity to establish professional contacts with eminent professors and professionals from different fields and develop and create new projects by themselves.

Our goal is to establish international cooperation and contacts by creating a healthy working environment and enabling stronger bonds among domestic and foreign students. By promoting the idea of the "citizen of Europe" and "citizen of the World", we insist on embracing intercultural and European values and bringing them to a global level of mutual respect and understanding.

This year, the participants of ISWiB 011 can simbolically choose from the following 11 workshops:

• Debate
• Environmental Protection
• Graffiti
• Media
• NLP
• Nuclear Energy
• Photography
• PR & Marketing
• Theatre
• Video and Motion Graphics
• Youth Activism

Apart from these 11 workshops led by partner organizations, the educational program will include a panel discussion and open lectures dealing with the communication issues in modern society. As the goal of ISWiB is promoting idea of “Citizen of the World”, not only through the exchange of knowledge, opinions and ideas, but also by making friendships, ISWiB 011 will be an opportunity for lots of cultural manifestations, day trips, and parties. Again, Country Fair and MTV concert will be central events of cultural program.

The participation fee is 90 euros for foreign students, and covers accomodation, food and workshop materials. For Serbian students, the participation fee is 45 euros and doesn’t cover accomodation.

All students studying at European universities, fluent in English are eligible to apply.

The application form can be filled out here.

The deadline for applications is April 1st, 2011.

All questions may be sent to: participants@iswib.org

Website: www.iswib.org

16th International Student Congress in Lisbon

Students from all over Europe and beyond are invited to participate at the 16th International Student Congress held on the initiative of "Students for Europe" (SFE). This year's congress will be featuring the topic “Opportunity? Challenge? Risk? - It's up to (E)U!” and will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, on October 7-10, 2010. 

The congress brings together up to 120 students from all European countries to discuss European issues interdisciplinary and on a European level with notable representatives from economy, politics and society. It is an outstanding possibility to get in touch with people from all over Europe, broaden one own‘s horizon by interesting and different positions being discussed, and learn about the culture and history of SFE's host country.

Our congresses are based on the idea of European integration achieved by exchange of opinions and cultures. Our participants are aware of the upcoming challenges of peacekeeping in an international environment, where national interests interfere with international ones, resources are limited and so far trusted systems, as only happened in the financial crisis, might collapse all of a sudden. We believe that Europe will only survive in long term if all countries work together and at least try to understand the fears and changes faced by other members of the EU and its citizens. Interaction, knowledge and compromises will be the key to understand other European nations and their culture in order to be able to form a corporate identity.

This year congress is supported by Mr Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. Beside interesting discussions there will also be a cultural and evening program, such as a guided city tour, a gala dinner and a Goodbye party.

The participation fee for the SFE Congress 2010 in Lisbon is 125 Euro. The participation fee has to be paid within one week upon registration. Registration will be completed once the organization team has received the full amount of the fee and you have received a confirmation of your registration. 

The participation fee of 125 Euro includes the following: entrance to all speeches, workshops and congress related activities; 3 nights (THU-SUN) at the SANA METROPOLITAN Excellence Concept Hotel (****), Lisbon, double and triple rooms; 3 breakfasts at the hotel buffet; SFE welcome-package, including information about the congress, schedules and further helpful information about the city of Lisbon.

To learn more and apply online, please go to: http://www.studentsforeurope.eu.

ISWinT 2010

Applications are now open for the 17th edition of the International Student Week in Timisoara that will take place between the 19th and 26th of July, 2010 in Timisoara, Romania.

"Closed Eyes, Open Mind” is the theme of this years festival. Nowadays we are surrounded by bright colors and technology which keeps us away from the important things in life. Join us and together we will cross the borders of imagination trying to close our eyes and open our minds.

ISWinT (International Students Week in Timisoara) is an international festival that gathers participants from all over the world each spring since 1994. The purpose of this festival is to give an opportunity to the students from different countries to communicate freely, to express their opinions, to interact in a better way, and debate on different themes.

During the 7 days of festival the participants have the opportunity to make new friends, to know the Romanian culture, to discuss, to express their opinions during the workshops, to attend the conferences. There is a possibility to relax and to have fun each night at the parties and at the sports afternoon. Romania's beautiful landscape is revealed during the one-day trip, when we visit the surroundings.

To be eligible for participation, you currently need to be a student and have good English skills. Participants will be chosen on the basis of their motivation essays.

Application deadline is May 20, 2010.

To apply online, please go to the website: http://iswint.ro. 

14th International Culture Week in Pécs

The International Culture Week in Pécs (ICWiP) is one of the most popular annual youth cultural festivals organized in the City Pécs, Hungary. ICWiP has inspired more than 3000 young people from more than 80 countries during its 13 year-long history. Now you are invited, too. This year the festival will be held on 24 July - 1 August.

Its programme combines a summer school, different cultural and sport activities, and an inspiring festival with concerts, danceshows, and exhibitions.

The one-week-long summer visit to Pécs is not just a pile of workshops and enjoyable late night events. It is about building an international community of young, open-minded, ambitious people. The participants from previous years could all justify this statement.

Our aim is not just to gather the youth from all four corners of the world to Pécs, only to spend a week together and move home with the same social web they came with. Not only experiences are being exchanged here, but e-mail and postal adresses, phone numbers, even intimate secrets with newly acquired friends.

The things that matter as the years go on are not solely the knowledge the participants gain, or the cheerful memories linked to locations and occations in the city, but invaluable relationships that link continents and nations together.

The theme of ICWiP2010 is Balkans: Re-loaded, which stems from the concept of the original European Capital of Culture application of the city of Pécs. The geopolitical area of the Balkans is unique and at the same time very multicultural. In 2010 Pécs may become the first European Capital of Culture to open a gateway to the rich multiculturalism of the Balkans, including its Islamic heritage. During the conference and festival we will be discussing what a “Balkans identity” is or whether it even exists.

How does today's youth reflect the national identities in relation to a possible “Balkans identity”? How does the youth view the future of the area? The formation process of the Balkan nations is important from the viewpoint of democracy. Keeping this in mind we have invited lecturers also from other counties and continents to share their views and experiences on the democracy development in practice.

Deadlines for application

Early bird Registration: 15 April 2010

Visa-countries: 30 April 2010

Non-visa countries: 31 May 2010

Participation fees

The participation fee covers accommodation, board (2 warm meals per day), local transport, sightseeing, entrance fees, and free participation in trips, conference programme, cultural and sport events of ICWiP2010.

Fee for individuals: 190 EUR / person. Early bird registration: 140 EUR / person, if you register and transfer the fee until 15 April. Individuals coming from specific countries (related to this year's theme), including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia: 120 EUR / person. Discount for groups: For every 5 persons registered as a group (e.g. group from Torino, group from the University of Nitra, etc.) each person receives a 20% discount from the fee.

Please go here to find more and apply online: http://www.icwip.hu

International Novruz Festival

AEGEE-Baki – European Students' Forum Baku Public Union - invites you to apply for the International Novruz Festival, which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on March 15-22, 2010. 

Novruz is the most favourable Holiday in Azerbaijan which is dedicated to the early spring. International Novruz Festival in Azerbaijan (INFA) is the annual celebration of Novruz with the guests from all around the world. 

This project will give you a unique chance to experience different parts of Novruz holiday, such as jumping over bonfires and running through the streets, banging on pots and pans with spoons and knocking on doors with your hats and bags to ask for little presents (sweets and candies) and tasting national cookeries, such as shekerbura, pakhlava, goghal that you have never had before! Another essential part of this festival is a chance to visit the capital of Azerbaijan Baku – the city of centuries – old history, ancient traditions and modern reality became known as “Paris of the East”. And this is not all; lots of surprises are waiting for you...

Aims:

- To create a culturally diverse and open environment where all of the participants will be able to express their own culture and appreciate the others, discuss different global issues (e.g. 'tolerance', 'local traditions and globalization', 'culture in the modern world', 'music as a way of expression' etc.).
- Gain mutual respect for the different cultures in the world and promote peace in our big home - Earth.

- To explore ancient traditions and habits of Azerbaijan culture, to celebrate the antique holiday of Novruz - the beginning of spring in Azerbaijan.

Working language: English.

Profile of participants: this event aims to bring together 60 motivated participants in the age of 18-30, who are interested in culture and ancient traditions.

Financial conditions: there is a participation fee of 50 Euros. This fee covers the following costs:

- Accommodation and food throughout the whole week;
- Local transportation;

- Free entrance to the parties and other events.

Travel expenses: participants will be required to cover their travel expenses by themselves. Only limited funds are available to provide reimbursement of the travel expenses of some qualified participants. The financial assistance requests for travel expenses will be considered individually.

Deadline for the application: 15 February 2010.

For further information please visit: http://www.aegee-infa.com/ 

In case you have any questions, feel free to contact at: aegeeinfa@gmail.com.