Deadline: 11-Sep-2025
The Nordic Cultural Contact is currently accepting applications for its Culture and Arts Programme to support Nordic cooperation in the arts and culture.
The programme grants support for projects across all phases—preparation, production, performance, and dissemination—but not for activities already completed. It funds cultural and artistic productions and creative work as well as organizing and executing projects that develop competence in the arts and culture sector. Eligible costs include any expenses directly related to the project.
The application period is from 11.08.2025 to 11.09.2025. Projects may include creating or disseminating works, projects or initiatives involving a creative process; creating meeting places between artists/cultural actors and an audience; developing and sharing knowledge and/or working methods; organizing discussions and debates, as well as seminars and workshops. The following are ineligible: tours of existing works or productions; operation of institutions or other entities; basic funding for long-term projects such as annual festivals; creation of works without active collaborating partners other than the applicant (e.g., solo exhibitions); film and TV production, computer game production, or book publishing; projects that are part of education; commercial activities aimed at making money; projects outside the artistic or cultural realm such as sporting events; projects that have already started before the decision on funding; activities already conducted. The earliest possible start date for funded activities is 10 weeks after the application deadline.
Applications are open to anyone active in the arts and culture field, provided the project meets programme criteria and is executed in collaboration with partners from at least three countries, including at least two Nordic countries. The Nordic countries counted are Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Åland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland. Country affiliation is based on collaborators’ registered addresses—not nationality. It is not required for the applicant to reside in the Nordic region, as long as the Nordic dimension is met in terms of partners and content.
Funding amounts depend on the presence of co-financing. Projects may receive up to 7000 EUR without any other financing; up to 40000 EUR with at least 30 % co-financing; and up to 100000 EUR with at least 50 % co-financing. Co-financing can include in-kind contributions such as work hours; these must be specified in the budget and reasonably valued. It is recommended to consolidate all project costs—including travel—into a single application.
A maximum of 85 % of the project budget may come from Nordic cooperation sources (e.g., Nordic Council of Ministers, Nordic Culture Fund, NAPA, Nordplus, Nordic Film & TV Fund, Nordic Culture Point). Bilateral or national funding does not count toward this limit.
Applications are assessed according to: the collaboration dimension, requiring cooperation across at least three countries (including at least two Nordic) and addressing the importance and expectations of collaboration, as well as knowledge exchange and innovative or competence-enhancing aspects; the Nordic dimension, requiring the project to develop the arts and culture sectors in the Nordic region regardless of where it takes place, and ideally promoting language understanding, mobility, and a sense of community among Nordic inhabitants; quality, evaluated through the project’s artistic quality and the realism and feasibility of the plan including clear descriptions of partners, objectives, timeline, financing and budget, and considerations of whether the project raises artistic and cultural standards, is innovative, competence-building, and sustainable; and sustainability, assessed from social, economic, and ecological perspectives, and considering whether the project promotes an inclusive and diverse cultural life in the Nordic region, is ecologically sustainable, and enhances the Nordic art and culture sector’s competitiveness. The evaluation is also influenced by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ strategic cultural cooperation documents: the policy for integrating sustainable development, gender equality, and a child’s and youth perspective; and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ cultural cooperation programme for 2025–2030: Sammen for et kreativt, bærekraftig og synlig Norden. Applications are reviewed by an expert group and decisions are communicated ten weeks after the deadline. Funded projects may begin once the decision is received.
For more information, visit Nordic Cultural Contact.
