The House of Europe programme has mobilised EUR 1,500,000 for a dedicated war response package aimed at artists, cultural managers, doctors, educators, entrepreneurs, journalists, and leaders of youth organisations who are now forced to face Russian aggression.

Since 24 February 2022, when Ukrainians woke up to the sound of loud explosions and Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine started, the programme has redirected its financing to seven tracks of emergency support, focused on creating new support schemes to address the wartime challenges. Additionally, House of Europe has gathered and informed about hundreds of opportunities for both displaced persons and for Ukrainians who stayed in their  home country: stipends and residences for culture workers, fellowships for scholars and scholarships for students, emergency support for NGOs, media professionals, and entrepreneurs among others.

“We still want to keep culture, cultural heritage in the focus. So easily forgotten in the time of war it is actually a source of strength, the backbone of unity and the instrument of revival,” noted  Tetiana Shulha, Sector manager, EU Delegation in Ukraine.

“We had all planned differently. Since 24 February 2022, Ukrainian civil society is literally at the forefront of Russia’s war against the free world – not just in terms of suffering and disruption, also in terms of resistance, relief, and propelling Ukraine’s progressive, solidaric trajectory against all odds. To those individual heroes and heroines, House of Europe lends financial support, for them to achieve their mission: rescuing lives or art, protecting beloved ones or societal achievements, resuming essentials or professional activities,” said Dr Christian Diemer, Head of the House of Europe programme.

Responding to the most pressing needs of the first weeks of war, House of Europe supported saving cultural heritage in Ukraine, issued individual support for Ukrainian professionals, and allowed current grantees to instantly repurpose their funding. War response package includes:

- 28 museums from Lviv, Odesa, and Kyiv, as well as Donetsk, Luhansk, Sumy, and Mykolaiv regions received

EUR 146,359 to protect their collections; more will follow.

- 10 civil society initiatives receive funding for documenting war crimes, re-equipping teachers from Mariupol, holding a children’s film festival, instructing pregnant women how to give birth in shelters, etc. 13 cultural organisations that have transformed into shelter places for the displaced have been funded, more will follow.

- 150 members of House of Europe’s Alumni community received stipends of EUR 1,000 each for renewing their professional activities, but foremost for essentials like accommodation, food, medication, and fuel. This individual support scheme will be soon extended, making more categories of professionals eligible to apply.

- Civil society representatives and House of Europe partners involved in evacuations of citizens, safeguarding of cultural heritage, volunteering, and other life-saving operations across Ukraine received 75 sets of protective and medical kits.

- Professionals and organisations that won House of Europe grants and have not carried out their projects yet in full were offered to spend the money on emergency needs and withstanding the Russian aggression. This includes 36 selected recipients of Individual Project Grants, who were unable to proceed with their projects; those received alternative funding – a lump-sum fixed contribution, which may be spent for emergency purposes.

The programme will soon unroll further support for organisations, who may be physically suffering the consequences of war. In early June 2022 via an open call Ukrainian organisations will be offered Infrastructure Grants worth up to EUR 15,000 each to restore their equipment and premises, and to re-start their operations.

In July 2022 House of Europe will also host a third edition of Hatathon — an online hackathon event bringing together culture and IT professionals in search for startup solutions in culture, creative industries and beyond, among others focusing on the use of the NFT technology at the arts market.

Background information:

House of Europe is an EU-funded programme fostering professional and creative exchange between Ukrainians and their colleagues in EU countries and the United Kingdom. The programme focuses on different professional fields: culture and creative industries, education, health, social entrepreneurship, media, and youth. This encompasses 20+ separate programme lines enabling to go for conferences, professional events, internships, and networking in the EU, or to enrol in study tours, residencies, trainings, and other forms of support. House of Europe funds cultural coproductions and cooperations between Ukrainian and EU organisations and the development of cultural infrastructure and artistic concepts for youth in Ukraine. Finally, the programme offers various youth camps and an intra-Ukrainian university exchange. Implementation of House of Europe programme is led by Goethe-Institut Ukraine with The British Council Ukraine, Institut français d’Ukraine, and Czech Centres as Consortium Partners.

Photos with captions and videos covering several emergency war response package activities can be downloaded and freely distributed from here.

For additional information, please contact Oleksii Pedosenko via oleksii.pedosenko@houseofeurope.org.ua or at +38 067 408 40 26.