Art and culture: Discovering similarities, growing through differences
Culture creates things that purely economic relationships never can: Culture is a binding agent for greater social cohesion. As it is unique to countries and regions, it is irreplaceable. So it is no coincidence that cultural policy already had an important role to play in the Élysée Treaty: Experiencing and exploring cultures together is an essential part of a community.
"Art and culture"
Understanding between young people about art and culture creates the conditions for unbiased and enriching encounters. Art also creates an grasp that goes beyond language barriers. Emotions and impressions can be expressed without words and provide for mutual understanding.
Art and culture are also such an important area for the FGYO, as because they offer countless and wide-ranging opportunities for projects of intercultural exchange. Cultural projects appeal to young people where their interests and passions lie: In film or television, art or literature, music or museums.
Experiencing new things, sharing common interests and finding avenues of access to one another: Participants in projects of cultural exchange can look beyond their own horizons.
Wide-ranging engagement in the field of art and culture
The FGYO provides assistance for a great many different cultural formats and art projects. It supports its partners financially and with a broad range of opportunities for advanced training. The funding provided may cover travel, accommodation and programme expenses as well as language encouragement.
As the FGYO is aware of the great importance of art and culture for intercultural learning, it deliberately promotes projects in a low-threshold and flexible manner. The aim is to keep the application process as simple as possible. An example of this are the ‘1234 projects’ offering uncomplicated application procedures for grants of up to 1,234 euro.
"Artistic and cultural projects"
The partners of the FGYO offer a wide-ranging diversity of art and cultural projects. Among other things, the FGYO funds:
- Franco-German university seminars with a scientific component
- Students, grammar-school graduates and young professionals with a variety of scholarships, programmes and projects
- Summer universities or master classes between art academies
- Cultural exchange projects for clubs
- Events, workshops and other projects
- Artist residencies and border programmes
- Franco-German Volunteer Service
"Themes and areas for exchange projects"
The topics and areas in which exchange projects are conducted are as diverse as they are varied. They include:
- Theatre, including improvisation and puppet theatre
- Film and television
- Photography
- Architecture
- Music and orchestra
- Dance
- Cultural and creative economy
- File arts and painting
- Literature
- Poetry slams and creative writing
- Circus
- Museum
- Book industry and libraries
Exciting projects that set standards
The FGYO focuses not only on diversity, but also on the quality of the encounters. This is why it also provides funding for the further training of the people who serve as advisers for the exchange.
There are also projects that make an important contribution to the respective industry and provide fresh inspiration:
- The exchange programme for young professionals in museums celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022 and has become a permanent institution. Here, young people from Germany and France can get acquainted with a museum in the partner country in the course of a two-month stay.
- Together with the Frankfurt Book Fair and other partners, the FGYO organises a variety of projects and is present as well at the fair itself. Among other things, both partners fund the Paris-Frankfurt Fellowship for young professionals in the publishing industry or the Goldschmidt Programme for young translators of literary works.
- For the transnational pilot project Cultures d’Avenir, students develop new art forms and experimental programmes. Cultures d’Avenir is a collaboration between the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Centre de Cultura Contemporània in Barcelona (CCCB) and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin (HKW).
