The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s fund for strategic cultural collaboration

Applications are accepted from Danish cultural actors at institution or organisation level, which play a professional role, either as a profession or commercially. In this context, ‘professional’ is defined for institutions or organisations as having art and culture as their primary area of activity. Danish missions – embassies or consulates – abroad may also apply in collaboration with international partners for projects that primarily take place abroad.

Applications may be submitted for large strategic cultural projects that primarily emphasise cultural exchange and cultural collaboration, and for capacity building focusing on the development of ideas and knowledge sharing.

The fund does not support the following:

• Projects or capacity building if the primary professional content is sport or food. Please see the Public Diplomacy funds of the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
• The fund does not support film or media production. Please see the Danish Film Institute’s funds.
• Danish missions and the Danish Cultural Institute’s own expenses for project management or own expenses for travel, accommodation or participation in connection with strategic development projects.

All supported projects must follow the four principles for international cultural cooperation in the collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs.

• Activities must be of high professional quality in all respects.
  High professional quality is defined as being activities that are able to support the purpose of the fund. For professional artistic and cultural content in projects, part of the assessment of high professional quality will include the evaluation of whether the work of the practising, creating or participating artists or actors is firmly anchored and presented on professional platforms.  For the areas within the arts, an evaluation of the quality will be based on the Danish Arts Foundation’s quality concepts for the individual artistic areas.
• Activities must be anchored in collaboration between Danish and international partners, which are built upon mutual and local interest.
• Activities must ensure strong networks and partnerships, which extend beyond the individual activity and preferably have a long-term perspective.
• The actors behind the activities must ensure visualisation through targeted communication.

Formal requirements:

• For strategic development projects, applications are accepted for between DKK 100,000 and a maximum of DKK 1.4 million.
• It is expected that the projects have at least 25 per cent co-financing from another party, for example, own financing, co-financing from foreign collaboration partners or other fund financing.
• Capacity building projects have no minimum requirements for the amount applied for. As a guideline, the maximum amount for an application is DKK 300,000.
• There is no co-financing requirement for capacity development projects. However, you may not apply for own resources, for example, salary, and it is expected that own resources from collaborating partners are included, for example venues and working hours.
• Projects may not be started before the application deadline.
• Projects and capacity development must take place abroad or in collaboration with international partners.

Applications may be submitted for:

• Project completion and project management.
• Documentation and communication
• Own Danish financing of major EU-financed projects that are in the focus areas for the strategic framework.
• Research travel for foreign and Danish partners who want to develop learning courses of events together or who want to develop ideas for a strategic development project together.
• Development of international networks for the Danish culture actors within the strategic activity areas; for example, expenses for travel, accommodation and networking events.
• Development and completion of capacity building courses of events (for example, learning courses, knowledge sharing, conferences, workshops or development of best practices) for professional Danish cultural actors in collaboration with one or more international partners.
• Travel and stays in connection with holding events.

General criteria:

• The project applied for must support one or more of the strategic themes and purpose of the fund.
• The strategic goal of the cultural project must be stated in the application.
• The applicant or participating Danish artistic or cultural actor must have a professional role as a profession or commercially.
• A project must be based on concrete mutual collaboration between Danish and foreign cultural actors; for example, artists, organisations and/or institutes.
• For cultural actors: It is assumed that there has been a prior dialogue with relevant embassies before submitting an application. If possible, a statement of interest may be included.
• The project or projects applied for must include elements that create relevant professional networks for the participating Danish art and culture actors. This could be accomplished, for example, through network meetings, receptions or professional gatherings.

The purpose of the fund is to support and address the contribution of culture to current challenges through international collaboration. The fund may therefore be applied to for strategic development projects or capacity building that targets one or more of the framework agreement’s focus areas, Sustainability and green transition, Technology and the democratic dialogue and Urban and rural areas, respectively:

• Projects and capacity building targeting Sustainability and green transition must place emphasis on the development of international collaboration projects that focus on the potential of culture for inclusion and the social aspects of sustainability and green transition, for example, architecture, institutions and the ’live area’.
• Projects and capacity building targeting Technology and democratic dialogue must promote the ability of culture to create areas of trust/safe spaces/open spaces in a complicated technological world through international partnerships and initiatives that focus on developing, supporting and documenting cultural areas of trust in concrete projects. The initiatives may also be physical, digital or hybrid, but they must actively take technological opportunities and limitations into account in relation to democratic areas.
• Projects and capacity building targeting Urban and rural areas must promote and support interdisciplinary, professional and international cultural projects in urban and rural areas, and support the involvement of civil society and its resources, including work with communities and the involvement of children and young people in concrete cultural projects.

You can read more about the strategic framework for the collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Culture Denmark and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark on Denmark's International Cultural Collaboration here

• The project must promote the purpose of the fund.
• The project must comply with the following four principles and general criteria.
• The fund prioritises support for major projects with a wide circle of actors.
• The fund prioritises capacity building, which takes place abroad or in Denmark in collaboration with international partners.
• The fund prioritises projects that go across professional areas.
• The fund prioritises projects that explore new formats.
• The fund prioritises projects with significant communication potential and that have a fundamentally powerful story with regard to the themes.
• The assessment of your application takes the following considerations regarding the geographic areas of priority into account: USA, Asia, neighbouring European countries and the Nordic counties.
• The assessment places emphasis on a clear activity plan and considerations regarding how the themes are to be presented abroad.

Applications for support for project management are assessed based on reasonable salary levels – in Denmark corresponding to government collective agreements for similar work.

The managing group prioritises major projects. Applications may not be submitted for more than DKK 1.4 million. The Agency for Culture and Palaces reserves the right to share the applications with other authorities as part of processing them. Applications that do not comply with the four principles and general criteria will not be taken into consideration.

We recommend that you become aware of the implications of your application form and have the required information ready before you start.

You must apply via the Grant portal. Once you have created your profile in the Grant portal, you can go in and out of the portal at any time to check whether you have all appendices and information there before you submit the application.

However, if you are exempt from Digital Post or due to very special conditions cannot use the digital self-service solution, please write to post@slks.dk.

If you apply on behalf of a Danish mission abroad or the Danish Cultural Institute, you must use a foreign login. If you do not have a login, you can order it here.

The following appendices must be attached to the application:

• Simple and clear project description and budget (please use the agency’s project and budget templates, which can be obtained below). All of the information requested in the project template must be included in the submission.

Further material and appendices will not be included in the evaluation of the application.
Applications that do not include the required information will not be processed.

Templates for project descriptions and budget

We request applicants to use the project and budget templates, which can be obtained from the links below.

It is a requirement that the application’s budget must include the individual project’s main expenses and a financial plan. The financial plan must include an overview of local and Danish partners’ financing and resources in the project, as well as any sponsorships or fund grants and any own co-financing. The budget must clearly state which budget items funding is requested for. All budget items must be indicated in Danish kroner.

Download the project description form here

Download the budget form here

Download a guide to the budget form here

Please note the following:

• The attached attachments must not be larger than a total of 25 MB.
• Attached material is only accepted in the following formats: PDF, Word, Excel, MP3 and MP4. We do not accept ZIP files.
• You may not send further attachments, but within the application period you may revise your application and submit a new version (for the same case). If your application lacks attachments or information, you must send a new, complete application.
• It is always the latest submitted application that you have sent us that will be processed by the committee.
• Your application must contain all mandatory attachments in order to be processed. Further material in addition to what is described in the application guidelines will not be included in the assessment of your application.
• You are responsible for completing the application form correctly yourself, and you are also responsible for ensuring that all of the attachments wanted are attached.
• You may not transfer your application – and any grants – to another legal person or company. It is therefore important that you clarify who the applicant is before submitting your application.

Finances

We pay any support to the NemKonto that is related to a company registration (CVR) number (all citizens and companies registered in Denmark are required to have a NemKonto bank account).

Your support will be reported to the Danish tax agency (SKAT). Reporting it is mandatory. This is done whether or not you are obligated to pay tax on the support. Most of our support is reported with the Danish Labour Market Contribution (AM-bidrag).

The support is paid as close as possible to the start date that is stated in the application form. You should therefore adjust the start date for your project with the date when your first expenses for the project are due.

The fund has two yearly deadlines during the period of 2023-2024. Applications to the fund will be processed twice a year.

The deadlines for 2024 are the following:

• 1 March
• 27 September

You can expect to receive a reply to your application no later than eight weeks after the deadline.

The scheme is, which regards to EU state aid, covered under COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty with subsequent amendments (the General Block Exemption Regulation - GBER).

If your project is approved, the following conditions apply:

• It is required that communication of the project is adjusted and coordinated with Danish Ministry of Culture Denmark and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s local mission.
• Major selected projects that potentially attract considerable attention and visibility become trailblazing projects. In these cases, the Agency for Culture and Palaces and relevant missions form a follow-up group for the project.
• The Agency for Culture and Palaces reserves the right to enter into a dialogue with the applicants regarding the projects. This also includes the involvement of the embassies in the projects applied for by cultural actors. In case of major grant approvals and trailblazing projects, applicants must be aware that the projects mature and are developed in collaboration with the Agency for Culture and Palaces and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark in order to ensure the best possible synergy.

The managing group for the collaboration agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Danish Ministry of Culture Denmark assesses the applications for funding as recommended by the Agency for Culture and Palaces.