Culture Next is happy to announce an open call for its full member cities to host Conferences and Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) in 2025 and 2026. This opportunity invites cities to take center stage in fostering cultural dialogue, innovation, and sustainable development across Europe. By hosting, cities will contribute to shaping key cultural conversations while showcasing their local creative strengths to an engaged European audience.
The conferences will explore predefined themes such as the role of culture in enhancing well-being, audience engagement, and the sustainable growth of cultural and creative sectors. Each gathering aims to build capacity, strengthen connections among member cities, and support the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) programme. Member cities are encouraged to customize their approach while adhering to these overarching themes, ensuring relevance to local contexts and challenges.
For those eager to dive deeper, TWGs provide a collaborative framework to address pressing cultural topics. From exploring the intersection of culture and democracy to creating fair working conditions for artists, the TWGs aim to deliver impactful insights that feed directly into the conferences. These efforts align with Culture Next’s mission to integrate culture into sustainable development while reinforcing democracy, inclusivity, and innovation across Europe.
The deadline for applications is March 3, 2025. Don’t miss this chance to lead the way in cultural collaboration and contribute to the long-term success of the ECoC program. Visit the official application page for more details and guidelines.
Timeline:
- Open Call Launch – 13.02.2025
- Online Q&A – 24.02.2025, 15:00 CET
- Open Call Deadline – 3.03.2025, 23:59 CET
- Potential Clarifications Requests – 12.03.2025 – 18.03.2025
- Announcement – 19.03.2025
How are conferences and thematic working groups linked
The CN Conferences and the Thematic Working Groups (TWG) already have predefined themes. Members who apply to host these conferences must respect these themes and build the CN Conference program and the work of the TWG, in partnership with the Board and the Culture Next executive team, in respect of the themes pre-selected.
Each thematic working group will use one conference for progress on the topic and the next one for the results of the TWG. (example: The Culture and People TWG will use the 1st Conference for making progress on the topic, and the 2nd Conference to present the results of the Working Group)
Application Process to host CN Conferences:
Culture Next conferences take place twice a year. Agendas include workshops, working sessions, networking activities for members, connections with other European network and platforms, as well as a programme dedicated to exploring the local context.
Member cities are invited to apply as CN Conference hosts, with the opportunity to decide on the specific focus of each of the conferences based on their local needs. The CN Conferences provided excellent ground for capacity building, networking and exchanging expertise at the European level.
1st Conference
- Topic: Culture and People – Culture & Wellbeing
- Description: Focus on enhancing art & wellbeing theme. The conference looks into the benefits of cultural participation, and how it can enhance people’s quality of life, and improve wellbeing and health.
- Timeline: Spring 2025 – taking into consideration that this is the first conference of the series, the timeline in which it can be done is April – June (with July with an option if it has a very good argumentation).
2nd Conference
- Topic: Culture and People – Culture Participation
- Description: Focus on enhancing cultural participation in ECoC cities, audience engagement and development that help promote citizenship, values, and democracy.
- Timeline: Fall 2025
3rd Conference
- Topic: Culture for CCS – Empowering the CCS
- Description: Focus on more sustainable & fair working models for artists & cultural professionals in ECoC cities and beyond.
- Timeline: Spring 2026
4th Conference
- Topic: Culture for CCS – Culture & SDG
- Description: We expect our work on the topic of Culture & SDGs to have a large scale impact on how cities (CN members, ECoC candidates and other cities) are working with culture locally.
- Timeline: Fall 2026
The responsibilities and benefits of a CN Conference organiser
The members who are assigned to organise a CN Conference must meet the conditions to have staff available to work with the Culture Next board and executive team in the preparation and implementation of the CN conference.
The hosting organisation is expected to cover the following expenses:
- 2 nights of accommodation for 2 representatives of 30 Full Members (past data shows an average attendance of 80% out of the Full Members: ~96 nights of accommodation for ~48 participants with 30 Full Members)
- Meals coverage as follows:
Day 1 – Lunch and Dinner for the pre-meetings
Day 2 – Lunch and Dinner for the Open Day
Day 3 – Lunch for the internal day
- Coffee breaks during the day
- Technical and production costs
- Communication costs
- Parallel artistic programme if the case
- Speakers’ fees, transportation and accommodation
The hosting organisation is expected to book rooms for the Observing Members, but not pay for them.
Each conference builds in the same format:
Day 1 – Pre-Meetings (PATF/SC meeting – ~ 10 people, CN Lab Meeting ~ 25 people)
Day 2 – Open Day (thematic keynotes and workshops, matchmaking and networking sessions)
Day 3 – Internal Day (ECoC-related workshops, internal discussions on the CN
We don’t encourage conferences to take place on the weekend, we recommend keeping the tradition of having the conferences from Wednesday to Friday, in order to avoid working on the weekend and allowing people to visit the places they travel to on the weekend. If you wish to still change the days of the conferences, please motivate your decision.
The target group consists of 50 network members representatives and 30 local stakeholders. Attendance of at least 80 participants should be expected.
The Conference’s hosting member provides an overall report according to the guidelines given by Culture Next Network executive team.
Full members hosting conferences are responsible for paying Culture Next the following amounts:
- 3.000,00€/year, referring to the full member fee;
- 5.000,00€/one-time, referring to hosting the CN Conference.
Full members who host conferences are entitled to receive from Culture Next:
- All benefits related to being full members;
- 25.000,00€/one-time + extra amount TBC for the Lab Meeting on Day 1, to help support the costs of hosting the Conference.
A specific contract between the Cluj Cultural Center and the responsible member will be established for the transfer of these funds.
They are also entitled to charge a fee of 300.00€/per person for cities participating in a Culture Next conference for non-member cities.
APPLICANTS CAN PROPOSE TO INTERCHANGE THE THEME OF THE CONFERENCES DURING A YEAR (1st Conference can have the theme of the 2nd Conference and vice-versa / 3rd Conference can have the theme of the 4th Conference and vice-versa), AND IT WILL BE CONSIDERED IN THE SELECTION PROCESS.
Selection Criteria for hosting conferences
What is your proposed programme for the conference and how does it serve the overall topic defined for it? (25% of the total points, 999 characters)
- For 1st Conference: Culture & Wellbeing – The conference looks into the benefits of cultural participation, and how it can enhance people’s quality of life, and improve wellbeing and health.
- For 2nd Conference: Cultural Participation – The conference focuses on ECoC’s role in enhancing cultural participation across Europe, providing a platform for open dialogue with civil society, and promoting citizenship, values, and democracy.
- For 3rd Conference: Empowering the CCS – Focus on more sustainable & fair working models for artists & cultural professionals in ECoC cities and beyond.
- For the 4th Conference: Culture & SDGs – Focus on the understanding and developing of the way culture & SDGs are connected.
What is your motivation to host this conference and how does it serve your cultural agenda? (25% of the total points, 999 characters)
- we focus on the public dimension and the public cultural policies that the city is putting into practice and intends to put in practice.
What added value do you think your city hosting this conference would bring to Culture Next? (25% of the total points, 999 characters)
What is your capacity to deliver this Conference? What are your human, intellectual and financial resources that you can mobilise for implementing it in practice? (25% of the total points, 999 characters)
If a city is applying to host a conference and has a representative on the board, that board member is excluded from voting for that specific conference.
Bullet points and structured answers are highly encouraged.
Board members have one vote each, the Executive Team has one vote together.
Open call:
Application process to lead Thematic Working Groups:
Culture Next Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) are designed as a framework in which member cities can address certain topics aligned to the network’s agenda, topics and of relevance for ECoC candidate cities and their current needs.
| TWG Topics | Description | Connection with Conferences | |
| Culture and People | Focus on enhancing cultural participation in ECoC cities, audience engagement and development that help promote citizenship, values, and democracy. Special attention is paid to the art & wellbeing theme. | The TWG’s process will be launched during the 1st conference (Spring 2025) and its results showcased during the 2nd conference (Fall 2025). | |
| Empowering the CCS | Focus on more sustainable & fair working models for artists & cultural professionals in ECoC cities and beyond. | The TWG’s process will be launched during the 2nd (Fall 2025) conference and its results showcased during the 3rd conference (Spring 2026) |
The responsibilities and benefits of a Thematic Working Group Host
Members who apply to be a host and are given the responsibility of managing a Thematic Working Group must be available to mobilize staff to manage the TWG they apply for.
Members can apply to organise a TWG and a Conference on the same or a different topic. In case the TWG and a Conference hosting members are different, members who manage the TWG and the Conference on the same topic must work together to ensure the correct thematic flow and ensure that the TWG deliverables contribute to the holding of the conference.
Each TWG builds on the same format:
- The TWG hosts invites (in a format to be defined) a minimum of 10 professionals involved in developing the TWG and 30 professionals attending the online event.
- Working session: Online working sessions and physical meetings of the TWG take place in formats and numbers to be defined with the CN board and executive team;
- Public event: One online event presents the final report of the TWG;
- TWG Report: The TWG presents a written report on the topic during the conference dedicated to the specific topic as described in the table, and when appropriate, the conclusion and policy recommendation from the report are integrated into the main policy deliverables;
- Dissemination: 2 podcasts made with high quality production are made by the member responsible and published on the Culture Next website.
Full members hosting a TWG are responsible to pay Culture Next the following amounts:
- 3.000,00€ / year, referring to the full member fee;
- 2.500,00€ / one-time, referring to the TWG Management.
Full members who host a TWG Management are entitled to receive from Culture Next:
- All benefits related to being full members.
- 8,000.00€ / one-time, to help support the TWG management;
A specific contract between the Cluj Cultural Centre and the responsible member will be established for the transfer of these funds.
Who can apply to what:
| Full Members | Observing Members | |
| Apply to host Conferences | Yes | No |
| Apply to host Groups | Yes | No |
| Participate in Conferences | Yes | Yes |
| Participate in Thematic Working Groups | Yes | Yes |
A full member may apply to:
- Host a Thematic Working Group (TWG);
- Host a Conference
- Host both the Thematic Working Group and Conference on the same topic
- Host a Thematic Working Group on one topic and a Conference on another one
- Cities can apply for more conferences and TWGs, but they are allowed to host only one each. Please mention your priority of conferences and TWGs if you are applying for more.
Selection Criteria for hosting TWGs
What is your proposed concept for the Thematic Working Group and how does this serve the overall topic defined for it? (25% of the total points, 999 characters)
- TWG1: Culture and People – Focus on enhancing cultural participation in ECoC cities, audience engagement and development that help promote citizenship, values, and democracy. Special attention is paid to the art & wellbeing theme.
- TWG2: Empowering the CCS – Focus on more sustainable & fair working models for artists & cultural professionals in ECoC cities and beyond.
What is your motivation to host this Thematic Working Group and how does this serve your cultural agenda? (25% of the total points, 999 characters)
- we focus on the public dimension and the public cultural policies that the city is putting into practice and intends to put in practice.
What added value do you think the Thematic Working Group hosted by you would bring to the work of Culture Next in perspective? (25% of the total points, 999 characters)
What is your capacity to deliver this Thematic Working Group? What are your human and intellectual resources that you can mobilize for implementing it in practice? (25% of the total points, 999 characters)
Information and clarifications
CN’s executive team is available to provide further details to members which need more clarifications.
- Bruno Inacio- bruno@culturenext.eu – Membership Coordinator
- Andras Farkas – andras@culturenext.eu – Groups Coordinator
- Angeliki Lampiri – angeliki@culturenext.eu – Conferences Coordinator
- Darius Mindroc – darius@culturenext.eu – Project Manager
If you get selected to host a conference, you need to sign the full member contract before hosting the conference.
The decisions at the announcements are final and no contestations are received.
Extra Information
The topics for the conferences and TWGs are chosen and clearly defined by the European Commission. Here you can find the description provided by them for each topic:
a) Artists and cultural professionals: empowering the cultural and creative sectors
The cultural and creative ecosystem is inconceivable without the people who create cultural content in countless forms: artists and other cultural and creative professionals, institutions and organisations. Strong cultural and creative sectors (CCS) are therefore indispensable. However, they are characterised by self-employment, small and micro-enterprises, high competitiveness and fragmented markets. Artists and cultural and creative professionals tend to have project-based careers and experience a high degree of mobility. They often have an irregular and unpredictable income and combine several jobs to earn a living.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the CCS have displayed great adaptability and innovativeness. Nevertheless, they have been seriously impacted and continue to be affected by the consequences of the pandemic.
The ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine and its effects on the cultural and creative ecosystem, highlight cultural actors’ integral role in democratic societies and the importance of safeguarding the freedom of artistic expression, which is coming under increasing pressure.
Now more than ever, there is an urgent need to further strengthen the resilience of the CCS, to support their recovery and diversity, to encourage their engagement with the sustainability objectives, to capitalise on new trends accelerated by the pandemic, including in the digital environment, and to ensure fair working conditions for all cultural and creative professionals so that more voices can be heard from this independent and dynamic sector.
With this priority, applicants should propose concrete activities responding to these challenges by providing, developing, and exchanging expertise or best practices; engaging all stakeholders at local, regional and European levels to build sustainable, equitable and fair models for each sector, including artists remuneration.
b) Culture for the people: enhancing cultural participation and the role of culture in society
Culture, including cultural heritage, plays a crucial role in our democracies and in the lives of individuals. Participation in culture and cultural heritage, creativity and the arts has a positive impact on people of all ages and backgrounds; it enhances people’s quality of life, and improves the health and overall well-being of individuals and communities. Cultural participation facilitates social and territorial cohesion, while fostering respect for cultural and linguistic diversity and providing a platform for open dialogue within civil societies.
Cultural and linguistic diversity are among Europe’s key assets and, as such, must be respected and promoted, paying particular attention to lesser-used languages. Special attention is needed to ensure children’s and young people’s participation in cultural life and their reading capacity, fostering their creativity and enriching their experience. An inclusive approach to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups is equally important.
Cultural institutions play a vital role in strengthening democracy and social well-being by reaching out to the whole community, providing affordable or free access to knowledge and information, in full respect of intellectual property rights, enhancing media literacy, creating common ground for dialogue and debate, and thereby strengthening social integration and community engagement, and ultimately contributing to combating disinformation, hate speech and fake news. This role of cultural institutions must be further nurtured.
In this regard, the current work plan pays special attention to fostering the development of libraries. Many libraries also provide a peaceful and safe environment for vulnerable people, which is currently of specific relevance with regard to the many displaced people from Ukraine and their need for physical and mental shelter.
With this priority, applicants should propose concrete activities to build the capacities of the cultural and creative sectors to enhance cultural participation across Europe as well as audience engagement and development that help promote citizenship, values, and democracy. Proposals addressing this priority should also consider the beneficial aspects of culture for health and wellbeing, particularly mental health.
