The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) is an independent foundation based in the Netherlands that has been operating across Europe for almost 60 years. We believe that culture engages and inspires people to transcend boundaries and that the connecting power of culture is an essential ingredient for building open, inclusive and democratic societies.

Our activities are diverse but show a high level of interconnectivity – from our programmes for young people and work in the European neighbourhood to our grant-giving, our advocacy, our publications and our digital presence. ECF’s highly skilled international staff reflects this diversity.

There are three main objectives underlying everything we do:

Empowering and engaging people through art and culture
ECF supports arts and culture communities throughout Europe and especially encourages the exchange and empowerment of new generations to realise a shared future in Europe.

Linking cultural policy and practice
ECF is committed to projects that contribute to cultural policy development locally, nationally, regionally and on a European level.

Connecting sources of knowledge for the future
ECF shares and connects knowledge across the cultural sector and links culture to other spheres of knowledge. ECF’s ability to realise our objectives and scale up our efforts are a reflection of the strength of our partners. Our partnerships are manifold and include funding partners and partners in whom we invest for our activities.

You can now browse ECF’s 2012 highlights in an easily digestible format on their website – or you can download each section individually as a PDF file.

http://www.ecf-annual.org/2012/