How the EU funds us
Europa Nostra has benefited from financial support from the European Union since 1997. This support has helped Europa Nostra substantially to develop as a civil society organisation in promoting, protecting and lobbying for cultural heritage across Europe.
Since 2002, Europa Nostra has organised the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards scheme, which was launched by the European Commission and which is funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. Europa Nostra has been successfully applying for tenders to run this prestigious Awards scheme ever since it was set up. The EU co-funding (at a rate of 60%) has helped transform the Awards scheme into one of the most high-profile in the culture field at European level and has turned the European Heritage Awards Ceremony into one of its annual highlights.
Europa Nostra has also received support from the EU for its activities as a cultural heritage network. Under the EU Creative Europe programme, funding was granted to Europa Nostra’s network projects ‘Mainstreaming Heritage’ (2014-2017) and ‘Sharing Heritage – Sharing Values’ (2017-2021), which has enabled the organisation to further professionalise its network and to build a long-standing partnership with the European Commission. The network projects comprise Europa Nostra’s key activities, such as organising the annual European Heritage Congress, publishing the Heritage in Action magazine, running the 7 Most Endangered programme (in partnership with the European Investment Bank Institute), and coordinating the European Heritage Alliance 3.3, and are co-funded at a rate of 80%.
As a beneficiary, Europa Nostra has to comply with specific and very strict financial management and reporting requirements, for both the network grants and the Awards grants separately. While EU support initially comprised operational grants for organisations working in the field of culture, funding has more recently been granted only for specific project activities that contribute to the objectives of the EU funding programme. General information about different types of EU funding is available here.
European Cooperation Projects
MERITA
Cultural Heritage in Action
Cultural Heritage in Action is a peer-learning programme for local and regional policy-makers to exchange knowledge on cultural heritage, with a focus on key three topics: participatory governance, adaptive reuse and quality of interventions. The programme aims to empower cities and regions to strengthen their cultural heritage policies and initiatives and to develop innovative solutions to preserve cultural heritage assets. It is one of the actions of the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage published by the European Commission in December 2018 to sustain the legacy of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. The project is led by EUROCITIES and involves other 4 European partners: Europa Nostra, KEA, ERRIN and the Architects’ Council of Europe. The project, funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, runs from January 2020 to April 2021.
ILUCIDARE
ILUCIDARE is a three-year project (2019-2021) that aims to foster heritage-led innovation and diplomacy by establishing an international network of heritage practitioners. It is funded by the EU programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020 and builds on the expertise and networks of eight Consortium partners: KU Leuven, Europa Nostra, KEA European Affairs, International Cultural Centre, World Monuments Fund, Cultural Heritage Without Borders, Universidad de Cuenca and Imec.
Food is Culture
Europa Nostra is part of the Food is Culture project consortium coordinated by Slow Food, which is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union at a rate of 60% and by the Fondazione CRC di Cuneo at a rate of 18.18%. The project began on 1 July 2018 and will be completed on 30 June 2020. This special EYCH cooperation project aims at making European citizens aware that food heritage is a means of expressing their sense of belonging to Europe and at promoting a better understanding of the wealth and uniqueness of Europe’s cultural diversity. The project entails several activities, such as a travelling multimedia artwork, contests in schools and with chefs, as well as the drafting of EU policy papers, a component of the project which is led by Europa Nostra.
IMPACTOUR
The IMPACTOUR project aims to create an innovative, easy-to-use methodology and tool to assess the impact of cultural tourism on European economic and social development, and to improve policies and practices in this field. Europa Nostra is among the 12 project partners from 9 EU Member States who are working on this project: Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), the Project Leader; the Cyprus University of Technology (Cyprus), the Institute of Baltic Studies (Estonia), Tecnalia (Spain), the European Network for Accessible Tourism (Belgium), ACIR Compostelle (France), Transromanica (Germany), the Association of Municipalities of the Autonomous Region of the Azores (Portugal), the Estonian Tourist Board (Estonia), Matera Hub (Italy), and Cultur Viajes Patrimonio (Spain). IMPACTOUR is a three-year project (2020-2022) funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Read more
Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe
The EU, through its Culture programme, co-funded the cooperation project ‘Cultural Heritage Counts for Europe’ at a rate of 60%. The project was carried out between July 2013 and June 2015 and aimed to raise greater awareness on the impact of cultural heritage on the economy, society, culture and environment in Europe. This project was coordinated by Europa Nostra through a Steering Group composed of all project partners (ENCATC, Europa Nostra, Heritage Europe-EAHTR, The Heritage Alliance, The International Cultural Centre in Krakow and the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation in Leuven).
