The project

Palau Vincles is the socio-musical intervention project through choral singing (born in 2011 and promoted by the ”Fundació Orfeó Català-Palau de la Música”) which is aimed at children and young people in vulnerable situations, who live in areas of high socio-economic complexity.

‍
Organization

The Palau de la Música Catalana, built between 1905 and 1908 by Modernist architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an emblem of Catalan Modernism. It serves as a cultural and social hub, deeply valued by the people of Catalonia for its history and symbolism.

The Fundació Orfeó Català-Palau de la Música Catalana manages the Palau’s activities and the Orfeó Català choirs. Open and inclusive, it seeks to enhance society through music, focusing on choral singing, cultural heritage dissemination, and social cohesion. Its mission is to promote music, foster understanding and transmission of cultural heritage, and contribute to social integration while strengthening Catalan culture and universal values.

‍

‍

‍

The project

The ”Tell Me Your Story” project aims to create a digital repository to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the Cycladic islands, specifically Anafi, Sikinos, and Kea. These islands, deeply rooted in traditional practices and folklore, face threats from overtourism and climate change, which undermine their unique identity. The project will gather oral histories through intergenerational interviews, focusing on material culture, biodiversity, and intangible traditions. The Museum of Cycladic Art, through its ”Cycladic Identity” initiative, leads the project with support from partners like the Heritage Management Organization and the National Technical University of Athens.  

By utilizing innovative technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and Large Language Models (LLMs), the project will streamline the transcription and thematic analysis of oral stories. Human experts will work alongside AI to ensure cultural accuracy and preserve these traditions for future generations. The project aims to connect younger generations with their cultural roots and raise awareness about Cycladic heritage both locally and globally. It will also serve as a model for future cultural preservation initiatives in other insular communities. Community engagement, digital platform development, and global outreach are central components of this initiative, fostering both local involvement and international cultural exchange.

‍
Organization

The Museum of Cycladic Art holds one of the most complete collections of Cycladic Art in the world showcasing the famous marble figurines of the 3rd millennium BC that have influenced several twentieth and twenty-first century artists, such as Brancusi, Modigliani, Giacometti, Hepworth, and Moore. Committed to inspiring and benefiting multiple communities, the Museum has made its mark in the city of Athens, within and beyond its walls. The Museum of Cycladic Art is a non-profit legal entity under private law, supervised by the Ministry of Culture. It receives no state funding, and its collections belong to the Greek State.

‍

‍

The project

Designed and implemented by the CN D Centre national de la danse, 1km of dance is a festive event, entirely for free. Over a one-kilometre area of public space, there are performances, group warm-ups, dance initiations, DJ sets, etc. Since its creation in Pantin in 2022, 1km de danse has brought together local residents, dance associations, music centres and artists to get as many people as possible dancing together. Open to all types and styles of dance, 1km de danse helps to raise awareness of dance as an art form. The event helps to spread dance throughout the country by giving both amateurs and professionals the chance to get together and dance together. Building on the success of the first two editions in Pantin, the 2024 event was held in three towns: Château-Thierry with the CDCN - L'Échangeur, La Rochelle with the CCN - Mille Plateaux and Sète with the Scène nationale - Théâtre Molière. This dynamic will continue in 2025, with 4 new towns confirmed and 5 others in the process of being validated. The aim is for 1km de danse to become a national event taking place in a large number of towns in France and overseas.

‍
Organization

A public institution created on the initiative of the French Ministry of Culture, the CN D brings together all the resources at the service of the choreographic sector and its audiences. It accompanies and trains professional dancers, encourages amateur practice, supports research, preserves and disseminates choreographic heritage, supports the creation of choreographic works in all their diversity, and dialogues with other artistic fields.

‍

The project

Trafó House of Contemporary Arts (Budapest) and Studio ALTA (Prague) join forces to realize new tours of Studio ALTA’s ”PerformanceBus” in Hungary, further developing the experience of earlier dispatches in Czech Republic and Armenia. The ”PerformanceBus” was originally conceived by Studio ALTA with the aim of decentralizing attention directed towards the diverse platforms, institutions and individual activities dedicated to performance art in different regions of the country. In Hungary, due to the ongoing political changes and the shrinking access to critical culture across the country, it has become an increasingly pressing question for Trafó, how the institution could decentralize its activities and facilitate access to contemporary art in different parts of the country. Without institutional partners and public infrastructures that could make the regional touring of artists possible, this becomes a task for new artistic and curatorial imaginaries, which is why we are interested in the experimental project ”PerformanceBus”. Together with Studio ALTA and in collaboration with local artists, we would like to realize three tours of the ”PerformanceBus” in Trafó’s 2025/2026 season, in order to open up a “magic portal” and imagine a more free, democratic and equal acccess to contemporary art and critical culture across Hungary.

‍
Organization

TRAFÓ House of Contemporary Arts, founded in 1998, is an important venue for contemporary arts in Hungary, renowned for its transdisciplinary approach spanning visual arts, performing arts, and music. Operating as a publicly funded municipal institution, it has maintained a stable position in Hungary’s challenging cultural landscape. Recognized as a cornerstone of the international contemporary arts scene in Central and Eastern Europe, TRAFÓ presents and co-produces cutting-edge artistic works. Its diverse programs include performances, concerts, exhibitions, and outreach initiatives aimed at accessibility, openness, and social inclusion. Beyond being an art institution, TRAFÓ serves as a forum for societal dialogue, fostering open and multi-voiced exchange. In the past, TRAFÓ has worked extensively in urban public spaces, producing and presenting site-specific work by local and international artists.

The project

”Go on With the Story” is a multidimensional project that Scribonauts have been implementing in the Croatian prison system since 2016. So far it has consisted of a reading group and creative writing workshops in the only Female Penitentiary in Croatia, online book club for former female prisoners and the general public (+500 participants), regional annual short story competition where the public is invited to write a short story inspired by the fragment written by one of the female inmates (250 short stories received every year), and a short story collection “Go on With the Story”, published by Scribonauts in 2020. This collection includes stories by 12 renowned Croatian female writers, which were inspired by textual fragments produced during writing workshops in the female penitentiary. In 2021 the project and the book won the Sozial Marie award for social innovation. With the aim of fostering wider communication between inmates and the public and widening access to art, we now plan to turn short stories from the collection into multimedia pieces through a collaboration between writers, visual artists, and musicians. This will result in multimedia shorts stories in the format of Facebook/Instagram stories which can be widely shared.

‍
Organization

Scribonauts are a non-profit organisation which has been developing and implementing cultural and artistic programs for marginalized groups, primarily inmates in prisons and penitentiaries in Croatia, since 2011. By organising artistic workshops and interactive cultural programs (primarily in the field of literature, film and visual arts) in prisons and penitentiaries and public campaigns, our organisation uses art as a tool to bring together marginalised groups, artists, and communities, and thus facilitates resocialisation and fosters the development of closely knit communities based on (artistic) dialogue and solidarity.

"Treeline, Artichoke Trust, United Kingdom

A pan-European project uniting countries across Europe in one continuous musical journey.  

TREELINE, a new and ambitious project produced by Artichoke, will be an extraordinary quest that links Europe’s ancient forests once again, connected by an epic cycling adventure through eight countries, aiming to celebrate the enduring spirit of these forests, fostering a deeper connection between people and the ancient natural world that surrounds them.  

Conceived of and led by renowned composer, musician, and tree-enthusiast Graham Fitkin, the project will traverse the continent’s oldest woodlands by bike. Along the way, Graham will perform new work in up to 30 concerts in towns, cities and villages. The music will be directly inspired by trees chosen specially by local people in each location.The route runs through Romania, Hungry, Slovakia, Czechia, Germany, Belgium and the UK.  

The project aims to:

• Engage audiences that would not normally engage with classical music

• Create a green touring model to be replicated across Europe and beyond  

• Partner with organisations across Europe to ignite and inspire future relationships with the UK.

"Nelli the Dog and a Friend", EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland

Espoo’s Nelli is an interactive work of art. It represents a new form of public art that speaks to people with empathy and personality.  

The sculpture changes its location in the city every year. The museum wanted to give the right to choose the place of the artwork to its real owners, the townspeople. Nelli makes her appearance in her new neighborhood through local events where residents are in active roles.  

The new place is chosen by the residents together with the museum’s public art experts. The resident group that chooses the place for the Nelli sculpture also chooses the next group that chooses a next location for it. This is how, over the years, many communities get to know the processes of public art, selection criteria, and the museum’s collection work.  

Now Nelli needs a Friend. The activity with resident groups has proven to be effective and important. Nelli creates a sense of community where it is located. The story of the emphatic dog needs to grow. We have plans to involve townspeople in creating a Friend. There is also potential for growing the communal activities around the works of art.

"Museum for Rookies, Notranjska Museum Postojna, Slovenia

The Museum for Rookies program is an innovative pedagogical program prepared by the Notranjska Museum in cooperation with the Adult Education Centre in 2023/2024. The program aimed to prepare a comprehensive museum exhibition, open the museum to the public as widely as possible, and connect with the local community. The unique feature of the Museum for Rookies program is that amateurs, i.e., ”non-curators,” people who have no practical experience with exhibitions, were invited to the museum work - the preparation and installation of the exhibition. We asked all interested parties to participate in museum processes that are usually inaccessible to the lay public. At the same time, they get the opportunity to become more concretely acquainted with the work of the curators, get to know the museum behind the scenes, and, in this way, through their own experience, identify with the museum’s mission. The broadest participation of the community in the museum’s work also meant the decision to let the visitors themselves choose the exhibition’s title. Based on polls published on the museum’s social networks, the title of the exhibition was chosen: Stone on Stone - palace!

"AMP-lifying Musical Inclusion, Open Up Music, UK

This project will drive the development of the Accessible Musical Pathways (AMP) Toolkit, aiming to create a more inclusive orchestral sector by increasing accessible opportunities for young disabled musicians.  

The AMP Toolkit is shaped by insights from our award-winning programmes and ongoing collaboration with young disabled musicians and five orchestral partners to ensure its relevance and effectiveness. Completing this project will provide arts and education organisations with the tools needed to implement and embed inclusive practices in their work.  

Grounded in the Social Model of Disability, the Toolkit guides youth ensembles in evaluating the accessibility of their current offerings and identifying steps to improve inclusivity and accessibility. After completing the evaluation, ensembles will receive a tailored change plan to help implement these steps and broaden access for young disabled musicians.  

We have piloted an initial framework covering the first two areas of the Toolkit. The next phase will focus on testing the four remaining areas and developing an online platform with tools to support organisations in making meaningful change. By fostering an inclusive approach, the AMP Toolkit will play a key role in transforming the orchestral sector, initially throughout the UK, creating more opportunities for diverse talent to thrive.

"Suitcase Theatre, Little Angel Theatre, United Kingdom

Suitcase Theatre is a unique initiative by Little Angel Theatre that brings small-scale, co-created theatre shows to marginalised audiences who face barriers to accessing traditional theatre venues. Designed in collaboration with participants and artists, and in partnership with appropriate organisations, these shows aim to foster connection and address key social issues faced by isolated groups such as elderly care home residents, refugee families, and critically ill children.  

The programme is distinguished by its five critical points of engagement: co-creation with the audience, ensuring child agency, providing respite through uplifting experiences, travelling to the audience’s location, and fostering a lasting legacy of connection. Each show is designed to be portable, fitting into a suitcase, allowing the theatre to reach those in hospitals, care homes, refugee centres, and other settings.  

Current shows include Me & My Bird, which connects elderly residents through puppetry, If Not Here… Where?, a bedside show for hospitalised children, and Welcome, a non-verbal performance for refugee children.  

Funding would allow the addition of new shows for prisons and women’s refuges, expanding this impactful initiative.

Event 25: Living Trail

At the end of a year of residencies and experimentation, the Living Trail event will take the form of 7 major meetings, punctuated by dozens of cross-disciplinary events, with the participation of local residents. Living Train will cover the whole M28 area, from la Mosson to Montpellier and the Chais in Sète, from Aniane Abbey to Château Laurens, from Sana to Grau-du-Roi, via La source du Lez and the Canal de Lunel.

From 28 September to 4 October 2025

‍- 7 major events
- Dozens of related one-off events
- Associated artistic or research residencies
- Residents in action
- Partners throughout the "M28 - Terres de culture" area
- Artistic proposals in all the region's stations in partnership with Gares et connexions
- A handover with the Euro-Africa Biennial on the weekend of 4 and 5 October 2025

All disciplines combined: Performing arts; Music; Visual arts; Gastronomy; Architecture ; Heritage; Landscape and in all forms: Experiences; Immersion ; Participation.

"Hear My Voice, London Bubble Theatre, United Kingdom

‘Hear My Voice’ is a cyclical sharing of stories, building an international community of artists.  

It extends the reach and impact of the hybrid performance: ‘Ay Kash / کاش ای / If Only’, created by Cosmino Productions a collective of eleven young women aged between 15 – 23 living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.  

London Bubble will bring Cosmino Productions from Berlin to London for a series of performances of 'If Only' to inspire other groups of women who have experienced disempowerment.  

They will be invited to taster workshops to share their stories and explore their creative identities.