European Network of Cultural Centres (ENCC)

Up Grants 2026

Here are the great projects running for Up Grants 2026: Culture for Democracy. Up Grants is our microgrants scheme that rewards your best practices in cultural project management. This edition celebrates democracy, and we have gathered initiatives based on three thematic strands: digital ethics and democracy; dialogue in times of polarisation; participation and cultural resistance.

Browse the gallery, get inspired, and cast your vote until April 7th, 2026. You can vote for a maximum of two projects per strand.

Please note: projects receiving bot-generated votes will be disqualified.

Digital ethics and democracy

Rizoma-Digital

Rizoma Digital

Promoting critical digital citizenship, combating disinformation and the rise of the far-right.

Associação Rizoma Livre
Portugal
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Future Memory Lab - AI Archive

Open source participatory, case-linked frameworks to reason about AI uses in home-movie archives

Future Memory Lab
Czech Republic
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RMSS

RMSS develops a new generation of analysts by combining education and practical training in internat

ADASTRA
Ukraine
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BiblioTech Democracy Lab

Turning BiblioTech hubs into youth labs for digital ethics and democratic participation.

Albania Sustainable Development Organisation
Albania
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Social Problem, Quality Response - SPQR

Citizen-driven responses to disinformation through collaborative fact-checking and digital tools.

Fundación Maldita.es contra la desinformacion: periodismo, educacion, investigacion y datos en nuevos formatos
Spain
Main-picture

Step Up Your Game

Step Up Your Game empowers young people with civic skills and ethical participation.

Pot in Pot, società cooperativa
Italy
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Vous revoir / Socialband

A Network for Arts and Stage, connecting artists, cultural venues and their audiences

Artisans Nomades ASBL
Belgium
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Unlearning Hate: Counter-Narrative Lab

Empowering youth to decode hate speech against minority groups & create digital counter-narratives.

FemIn kolektiv - feministička inicijativa za ravnopravnost i ljudska prava
Serbia
ethic'ia

Ethic’ia

A digital campaign raising journalists’ and public awareness on AI ethics and fact-checking.

cinema for all
Tunisia
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SpeakOut: Youth Stories for Democracy

Digital media booth empowering marginalized youth to share stories and promote civic dialogue.

DIGNITY HUMANITARIAN NGO (former New generation humanitarian ngo)
Armenia

Dialogue in times of polarisation

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Lucid Absurdities

Lucid Absurdities explores trauma, power, empathy through physical theatre and dance.

TARANTISM NON PROFIT CIVIL LAW COMPANY»
Greece
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2TheSainté

The intercultural project for a disadvantaged neighborhood in Saint-Etienne.

Association AGM
France
Reporter-Slam

Exile Talks: Stand Up

A public stand-up event featuring stories experienced, researched and told by exiled journalists and

CORRECTIV
Germany
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A la jeunesse les micros

An ephemeral radio animated by 10 young people to speak about democracy at the Avignon Festival

Making Waves
France
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Immersive Creative Lab

Creativity as a living lab to reinvent citizen dialogue

Campus art Mediterranée
France
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Art connects

Youth from Mostar explore dialogue and coexistence through art therapy, photography and exhibition

Center for psychological support Sensus
Bosnia and Herzegovina
kartzin

Kartzin- Forum Series

Kartzin is a non-commercial cultural infrastructure hosting a forum on ‘Freedom of Expression'

VISUAL VOICES
Cyprus
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DialogueUP

Connecting voices in Latgale, a border region, for stronger European communities.

NGO "Nezināmā Rēzekne"
Latvia
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Never Again

Czech and German poster series challenging populism, xenophobia, and threats to democracy.

LUSTR festival ilustrace z.s.
Czech Republic
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Empowering Youth: Dialogue Across Divides

Empowering young people to challenge polarization and build dialogue through sharing experiences.

Foundation Schüler Helfen Leben/Učenici pomažu život (SHL)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
CutiCunta

CutiCunta

CutiCunta is a regular assembly in public space open to all: each time focussing on a specific issue

Salmastra
Italy
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Of Paperplanes & City Sounds

2-day festival at Tempelhofer Feld (Berlin) uniting communities via storytelling, workshops & music.

European Alternatives Berlin / School of Transnational Organizing
Germany
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Face your past!

Individual and collective confrontation, in the 18th district

eDemocracy Workshop Society
Hungary
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Songs of Shame

Youth rethinking traditional songs to challenge stereotypes and raise awareness on gender violence.

Olipoli Non-Profit Organization - Community of Music & Research
Greece
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Let's Talk About

LTA creates community conversations centering diaspora and activist voices on global injustice.

Gemeenschapscentrum De Rinck
Belgium
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Media: ways of seeing

Critical analysis labs: information and advertising in the press, tv and social media

Casa da Achada - Centro Mário Dionísio
Portugal
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Niansa

Community and art festival in nature, fostering dialogue, empathy, inclusion and social cohesion.

SENZOR institute
Slovenia
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Criadores à Conversa

Monthly conversations connecting rural communities, local creators and international artists through

Cultivamos Cultura
Portugal
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Talk the Walk

An audio lab where young people turn social friction into democratic solutions through storytelling.

Omnis Factum Associação
Portugal
Project-PERTENCER

Pertencer

PERTENCER | Fostering intercultural dialogue through the arts

MORA MUNDUS ASSOCIAÇÃO
Portugal
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Persister

is an ecofeminist programmation of arts & crafts, aiming to document and transform systemic violence

L'Amicale des Pestes
France
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SALONPARCOURS

A participatory city walk activating hidden urban spaces for art, dialogue and civic exchange.

kunstverein am donnerstag
Austria
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Make Migration Stories Visible

We want to highlight the cultural diversity of a small European town in an online exhibition.

Xenia. Verein zur Förderung der Vielfalt
Austria
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Situated Cinema

Low-tech cinema making festival that seeks to activate a conscious vision towards storytelling.

Associação Cultural Sende
Portugal

Participation and cultural resistance

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Sweet Integration: The Plum Jam Unity Festival

Empowering the Roma minority through a community plum-jam making event in Dobolii de Sus.

Asociatia Culturala si de Comunitate Dobolii de Sus - Feldobolyi Kulturális és Közösségi Egyesület
Romania
lectures

Open Community Lectures

degree-free space for sharing Ukrainian identity, knowledge and culture through lived experience

Ukrainian cultural and educational society PROSVITA
Estonia
irune

Coloring the future

Coloring for the Future” by Amigos de Europa: art-driven community growth tackling depopulation.

Amigos de Europa
Spain
dog-day-afternoon

lorgennale

lorgennale - a festival that transforms private living rooms into intimate performance venues

Homemade Culture
Romania
CHIMERAFEST.Lafinestra

CHIMERA Fest

Chimera Fest is a festival, a place, a possibility, an act of resistance, an utopia becoming reality

Itinerari Paralleli ETS
Italy
LFTP

Learning From The Present

An annual program: activating spaces to bridge urban gaps through new cultural prototypes.

BLU Breeding and Learning Unit
Italy
CommunityDay

AKTIV-IST*INNEN

A space for collective networking and political education in Innsbruck for everyone.

Frühschicht Verein zur kulturellen Vereinigung
Austria
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Montevergine Connection

Un spectacle qui restitue la voix des femmes opprimées à travers les chants de tradition italienne.

La Maggese
France
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Green Steps

GREEN STEPS empowers communities through creativity, art, and environmental action.

Teatro Metaphora Associação de Amigos das Artes
Portugal
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TagWerk / daily work

KUFA opens its doors during the day as a place for participation, exchange and self-organisation.

Kulturfabrik Löseke e.V.
Germany
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Meeting Points: Public Space

Inclusive participatory events around open air public sculptures in Thessaloniki’s waterfront.

Off Stream
Greece
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Gyumri Civic Music Lab

Music lab empowering Gyumri youth to turn social concerns into civic action.

My Lead Time NGO
Armenia
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Djelem Djelem Festival 2026

Germany’s largest festival of Roma culture, promoting empowerment, political education and dialogue.

Roma Center e.V.
Germany
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Full Beans Radio

we are an independent online community radio based in Stuttgart.

Full Beans Radio
Germany
@Alem_Mundus

A Future in Assembly

Democratic Laboratory for Civic Participation and Collective Artistic Creation in rural area

Além Mundus - Associação Cultural
Portugal
Main-Picture

CivicBoost. Youth voices in action.

CivicBoost engages youth in creative civic action, co-creating campaigns that amplify youth voice.

Pot in Pot, società cooperativa
Italy
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EXPRESIONES DEL FUTURO

LLEVAR FORMACIÓN ARTÍSTICA A NIÑAS Y NIÑOS DE SECTORES VULNERABLES DEL MUNICIPIO DE IBAGUÉ

FUNDACION EXPRESIONES DEL FUTURO
Colombia
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Walls That Speak – Youth Art for Democracy

Rural youth voices shaping democracy through public art and dialogue

Mladinski center Žalec, javni zavod za mladinsko kulturo, izobraževanje, informiranje in rekreacijo
Slovenia
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Different Eyes

“Different Eyes” is a group exhibition on discrimination, with works selected by a citizens’ jury.

MOTUS A.C. APS
Italy
MeetFactory_UpGrants

Artists at Risk Residency

Artists at Risk residency(Aug–Oct2026)for displaced artists with public presentation at Open Studios

MeetFactory o.p.s.
Czech Republic
The-Spectacle-Society_-project

The Spectacle Society

A participatory investigative theatre project on politics as spectacle and collective memory.

Micro Macro ets
Italy
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Resistansound

Resistansound is a participatory contemporary platform exploring cultural resistance through sound.

Sud Sonico
Italy
Upside-Down_Lab

Upside-Down Lab

Transforming a neglected shared space through participatory art and community-led spatial activation

The Collective Foundation
Bulgaria
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Traviata in Three Acts

Residents and artists transform a housing block into a shared stage for a new site-specific Traviata

KomshiLOOK
Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of
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Birth Stories, Public Voice

Roma women in Vratsa transform their experiences of pregnancy and motherhood into collective art.

WomanUp Foundation
Bulgaria
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The Border Philosophy

The Border Philosophy is a project situated in a former border check point to reflect on the border.

Društvo humanistov Goriške
Slovenia
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The Sky We Want

A rural community builds a solar balloon carrying messages for peace and shared futures into the sky

FarmLab.at
Austria
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Save the oasis

Interactive public art engaging citizens to protect southern Tunisian oases from pollution.

oasis events
Tunisia
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Venice Tap Water

A participatory cultural project promoting public tap water and reducing plastic in Venice.

Venice Tap Water
Italy
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Art Picnics

Three-day art space for teens about freedom, equality, and the right to a voice.

NON-GOVERMENT ORGANIZATION «SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CENTR «PODILSKY BIOREGION»
Ukraine
T-Poster-01

Who Owns the Landscape? Peatlands.

An art–science project exploring urban peatlands and their ecological and military landscape defense

NGO “Lviv Cultural Centre”
Ukraine
Assembly-Palermo

Assemble for Cultural Rights!

Assemble for Cultural Rights! is a translocal Assembly & Summit reopening Teatro Garibaldi (Palermo)

Fondazione Studio Rizoma
Italy
EnglishPoster

The Madwoman of Chaillot

One fearless woman vs. the machinery of greed — a play, a trial, a conversation with our city.

ARTIFACTORY
Greece
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Claiming Body, Claiming Fire

A feminist festival exploring art as a tool for activism and transformative pedagogy

La Ressourcerie du Spectacle
France
Rigenera

Rigenera

From regenerated rural house to cultural hub: upcycling and local crafts for community participation

Cooperativa Sociale Immaginaria
Italy
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Licence to Protect (LtP)

LtP is a participatory performance-installation amplifying women’s voices against militarisation.

Subcultural Labratory Scene (SubLab Scene)
Croatia
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Right to move

Contemporary circus as a space for young people to express their experiences.

Kreativni pogon
Serbia
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UKRAINIAN COSPLAY FORUM - transformation of reality

Change starts with us. We form a strong community as the foundation of modern society.

The Municipal Institution «Zlatopil City Palace of Culture «Khimik» of the Zlatopil City Council of Kharkiv Oblast.
Ukraine
Visuel-projet-Tumpek

Tumpek project

A rural artistic laboratory of co-creation, walking and civic participation.

Musiques de l'ébène
France
Meadow-2.0

Meadow 2.0

Participatory art project revitalizing a neglected meadow in Split with the local community.

“Culture Hub Croatia” Platform for education, creativity and development through culture
Croatia
Neurotopias_Improper-Walls

Neurotopias

A project designed to push boundaries of mental health awareness and envision more equitable futures

Improper Walls
Austria
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The Roots are Growing

Romanian youth on the EU border use culture to reflect on the relationship with their birthplace.

”Nord” Association
Romania
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Gantiadi Festival

Gantiadi is an independent multidisciplinary cultural festival series based in Berlin.

Lernlabor gemeinnützige UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Germany
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Vechornytsi BXL

Participatory monthly cultural gatherings strengthening identity and democracy through culture.

Ukrainian Cultural Space ASBL
Belgium
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Build The Resistance

Reclaiming public spaces through youth-led creative activism to counter far-right polarization.

Dínamo - Associação de Dinamização Sociocultural
Portugal
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Belém with Sound

Collaborative atelier building a sound system, blending music, culture, education and generations.

Sociedade Musical Instrução Libertada - SMIL
Portugal
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Self-Framed: Inter/Trans Autofiction Lab

TIGD participants explore identity through autofiction and photographic self-portrait.

KOLEKTIRV | For the rights of trans, intersex, and gender diverse persons
Croatia
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Brno votes culture 2026

Brno Cultural Policy Under Spotlight: promises and a public clash on the city's future in 2026 vote!

Brno kulturní
Czech Republic
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BIRLIKTE

BIRLIKTE Short i n Stories Rich in History Short-Story Competition

DIDF - Föderation der Demokratischen Arbeitervereine i n Osterreich für Solidarität und Völkerverständigung
Austria
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TURBA

Turba: Reclaiming space for cultural resistance through independent media and mutual aid.

Arts of the Working Class
Germany