VAHA programme is calling for applications from cultural initiatives and civil society actors from Turkey, other Council of Europe (CoE) countries and Kosovo to apply as hubs in collaboration with local partners to develop and implement both local and transnational cultural programming activities. The programme will take place from March 2025 to April 2026.
VAHA (meaning ‘oasis’ in Turkish) is a programme designed for amplifying the voices of independent arts and culture spaces that advocate for public discussion and dialogue in cities across Turkey and the broader European region. The goal is to bring together initiatives that foster public discussions through cultural and artistic activities, especially in contexts of oppression, to expand the spaces of encounter and critical thinking, and to support transnational solidarity.
Through this call, up to 8 VAHA hubs (4 from Turkey and 4 from other CoE countries and Kosovo) will be selected to begin their local activities. Two or three different organisations come together to form a ‘hub’ in order to apply for the programme.
The 8 selected hubs will begin by launching their local cultural and artistic activities. Later in the programme, they will have the chance to establish transnational partnerships with selected networking organisations through the second open call. This will allow them to visit each other, participate in each other’s activities, and collaborate on joint cultural programming.
There will be two public events—one in Turkey and the other in Germany—organised by the VAHA coordination team in collaboration with the VAHA hubs and there will be a transnational networking meeting.
The support includes the following:
- Local activity grant of 12,000 EUR per hub
- Learning and mobility grants of 2,000 EUR per organisation (up to 20 organisations) for training and networking trips or for short residency trips
- Transnational exchange grant of 8,000 EUR per exchange for co-programming activities and events carried out in collaboration between hubs and their transnational partners
