Cultural Mobility Funding Guide: Focus on the Balkan Region 2022

On the Move is an international information network dedicated to artistic and cultural mobility, gathering 67 members from 26 countries. Since 2002, On the Move has been working to provide regular, up-to-date and free information on mobility opportunities, conditions and funding, and to advocate for the value of cross-border cultural mobility. Co-funded by the European Union and the French Ministry of Culture, On the Move is implementing an ambitious multiannual programme to build the capacities of local, regional, national, European and international stakeholders for the sustainable development of our cultural ecosystems. In addition to its open call listings, On the Move regularly creates, updates, and publishes Cultural Mobility Funding Guides.

These guides are meant to be a resource for artists and other arts workers looking to finance their cross-border travel to and/or from a specific country, world region, or continent. They also serve as mappings of existing opportunities that can be a useful reference document for policymakers and funders at the local, national, European and international levels.

The main objective of this Cultural Mobility Funding Guide is to provide an overview of the funding bodies and programmes that support the international mobility of artists and culture professionals travelling from/to 10 Balkan countries, namely Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. On the Move commissioned researchers based in Ljubljana, Bucharest, Zagreb and Peja to map grants and support schemes focusing on the Balkan region in order to provide, in a transparent manner, existing information that can help organisations and arts workers find the best ways to engage with international colleagues and finance their international travel. This research took place from March to August 2022. This Cultural Mobility Funding Guide should also inspire those responsible for public policies and mobility funds at local, regional, national and European level, as well as private donors and mobility stakeholders at large.

This guide can reinforce awareness of the remaining obstacles and difficulties that stand in the way of equal access to international opportunities and suggest areas that should be financed more fairly and efficiently in order to ensure more sustainable support for cross-border cultural collaboration.