Call for Tenders: Culture and Democracy Study and Peer Learning – School/Culture Collaborations for Civic Engagement and Critical Citizenship Education
European Commission Culture and Democracy Study and Peer Learning – School/Culture Collaborations for Civic Engagement and Critical Citizenship Education
The European Commission has published a call to learn more about how art can boost pupils’ civic engagement.
This call will explore how schools and artists can work together to enhance pupils’ civic engagement and democratic citizenship education through the power of participatory artistic and cultural experiences in and around schools.
The tender, worth €300,000, opened on 8 July and the deadline to apply is 20 September.
Why support is needed
Evidence shows that civic engagement among adolescents across many nations has declined to worrying levels. At the same time, other studies show that there are clear benefits from using culture and the arts to teach about democracy and citizenship at school.
This call will help collect knowledge on how to design and implement effective collaborations between schools and cultural professionals that use the power of art and culture to enhance young people’s democratic attitudes and readiness to engage in civic and democratic life.
It will also help the European Commission to share this knowledge and best practice examples with policy makers, educators, creative professionals and other key stakeholders around the EU in an organised way that could impact policy and practice.
Who can apply?
Participation in this call is open to all natural and legal persons coming within the scope of the Treaties, as well as to international organisations. It is also open to all natural and legal persons established in a third country if it has a special agreement with the European Union in the field of public procurement. For more details see section 2 of the Tender specifications below.
Expected outcomes
- A study that will review and summarise existing knowledge and evidence on this topic
- A compendium of best practices and key lessons from them
- A series of seminars for policy makers in culture and education from several different EU countries (to help them learn from the good practice examples)
- A handbook for policy makers and practitioners
- A final conference for top-level policy makers in the fields of culture and education across the EU
Background
This call is the first step to fulfil the mandate given by EU countries in the EU Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026, which specifies that:
“Cross-sectoral synergies between schools, cultural organisations, civil society and other actors must be established, to fully harness the transformative potential of culture for enhancing democracy.”
The call is also a response to one of the key recommendations of the European Commission’s 2023 report “Culture and Democracy, the evidence: how citizens’ participation in cultural activities enhances civic engagement, democracy and social cohesion”.
Objectives
- Mapping study.
- In-person and online meetings to transfer good practices and foster peer-learning.
- Study visits providing the space to share and exchange valuable practical guidance.
- Guidebook or toolkit.
Expected results:
- Collection of transferable good practices available online.
- Civil society actors equipped to foster civic engagement through cultural activities and participation.
- Public authorities at European, national and regional levels better equipped to foster civic engagement through cultural activities and participation.
