Swiss Cultural Fund Albania

About the project

The Swiss Cultural Fund is dedicated to the development of the artistic scene in Albania by actively engaging in supporting cultural projects.
Our mission is to promote and advocate the social relevance of arts and culture by supporting cultural actors in their work, strengthening their capacities, and fostering cooperation and exchange.
In achieving this, The Swiss Cultural Fund has a specific focus on capacity building activities and regional collaboration projects.
The main partner of the project is The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, an office-level agency in the federal administration of Switzerland, and a part of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Switzerland supports Albania in the development of a democratic society, a competitive economy, and in the country’s integration into European structures.

The project’s programs

Capacity Building Workshops

Capacity building workshops have an important function in providing independent artists with necessary information and tools to develop their work. It provides training on the kind of skills needed to explore various opportunities for funding and how to follow through with the application process.

Later, it helps them develop and promote their work as well as access networking opportunities. Through this, capacity building plays a crucial role in helping young artists in realizing and expressing better their potentials.

This Program is designed to provide training on how to write project proposals with cultural backgrounds and how to use technology in this field, for the young artists, organizations and other sectoral stakeholders, and equip them with the knowledge and tools required to achieve excellence in cultural grant applications.

The main goals of this Program are to:

Increase abilities and capacities of emerging artists for project funding opportunities
Prepare the right environment for funded project success with dedicated follow-up training

The program includes two Training Package:

Training Package 1 including: writing a grant project, project management, use of digital tools, culture & marketing, entrepreneurship and best practices of grant application

Training Package 2 including: art project/event life-cycle, community building and audience engagement.

Local Grant Program

Swiss Cultural Fund Albania (SCFA) is aimed towards fostering inclusive and prosperous communities by strengthening the cultural sector, and encouraging regional collaboration and integration. In this context, SCFA aims to advance the independent cultural scene in Albania and the region by supporting authentic cultural production, encouraging participation, and raising capacities of cultural actors.

Local Grant Program (LGPs) are short-term and/or one-off events which increase the cultural offer and strengthen critical thinking, constructive dialogue and cultural exchange. LGPs support projects that are innovative, original and socially relevant, intended with the purpose of increasing artistic/activist creation, mobility of ideas, and exchanges/networking between artists and communities.

This instrument especially targets emerging artists with innovative initiatives. LGPs can be developed in any contemporary art field and can take various forms (e.g. exhibitions, performances, street actions or campaigns, festivals, concerts, publications, etc.).