On April 24th 2012, EUNIC in Brussels staff and members welcomed a group of Mit-Ost Cultural Managers, supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation at the Goethe-Insitut to present projects and EUNIC initiatives and discuss the role of culture

Ulla-Alexandra Mattl provided the audience with a presentation on EUNIC, focusing on the work of EUNIC in Brussels since its creation and the various projects the organisation is currently involved in. The current projects include the second edition of TRANSPOESIE, which will bring poetry in the Brussels underground network from September until November 2012, and the new initiative to bring the expats and the Brussels local community closer under the project Manneken Speak, of which the first key event will take place on 23 June 2012 during the celebrations of the “Fête de la Musique”. Another significant project in terms of multiculturalism is Poliglotti4.eu, the outcome of the deliberations of the EU Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism, which EUNIC in Brussels is currently chairing. The presentation also briefly mentioned the EUNIC worldwide network, which gathers more than 75 clusters in all parts of the world and is supported by the EUNIC Global office, also based in Brussels.

Sana Ouchtati then presented More Europe, the cultural external relations initiative which has been recently launched to highlight and reinforce the role of culture in the EU’s external relations. More Europe gathers leading European culture foundations such as the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), the Fritt Ord Foundation and the Goethe Institute, the British Council, the Institut français, the Danish Cultural Institute, the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (IFA), and -as key liaison partner- EUNIC in Brussels.  Based on best practice evidence and research, More Europe calls on Member States, civil society and EU institutions to work together in order to join up their vision, pool resources, and coordinate their activities. More Europe aims to shape external cultural relations and is based on a bottom-up approach. Throughout 2012, it will organise a series of public and media partnerships across Europe.

Mani Pournaghi concluded by giving a presentation of the Goethe-Institut Brüssel’s range of action in relation to its European and worldwide partners and branches, and insisted on the opportunities for project development with local branches of the Goethe-Institut, especially within the framework of two EU cultural programmes: Creative Europe and Erasmus for All. 

Added 2 May 2012