Refugees, migration and intercultural dialogue

What is it about?

At a time when Europe is receiving extraordinary numbers of refugees and migrants, supporting national governments in tackling this situation is a key priority for the EU. After the initial emergency phase, the EU and EU countries must ensure the social, cultural, political and economic integration of the new arrivals.

The Creative Europe programme can fund activities that recognise and celebrate the contribution refugees and migrants make to cultural diversity in Europe. Culture can be a means for refugees and migrants to meet, communicate with and become part of existing communities.

12 refugee integration projects to receive Creative Europe funding

The awarded projects will receive grants worth a total of €2.35 million and involve 62 organisations from 20 countries. The projects have been granted funding after responding to April 2016's special Creative Europe call for cultural projects supporting the integration of refugees.

Find our more: 

- selected projects and the applications received

- watch the project videos

- download the project factsheets

What is being done?

The Creative Europe programme safeguards and promotes Europe's cultural and linguistic diversity, itself a result of centuries of cross-cultural interactions, influences and migrations.

European cooperation projects can create intercultural dialogue and help bring communities together. Culture and cinema can bridge gaps between people in a peaceful way and encourage mutual understanding between host country populations and refugees and migrants.

Integration and inclusion are processes built by refugees, migrants and host communities collectively. Creative Europe supports cultural and audiovisual projects which can help people socialise and express themselves without relying on any one language. Such projects create a better understanding of new shared contexts and can raise awareness about migration, its causes and its effects.

EU projects

Creative Europe, and its predecessor Culture programme (2007-2013), have and continue to support projects on issues such as social inclusion, integration, intercultural dialogue and the fight against xenophobia and prejudices.

  • The Moussem.eu project, recently selected by EU experts as a success story, worked to bring art, artists and audiences from a North African or Arabic background into arthouses and cultural institutions across Europe. It ran from 2012 to 2014 and brought 4 works, ranging from dance to literary projects, to audiences across 5 EU countries.

Explore Creative Europe Project Results to find more examples of EU-funded cultural projects, past and ongoing, dealing with these issues. Try searching with keywords such as "refugees", "migration" or "social inclusion".