It is our pleasure to welcome you to ECF’s first fully digital Annual Report. This new way of presenting our vision and projects, figures and forecasts fits seamlessly into the platform approach we have adopted for our digital presence. By publishing our Annual Report online instead of on paper, we aim to make this information more accessible and relevant (and to save some trees at the same time). The report is structured according to our three guiding principles, and preceded by an organisational overview. (See horizontal navigation bar.)
In 2012, we took our inspiration from Indian author Amitav Ghosh, who gave a keynote speech during Imagining Europe: “Europe is in a position to lead, not as it has in the past, by dominance and coercion, but by example.” Bearing this firmly in mind as we face new challenges in the years to come, ECF will continue to initiate and support cultural change and creative expression across wider Europe and the contribution that culture makes to Europe.
With the crisis now in its fifth year, harsh rhetoric against Europe and radical budget cuts in the cultural sector meant that 2012 was particularly challenging for many of our partners and grantees. However, this changing environment has also helped us to sharpen our focus and to become even more keenly aware of our core values. Given the fact that we are both grant-making and operational, we have the tools and the flexibility to have a lasting impact on the European cultural landscape and to support those who make a difference in their own local environment.
In this context, we hosted an inspiring event on the future of Europe, aptly named Imagining Europe. Contributors to a new perspective on the continent included the Belarus Free Theatre and Indian best-selling author Amitav Ghosh. ECF Labs was expanded to provide a renewed and increasingly popular platform for cultural Europe to “meet” and exchange views and ideas. Work from our Doc Next Network was shown at IDFA and live cinema performance European Souvenirs is set to tour Europe. Last but certainly not least, we were proud to make a small contribution to the communities involved in the Arab Spring by setting up Tandem cultural exchanges between among others Egypt, Syria and Tunisia, and Europe. You can read more about these and many of our other activities further on in this report.
 Katherine Watson Director, European Cultural Foundation |
 Wolfgang Petritsch Chair, European Cultural Foundation |