U25 – Focus: Young Culture Initiatives

Overview

U25 – Focus: Young Culture Initiatives is a micro-project funding programme for young perspectives. The programme supports independent socio-cultural projects by people under the age of 25 and aims to make it easier for young cultural workers to take their first steps in socio-culture. Funding is provided for temporary projects that involve local people and address a socio-political or social issue using cultural methods. A maximum of 4,000 euros can be applied for, but not more than 80% of the total budget. The total budget of the project may not exceed 8,000 euros; larger projects must be applied for in the general project funding.

what we fund

Funding Focus

  • What is funded?
  • What is not funded?
who we fund

Applicants

U25 – Focus: Young Culture Initiatives is explicitly aimed at motivated people between the ages of 18 and 25. Applications from people with disabilities, non-native speakers and/or non-academics are explicitly welcome. The ability to express oneself linguistically has no effect on the funding decision.

  • Who can apply?
  • Who cannot apply?
how you apply

Application

The funding application is submitted digitally via the application portal. You must register there the first time you use it. You can then fill out the application form, save it temporarily, edit it later and submit it once it is complete. The application portal usually opens twice a year with the deadlines May 2 and November 2. Due to the high number of server accesses, technical problems may occur shortly before the application deadline. We therefore recommend that you send your application well in advance. Applications that are not submitted by midnight can no longer be accepted.

Download Application Sample

what dates are important

Timeframe and Deadlines

Projects can be funded over several years. This means that they do not have to be completed in the year of approval. However, the projects may last a maximum of 2 years.

When projects are allowed to begin at the earliest is always announced in the respective calls for proposals. Typically, the following applies:

  1. half of the year with deadline November 2: Project start from February of the following year
  2. half of the year with deadline May 2: Project start for 2025 not before mid-September

Exceptions to this are conceptual preparatory work, such as the search for possible funders or cooperation partners.

how much we fund

Project budget

A maximum of EUR 4,000 can be applied for as part of the U25 funding, but not more than 80 percent of the total project budget. This means that 100 percent funding from Fonds Soziokultur is not possible. The total project budget cannot exceed EUR 8,000. Projects with a higher cost volume must be applied for in the general project funding programme.

  • What is a cost and financing plan (KoFi) and what must be included in it?
  • What expenses are eligible?
  • What expenses are not eligible?
who decides

Funding Decision

All applications are reviewed by the U25-commitee of the Sociocultural Fund. This consists of two people from the core board of trustees and four young people from the cultural scene. The commitee then meets and decides at the selection meeting which applications will be approved and which will not. The office then informs the applicants about the decisions without giving reasons. We cannot provide any information about the decisions at an earlier stage.

Application deadline May 2: Funding decision usually at the end of June / beginning of July of the same year
Application deadline November 2: Funding decision usually at the beginning / middle of January of the following year

Top view of a young man standing behind a curtain in a dark room