Focus on Eastern Europe

With its “Focus on Eastern Europe” programme, the German Federal Cultural Foundation is strengthening cultural exchange between German and Central and Eastern European institutions and cultural players through a series of major projects. The aim is to deepen mutual understanding and build long-term working relationships. 

Strengthening working relationships

More than twenty years after the EU’s eastward expansion, there is still much to learn from the region’s art scenes. These scenes are characterised by great artistic expressiveness and remarkable resilience, even in the face of political upheaval and attacks on artistic freedom. 

Which projects are funded?

In 2026, the foundation supports the Berlin edition of the “Kyiv Biennial 2026” with the exhibition “A Bird That Cannot Land” and the “Projections onto the East” exhibitions and also the research trips "Museum Encounters". In 2024, the foundation already supported two high-profile forums for exchange between Eastern European cultural centres, the local exile scene and German cultural institutions: the “Kyiv Perennial” and the “POCHEN Biennale” in Chemnitz.