October 2, 2019
The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) celebrates its 65th anniversary at the 11th annual ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture on October 2 in Amsterdam. This year’s theme is “Democracy Needs Imagination”: the event will honour two inspiring cultural change-makers for their daring cultural initiatives that promote a democratic imagination and help broaden the scope of social possibilities.
In a year that heralds EU elections and the probability of Brexit, a shared notion of an open Europe is at a critical crossroads. ECF’s mission of an open, inclusive and better Europe is as vital now as it was 65 years ago.
One of ECF’s long-running programs is the ECF Princess Margriet Award for Culture, and it serves as a strong example for how culture can connect. This year highlights bold cultural initiatives that promote a democratic dialogue and broaden the scope of social opportunity. With this year’s theme “Democracy Needs Imagination!,” an international jury selected two exemplary laureates: Ahdaf Soueif (Cairo/London) and City of Women (Ljubljana). They both have distinct cultural approaches, but both offer a hopeful vision of democracy by redefining our understanding of culture and its capacity to improve a common European social reality.
“The European Cultural Foundation is very pleased to honor these inspiring laureates as they represent how with creativity and convictions we have the power to change the landscape of the European Union,” said André Wilkens, Director, European Cultural Foundation.
Ahdaf Soueif
Ahdaf Soueif (1950) is a writer and cultural activist working in the UK and Egypt. In the last 20 years she has merged literature and activism, building a body of work that responds to the legacies of European intervention in conflicts outside of the continent’s immediate territorial boundaries. The Palestine Festival of Literature (2008–present), which she founded, created a new form of international cultural cooperation. Soueif’s opposition to both authoritarianism and colonialism has marked her as a cultural figure of international importance inspiring new critical voices throughout Europe and neighbouring regions.
City of Women
City of Women (Mesto žensk) is an international arts festival that takes place in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since 1994, it has welcomed over 700 advocates for greater gender and social equity from all over the world. Its inclusive understanding of contemporary feminism and its framework highlight artists who blur the boundaries of genre and bridge the perceived separation between thought and action, creating new tools for a feminist perspective that is alert to the ways that gender overlaps with class, race and other nodes of oppression.
The European Cultural Foundation
The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) was founded in Geneva in 1954. The organization was founded by Swiss philosopher Denis de Rougemont, the architect of the European Community Robert Schuman, and HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, under whose presidency the foundation moved to Amsterdam in 1960. They all believed that culture was as a vital ingredient for Europe’s post-war rebuilding and healing.
The foundation has focused on implementing European grants to enable mobility and the exchange of ideas, education through culture, and capacity-building. Our programmes have evolved with the shifting dynamics of European politics.
We continue to initiate and support cultural exchange and creative expression across a wider Europe, to share knowledge across the cultural sector, and to campaign for the arts at all levels of political decision-making.
For more information, visit the European Cultural Foundation’s website at www.culturalfoundation.eu
For more information and/or press materials, contact:
Szilvia Kochanowski: skochanowski [at] culturalfoundation.eu
Friso Wiersum: FWiersum [at] culturalfoundation.eu
