Request for Proposals: Cultural and Scientific Projects 2025 (UK)

Objectives

• The Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Embassy of Spain in the United Kingdom recognizes the value of cultural engagement and scientific exchange. The general objectives are:
  • To strengthen Spain’s cultural presence in the United Kingdom by the communication of elements identified with the importance of its tradition, as well as with the contemporaneity, innovation, diversity, professionalism and creativity of the Spanish cultural and scientific sectors.
  • To expand the knowledge of Spanish languages as major assets of economic value and tool to promote the publishing, film and musical industries and their implementation in digital environment.
  • To project Spanish culture and science through the organization of unique cultural and scientific activities, ensuring the regular presence of Spanish artists and cultural industries or Spanish scientists and scientific institutions, in international and renowned forums.
  • To promote cultural tourism, highlighting the elements of excellence and quality of Spanish cultural and heritage assets for their special contribution to their cultural identity abroad, as well as for their production system and economic structure.
  • To promote cultural and scientific exchange as a key factor of international cooperation, considering culture as a resource in its own right, whose access, diversity, heritage preservation, training, trade and industrial development should be given priority in their development policies.

Priorities

• Priority will be given to those projects addressing the following:
  • Contributing to the promotion of Spanish cultural and scientific activities to be developed in all areas of the United Kingdom.
  • Organizing scientific meetings, debates, seminars or single lectures on priority issues: biomedicine, climate change, emerging technologies, fundamental sciences, energy, global challenges, open science, artificial intelligence, etc.
  • Promoting Hispanic Studies and the work of those university departments that carry them.
  • Working with major British cultural and scientific institutions and in relevant festivals
  • Encouraging dialogue between generations and plurality of cultural expressions, and the fight against any discrimination.
  • Taking advantage of special commemorations, such as birth and death anniversaries to develop projects with a greater reach and wider dissemination to the general public
  • Reinforce multimedia creation and digital communication
  • Always seeking public/private co-operation, particularly with Spanish companies in the UK.

Eligible Costs

• The funds provided by the Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs must be directed towards the organization and celebration of cultural and scientific activities, such as exhibitions, theatre and dance performances, festivals, conferences, congresses, seminars, etc. Authorized costs include:
  • Production and preproduction expenses
  • Venue hiring
  • Translation costs
  • Fees for artists, speakers or similar
  • Promotional expenses

Ineligible Costs

• The funds provided by this call will not be directed towards any of the following:
  • Restoration of art pieces
  • Installation of commemorative plaques
  • Awards, grants and scholarships
  • Publications
  • Private receptions, including lunches and dinners
  • Research and development of projects
  • Salaries of employees

Eligibility Criteria

• They are looking for proposals that are:
  • Organized by those with an established track record in putting on well supported cultural and scientific projects
  • Highly visible, including a plan of communication and promotion, as a part of the application, with the aim of evaluating the future coverage in local and national media, and the impact of the project in the audience. The organizers must be well embedded within their communities in order to increase the coverage of the project in local and specialized media.
  • Be open to the widest possible audience
  • Emphasize the collaboration/sponsorship between the Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Embassy of Spain and the applicant during the project, as well as in the communication and marketing plan included in the proposal
  • Be clearly related to Spain in the chosen policy area(s)
  • Be opened to the collaboration with other Spanish institutions.

For more information, visit Embassy of Spain in United Kingdom.