1 May 2023 — 1 May 2025

IZOLYATSIA Foundation, in cooperation with Trans Europe Halles (Sweden) and Malý Berlín (Slovakia), has launched ZMINA: Rebuilding, the new program to support Ukrainian artists and cultural organizations to create and showcase works in Ukraine and other Creative Europe countries.

ZMINA: Rebuilding will provide 1.4 million euros to support Ukrainian artists and cultural organizations working alone, with national or non-Ukrainian partners. Selected program participants will be able to create and showcase in Ukraine and abroad works that facilitate, promote or mediate public discourse on the topic of "rebuilding": identity, social norms, communities, relationships, and infrastructure. Intensive capacity-building of Ukrainian artists and cultural organizations, also open to public cultural offices, will support the sub-granting scheme, along with communication and dissemination in Ukraine and internationally.

ZMINA: Rebuilding aims to reach the following goals:

• to support the development and presentation of concrete practices contributing to wartime resilience and post-war recovery in Ukraine;
• To highlight the essential and unique role that the cultural and creative sector is playing in social and economic (re-) development, now and in the future;
• Beyond Ukraine, foster and develop mutual understanding and future cooperation between the European and Ukrainian cultural and creative sectors;
• Intensive capacity-building will support Ukrainian artists and cultural organizations to internationalize their outlook, develop international projects and work to European standards.

ZMINA: Rebuilding will not only support Ukrainian artists and cultural organizations but will also facilitate future investments in the Ukrainian cultural and creative sector in the long term and will straighten international connections to support Ukraine's ascension to the EU.

ZMINA: Rebuilding introduces four waves of open calls for funding proposals, each with two months for the application submission:

• National projects:  
  Wave 1  is open for proposals in July 2023, 
  Wave 2  is open for proposals in December 2023.
• International cooperation projects:  
  Wave 1 is open for proposals in September 2023  
  Wave 2  is open for proposals in February 2024. 

ZMINA: Rebuilding is a cooperation between IZOLYATSIA (UA), Trans Europe Halles (SE), and Malý Berlín (SK), co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

About IZOLYATSIA:

IZOLYATSIA is a non-profit, non-governmental platform for cultural initiatives, founded in 2010 on the site of a former insulation factory based in Donetsk. The foundation takes its name from the original manufacturer. Due to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, the foundation had to change its location several times. The Foundation's facilities in Donetsk, Ukraine, are being used as illegal prisons, places for torture and inhuman abuse. The Foundation's office in Soledar, Ukraine, was destroyed by the Russian Armed Forces during the occupation of the city. IZOLYATSIA aims to effect systemic change in Ukrainian society through the agency of cultural projects. These changes are achieved through participative cultural projects, capacity building and support of the cultural and creative sectors, and support for cultural decentralization.

About Malý Berlín:

Malý Berlin is an independent cultural center in Trnava (Slovakia), an industrial and university town near Bratislava. The organization is actively involved in developing international cooperation in the Central European region and the countries of the Eastern Partnership. Since 2022, it has also taken an important role in helping Ukrainian emigrants, especially artists who were forced to leave Ukraine for the countries of the European Union.

About TEH:

Trans Europe Halles is one of Europe's oldest and most dynamic cultural networks. TEH has been at the forefront of repurposing abandoned buildings for arts, culture, and activism since 1983. TEH is based in Sweden and has 140 members in 40 different countries across Europe – from Spain to Georgia.