A mobility programme through work placements for young and up-coming artists, art managers and cultural operators in Europe and beyond.
The Gulliver Connect application round for 2009 is now open!
Please go to Programme/call for application for more information and application forms.
Gulliver Connect is a longest established and most flexible mobility and work placement programme in Europe. It promotes international co-operation among arts and cultural professionals from Europe.
It is inspired by Günter Grass's idea ‘to overcome borders of incomplete contact and knowledge of each other'.
Gulliver Connect is for young professionals who have 2 or 3 years working experience in the field of performing and visual arts, new media, project co-ordination and arts development or management.
Thanks to a large network of cultural organisations throughout Europe, Gulliver Connect offers hands-on work experience. It's unique ability is to use such an extensive range of hosts to match the individual talents of young people. And it enables the hosting organisations to find valuable working partners for the future.
Participants discover working environments so different from their own. For example, Gulliver Connect has created matches between Cluj and London, Zagreb and Krasnoyarsk, Sofia and Almaty, Graz and Istanbul, and Ljubljana and Avignon.
Each year the programme sends out calls for applications for young professionals and hosting organisations. Bursaries are available to cover international travel and accommodation costs, and a small per diem for the visitor.
The work placements develop professional skills and establish new forms of international co-operation. Both the young visitor and the hosting organisation benefit from each other's working practices. They share information, experiences and ideas, and establish far reaching professional contacts.
In the beginning Gulliver Connect concentrated on the needs of Eastern European artists and art professionals. Its focus, from 1997, was the exchange of young cultural operators in countries undergoing social and cultural transition. Later the programme was opened up to allow cultural operators from Middle and East Europe to visit a Western European organisation and vice versa.
By creating a dynamic network Gulliver Connect adds a new dimension to the social, artistic and cultural development of Europe - a stepping stone for the future of European co-operation in the arts.
The Gulliver Connect partners:
KulturKontakt, Austria 
KulturKontakt is one of the largest Austrian centres for education and intermediation in culture. As a place for cultural dialogue and educational cooperation with Eastern and South Eastern Europe KulturKontakt initiates and supports co-operative projects throughout the continent. In order to support the artistic process and create a platform for artistic and cultural discourse KulturKontakt Austria tries to improve the working conditions for artists and promotes contact, communication, and exchange of experience between the different cultures.
The Felix Meritis Foundation/Gulliver 
The Felix Meritis Foundation is an international arts and science centre creating room for conferences, seminars, informal meetings and workshops, exchanges and mobility schemes as well as artistic and scientific programmes. Through its interdisciplinary approach Felix Meritis strives for more mobility and networking in and outside Europe. Stressing the importance of co-operation, eventually led to the formation of strong international networks. Nowadays, these networks facilitate opportunities for interdisciplinary and intercultural initiatives beyond national borders.
The Central European Foundation (CEF) 
The Central European Foundation (CEF) is an independent, nonpartisan, nongovernmental organisation, founded in 1994. It carries a vision of democratic, economically prosperous and secure Central Europe with its own strong identity and diverse and rich culture.
The foundation cooperates with many local and international institutions and organisations and helps develop partnership between the public, private and non-sectors also for individuals.
Supported by:
