Building a New Cultural Infrastructure Across Central and Eastern Europe
The European Roma Cultural Foundation (ERCF) continues to expand its network of collaborations across Central and Eastern Europe, strengthening long-term partnerships with artists, curators, researchers and cultural institutions working at the intersection of contemporary art, critical curatorial practice and Roma cultural heritage.
Rather than supporting isolated initiatives, ERCF is committed to building lasting relationships that enable knowledge exchange, collaborative research and transnational cultural production. Over the past months, this approach has resulted in new institutional partnerships and strengthened professional dialogue across the region.
Recent collaborations include work with Fundacja w Stronę Dialogu (Poland), Artivism Lab (Czech Republic), the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia), as well as renewed engagement with organisations and institutions in Hungary, including Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Bura Gallery, UCCU Roma Informal Educational Foundation, and members of the tranzit network. At the same time, ERCF has continued to deepen its dialogue with artists whose practices are shaping the contemporary cultural landscape of Central and Eastern Europe.
These collaborations are already generating new initiatives. Together with its regional partners, ERCF has submitted EPICENTRE: Roma History of Contemporaneity, a joint proposal to the International Visegrád Fund that brings together exhibitions, research and publishing across four countries. Whatever the outcome of the application, the partnerships established through this process already represent an important achievement in themselves.
ERCF's growing regional presence is also opening new opportunities for international cooperation. Ongoing dialogue with major cultural institutions and curatorial platforms is contributing to future projects, exhibitions and publications that will further connect Roma contemporary art with wider conversations on memory, democracy and cultural transformation in Europe.
These developments reflect ERCF's long-term vision: to strengthen a diverse and interconnected cultural ecosystem in which Roma artistic practices are recognised as an integral part of contemporary European culture.
Over the coming months, ERCF will continue to share the outcomes of these collaborations through new publications, exhibitions, public programmes and international partnerships.
