Through culture, EUNIC strives to build trust and understanding between the people of Europe and the wider world. We work to make culture count in international relations.

EUNIC’s work is based on the principles of cultural relations. We aim to build fair partnerships by practising mutual listening and learning and engaging in dialogue, co-creation, and joint capacity building.

EUNIC’s understanding of culture includes the arts, creative industries, development cooperation, digitalisation, education, gender, heritage, human rights, language and multilingualism, social inclusion, sports, sustainability, tourism, youth, and others.

The purposes of EUNIC are defined in the Statutes as follows:

• to work together
• to promote cultural diversity and understanding
• to strengthen international dialogue and cultural cooperation
• to be a partner of the EU in defining and implementing EU cultural policy
• to advocate for the value of cultural relations and, as part of this, argue for a strong and independent voice for the cultural sector
• to conduct research and share best practices

EUNIC Statutes in the French original and English translation

The revised Statutes as published here have now been approved by Royal Decree. To complete the formalities, they will now be deposited with the Brussels Enterprise Court and published in the Annexes to the Belgian Official Journal (Moniteur Belge). Once they will have been published here, they are fully in effect.

On 4 June 2020, EUNIC adopted its new Strategic Framework 2020-2024. EUNIC's three objectives are:

• to strengthen cultural relations worldwide together with partners;
• to advocate for culture in international relations as a strategic partner of the EU; and
• to enhance its capacity as a network.

EUNIC Strategic Framework 2020-2024

EUNIC is one of the European networks supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. It has continuously benefited from this support since 2014.

EUNIC members join together in 136 clusters in 104 countries worldwide. Clusters are the network's branches, established where at least three EUNIC members are represented. Clusters engage in cultural relations, co-creating activities with partner organisations. This map shows the global presence of EUNIC.

Colleagues working in EUNIC Clusters find key documents and guidelines in the EUNIC Resource Centre.

EUNIC’s General Assembly is composed of all members and is the governing body of EUNIC, steering the network strategically. The General Assembly approves new full and associate members, elects the Board of Directors, and confirmes EUNIC’s activity plan and budget. It also formally approves new EUNIC clusters. The General Assembly meets twice a year and is chaired by the President of EUNIC.

General Assembly Meeting Reports

Executive decisions are taken by the Board of Directors. It meets four times a year. The Board members are elected for a period of two years by the full members of EUNIC, with the possibility of re-election for another two years.

The EUNIC president chairs the General Assembly and the Board of Directors and represents the network. They serve a period of one year.

Johannes Ebert became President of EUNIC in June 2022. He has been Secretary General and Chairman of the Board of the Goethe-Institut since 2012. He read Islamic Studies and Political Science in Freiburg and Damascus and thereafter worked as a journalist in Heilbronn. After periods as an instructor at the Goethe-Institut in Prien, as a language course consultant at the Goethe-Institut in Riga and as deputy head of the Public Relations division in the Munich head office, he was director of the Goethe-Institut Kiev from 1997 to 2002. From 2002 to 2007 he was director of the Goethe-Institut in Cairo and regional director for North Africa and the Middle East. Subsequently he served as director of the Goethe-Institut in Moscow and regional director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia from 2007 to 2012.

Former EUNIC Presidents and Board Members

The Director of EUNIC is responsible for the daily management of the network, delivering the EUNIC strategy and heading the EUNIC office. The Board of Directors also delegates some of its tasks to the Director. The Director is selected by the Board of Directors following an open call (both within the network and externally).

Andrew Manning became Director of EUNIC in August 2021. Prior to EUNIC, Andrew was the Secretary General of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) and international Advisor for the Nordic region at BOZAR, the Centre for Fine Arts Brussels. Andrew has previously worked as Head of Arts at the British Council in France as well as roles with the BBC and British Council Brussels. Andrew has a degree in French language and Literature from the University of Oxford.

Former EUNIC Directors
Gitte Zschoch, Goethe-Institut, 2018-2021
Andrew Murray, British Council, 2015-2018
Helena Kovarikova, Czech Centres, 2012-2015

Andrew Manning is the first Director not seconded by a EUNIC member. In cases where the Director is seconded from a EUNIC member organisation then EUNIC compensates that member for the staff costs of the Director.

The EUNIC office is the secretariat of the EUNIC network, based in Brussels. The secretariat supports EUNIC members in the delivery of collaborative work worldwide, advocates for European cultural relations, and facilitates knowledge sharing and capacity building between the people of the network. The office was established in 2012.

Contact the team

EUNIC is funded by proportionate membership fees.

EUNIC's worldwide activities are financed by contributions of members’ local branches and partners.

The Cluster Fund is the network’s most important internal financial instrument and is financed by voluntary contributions by EUNIC members. It supports activities inside and outside the EU with currently around 300,000 euros annually. Since its establishment in 2012, 169 Cluster Fund projects have been financed with a total budget of 1.6 million euros. In 2021, 18 members contributed to the fund with a total of 308,000 euros. Including contributions by EUNIC members locally and by partners, the total budget of project selected for 2022 is more than 990,000 euros.

In 2014, EUNIC first received funding as European network from the Creative Europe programme, which was renewed in 2017 and 2021. The Preparatory Action European Spaces of Culture is co-funded by the Directorate-General Education, Youth, Sports and Culture of the European Commission.

Administrative Arrangement: Partnership agreement with the EU
In 2021, EUNIC and the European External Action Service (EEAS) approved a joint statement, re-confirming their commitment to strengthening their collaboration.

In 2017, EUNIC signed a partnership agreement, an Administrative Arrangement, with the European Commission – represented by the Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (EAC) – and the European External Action Service (EEAS). In the Arrangement, the three parties agree to initiate joint pilot activities to enhance cooperation between EU Delegations and EUNIC clusters.

The EU strategy on international cultural relations, the Joint Communication ‘Towards an EU strategy for international cultural relations’, was published in 2016. It identifies EUNIC as one of the implementing partners of the EU's cultural relations approach.

Joint activities between the EU and EUNIC
A first joint pilot activity resulting from the Administrative Arrangement was the publication of the Report on the current state of the partnership between EUNIC clusters and EU Delegations, based on the experiences of collaboration in 14 countries worldwide.

Furthermore, EUNIC, the EEAS and the Commission have co-hosted joint sessions on the role of cultural relations in EU foreign policy during regional seminars in North Macedonia (2018), Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea and the Philippines (2019). During the Covid-19 pandemic, they are co-hosting webinars on cultural relations for colleagues working in EU Delegations and in the EUNIC network.

To further facilitate cooperation between EU Delegations and the EUNIC network, the Joint Guidelines: EUNIC – European External Action Service – European Commission partnership were co-authored and published. These guidelines advise colleagues working in EU Delegations and EUNIC clusters worldwide on how to design effective working relationships in order to deliver cultural relations projects.

Joint cultural relations projects and programmes between EUNIC clusters and EU Delegations are currently being implemented in eight countries: Bolivia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Jordan, Peru, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and Ukraine.

European Spaces of Culture
In 2018, EUNIC has been granted the Preparatory Action European Spaces of Culture (formerly European ‘Houses’ of Culture), initiated by the European Parliament and implemented through EUNIC’s network, EU Delegations and local stakeholders. The project tests new models of European collaboration in culture.

Further reading

• Joint Communication: Towards a strategy on EU international cultural relations, 2016
• Administrative Arrangement: Partnership agreement between EUNIC, the European Commission and the European External Action Service, 2017
• Report on the current state of the partnership between EUNIC clusters and EU Delegations, 2018
• Joint Guidelines: EUNIC - EUNIC – European External Action Service – European Commission partnership, 2019
• European Spaces of Culture