The visit was organised as part of our broader Knowledge Sharing Workshops and offered a unique opportunity for participants to get to know the scope and work of EUNIC more closely.

Bringing together professionals from across the EUNIC network, the visit aimed to deepen understanding of EUNIC’s role in supporting international cultural relations and foster exchange on shared strategic priorities.

We had colleagues from the British Council in Scotland and Germany, the Ukrainian Institute, the Lithuanian Culture Institute in Vilnius and Brussels, the Goethe-Institut Amman, the Italian Cultural Institute Romania, the Embassy of Poland in Athens and Dublin, ifa - Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, and the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux join the two-day programme with us.

It was great to get to know EUNIC personally, I came back with a lot of food for thought for the work we do at ifa.

Ivana U. Putri, Research & Project Management, ifa - Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations

The programme was held at the Instituto Cervantes in Brussels, where we focused on EUNICs work in different programme areas. EUNIC Director Andrew Manning set the scene by contextualising EUNIC in the context of our members' work. In a second session, we focused on the role of cultural relations in addressing global issues and more specifically how is EUNIC and its members are responding to them.

Cluster Network Manager Michelle Sun shared insights on EUNICs efforts on Fair Collaboration, Climate and Sustainability and other Knowledge Sharing Workshops hosted by EUNIC in the past.

The programme created space not only to share EUNIC's global work, but also to learn from each other - from the colleagues leading cultural relations work at headquarters, country and city level.

Throughout the two days participants shared insights on:

• the cluster reality of EUNIC Romania
• the communication strategy of the British Council
• the Yemen Creative Hubs as a Goethe-Institut initiative
• British Council’s strategy on educational and cultural programming
• key developments at the Ukrainian Institute

Other highlights included:

• A panel conversation with Luiza Moroz from Culture Action Europe and Aisling de Lacy, Cultural Attaché, on the Cultural Compass and the role of Member States and EU institutions in culture
• A tour of BOZAR led by Magdalena Van den Broeck Liskova, with insights into their programming and partnerships

By bringing together colleagues from across the network, the mobility visit not only facilitated professional learning but also reinforced the spirit of community and exchange that defines EUNIC’s work.

Participants left with a richer understanding of how EUNIC functions as a collaborative network and how these connections can strengthen their own work in cultural relations.

We would like to thank everyone who joined us - we truly valued learning from and with you.