OPEN CALL FOR APPLICATIONS UNDER PROCEDURE BG-RRP-11.021
The National Culture Fund, in its capacity as the Monitoring and Reporting Structure under the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Republic of Bulgaria, informs you that it has opened a call for applications under the project proposal selection procedure BG-RRP-11.021 – Grant Scheme “New Generation of Local Cultural Policies for Large Municipalities.”
Specific objectives of the procedure are:
- Specific Objective 1 – Support for cultural operators through which the municipality implements its cultural policies (mandatory at least 80% of the project proposal budget);
- Specific Objective 2 – Support for the municipal administration to develop new cultural policies and partnership tools in the field of cultural development.
Eligible applicants:
Applicants must be municipalities that are regional centers, as follows: Vidin, Vratsa, Montana, Lovech, Pleven, Varna, Targovishte, Dobrich, Shumen, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Razgrad, Ruse, Silistra, Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil, Pernik, Sofia Municipality, Burgas, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Yambol, Kardzhali, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Smolyan, Haskovo — which provide targeted funding on a competitive basis to cultural operators for the development of cultural content and promotion of all types of arts based on established/approved/adopted mechanisms for the selection and evaluation of cultural operators, and have an approved Culture Fund/Program and rules for its operation pursuant to Article 36 of the Cultural Heritage Protection and Development Act (CHPDA).
Amount of funds under the procedure:
BGN 20,000,000.00 excluding co-financing by applicants (i.e., grant funding).
Grant intensity:
Grant funding ranges from BGN 170,000 to BGN 2,000,000, with mandatory co-financing by the final beneficiaries of 50% of the grant amount. The minimum grant per applicant is BGN 170,000. The maximum grant per applicant is BGN 2,000,000.
Eligible categories of activities under Specific Objective 1:
- Activities for developing and creating one or more new cultural products and/or further development and enhancement of already established events and festivals and/or new combinations of existing cultural products organized by the municipalities, including hiring and paying specialists and experts and providing a team for developing and creating one or more new cultural products/content in theater, music, cinema, audiovisual, literature, literary translation, dance, circus, visual arts, architecture, design, folklore, and critical literature.
- Travel for participation of artists, performers, technical staff, and other participants directly involved with the cultural product necessary for its presentation, according to the Regulations on Business Trips in the Country.
- Transport/cargo activities for artworks, sets, equipment, materials, and others depending on the specifics of the cultural product, necessary for the presentation.
- Activities for public presentation of works from the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) sector before a Bulgarian audience.
- Activities for presenting the newly created cultural products to the audience (renting venues, equipment, etc.).
- Activities for dissemination, advertising, and promotion of the presented works within the municipality.
- Activities for insurance, storage, and security of artworks and equipment at the presentation site.
- Activities for adapting the created cultural product(s) into new formats for different channels or unconventional locations and audiences to spread the product(s) and reach new audiences and/or socially isolated groups.
- Activities for creating digital content to expand access to the cultural product(s) (mobile applications, virtual tours, digital exhibitions).
Eligible categories of activities under Specific Objective 2:
- Activities related to the development, creation, and implementation of new tools for the development and management of cultural policies, including analyses and studies on their creation and development.
- Activities related to knowledge and know-how transfer from other municipalities within Bulgaria and EU member states.
Project implementation period:
The duration of the investment proposal implementation should not exceed 12 months from the date specified by the applicant in the "Project start and end date" field. The final date for completing activities under individual projects must be no later than 31 March 2026.
Open application period under the procedure: 2 months.
The guidelines defining the conditions for applying for funding under the Mechanism and the conditions for implementing approved investments are published at:
https://eumis2020.government.bg/bg/s/Procedure/Info/12517340-9ebe-4778-8905-0e9c449ccb45
Applicants may request clarifications on the guidelines up to 21 days before the application deadline. Clarification requests are submitted through the electronic application module, section "Clarifications on the procedure." Clarifications relate to application conditions, do not include opinions on proposal quality, and are binding for all applicants.
Applicant questions and clarifications from the Monitoring and Reporting Structure will be published in the Information System for the Mechanism ISUN2020: https://eumis2020.government.bg (in the procedure documents section) within 10 days of receiving the request, but no later than 14 days before the application deadline.
Application deadline: 13 August 2025, 17:30, via the Information System for the Mechanism ISUN 2020. Investment proposals must be submitted electronically and signed with a qualified electronic signature (QES).
