Arts and culture reflect open society values and influence public attitudes, yet they seldom receive adequate recognition and resources from either governments or society. To counteract the lack of support, the Arts and Culture Program promotes cultural and artistic collaboration throughout the Soros foundations network; fosters structural changes in cultural policy; and helps develop an autonomous and innovative arts sector. The program's primary goal is to stimulate cultural activities while respecting and celebrating differences among countries.

In 2004 the Arts and Culture Program's geographical focus lies in the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), Mongolia, Iran, and Afghanistan. All initiatives and competitions of the 2004 Program  target the above-mentioned countries exclusively. For up-to-date information about ongoing activities please see the News and Announcements section of this site.

Archived resources for research purposes are available in an archived section of the former Arts and Culture Program website.

The Arts and Culture program works with coordinators in the Soros foundations to administer localy arts and culture initiatives. The needs and conditions vary dramatically among the countries in the network.

Arts and Culture Program coordinators.

Through a number of initiatives, the Arts and Culture Program promoted the sharing of information and resources among the region's arts institutions; networking and artistic cooperation; a contemporary visual arts network that facilitates exchange within the region and helps create access to the international art world; innovative performing arts with the objective of fostering independent theater work and cultural understanding; and training and education programs.

Read more about the Arts and Culture Program history.

The role of the Arts and Culture Program was to promote artistic cooperation and to stimulate processes of structural changes in the field of cultural policy in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The countries where the program was active included Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan).

The program worked in tandem with the Soros foundation local arts and culture initiatives with the understanding that needs and conditions vary dramatically among the countries in our network.

Read more about the Arts and Culture Program's strategy before 2004.

In 2006, the OSI Arts and Culture Network Program (ACNP) operated in the Caucasus, Inner Asia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey. The program launched a new initiative, the Roma Cultural Participation Project (RCPP), which operates in Central and Eastern Europe. The RCPP aims to conduct research and explore Roma cultural and social identity in order to empower Roma and promote cultural inclusiveness.

During the year, ACNP strengthened its partnerships with the European Cultural Foundation to support travel by artists and cultural managers to and from the countries of the Caucasus. The program also helped launch the European Cultural Foundation’s Balkan Incentive Fund to support collaborative artistic and cultural initiatives across Europe and prepare South Eastern European states for EU accession.

Read more about Arts and Culture Program 2006 activities.