IM Cultural Institute

Category: Projects

  • Combating Anti-Muslim

    Combating Anti-Muslim

    Proposal: Combating anti-Muslim hate through legal empowerment, cultural counter-narratives and civic inclusion in Europe

    Implementation: 2026 to 2027

    Call: CERV-2025-EQUAL – Call for proposals to promote equality and to fight against racism, xenophobia and all other forms of discrimination

    Topic: CERV-2025-EQUAL-ANTIMUSLIM

    Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants

    Proposed Budget: 499 650,54€

    Keywords: Racism, xenophobia, and other forms of intolerance, equality, human rights, inclusion, discrimination, Islamophobia, civic participation, cultural diversity, digital observatory, justice, education

    Objective: The project aims to combat anti-Muslim hatred and structural discrimination by promoting equality, inclusion, and civic participation across Europe. Through a transnational partnership of NGOs, municipalities, cultural actors, and legal experts, the project develops a European observatory and digital tool to document anti-Muslim acts, strengthens access to justice through legal clinics and multilingual guides, and fosters cultural counter-narratives to challenge stereotypes.

    The initiative combines research, advocacy, and education to empower both institutions and citizens, ensuring long-term structural change and resilience against hate. Pilot actions will take place in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the Netherlands, creating a model of coordinated response between civil society, local authorities, and EU institutions. The project directly contributes to the CERV priority on “Combating anti-Muslim hatred and all forms of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination”, and supports the European Union’s core values of dignity, equality, and rights for all.

    Partners:

    • Fonds De Dotation La Passerelle “Cité Du Savoir Et De La Culture”
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Nordic Diaspora Forum
    • Centro Internazionale Per La Promozione Dell’educazione E Sviluppo Ets
    • Ayuntamiento De Mislata
    • Centro Internazionale Per La Promozione Dell’educazione E Sviluppo Ets
  • Anti-Semitism & Cultural Dialogue

    Anti-Semitism & Cultural Dialogue

    Proposal: Listen, They’re talking about you

    Implementation: 2026 to 2028

    Call: CERV-2025-EQUAL – Call for proposals to promote equality and to fight against racism, xenophobia and all other forms of discrimination

    Topic: CERV-2025-EQUAL-ANTISEMITISM

    Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants

    Proposed Budget: 293 356,28€

    Keywords: Combatting Anti-Semitism, Antisemitism, Education, Cultural Dialogue, Memory, Artistic Creation, Audiovisual Media, European Cooperation

    Objective: The project addresses the rise of identity tensions and contemporary antisemitism in Europe. The project targets young people aged 15 to 25 from underprivileged neighborhoods, particularly those who are disengaged from formal educational or institutional frameworks. The project partners deploy proven methodologies and pedagogies that ensure their mobilization, ongoing support, and transition from participants to active citizens. 

    The project extends on a European scale with cultural and popular education actors fostering connections between young Jews and young people from underprivileged neighborhoods.

    Built around four pillars – memory, culture, digital, and citizen voice – the project integrates the transmission of Holocaust history, artistic creation, the production of educational digital content, and reflection on identities and contemporary antisemitism. 

    Gender mainstreaming, incorporated at all stages, ensures exemplary governance, practices, and results in terms of gender equality and diversity. With 70 local actions, 3,500 young people involved, and over 500,000 expected views on the digital productions, a major European event will conclude the project by bringing together partners, young people, political decision-makers, and journalists to share results and strengthen European cohesion. Funded according to a lump sum model, the project ensures rigorous management and sustainable impact.

    Partners:

    • Espoir 18
    • Innovation Hive – Kypseli Kainotomias
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Multikulti Media
    • Union Des Etudiants Juifs De France
    • Kimso
    • Albatros Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft Für Soziale Und Gesu
  • EU Integration Through Stories

    EU Integration Through Stories

    Proposal: Capturing European Integration in Motion

    Implementation: 2025 to 2027

    Call: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM – European Remembrance – 2024

    Topic: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM-EUINTEGRATION

    Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants

    Proposed Budget: 393 615,00€

    Keywords: EU integration, Transition moments, European identity, integration, freedom of movement, intergenerational cooperation

    Objective: The project focuses on capturing the essence of European integration through the lens of elderly travelers who have experienced the freedom of movement across the continent. By highlighting the stories of these individuals, the project aims to bring generations together and promote the diversity of European citizens through shared memories. Through collaboration between young artists and elderly travelers, the project will create interview series, comic book, and exhibitions to showcase the transformative impact of European integration. By making European identity more accessible and inclusive, the project seeks to strengthen the narrative surrounding European integration and create positive peer-to-peer impact.

    Partners:

    • Bratislavsky Institut Pre Politicku Analyzu
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Jugend-& Kulturprojekt EV
    • Univerzita Sv. Cyrila A Metoda V Trnave
    • Kauno Kino Centras Romuva
    • Funky Citizens
    • Kiinteistö Oy Kaapelitalo
  • AI to Counteract Hate Speech

    AI to Counteract Hate Speech

    Proposal: Using AI Tools to Counteract Hate Speech and Hate Crimes

    Implementation: 2025 to 2027

    Call: CERV-2024-CHAR-LITI – Promote civil society organisations’ awareness of, capacity building and implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

    Topic: CERV-2024-CHAR-LITI-SPEECH

    Type of Action: CERV-PJG – CERV Project Grants

    Proposed Budget: 610 244,50€

    Keywords: hate speech, disinformation, counteracting, protecting european values

    Objective: Given the growing scale of hate speech in public spaces, especially online, this project aims to comprehensively examine the phenomenon of hate speech in various socio-cultural contexts and develop a tool using generative artificial intelligence to identify and report hate speech in each language. The project focuses on the analysis of hate speech, development of innovative technological solutions, as well as social education in the field of recognizing and counteracting hate speech. The aim of the project is to strengthen the protection of EU values by providing an effective tool supporting the fight against hate speech, which will enable citizens to report cases of hate to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

    Partners:

    • Instytut Dyskursu I Dialogu
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Grupa Tipmedia Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia
    • Fondatsiya Savremenna Plevenska Mediya
    • Fundación Centro De Estudos Eurorrexiónais Galicia Norte De Portugal
    • Asociacion Consortium Local-Global Coglobal
    • Action For The Civil Society
    • Interaktion – Verein Für Ein Interkulturelles Zusammenleben
  • Decolonize

    Decolonize

    Proposal: Decolonize and deconstruct narratives by building an inclusive educational history

    Implementation: 2025 to 2027

    Call: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM – European Remembrance – 2024

    Topic: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM-HISTMIGRATION

    Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants

    Proposed Budget: 192 915,00€

    Keywords: Decolonization, Colonialism, Equality, Inter-cultural dialogue, Minorities, Migration, collection of testimonies, digital storytelling, raising awareness, uncovering the colonial narratives, historical roots of racism, anti-racist education; deconstruct narratives, inclusive society.

    Objective: This project addresses the historical silence surrounding colonial legacies in Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, with the aim to confront their influence in contemporary structural racism. As such, this project tackles the 3rd priority of the 2024 CERV call: Migration, decolonization and multicultural European societies, as it focuses on exploring the enduring effects of colonialism and decolonization processes.

    The collection of testimonies of first, second and third generation African immigrants amplifies the power of their voices and illustrates the impacts of decolonisation processes felt today. This entails the use of digital storytelling into a documentary to bring together the narratives of African immigrants across generations. Through this, the project promotes an inclusive understanding of colonial history, as the power of testimony is seen as a tool for raising awareness on the experiences of African immigrants in a culturally sensitive way. In this sense, the project aims to uncover the colonial narratives intertwined with the historical roots of racism, which fuel today’s inequalities and discrimination.

    At its core, the project promotes anti-racist education to deconstruct these narratives and contribute to a more inclusive society. Through transnational workshops and memory forums, it raises awareness and empowers various target groups (parent’s associations and school communities, high school students, civil society organisations, current teachers at the secondary level and university students who are pursuing their career in Teaching History) to challenge personal biases and advocate for anti-racism within their communities. In the case of the memory forums, there is an emphasis on a gender-based approach to further explore the specific experiences of women. In general, the project bridges the gap between past colonial narratives and present-day manifestations of racism, advocating for anti-racist education.

    Partners:

    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Universidade Do Minho
    • Multikulti Media 
    • Público-Comunicação Social Sa
    • Djass-Associação de Afrodescendentes
    • Eekhout Academy
    • Stichting Caat Projects
  • DeCol

    DeCol

    Proposal: DeCol – Decolonize and deconstruct narratives by building an inclusive educational history

    Implementation: 2025 to 2027

    Call: CERV-2025-CITIZENS-REM – European Remembrance – 2025

    Topic: CERV-2025-CITIZENS-REM-HISTMIGRATION

    Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants

    Proposed Budget: 256 365,00€

    Keywords: Decolonization, Colonialism, Equality, Inter-cultural dialogue, Minorities, Migration, collection of testimonies, digital storytelling, raising awareness, uncover the colonial narratives, historical roots of racism, anti-racist education, deconstruct narratives, inclusive society

    Objective: This project addresses the historical silence surrounding colonial legacies in Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, with the aim to confront their influence in contemporary structural racism. As such, this project tackles: Migration, decolonization and multicultural European societies, as it focuses on exploring the enduring effects of colonialism and decolonization processes.

    The collection of testimonies of first, second and third generation African immigrants amplifies the power of their voices and illustrates the impacts of decolonisation processes felt today. This entails the use of digital storytelling into a documentary to bring together the narratives of African immigrants across generations. Through this, the project promotes an inclusive understanding of colonial history, as the power of testimony is seen as a tool for raising awareness on the experiences of African immigrants in a culturally sensitive way. In this sense, the project aims to uncover the colonial narratives intertwined with the historical roots of racism, which fuel today’s inequalities and discrimination.

    At its core, the project promotes anti-racist education to deconstruct these narratives and contribute to a more inclusive society. Through transnational workshops and memory forums, it raises awareness and empowers various target groups (parent’s associations and school communities, students (18 to 25 years old), civil society organizations, current teachers at the secondary level and university students who are pursuing their career in Teaching History) to challenge personal biases and advocate for anti-racism within their communities. In the case of the memory forums, there is an emphasis on a gender-based approach to further explore the specific experiences of women. In general, the project bridges the gap between past colonial narratives and present-day manifestations of racism, advocating for anti-racist education.

    Partners:

    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Universidade Do Minho
    • Alda – Association Européenne Pour La Démocratie Locale
    • Multikulti Media
    • Público-Comunicação Social Sa
    • Djass-Associação De Afrodescendentes
    • Eekhout Academy
    • Stichting Caat Projects
    • Glouni – Global Development Uni
    • Intersectionality Lab – Research Center
  • Audience Development and Film Education

    Audience Development and Film Education

    Proposal: Strengthening Civic Responsibility and Engagement through European Network for Youth

    Implementation: 2025 to 2027

    Call: CREA-MEDIA-2025-AUDFILMEDU – Audience Development and Film Education

    Topic: CREA-MEDIA-2025-AUDFILMEDU

    Type of Action: CREA-PJG – CREA Project Grants

    Proposed Budget: 1 091 116,45€

    Keywords: Film Education, Film education, Civic participation, Youth engagement

    Objective: The project will try to redefine what it means to experience cinema. Many children, particularly in peripheral and marginalized areas, have never had the opportunity to watch a film in a cinema, or, in some cases, to view a film in its entirety. Reintegrating this experience is crucial to promote a more comprehensive and holistic development of young people’s skills. Engaging with film language promotes students’ awareness of media tools. By serving as an educational practice that encourages attention and reflection, it creates a shared space where personal experiences can be compared with the stories depicted on screen. Moreover, this process prompts critical reflection on European cultural identity and the students’ regions of origin. The general objective of the action is defined as promoting EU films among primary and middle school children, as a tool to reinforce their civic participation and their preparedness to discuss issues that affect the world around them. Therefore, the project not only will let younger audiences discover cinema (developing a passion for it and having the skill to see movies with a critical approach), but it will also make them better citizens, more aware and more engaged in the public discussion.

    Partners:

    • Ratatoj Aps
    • Im Cultural Institute
    • Beactive, Producoes Interactivas Sa
    • Espacio Rojo
    • Kauno Kino Centras Romuva
    • Roundstone Media Ltd
    • Universidad Complutense De Madrid
    • Università Degli Studi Di Torino
  • Citizen Journalism

    Citizen Journalism

    Proposal: Citizen journalistic empowerment and sustainable transformations

    Implementation: 2024 to 2026

    Call: CREA-CROSS-2024-MEDIALITERACY – NEWS – Media literacy

    Topic: CREA-CROSS-2024-MEDIALITERACY

    Type of Action: CREA-PJG – CREA Project Grants

    Proposed Budget: 640 983,50€

    Keywords: Training, Citizen Journalism, Sustainability, Media Literacy

    Objective: The project deals with the communication gap that exists in regional discourses and especially in social media regarding the challenges of sustainable transformations. Socio-ecological major challenges such as the climate crisis, digitalization, demographic change and others are accompanied by immense media interpretations and fake news orchestrated under the influence of algorithms, bots, and AI-generated content. They demand self-organized civic communication, especially from young change agents.

    The project activates the potential of citizen journalism in that part of civil society that productively promotes sustainable change in Europe by qualifying them to create their own media. The project’s overall objective is to empower citizens, particularly youth, to communicate sustainable transformations. Sub-goals include qualifying young individuals engaged in climate initiatives with communicative competences and media literacy skills, emphasizing citizen journalistic forms of communication. The project addresses the gap in knowledge-based regional communication, counteracts polarization, and aims to diversify content on platforms like Instagram, Youtube and TikTok. 

    By fostering citizen journalism, the project seeks to facilitate democratic, diverse, equal, and sustainable transformations in public discourse. The project aims to gradually expand in Europe, connect with similar projects and contribute to a global climate protection movement. To achieve these objectives it uses the transdisciplinary method of the real-world laboratory including: Regional focus groups involving young change agents, media and participatory journalism experts, a blended learning program with a transnational face-to-face encounter on media literacy and citizen journalism competences regarding climate crisis and socio-ecological cultural transformation, a digital european exchange platform lead by the young ambassadors and a media literacy handout for youth workers and media professionals.

    Partners:

    • Kolleg Für Management Und Gestaltung Nachhaltiger Entwicklung
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Glocal Factory Societa Cooperativa Sociale 
    • Athens Network Of Collaborating Experts Astiki Etairia
    • Predict Csd Consulting Srl
    • Hmkw – Hochschule Für Medien Kommunikation Und Wirtschaft
  • Combating, Countering Disinformation

    Combating, Countering Disinformation

    Proposal: Combating, countering disinformation and other forms of interference in the democracy

    Implementation: 2024 to 2026

    Call: CERV-2023-CITIZENS-CIV – Citizens’ engagement and participation – 2023

    Topic: CERV-2023-CITIZENS-CIV

    Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants

    Proposed Budget: 203 365,00€

    Keywords: Countering disinformation and other forms of interference in the democracy, Promoting democratic participation through debating the future of Europe, Other priority in line with the call objective to promote citizens engagement, Media literacy, Democracy, Inclusion, Europe in a changing world, Civil society, Vulnerable groups, Human rights, Cross-sector cooperation, Citizen engagement

    Objective: The EU recognizes the vital role of enhancing media literacy to combat disinformation, safeguard democratic values, and empower citizens to discern credible sources from false ones, with various policies and initiatives implemented in Member States in recent years. Nonetheless, the heart of media literacy approaches lies in devising inclusive communication strategies while concurrently safeguarding the tenets of freedom of speech. Seeking a delicate balance between fighting disinformation and preserving the fundamental rights of all citizens, including vulnerable groups, to express their views and opinions is our major challenge when it comes to counter disinformation and other malign influences. 

    This project intends to intervene in this sphere to empower European communities, promoting inclusive educational strategies that target and engage vulnerable and diverse age groups, reducing the risk of disinformation targeting marginalized populations. The activities are based on tailored approaches, digital educational tools, lifelong learning and cross-sectoral cooperation, and will focus on engaging citizens, especially the most vulnerable, in order to create a more informed and resilient society, safeguarding democratic values and ensuring that all citizens can actively participate in the digital era safeguarding their rights. 

    Partners:

    • Federazione Italiana Diritti Umani Comitato Italia
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Fondatsia Za Predpriemachestvo, Kultura I Obrazovanie
    • Medardo Coboto Treciojo Amziaus Universitetas
    • Asociación De Emisoras Municipales Y Comunitaria
    • Idryma Ergodotisis Ekpedefsis Neoleas (IEEN)
    • Tasc Europe Studies
    • Lab Futura
  • Roma Women to Combat Antigypsyism

    Roma Women to Combat Antigypsyism

    Proposal: Intergenerational solidarity of Roma women to combat antigypsyism in Europe

    Implementation: 2024 to 2026

    Call: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM – European Remembrance – 2024

    Topic: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM-HOLOCAUST

    Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants

    Proposed Budget: 163 280,00€

    Keywords: Roma, Roma women, intergenerational solidarity, remembrance

    Objective: The project aims to revive the memories of Roma women, amplifying their voices and experiences for younger generations, particularly Roma girls. The main objective is to foster intergenerational solidarity and democracy in the EU. The project outlines three specific objectives, Recover and illustrate the significance of Roma women’s narratives in promoting intergenerational solidarity through Dialogic Literary and Artistic Gatherings; Establish a Solidarity Network of Intergenerational Roma Women to remembrance the Holocaust, genocide, and war crimes through; Develop training materials that can be scaled-up, thus enhancing transnational impact.

    Partners:

    • Asociación Gitana De Mujeres Drom Kotar Mestipen De Barcelona
    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Tsentar Za Mezhduetnicheski Dialog I Tolerantnost Amalipe
    • Universitat De Barcelona
  • Media Literacy in Social Media

    Media Literacy in Social Media

    Proposal: The project aims at introducing young people and youth workers to the media’s operation.

    Implementation: 2024 to 2026

    Call: Erasmus+ Programme

    Topic: Call 2023

    Type of Action: Small-scale partnerships in youth (KA210-YOU)

    Proposed Budget: 60 000,00€

    Keywords: Media literacy and tackling disinformation, Digital safety and data protection, Inclusion, promoting equality and non-discrimination

    Objective: The project aims at introducing young people and youth workers to the media’s operation in general and, in particular, the transfer of media strategies into the social media universe. In the context of digital expression, where freedom of posting, sharing facts and opinions that become reliable sources of information, is ubiquitous, developing media literacy has become an imperative to navigating social media. 

    Propaganda, disinformation, and misinformation are forms of distributing and manipulating information, hard to recognize in a lack of education. Moreover, understanding media construction, from the writer’s intention to the reader’s own investment in the message, is essential in everyday media consumption. By training young people to access, analyse, evaluate, create, and act within media and social media, the project links with the Addressing digital transformation through development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity priority.

    96% of young people aged 16-29 years in the EU use the internet every day, compared with 84% of the adult population. (Eurostat, 2023)

    When 60% of worldwide young users aged 18-24 years use social media as a source of news and finding information is the primary reason why they use the internet (58.6% for 16 to 24 years old), the focus is to work with youth. (Kemp, 2023) 

    On the other hand, with two-thirds of children and young people aged 25 years or less not having internet access at home, the attention is drawn to vulnerable groups. (UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union, 2020).

    In this way, the Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, training, youth and sports priority is addressed. 

    Obj1: To build the media literacy of young people and youth workers, and improve competences like critical thinking, problem-solving, the capacity to find, select, access, decode, and interpret information and knowledge on the internet, the readiness to respond pragmatically and intuitively to challenges and opportunities in a manner that exploits the internet’s potential.

    Obj2: To ENGAGE, CONNECT and EMPOWER young people to take charge of their lives and face challenges such as fake news and propaganda. With one face-to-face training event, an online crash course, and workshops, the project offers learning opportunities, motivates the participants to take action and helps them to prepare for active participation in the online scenario.

    Obj3: To network, share good practices, and build capacity within and beyond the local level of each partner organization, enabling transformation and change, leading to improvements, in proportion to the context of each organization. By cooperating transnationally the partner organizations will increase their capacity to operate at the international level, enrich educational resources and non-formal methods to better target vulnerable groups who face social, economic, or geographic obstacles, and prioritize digital inclusion in local activities.

    Partners:

    • IM Cultural Institute
    • Federazione Italiana Diritti Umani-Comitato Italiano Helsinki Ente Del Terzo Settore
    • Autonómia Alapítvány