About

THE EUROPE CHALLENGE

Helping libraries and communities to explore how citizens can meet, live, and work in the Europe of today

THE EUROPE CHALLENGE brings libraries and communities together to define their most pressing challenges, and supports them to find ways to tackle those challenges. By doing so, communities can:

  • Connect citizens with each other and to the places where they live

  • Celebrate and invest in local leadership and creativity

  • Find new ways to tackle social challenges

  • Share solutions to benefit people everywhere in Europe

THE CHALLENGE

Europe today faces great challenges: How can Europe respond to social, economic and climate crises, especially as it rebuilds after the arrival of the pandemic? If we are to answer these and other questions, Europe’s citizens must lead the response. While solutions will be local, they will often work for communities everywhere.


PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Wherever you are in Europe, libraries play the same vital roles. Open to everyone, they are centres of learning, places to meet, spaces for reflection, at the heart of communities. No other institution is so local, yet so universally welcoming and recognisable to us all.

The EUROPE CHALLENGE recognises that libraries have a unique role in helping communities to meet the challenges of where we live, challenges that are common across Europe.

INITIAL LIBRARIES

In 2021, The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) established the pilot of the EUROPE CHALLENGE, with the full first edition set to start in 2022.

In the pilot year, 2021, ECF in partnership with Amsterdam Public Libraries (OBA), Public Libraries 2030 and Democratic Society invited seven libraries to work with their citizens and communities.

The libraries participating in the 2021 Europe Challenge are the Amsterdam Public Libraries OBA (NL), DOKK1 Aarhus Public Library (DK), Central and Regional Library Berlin (DE), De Krook Ghent (B), Kranj City Library (SLO) Tordi Rubio i Balaguer Library (Sant Boi, ES) and Valmiera Public Library (LV).

MEETING THE CHALLENGE

Participating libraries and communities identified their challenge, responding to the question: How do we contribute to the building of public spaces and engage in democratic conversations? Challenges included:

  • Active citizenship

  • Access to knowledge & digital transition

  • Public health & technology

  • Inclusion & equal rights

  • Environmental sustainability of urban areas

  • Women & technology

  • Democratisation of our public space

With seed funding and support from the EUROPE CHALLENGE, each library and its communities co-designed their own prototypes to respond to their challenges.

EUROPE CHALLENGE AWARD

On Europe Day, 9 May 2022, all participants will be presented as part of the Europe Challenge Awards, where they will showcase prototypes to peers across Europe and potential funders – and attract support to implement their ideas at scale.

INVITING PARTNERS & FUNDERS FOR 2022 & BEYOND

From May 2022, the EUROPE CHALLENGE will follow a recurring annual cycle, starting with an open call, and concluding with the Europe Challenge Award on the 9th of May of the following year. Communities & libraries taking part will benefit from:

  • A scalable model of support, providing financial, methodological and communications assistance to communities that wish to take part.

  • The 2022 round will be open to at least 30 communities and libraries, and will conclude on Europe Day, May, 2023.

ECF welcomes interested funders and partners to join us in supporting the EUROPE CHALLENGE to grow its scale and impact across Europe. To find out more email:

Olga Alexeeva (Project Manager) at oalexeeva@culturalfoundation.eu

Nicola Mullenger (Project Manager) at nmullenger@culturalfoundation.eu

or

Vivian Paulissen (Head of Programmes) at vpaulissen@culturalfoundation.eu