“Renaissance Clusters” is a grant program of the UCORD project aimed at supporting cultural initiatives to stimulate regional development. The program is implemented within the framework of the “Social Cohesion through Culture” priority of the UCORD project and is aimed at supporting project partnerships in the six pilot regions of the project. Its main goal is to create cultural and cultural-tourism clusters that will demonstrate the contribution of culture to regional development. Through these clusters, the program seeks to support the development of sustainable partnerships that create added value for the local economy, improve human capital development and strengthen social cohesion.
The total budget for this call is 1,500,000 Swiss Francs (CHF). Projects will receive a minimum grant of 80,000 CHF and a maximum of 250,000 CHF. A minimum of one and a maximum of three projects will be funded in each partner region.
Supported activities under this call for proposals will cover one or more sectors of the cultural and creative industries and demonstrate relevance to socio-economic development.
A sustainable cluster must be established in each partner region by August 2026, continuously generating added value for local economic development, human capital development and strengthening social cohesion through cultural and/or cultural tourism potential.
Initiatives under the programme are implemented by civil society organisations registered in any region of Ukraine, provided they have a proven track record of successfully delivering projects in the regions where the proposed grant-funded partnership will be carried out. Implementation partners of the civil society organisation include local self-government bodies of territorial communities from the pilot regions, as well as other partners from the pilot regions or from neighbouring communities in other regions.
Grant Selection Process
- The “Renaissance Clusters” Grant Competition was announced on 18 November 2024.
- The call for concept notes remained open until 22 December 2024, during which a total of 46 project ideas were submitted.
- On 29 January 2025, the Selection Committee shortlisted 23 applications to advance to the next stage of the evaluation process. The shortlisted applicants were invited to submit full proposals by 10 March 2025.
Both stages of the selection process were evaluated by an independent Selection Committee composed of international and Ukrainian experts, with a series of interviews conducted with the shortlisted finalists as part of the final assessment, following which a final list of eight initiatives that achieved the highest scores was approved.
Selection Winners
On 16 May 2025, during the event “From Idea to Impact: Launch of the Renaissance Clusters Grant Programme Implementation,” the UCORD project announced the winners who received the highest scores.
The winners are:
- NGO Misto.Perezavantazhennia with the project “Polissia. Reloaded: Creating an Economic Community” (Volyn Region)
- NGO Society of Germans of Khmelnychchyna with the project “Creative Hub ‘Podilska Manufaktura’” (Khmelnytskyi Region)
- NGO Export Alliance “Ukrainian Wedding Dresses” with the project “Through the History of Wedding Fashion” (Khmelnytskyi Region)
- NGO Agency “Creative Sumy Region” with the project “Creative Sumy Region Cluster” (Sumy Region)
- NGO Center for Initiative Development “InSource” with the project “Vista of the Zbruch. Heritage of the Old Border” (Ternopil Region)
- NGO Youth Organization “Youth – Future of Ukraine” with the project “Warm Podillia. New Cultural Routes” (Ternopil Region)
- NGO Regional Development Agency of the Tavriya United Territorial Communities Association with the project “Craft Renaissance: A Cluster-Based Approach to the Economic Development of Rural Areas of Vinnytsia Region through Innovation, Cultural Heritage, and Tourism” (Vinnytsia Region)
- NGO ODESA WOW with the project “Tourism and Creative Cluster ‘Chumatskyi Shliakh’” (Odesa Region)
Ahead lies the signing of grant agreements and the launch of the implementation of the supported initiatives, which will run for a duration of 12 to 18 months.
The “Renaissance Clusters” Grant Programme is part of the Swiss-Ukrainian project “Ukraine’s Cohesion and Regional Development of Ukraine,” which is implemented with the support of Switzerland via the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation by NIRAS Sweden AB.
