Culture Exchange – Culture Promotion – Education Promotion

The Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa) devises and organises exhibitions of German contemporary art which are shown in foreign museums and galleries. The range of exhibitions in the ifa Galleries in Stuttgart and Berlin is focussing the 20th and 21st centuries. It comprehends the areas:

Fine Arts

Photography / Film

 Architecture 

Design

In line with the funding programme Artists' Contacts the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations supports working visits in and travel to Germany for contemporary artists from developing countries and countries in transition. German artists are also to be offered travel subsidies enabling them to make contacts in developing countries and countries in transition.

The Alexander Rave Foundation in the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations aims to promote further education and research in the fields of science, the arts and culture. The Rave Scholarships are awarded twice a year to curators, restorers, museum technicians and culture managers from countries in transition and developing countries allowing a training, a placement or a voluntary cooperation at a German non-commercial institution.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) makes a contribution to Culture Exchange and Education Promotion with the allocation of sponsor programmes for scientists from abroad.

The Georg Forster Research Fellowship is addressed to postdoctoral researchers and experienced researchers of all disciplines from developing and threshold countries.

The Reimar Lüst Award is granted to humanities scholars and social scientists from abroad who, as multipliers in and through the field of academic studies, have made an exceptional contribution to the enduring promotion of bilateral relations between Germany and their own countries.

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) promotes musicians and artists with special funding programmes.

The DAAD Higher Education Cooperation Programmes for developing countries offers stipends for experts and management in the areas administration, industry, and education as well as cooperation with institutions of higher education to expand the spectrum of teaching and research.

With the programme German-Arab/Iranian Higher Education Dialogue the DAAD supports higher education partnership projects focusing the cultural dialogue with the Islamic world. Fundable are dialogue-oriented partnership projects between German institutions of higher education and its partners in Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa and Iran in all disciplines.

The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) combines since January 2011 the missions and competences of the German Development Service (DED), the German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the InWEnt – Capacity Building International; most of it’s activities are commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

GIZ operates in more than 130 countries worldwide and employs approximately 17,000 staff members worldwide, more than 60 % of whom are local personnel. In it’s work it takes account of political, economic, social and ecological dimensions as it supports it’s partners at local, regional, national and international level in negotiating solutions in the broader social context. 

With its Culture and Development initiative, the Goethe Institute employs specific consulting and training programmes to promote institutions and stakeholders from culture, the media and society, in particular in countries involved in development cooperation. The programmes aim to provide professional qualifications, to advise and support the formation of regional networks and create cultural and social platforms. Under the heading of The Arts it offers different projects in the field of Culture Exchange and Culture Promotion.