Two women are standing opposite each other at a table with electronic musical equipment, in front of a colourfully illuminated background.
Close-up of the hands of a man wearing a traditional Swiss shirt and playing an accordion.

Annual report 2024


Preface

We have tried to align our future programme as best possible to the central requirements and needs of the cultural sector. Now we need to do our utmost to achieve the set targets in a challenging social environment.

Michael Brändle, President of the Board of Trustees

The role of cultural promotion is subject to constant change. For Pro Helvetia, this means continuously testing opportunities and varieties regarding national and international cultural support, remaining open for new topics and building new partnerships.

Philippe Bischof, Director
Two men are sitting at a table in daylight and looking at the camera.
Philippe Bischof, Director (left) and Michael Brändle, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (right) © Keystone/Gaëtan Bally
Two women are laughing while riding a red double swing in a bright room with large windows and brick walls.
A performance outside at dusk. Four people are kneeling on one knee on a lawn in a circle. Above their heads hangs a circular light installation with light bulbs. In the background, several people are passing by and watching.
A person is standing in dim, bluish light in front of a microphone. They have their eyes closed and their forearms bent. In the background, several people in spherical costumes made of light fur. Above, in glowing, curved letters, it says "woerdz".
Four people are dancing in a room with dim, red shimmering spotlight and rising fog. They have their hands stretched out to the sides and their feet crossed in the air.
An art installation in a bright room with white walls and a beige woven screen. On the floor are narrow, long fabric elements with blue ends that resemble hooves.
Two people are standing in the dark in front of a light installation showing illuminated pedestrian signals in red and green. One person is seen from behind, the light shimmering through their hair, the other person is seen from the side, speaking towards the other.
A man in a suit and straw hat is standing in dim light between two large amplifiers and playing the trumpet. In front of him, two men with patterned hats, one holding a sitar.
On a colorful patterned mat lies a black-and-white photo book with spiral binding. Only the hand of a person is visible, turning a page of the book.
In a room with large windows and brick walls, a woman with red-dyed hair, a backward-facing cap, and a long white lace dress with puffed sleeves is balancing on a hoverboard.
An art installation outside in front of a brick wall. In the center, a cut tree stump on which the statue of a naked person holding a cloak in a proud pose stands. On the ground are several broken, antique-looking columns.
Photo of a woman in a cardigan and knee-length black skirt, standing in front of a factory building with the inscription "Antimatter Factory" and looking into the distance. On her shoulder, she holds a bird robot with realistic-looking wings and a long tail made of blue hair.
Art installation in a factory building in daylight. The installation with flexible light tubes shows a moving person. The light is reflected in the puddles on the floor.

Evaluation

Pro Helvetia regularly carries out evaluations of important commitments and measures. In 2024, the Arts Council assessed its focus on ‘Art, Science and Technology’ (Cultural Message 2021–2024), which concluded at the end of the year, and commissioned a benchmark study on Switzerland’s game design industry.

Focus on ‘Art, Science and Technology’

Supporting the Swiss game design industry: a benchmark study

Pro Helvetia’s commitment to improving its carbon footprint

A performance in the dark under white spotlight. The performing person has short-cropped hair, is dressed in black, and is crouching close to the audience, their face not visible. The people in the audience are holding their smartphones up in their hands.
Side close-up of a woman with red-dyed hair and a glittering blazer. She is singing with closed eyes into a microphone while playing the double bass.
A woman is holding an open book in her hand and showing it to the audience, which is blurred in the background. They are sitting on magenta-colored benches in a large hall.

Organisation

The Board of Trustees, chaired by Michael Brändle from January 2024, is responsible for the Swiss Arts Council’s strategy and governance. The head office, under Director Philippe Bischof, and its 118 staff in Switzerland and abroad ensure that the foundation’s activities and objectives are pursued and implemented efficiently and effectively. Pro Helvetia is able to rely on the advice of its committee of experts, as well as numerous juries and independent experts.

Board of Trustees

Head office

Committee of experts

Juries

External experts

organisational chart
Several people are wearing VR headsets and moving around outside in an open space.
Close-up of a man's face with a blue knitted hood, wearing sunglasses with a wide white frame.
Several people are standing in the dark under warm spotlight on an open-air stage. They are standing in a row and holding each other by the shoulders. In the background, the audience is applauding, consisting of several hundred people.

Preface by Michael Brändle, President of the Board of Trustees

For 85 years, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia has played a crucial role in strengthening creation processes in the Swiss contemporary arts scene, promoting the international visibility of Swiss arts and fostering cultural exchange between Switzerland’s various regions. Operating at the interface of public funding and artistic creation, the Swiss Arts Council is committed to promoting the extraordinary creative diversity in Switzerland and to enhancing its international reach.

2024 was a year of closure. The key measures resulting from the Federal Government’s Cultural Message for 2021–2024 were brought to an end and evaluated. Many of them remain integrated in Pro Helvetia’s regular support structures for the coming year. This shows that the foundation stands for continuity as well as innovation.

2024 was also a year of beginnings. With the adoption of the Cultural Message 2025–2028 and the associated strategic goals, the Federal Council has laid down the guidelines for the country’s cultural policy at federal level and content-related cornerstones for Pro Helvetia’s activities in the coming four years. We have tried to align our future programme as best possible to the central requirements and needs of the cultural sector. Now we need to do our utmost to achieve the set targets in a challenging social environment.

2024 was, moreover, a year of challenges. Ongoing crises, global conflicts, and constraints on public finances have led to heightened uncertainty regarding the future outlook. The cuts in the 2025 Federal budget made at the end of 2024 have a direct impact on Pro Helvetia and will, unfortunately, have repercussions for Switzerland’s cultural practitioners and institutions.

Finally, 2024 was also my first year as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. It is a great honour for me to hold this position and, together with the other Board members, to guide and support Pro Helvetia in its outstanding work.

At this point, I would like to thank all those who, day in, day out, are engaged in enabling Pro Helvetia to accomplish its mission. This includes primarily the staff in Switzerland and at the offices abroad, but also the committee of experts, the juries, and the external experts, who, with their commitment and highly professional work, help assure the quality and impartiality of our activities.

Pro Helvetia will continue to pursue its national and international activities on behalf of Swiss culture with great determination. After all, cultural exchange and dissemination, as well as the promotion of cultural diversity in Switzerland and abroad remain indispensable from a democratic point of view.


Preface by Philippe Bischof, Director

It is often said that art gives people a glimpse or sense of things to come, a kind of preview or premonition of what is awaiting them. Creating art is therefore always associated with a risk of failure, and a high level of personal effort. The impact of a work of art and its success are often only recognisable a long time after its creation. In this context, it is essential, especially in times of polarisation, geopolitical turbulences, and economic uncertainty, that cultural promotion be based on trust, openness and curiosity. Faced with this, for Pro Helvetia, it is crucial to uphold the conviction that culture can contribute to a better future.

But, as we all know, planning for the future is difficult. We are obliged to prepare as best possible for future eventualities and at the same time pursue our set targets, which means we need to be clear in our focus and agile in our methods. In this context, last year’s conclusion of the discussions leading to the government’s Cultural Message 2025–2028 represents an important milestone for cultural promotion in Switzerland in the coming years. In terms of content, we are satisfied with the Cultural Message 2025–2028, to which we were able to make a significant contribution. We are convinced that it identifies key issues in our society and that these can be addressed through various forms of collaboration. Pro Helvetia has developed measures that we believe are appropriate for providing artists and cultural institutions with relevant support. In view of parliament’s reduction of the 2025 budget by 1.5 million Swiss francs, however, it will be unavoidable for us to abandon certain support measures and to prioritise even more strictly.

The Cultural Message 2025–2028 defines the main cultural policy goals, which include improving the income of cultural practitioners and creating more secure working conditions. It paves the way for better support in all phases of artistic production, defines the cornerstones of environment-friendly cultural practice and promotes decentralised structures.

All the approaches and measures we have developed are based on our determination to fulfil our mandate as responsibly as possible in view of the high rate of transformation and the prevalent social uncertainty. In such circumstances, the role of cultural promotion is subject to constant change. For Pro Helvetia, this means continuously testing opportunities and varieties regarding national and international cultural support, remaining open for new topics and building new partnerships.

In this preface, I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the foundation, in particular its staff, and to the numerous other colleagues in the national and international world of cultural promotion with whom I have had the pleasure of working since the end of 2017. As Director of Pro Helvetia – until the end of June 2025 – it has been a great honour and a very enriching experience for me to contribute to the national and international promotion of independent artistic creation and cultural exchange across state borders and across borders between various artistic disciplines. I am taking leave confident that the unique concept of a publicly funded, autonomous cultural promotion institution that enables artistic interaction between Switzerland and the world will, in the spirit of democratic freedom, diversity and independence, continue to prove successful.

With its support for creation, Pro Helvetia makes an important contribution to the diversity and high quality of artistic productions in the fields of performing arts, design, literature, music, visual arts and art+.

In the field of literature, 25 creation grants for literary projects were awarded in 2024. Among the recipients was Alice Bottarelli from the canton of Vaud for her postapocalyptic novel ‘Donutopia’, which presents a counterintuitively positive vision of the future.

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Within the context of the newly launched music promotion programme ‘Feat.‘, Zurich-based musician Xavier Stone, in collaboration with British producer Lorraine James, spent a week in a London studio creating a new EP.

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In the visual arts, Davide-Christelle Sanvee received a grant for her performative installation ‘Die Reste’, which explores the past and the future of industrial history. It was first presented at the Klöntal Triennale.

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Pro Helvetia promotes artistic and cultural exchange between the different regions of Switzerland. The exhibitions, theatre and dance performances, festivals, concerts, translations, and folk culture events supported by the Arts Council generate connections between various cultural and social groups.

The programme of the international and contemporary scene festival ‘FIT Festival Internazionale del Teatro e della scena contemporanea‘ in Lugano featured a broad range of performance productions from all linguistic regions of Switzerland as well as opportunities for exchange at public events and discussion panels with artists.

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At the Design Days in Lausanne, designers from Switzerland presented their work, built networks within the scene and forged contacts with Swiss companies in a matchmaking event.

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Support also went to the group exhibition ‘La scia del monte ou les utopistes magnétiques‘ at the Museum of Fine Arts Le Locle (MBAL), which offered an artistic take on the historic movement centred at Monte Verità in Ascona and brought together arts practitioners from Switzerland and Italy.

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At the folk culture festival ‘Volkskulturfest OBWALD‘, musicians from Switzerland and guest country Finland thrilled audiences with the results of their productive collaboration. Further folk culture projects received support through Pro Helvetia’s folk culture fund.

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Pro Helvetia supports emerging artists in their efforts to gain a foothold in the professional national and international arts scenes, in collaboration with matching partner institutions. The Arts Council offers residency and coaching programmes, support for promotional measures, and contributions towards public presentations.

In 2024, the ‘Sofalesungen‘ (sofa readings) supported by Pro Helvetia comprised over 60 events in the German and French speaking parts of Switzerland, offering a stage for emerging authors in the genres of fiction, comics, spoken word and drama.

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Pro Helvetia also initiated ‘Push It‘, a support format for music labels and management structures that assist aspiring young musicians from Switzerland in their artistic development and their promotional activities. Grant recipients included musician Sami Galbi and the Geneva-based music label ‘Les Disques Bongo Joe’.

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In the visual arts, a partnership with the WIELS residency in Brussels was launched to give emerging artists from Switzerland an opportunity to partake in the vibrant artistic and cultural life of the Belgian capital and to forge valuable contacts.

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Pro Helvetia is attuned to important developments in the contemporary arts and culture scene and supports projects that provide fresh impetus to culture in Switzerland.

The programme ‘Creative Climate Leadership‘, initiated together with the Mercator Foundation Switzerland and conducted with Julie’s Bicycle in partnership with Vert le Futur, attracted arts and cultural practitioners from all over Switzerland. They jointly explored the question of what role culture and the arts can play in the field of climate protection.

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In the pilot edition of the support format ‘Fast Forward‘ (2023–2025), five mid-career musicians from Switzerland were chosen to be supported with regards to their artistic and strategic development and the improvement of their promotion, marketing and management skillset.

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The new format ‘Perform!‘ supports visual artists in professionalising their practice specifically regarding the production and distribution of performative art. The collective ‘nSchuppel’ led by Vanessà Heer, for example, received a grant for the development and production of a stage piece that casts new light on Swiss customs and traditions.

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Pro Helvetia supports art outreach projects that are exemplary and encourage the public to engage critically with the arts and culture.

The programme ‘Embedded Perspectives‘ provided support for eleven projects that seek new and creative ways of facilitating access to arts and culture and promoting exchange between audiences and the arts world.

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The project ‘u n ~ t e a c h a b l e’, for instance, takes a critical look at how knowledge is transmitted and transformed in our society. The collective Wages For Wages Against received a grant for its publication project ‘Accessibilité dans le domaine des arts visuels’, which provides specific recommendations for non-institutional art spaces and art productions regarding accessibility.

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Pro Helvetia promotes the dissemination of works by arts and cultural practitioners from Switzerland who are invited by important institutions, event organisers or festivals abroad. Grants for this purpose are awarded for theatre and dance productions, concert and reading tours, exhibitions and translations.

For example, support went to the online platform ‘New Books in German‘, which introduces selected new publications in German to English-speaking specialist audiences, and promotes the distribution and translation of these books into English.

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Five performing arts productions from Switzerland received a grant in connection with their participation at the international Fierce Festival in Birmingham, which featured a special focus on Switzerland.

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Pro Helvetia also provided funding for ‘Monte di Pietà‘, an exhibition by Christoph Büchel at the Fondazione Prada, a former pawn shop in Venice that is now used by a private art foundation. The installation explores the concept of indebtedness through numerous historic, cultural and economic references.

With a broad range of promotional measures, Pro Helvetia contributes to keeping arts and culture from Switzerland on the radar of international event organisers.

Stagings by performing artists from Switzerland were supported in connection with the Swiss focus at Les SUBS in Lyon. Together with the Centre culturel suisse (CCS), Pro Helvetia also organised a networking event with the aim of connecting contemporary Swiss circus, dance and theatre practitioners with international event managers.

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Within the framework of the well-established ‘Goldschmidt’ programme for emerging translators, Pro Helvetia co-organised the pilot edition of ‘Goldschmidt+‘ in 2024, which offers young translators opportunities to improve their self-presentation skills and to build a professional network.

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Support on behalf of Pro Helvetia enabled five musicians from Switzerland to take part in the Month of Contemporary Music festival in Berlin. Through the festival’s networking programme, participants were also able to forge important contacts with music organisations and event managers.

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Pro Helvetia supports swiss participation or programmes with a special focus on Switzerland at numerous internationally renowned art fairs, biennials and events.

For example, Pro Helvetia has supported seven performing arts groups from the German- and French-speaking parts of Switzerland in presenting their work at the festival ‘Cratère Surfaces‘ in Alès (France), a significant platform for street theatre. In its 2024 edition, the festival placed a special spotlight on contemporary productions from Switzerland.

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In collaboration with Pro Helvetia, nine publishers from three different Swiss linguistic regions travelled to Southern France for the ‘Shoot the Book!‘ pitching at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where Switzerland was the country of honour at the ‘Marché du Film’. The aim was to pitch for film adaptations of Swiss books and to strengthen ties between the Swiss literary scene and the international film industry.

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Several Swiss musicians and composers received grants to take part at the November Music Festival in the Netherlands, which ran a special focus on Switzerland. Three formations, Julie Campiche Quartett, Lucia Cadotsch, and Oxeon, performed their works in the field of jazz, while Cathy van Eck and Oscar Bianchi presented their compositions in the contemporary music genre.

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Pro Helvetia promotes international cultural exchange through residencies, knowledge exchange and cooperation projects, which enable arts and cultural practitioners from Switzerland to expand their networks, become acquainted with new cultural contexts, and broaden their professional experience.

For the 2024 Swiss Dance Days, Pro Helvetia invited a delegation of event organisers from the regions covered by its offices abroad. Other than joint visits to a series of events, the two-day programme in Geneva and Lausanne enabled the participants to familiarise themselves with the local dance scene and to exchange knowledge and experiences with its representatives.

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Pro Helvetia’s Literature division and Pro Helvetia New Delhi launched a support format called ‘Illustration masterclass‘. It allows children’s book illustrators from Switzerland to repeatedly engage in exchange with young illustrators from around the world and to build ties with international experts in India.

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Pro Helvetia also keeps an eye open for new networks, regions and markets that offer potential for more intensive exchange or greater presence of arts and culture from Switzerland. The main focus is on building and cultivating partnerships with regional event organisers.

The networking programme ‘Next Level’ enabled selected performing artists and event organisers to forge international ties and initiate new collaboration projects. The programme was launched by Pro Helvetia and German-language partner institutions in 2022 and supports the creation and promotion of theatre and dance productions aimed at young audiences.

In collaboration with Pro Helvetia Shanghai, a Swiss delegation of game designers was invited to take part in the gaming industry’s WePlay Expo in China. Three studios from Switzerland — Kipwak Studio, Memento Games, Altab – and the Chinese Nerve Singer Studio were introduced to other Chinese and Swiss studios as well as publishers and investors and were provided the opportunity to get to know the local gaming sector.

Support from Pro Helvetia also allowed architectures from Switzerland to participate in the Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2024 in Estonia, where they presented their work that explores architecture of the future and the resources at its disposal.

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With the support of Pro Helvetia Johannesburg, fashion designer Rafael Kouto undertook a residency in Ghana and Nigeria in 2024. His stay enabled him to deepen his research and practice regarding sustainability, upcycling and decolonisation in the field of fashion.

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Six comics artists and members of the Swiss collective ‘La Bûche’ travelled to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo for a residency at the Ateliers SAHM, where they worked on a project on sorority together with five African artists. The outcome of the project will be presented in Switzerland in 2025.

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Pro Helvetia Cairo facilitated the participation of Swiss artists at several festivals in the Arab region in 2024. Jazz musician Lorenzo de Finti and his band, for example, were invited to the Cairo Jazz Festival, an important platform for contemporary jazz.

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Swiss author Elisa Shua Dusapin undertook a research trip to Jordan, also with the support of Pro Helvetia Cairo. The stay gave her access to a new cultural context and paved the way for her work on a new novel.

Pro Helvetia New Delhi enabled artists Paloma Ayala from Zurich and Monika Emmanuelle Kazi from Geneva to participate in the 2024 Karachi Biennale, a major festival for contemporary art in Pakistan. The thematic focus was on access to resources and on food production and distribution.

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Also, with the support of Pro Helvetia New Delhi, Swiss game studios took part in a masterclass programme entitled ‘Cultural Identity and Play’ in New Delhi conducted by Swiss game designer Chris Solarski, where they exchanged ideas and experiences with game designers from around the world and expanded their professional network.

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With the support of Pro Helvetia Shanghai, the first edition of the long-term research project ‘Post Carbon‘, which deals with the challenges of climate change, was realised in 2024. It brought arts and design practitioners and scientists from Switzerland and China together for lectures, workshops, and expeditions to various Chinese cities.

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Pro Helvetia Shanghai was also instrumental in enabling six Swiss music groups to take part in A Bunch of Noise, a festival for experimental music in Shanghai. Live performances meant direct interaction with audiences, while workshops encouraged knowledge exchange among participants. After the festival, the four music groups from Switzerland went on a performance tour through China.

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With the support of PRO HELVETIA SOUTH AMERICA, the Swiss duo Richon-Bender took part in ‘Sonandes’, a platform for contemporary music in Bolivia, with a contribution to the ‘Esculturas Sonoras de los Alpes a los Andes’ programme focusing on sound sculptures. The collaboratively created pieces were performed at the 10th edition of Sonandes.

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Pro Helvetia South America also supported a research trip through several South American countries by Swiss biohacker and digital art expert Marc Dusseiller.

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The Centre culturel suisse (CCS) in Paris was closed in 2024 due to construction work. Since September 2022, it has been active in various French cities with its multidisciplinary programme ‘CCS on Tour‘, presenting art productions from Switzerland in collaboration with partner institutions.

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In May 2024, the CCS was present in Metz, where it participated in the Passages Transfestival and developed joint programmes with Perspectives, a Franco-German performing arts festival from Saarbrücken, and the international digital art festival Constellations.

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In June, the CCS took part in the 20th edition of the literature festival ‘Le Marathon des mots in Toulouse’, which featured a special programme on the present and future of literary creation in Switzerland.

In autumn 2024, the CCS returned to a number of stages in Paris, inviting, for example, artists from Switzerland to present their work at ‘Performissima‘, a new festival for performance art.

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