Diversity and Equality

The term diversity highlights the recognition of commonalities and differences between people. The focus is on historically developed differentiations within society that have led to social inequality and which relate to various different dimensions, such as origin, gender, age, language, social position, way of life, religious, ideological, or political convictions, or because of a physical, mental or psychological disability (see the Swiss Federal Constitution, Art. 8).

Equality means equal participation and involvement in cultural, political, economic and social life irrespective of one’s gender, origin or other social differences. Equitable access means that everyone has the same initial opportunities and that everyone has an equal chance of taking advantage of them. Equality-focused work therefore prioritises the dismantling of structural barriers and discrimination.

Diversity processes are approaches to long-term transformations of institutions and organisations with regard to diversity. The goal of diversity processes is to dismantle structural discrimination and the barriers that resulted from it. In the cultural sector, the focus lies on the long-term diversification of the three Ps:

• Personnel (Who is working in the cultural sector?)
• Programmes (What’s on offer? Who is being supported?)
• Public (What audiences have access to the offerings?)

In this context, Pro Helvetia primarily supports the collaboration between diversity experts and cultural organisations who support their diversity processes and advise them in the development of targets and measures.

For support for artistic projects, you can apply through the funding programmes of Pro Helvetia’s disciplines. In the context of process support and knowledge transfer in the area of diversity and equality, we exclusively support structural changes in cultural institutions and organisations.

Applications from event-organising institutions that are planning a music festival are accepted by the Music division. If you wish to organise a discourse-focused event (e.g. workshop, talk series) with musicians and diversity experts on structural exclusion in the music industry, you can apply to the «Diversity and equality event and/or tools» funding programme.

Diversity experts are not eligible to apply. A cultural institution or organisation must nominate you as a diversity expert in the context of their application. If you have actively supported diversity processes in the cultural sector for at least two years, you can be added to our list of coaches. The list is updated once a year. If interested, please contact us.

In the context of diversity and equality, contributions to specific awareness-raising initiatives related to diversity issues are not considered. Furthermore, neither the conception nor implementation of mediation projects is supported. Pro Helvetia supports mediation projects through the «Critical Reflection» programme.

Projects related to prizes and awards and the associated events are not eligible for support.