Funding Guidelines in Plain Language

We provide funding for development processes. Experienced artists or cultural workers (mentors), with or without disabilities, guide and advise one disabled artist or cultural worker (mentee).

The mentors support the mentees’ artistic and professional development for eight months. 
The mentees pick their mentors themselves. They choose the mentors who can best help them achieve their goals.
The mentees and mentors first discuss all important questions with each other.
Then, they submit the application.

The mentors confirm in writing (with a ‘letter of intent’) that they will advise the mentees in at least six talks, lasting two hours each, if they receive the funding.

The mentees should be able to take their time for the advice sessions with the mentors and for the other things offered under the programme.
For this reason, the mentees receive a grant, which supports their income. The grant enables the mentees to:

• take part in advising and coaching by the mentors
• work with the programme for their own qualifications and networking, and
• participate in the academy programme offered by the German Federal Cultural Foundation; with this programme, mentees can get further education and network with other participants

The mentees are intended to have barrier-free access to the mentoring programme.

Costs for accessibility, such as translations into sign language, are reimbursed to the mentees by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. The German Federal Cultural Foundation calls these costs ‘access costs’.

The mentors receive an allowance (see also 3. How Much Is the Funding?). They can also take part in the entire programme.

Artists or cultural professionals who identify as disabled and who would like to lead their areas of work themselves later on.

They should work artistically at a professional level or work in art-related fields, e.g. curation, dramaturgy or mediation.

Career starters and career changers are also eligible for funding.

They must be resident in Germany.
 

The grant from the German Federal Cultural Foundation amounts to €4,000 for each mentee. 

After giving legally binding approval, the Cultural Foundation pays out the sum in eight equal monthly amounts.

The necessary costs for accessibility („access costs“) are reimbursed by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Invoices and receipts must be sent to the Cultural Foundation for this purpose. The Cultural Foundation checks the invoices and then reimburses the access costs.

The costs are not paid if they are covered by integration benefit.

Integration benefit (external link, opens new window) is a form of support for disabled people; it is described in Title 9 of the German Social Code (SGB IX).

The mentors receive a one-time allowance of €1,200 gross for at least six two-hour talks with their mentee.
 

There must be a clear mentor at the time of application. 

For the application, applicants can only use the online form on the Cultural Foundation website.

They must complete the form in full.

The application form is accessible.

It is possible to submit application documents in these formats: 

• video, in spoken German
• signed in German (German Sign Language or Signed German)

A short general data sheet must be completed in writing.

The following documents must be uploaded together with the online application:

— A brief outline of the applicant’s motivation and ideas for mentoring (maximum two pages of text or five minutes of video). The following questions are particularly important:

1. What artistic and personal goals do you connect to Mentoring for Disabled Leadership?
   What goals for cultural work and cultural institutions?
   What questions and challenges would you like to work on and resolve during the process?
2. How is your chosen mentor meant to contribute to this? What skills does he or she have? What form of exchange would you like?

• Brief description of the applicant’s artistic background (maximum two pages of text or five minutes of video).
  Letter of intent and a brief biography of the mentor (maximum one page of text or two-and-a-half minutes of video).

The video files must be supplied via a separate download link. The link must be stored in the corresponding fields of the online application.
 

The Cultural Foundation awards the funding in three application rounds.

• The first round ends on 15 September 2023.
• The second round ends on 15 May 2024.
• The third round ends on 13 December 2024.
   

The date on which the online form is sent decides if an application is on time or not.

The Cultural Foundation will decide if an application is eligible for funding based on the documents that are submitted on time.

The Cultural Foundation does not process applications that arrive too late or are incomplete.

Approximately ten weeks after the application deadline, an independent expert jury recommends suitable applications.

The Executive Board of the Cultural Foundation then selects the mentees.

There are three funding application rounds. The funding is for an eight-month period.

A decision on the applications from the first round is planned for mid-November 2023.

Once the Cultural Foundation has approved funding, the mentoring can begin immediately. It must be completed after eight months at the latest.
 

The rules agreed in the grant agreement, sections 23 and 44 of the German Federal Budget Code (BHO) and the General Administrative Regulations issued for this purpose apply to

the approval of the funding, the payment of the money and the invoicing,

proving and verifying the use of the money,

any withdrawal from the grant agreement that may be required, and

any necessary reclaiming of the payments made.

The German Federal Audit Office may carry out audits in accordance with BHO sections 91 and 100.

The Federal Government Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and Media (BKM) and the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) may also carry out audits in accordance with their agreement with the German Federal Cultural Foundation (KSB).

If the recipient does not comply with the provisions of the funding agreement, the Cultural Foundation may reclaim all or part of the funding.

These funding principles apply from 8 April 2024. Changes are possible.