Call for proposals Roma cultural initiatives developed

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RO-CULTURE Programme is financed through the EEA Grants 2014-2021 and aims at strengthening social and economic development through cultural cooperation, cultural entrepreneurship and cultural heritage management.

This call for proposals is addressed exclusively to projects aimed at developing Roma culture initiatives. The selected projects shall contribute to empowering Roma and to strengthening their cultural identity (language, customs, heritage, etc.) through contemporary cultural initiatives rooted in Roma culture. These could include promoting Roma culture in contemporary art and culture as well as increasing the awareness of and improving the access to Roma culture in society.

In order for Roma cultural initiatives to have a greater impact, cultural cooperation and cultural exchange between organizations from Romania and the Donor States are encouraged.
Roma-led organizations are highly encouraged to apply.

This call for proposals is dedicated exclusively to projects that contribute to the achievement of the following outcomes and outputs at the Programme level:

• 200 Roma reached by empowerment measures;
• 6,000 people attending cultural activities;
• 74 jobs created;
• 5 Roma cultural entrepreneurship initiatives supported;
• 15 Roma trained on the job;
• 40 Roma contemporary art activities supported;
• 17 projects involving cooperation in contemporary arts with a donor project partner.

Financial allocation

The total amount allocated to this call for proposals is 2,000,000 Eur.
The eligible grant amount per project is between 50,000.00 Eur and 200,000.00 Eur, representing 100% of the total eligible costs of the project.

This call for proposals is subject to the European and national legislation on granting de minimis aid. The de minimis aid is granted as non-reimbursable financial aid.

The total gross amount of the de minimis aid granted to a single undertaking may not exceed the RON equivalent of 200,000 Eur (at the date when the grant contract has been signed) over a period of three consecutive fiscal years (2 previously completed fiscal years and the current one), regardless of whether the aid was granted from national or European funding sources.

Within the framework of the de minimis aid, it is only the project promoter who is the beneficiary of the advantage under the de minimis rules.

Eligible applicants/project promoters

The eligible applicants fall in one of the following categories:

• public cultural institution (museum, theatre, opera, operetta, philharmonic, library, archive, cultural centre etc.);
• public institution whose main activity promotes Roma inclusion/culture;
• public or private research and education institution;
• non-governmental organisation cumulatively meeting the following criteria:
  • is established according to Law No. 21/1924 on legal entities (Associations and Foundations) or Government Ordinance no. 26/2000 on associations and foundations, approved by Law no. 246/2005, subsequently amended and supplemented,
  • is an NGO according to the definition outlined in chapter 5 of the Applicant Guidelines,
  • has been established for at least 2 years (considering the launching date of this call for proposals),
  • its activity is, inter alia, in the cultural and creative sectors (as defined in the EU Regulation no. 1295/2013), according to the statutory documents,
  • can carry out the activities proposed through the project, according to the statutory documents;
• (commercial) enterprise OR cooperative enterprise, cumulatively meeting the following conditions:
  • is established according to Law no. 31/1990 on companies, subsequently amended and supplemented (for enterprises) OR according to Law no. 1/2005 on the organisation and functioning of the cooperation, republished, subsequently amended and supplemented (for cooperative enterprises),
  • has been established for at least 2 years (considering the launching date of this call for proposals),
  • its activity is, inter alia, in the cultural and creative sectors (as defined in the EU Regulation no. 1295/2013), according to the statutory/constitutive documents,
  • at the project proposal submission stage, the field of activity targeted by the project must be registered in the business scope (NACE codes) of the enterprise, according to the certificate issued by the National Trade Registry Office, whether it is the main or secondary activity;
  • at the project implementation stage, the field of activity – NACE codes – must be authorized at the main or secondary headquarters identified as the location for the project implementation or at third parties, when the activities within the project are implemented within locations other than the head office or secondary offices, according to the certificate issued by the National Trade Registry Office.

The applicant must comply with all the eligibility criteria foreseen at section 7.1 of the Applicant Guidelines.

Eligible project partners

Eligible project partners from Romania fall in one of the following categories:

•  public cultural institution (museum, theatre, opera, operetta, philharmonic, library, archive, cultural centre etc.);
• public institution whose main activity promotes Roma inclusion/culture;
• public or private research and education institution;
• non-governmental organisation cumulatively meeting the following criteria:
  • is established according to Law No. 21/1924 on legal entities (Associations and Foundations) or Government Ordinance No. 26/2000 on associations and foundations, approved by Law No. 246/2005, subsequently amended and supplemented,
  • is an NGO according to the definition outlined in chapter 5 of the Applicant Guidelines,
  • its activity is, inter alia, in the cultural and creative sectors (as defined in the EU Regulation No 1295/2013), according to the statutory documents, OR the organization is active in the education/social/advocacy field,
  • has been established for at least 2 years (considering the launching date of this call for proposals) – the condition applies only to non-governmental organisation whose activity is, according to statutory documents, inter alia, in the cultural and creative sectors as defined in EU Regulation (EC) no. 1295/2013, not to the non-governmental organisation active in the social/educational/advocacy sector,
  • can carry out the activities proposed through the project, according to the statutory documents;
• (commercial) enterprise OR cooperative enterprise, cumulatively meeting the following conditions:
  • is established according to Law No. 31/1990 on companies, subsequently amended and supplemented (for enterprises) OR according to Law No. 1/2005 on the organisation and functioning of the cooperation, republished, subsequently amended and supplemented (for cooperative enterprises),
  • has been established for at least 2 years (considering the launching date of this call for proposals),
  • its activity is, inter alia, in the cultural and creative sectors (as defined in the EU Regulation No 1295/2013), according to the statutory/constitutive documents.

Eligible project partners from the Donor States: any public or private entity, commercial or non-commercial, including non-governmental organizations, as defined in Chapter 5 of the Applicant Guidelines, with legal personality, established in one of the Donor States.
The project partner must comply with all the eligibility criteria foreseen at section 7.2 of the Applicant Guidelines.

Project duration

The period of implementation for project activities may last from 6 months to 24 months, starting from the date of signing the grant contract, but no later than April 30th, 2024.

Note! The period of implementation for project activities may be revised in the pre-contracting phase if it is found that the implementation period initially estimated by the applicant results in the date of April 30th, 2024 being exceeded, as compared to the expected time of signing the project contract.

The eligibility period for expenditures is limited to the implementation period for project activities and may not exceed April 30, 2024.

Type of eligible activities

The following categories/types of activities are considered eligible:

• contemporary art initiatives rooted in Roma culture (visual art, performing art, music, literature, etc.) carried out at local, regional, national and / or international level;
• artistic productions based on research in Roma cultural history;
• organizing cultural events with the joint participation of Roma and the majority population, in order to promote mutual understanding, thus contributing to combating prejudice on both sides;
• exchange of experience, know-how and good practices in the cultural and creative sectors with entities from the Donor States;
• initiatives dedicated to strengthening inclusion (e.g. artistic workshops or art clubs for Roma children);
• initiatives raising public awareness and promoting the awareness of Roma culture;
• implementation of innovative business models in the cultural and creative sectors, which should contribute to improving the situation of Roma people;
• training/ professional development activities of Roma people in the cultural and creative sectors, through non-formal training activities, on the job direct observation (job shadowing, mentorship, etc.), study visits, etc.

In order to be eligible, the project must contribute, through the proposed activities, to the achievement of the following minimum target values for the Programme indicators:

Number	Programme results	Indicators associated to each project
Outcome 2	Access to culture increased	300 people attending cultural activities
		1 job created
		20 Roma reached by empowerment measures
Output 2.3	Roma cultural initiatives developed	2 Roma trained on the job
		4 Roma contemporary art activities supported

Additional information on the eligibility of activities can be found in Section 7.3 of the Applicant Guidelines.

Categories of eligible expenditures

Under this call for proposals, the following categories of expenditure are eligible:

• project management costs, which may not exceed 30% of the total amount of direct eligible expenditure;
• costs of projects and cultural activities standing for specific expenditures;
• information and communication costs that result from complying with the visual identity requirements;
• staff costs resulting from volunteer contracts (in-kind contribution);
• costs related to non-formal training activities;
• costs of organizational cooperation referring to expenditures resulting from activities carried out by the Donor States entities, in accordance with the Partnership Agreement, complying with the types of costs applicable to project partners;
• overheads, representing a fixed rate of maximum 15% of the eligible direct costs related to the project promoter’s staff involved in the project;
• contingencies which refer to costs that could not be identified at the time the project was designed, representing a fixed rate of maximum 5% of the total amount of eligible direct costs.

Regarding travel costs, financing will be granted within the provisions of the Order of the Minister of Culture and National Identity No. 2238/08.04.2019 on the granting of lump sums and standard unit costs for travel within the projects financed through the RO-CULTURE Programme with the support of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014 – 2021.

Additional information on the eligibility of expenditures can be found in Section 7.4 of the Applicant Guidelines.

Submission of projects

Applications will be submitted exclusively in the electronic management system (EMSC) by accessing the following link: emsc.ro-cultura.ro.

The application form and pre-defined statements/ forms are annexed to the Applicant Guidelines.

Chapter 10 of the Applicant Guidelines contains detailed information on the preparation and submission of projects.

Evaluation and selection

The project evaluation and selection process will be carried out in 3 stages:

• Verification of administrative compliance and eligibility
• Technical and financial evaluation of the project
• Project selection procedure by the Selection Committee.

Projects with a total score of 70 points or more, as well as with the minimum scores on the evaluation criteria referred to in section 11.2 of the Applicant Guidelines, will be included in a provisional ranking, which will be the basis of the decision taken by the Selection Committee.
Considering the decision of the Selection Committee, the final ranking is established, consisting of the list of projects selected for funding and the reserve list.
Grants will be awarded to submitted projects on the basis of the final ranking, within the budget allocated to the call for proposals.
During the evaluation and selection process, applicants may submit only one appeal per stage.
Chapter 11 of the Applicant Guidelines contains detailed information on the evaluation and selection of projects.
The Administrative compliance and eligibility check grid and the Technical and financial evaluation grid are annexes to the Applicant Guidelines.

Payments provisions

Project duration	Advance payment	Interim payments	Final payment (private entities)
≤ 12 months	70%	20-30%	10%
>12 – <18 months	50%	40-50%	10%
≥18 months	30%	60-70%	10%

Chapter 18 of the Applicant Guidelines contains detailed information on payments.

Details about the call for proposals

Launching date: July 19th 2021.
The deadline for project submission: September 30th 2021, 16:00 hours Bucharest time (GMT+2).
The rules for submitting grant applications under the current call for proposals, including the applicable legal framework and eligibility criteria, are included in the Applicant Guidelines, available on the Programme website: www.ro-cultura.ro.

The de minimis scheme on Roma cultural initiatives developed has been approved through Order of the Minister of Culture no. 3095/2021, published in the Official Journal no. 626 on June 25th 2021, Part I.
Methodological rules on stopping/recovering state/de minimis aid granted under state/de minimis aid schemes managed by the Project Management Unit within the Ministry of Culture.
Applicant guidelines and annexes are approved by Order of the Minister of Culture no. 3199/2021 and can be downloaded here:

• Applicant guide (unofficial translation) updated September 14th 2021
• Partner Statement
• Partnership letter of intent 
• Administrative eligibility grid (unofficial translation) 
• Technical and financial evaluation grid (unofficial translation)
• Audit report – Donor States partners (unofficial translation)
• OMCNI 2238/2019 – lump sums

Additional information may be requested by email: office@ro-cultura.ro or telephone: 021.223.03.46. Information that is relevant to the other potential applicants will also be published on the Programme website, FAQ section.

Access the electronic management system of RO-CULTURE that allows registration and submission of projects (only for applicants): emsc.ro-cultura.ro.