7th June 2017

A European project led by PEN Català among the 66 selected by the European Commission for the Creative Europe Programme

According to the announcement published by the Creative Europe Programme on 28th April 2017, the total amount of applications submitted was 584.

The project led by PEN Català counts among its partners outstanding cultural organisations such as Det Fria Ordets Hus (Vaxjo Kommun, SWEDEN), Krakow Festival's Office (Krakow, POLAND) and Writers’ Centre Norwich (Norwich, UK).

ENGAGE! Young Producers Building Bridges to a Freer World is a Europe-wide cultural project that seeks to promote the participation of young, underrepresented groups in literary cultural life as a way to empower them and foster critical thinking and a better understanding of multicultural realities. An important part of local culture and arts programme production is in the hands of organisations that do not always keep the existence of these groups in mind. PEN Català wants to change this situation by placing young people on the agenda of European literary organisations.

The project’s objective is to help small and medium sized literary organisations, as well as European cultural networks like ICORN (International Cities of Refuge Network), PEN International and the UNESCO Cities of Literature, to ensure that they continue to be relevant
in the future, by strengthening their relationship with young audiences.

Running over 30 months, activities include desk-based research, an overview of best audience development practices in the field of literature, designing and testing of protocol and metrics, professionals’ and stakeholders’ mobility, training sessions and testing of innovative
cultural actions for young people based on coproduction methods.
The project will culminate in an international conference to be held in Barcelona and should result in a transversal network of small to medium-sized literary organisations that will operate within existing international networks to promote cultural engagement among young people.

According to the announcement published by the Creative Europe Programme on 28th April 2017, the total amount of applications submitted was 584.

The project led by PEN Català counts among its partners outstanding cultural organisations such as Det Fria Ordets Hus (Vaxjo Kommun, SWEDEN), Krakow Festival's Office (Krakow, POLAND) and Writers’ Centre Norwich (Norwich, UK).

ENGAGE! Young Producers Building Bridges to a Freer World is a Europe-wide cultural project that seeks to promote the participation of young, underrepresented groups in literary cultural life as a way to empower them and foster critical thinking and a better understanding of multicultural realities. An important part of local culture and arts programme production is in the hands of organisations that do not always keep the existence of these groups in mind. PEN Català wants to change this situation by placing young people on the agenda of European literary organisations.

The project’s objective is to help small and medium sized literary organisations, as well as European cultural networks like ICORN (International Cities of Refuge Network), PEN International and the UNESCO Cities of Literature, to ensure that they continue to be relevant in the future, by strengthening their relationship with young audiences.


Running over 30 months, activities include desk-based research, an overview of best audience development practices in the field of literature, designing and testing of protocol and metrics, professionals’ and stakeholders’ mobility, training sessions and testing of innovative cultural actions for young people based on coproduction methods.

The project will culminate in an international conference to be held in Barcelona and should result in a transversal network of small to medium-sized literary organisations that will operate within existing international networks to promote cultural engagement among young people.