“Pop the Vote! Culture on Ballot” encourages active engagement of European citizens around the 2024 European Parliamentary Elections through culture. Co-funded by the European Parliament, Pop the Vote! works with young artists and art school students in 14 EU countries to act as Changemakers in their own communities and mobilise them to participate in the European Parliamentary elections 2024 by co-creating a multi-action campaign. Pop the Vote! uses innovative ways of community engagement with culture and the arts at its core by using the language of arts and culture for political change and approaches of artivism and community culture. The project aims to reach citizens, including underrepresented groups that tend to be less engaged with the European decision-making processes and encourage them to participate in the EP elections in 2024.
Where will Pop the Vote be?
14 EU countries have been selected for this project: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. These countries were selected on the basis of (1) low voters’ turnout in the European Parliamentary elections 2019, (2) strong representation of Culture Action Europe members and (3) countries with comparatively higher voters’ turn out to act as an inspiration for others to engage more in the EU debates.
What will Changemakers do?
Pop the Vote! will select young artists and/or art students from each of the selected 14 EU countries, making 52 Changemakers total. Changemakers will organise 2 election engagement events in the month leading up to the elections each in their respective countries, reaching 5200 citizens in total.
Before their events, Changemakers will attend the Changemakers’ Playground Camp: an immersive 1-week training in Belgium that combines theoretical learnings about the EU, its Institutions, and the 2024 elections as well as theories of change, methodologies of artivism and audience engagement, public campaigning and communications. By the end of the camp, Changemakers will develop a prototype of their proposed engagement events.
Timeline:
- May 2023: Public launch of the project on Europe Day 2023
- September 2023: Open Call for Changemakers
- February 2024: Changemakers’ Playground Camp
- May 2024: Pop the Vote! Campaign and Changemakers Act
- June 2024: EU Parliamentary Elections
Supporting members:
The following Culture Action Europe members will support the Pop the Vote! project by disseminating the open call to help us find brilliant Changemakers from far and wide. These members are ambassadors of the Pop the Vote! project in each country they represent. You can find more about each of them by clicking on the links below:
- Bulgaria | A25
- Croatia | Clubture
- Cyprus | D6 Culture EU
- France | Association des Centres culturels de rencontre (ACCR)
- Germany | Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft e.V. (KupoGe)
- Greece | Communitism
- Hungary | ProProgressione
- Italy | Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée (BJCEM) and Club Silencio
- The Netherlands | Kunsten 92
- The Netherlands | European Cultural Foundation
- Poland | Krytyka Polityczna
- Portugal | Mapa das Ideias
- Slovenia | Motovila
- Spain | Red de Espacios y Agentes de Cultura Comunitaria, REACC
- Sweden | Space-Time Works (STW)
Q&A
How can I participate?
If you are someone you know is an artist or art student committed to making a change in your community (between the ages of 18-30) and live in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain or Sweden, apply to be Changemaker in the Pop the Vote project! Applications will be open 15 September, 2023. Make sure to follow Pop the Vote! and Culture Action Europe to get all of the updates!
I don’t live in one of the participating countries, but I want to be part of the project!
It’s true that not everyone can attend the Changemaker’s Playground Camp. Still, a training toolkit will be made publicly available so Changemakers everywhere can have access to tools and resources to support their own projects and campaigns. If you are already working on artistic projects that promote participation in the 2024 Parliamentary Elections, you can also share about them on the Pop the Vote! platform. Write to Maya Weisinger to find out how to add your project to the Changemaker network.
Co-funded by the European Parliament
The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament.
In unity, strength thrives. Recognizing the transformative power of collaboration, we’ve united various civil society organizations under a shared logo and slogan for the 2024 EU election campaigns. By combining our efforts, we strive to engage active citizenship, inviting youth across Europe to participate in shaping their future through their vote.
