Can art help make our future more sustainable, more inclusive, and more livable?
CREATE PURPOSE, a European collaborative project bringing together partner organizations from Germany, Greece, and Romania, is addressing this question. Together, we aim to show how participatory art connects people, strengthens communities, and opens up new perspectives for our future.
The project is guided by the values of the New European Bauhaus: sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion. Together with young people, artists develop creative projects that bring these values to life and integrate them into everyday life. This results in artistic works that foster social dialogue, enable participation, and demonstrate how creativity can drive sustainable change.
CREATE PURPOSE creates spaces for encounters, participation, and creative exchange. Young people are not merely involved; they are active contributors to the entire artistic process. Their ideas, experiences, and visions are directly incorporated into the projects and become visible in public spaces.
At the heart of the project are nine artists from Germany, Greece, and Romania. They form three international, interdisciplinary teams that collaborate in the fields of visual arts, music, performance, theater, and film. Each team, together with a local group of about 50 young people aged 15 to 30, is developing a participatory art project that will be presented to the public as part of a local cultural festival. The artist residencies will take place between May and August 2027 in all three partner countries. Beyond the festivals, the projects and their messages will remain visible in public spaces and on digital platforms, inviting people to engage with the younger generation’s ideas for the future.
CREATE PURPOSE views art as a collaborative process. Together, we want to bring ideas to life, take responsibility, and work with artists to develop new perspectives for a sustainable and livable Europe.
Application deadline: August 30, 2026