Cultural cooperation agreement between Flanders and the Hauts-de-France region • NEXT Arts Festival

Because of their historical, socio-economic and cultural ties, Hauts-de-France and Flanders are much more than border regions. To support these ties, the Flemish Community and the Hauts-de-France region signed a cultural cooperation agreement on 25 January 2018. This agreement ratifies existing cultural partnerships and encourages new initiatives.
In 2021, the Flemish Community and the Hauts-de-France region renewed their cultural cooperation agreement for the period 2021-2024. The cooperation has the following objectives:

- support emerging talent;
- stimulating interregional exchange;
- sustainability: building a framework for sustainable cross-border cultural exchanges.

To achieve these objectives, the following resources will be deployed

An annual call for projects

In 2021, the networking project was launched to work towards a better framework and a more structural approach to connect professionals on both sides of the border. From 2022, the two partners will again launch an annual project call to support cross-border projects.

To the call

A joint cooperation platform

A joint cooperation platform will be responsible for the overall implementation of this agreement and will ensure that each year:

- organising regular and systematic consultations;
- preparing an action plan and an evaluation report;
- evaluating project proposals.

Cultural cooperation agreement between Flanders and the Hauts-de-France region