Advancing Equitable Cultural Cooperation: Highlights from Deconfining’s Year 4 Evaluation Report By Dr Karolina Bieniek

The Year 4 Evaluation Report of the Deconfining project confirms the programme’s significant contribution to strengthening cultural cooperation between Europe and Africa through artistic collaboration, knowledge exchange, and network-building.

Based on feedback from project partners, participants, and collaborators, the evaluation found that Deconfining achieved its strongest results in fostering intercontinental partnerships, creating new models of cooperation, and supporting equitable cultural exchange. Participants consistently highlighted the value of co-creation, artistic residencies, research collaboration, and long-term relationship-building as some of the project’s most important outcomes.

Throughout its fourth year, Deconfining continued to provide meaningful opportunities for artists, researchers, and cultural organisations to engage across continents. Respondents reported that participation expanded professional networks, increased visibility, facilitated new collaborations, and deepened understanding of the structural conditions shaping cultural mobility and cooperation.

The evaluation also identified artistic exchange and institutional networking as the most effective forms of collaboration. At the same time, participants emphasised the ongoing challenges posed by visa restrictions, financial limitations, and geopolitical conditions, which continue to affect mobility and equitable participation in international cultural projects.

The quality of the project’s artistic, research, and educational outputs received overwhelmingly positive feedback. Participants praised both the relevance of the content and the project’s process-oriented approach, which created space for experimentation, dialogue, and shared learning.

Looking across the project’s full duration, respondents described Deconfining’s impact as relational, collaborative, and transformative. The project successfully generated lasting professional networks, innovative artistic productions, valuable research outputs, and new opportunities for intercultural dialogue. Many participants expressed a strong commitment to continuing partnerships and developing new initiatives beyond the project’s lifespan.

While the report notes that long-term policy impact remains more difficult to achieve and requires sustained institutional support, it concludes that Deconfining has established a strong foundation for future intercontinental cooperation. Its most enduring legacy lies in the relationships, knowledge, and collaborative practices it has fostered across continents.

The evaluation demonstrates that meaningful cultural cooperation depends not only on artistic and research activities, but also on addressing broader structural barriers to mobility and participation. As the project moves forward, its achievements offer valuable insights for future initiatives seeking to build more equitable, connected, and sustainable cultural ecosystems.

> Access full report HERE