Call for Proposals

“Sister Cities – Connecting Places” seeks to strengthen transatlantic relations through fostering cultural exchange and dialogue at the civil society level.  The project builds on the long-standing tradition of German American sister city partnerships, which were established after the Second World War to promote international understanding. This initiative aims to  encourage sister city partnerships to leverage the power of art and culture through jointly-developed projects to build bridges between communities.

The call targets small and medium-sized cities (with a population of up to circa 1,000,000) located in Midwest and Mountains states of the United States with existing sister city partnerships in Germany. The call requires that submitted proposals are jointly developed by American and German sister cities in close collaboration with partnering arts, culture and/or community organisations. The final successful five to six projects, to be selected by an independent jury, will have fulfilled expectations of artistic/conceptual quality, a forward-thinking mindset, and the promise to engage broad, diverse and young audiences in both the U.S. and Germany.

The Goethe-Institut and its partners Sister Cities International and Deutscher Städtetag (Association of German Cities) believe that the openness, innovation and creativity inherent in Arts-focused practices offers unique possibilities for dialogue, participation, and mutual understanding. We are also excited to be bringing this opportunity to the central (non-coastal) regions of the United States. The initiative Sister Cites – Connecting Places is committed to strengthening transatlantic ties—one city, one cultural project at a time.
 

The call for proposals pursues the following objectives:

• To promote mutual understanding between German and American civil societies;
• To strengthen and reenergize existing German-American sister city partnerships through culture;
• To reach young audiences (up to approximately 35 years of age);
• To bring greater visibility and international cultural engagement to small and medium-sized U.S. cities in Midwest and Mountain states of the U.S..

This is a limited call addressed to a select group of sister city partnerships that meet the following criteria:

• Small to medium-sized cities or municipalities (up to a population of 750,000 in the U.S. cities)
• U.S. cities are located in states that are in the central regions of the United States*;
• Cities must have an established German American sister city partnership;
• Cities must demonstrate the capacity to engage local arts anc culture actors (organizations or initiatives) as official project partners.
  Note: these actors do not need to have been previously involved in sister city activities

*states that do not border on either the Pacific or the Atlantic coasts

Sister City partnerships are invited to propose collaborative arts and culture projects that meet the following expectations:

• Projects must be co-created and jointly developed by the sister cities in close cooperation with arts and/or cultural partners from both cities;
• Projects must address current topics relevant to citizens of both cities and offer new perspectives on these topics through artistic and cultural lenses;
• Participating artists and creatives can be working in a wide array of practices including but not limited to music, street art, visual/media/digital arts, fashion design, dance, theater, writing, film, and everything in between;
• The first round of activities must take place in the U.S. partner city. Follow-up activities in the German partner city are highly encouraged but are not required;
• Projects should be inclusive and participatory in nature and should aim to reach significant and diverse segments of the population with a focus on young audiences (up to +/- 35 years of age);
• To avoid high travel costs, use of online and hybrid formats is encouraged, particularly in the project development phase.

The application must be submitted by the US partner city.
Only one application per German-American city partnership will be accepted.

The following information is required:
– Title
– Cities (DE & USA)
– Responsible person for each city (including legal issues/contract)
– Project management / Artistic direction
– Arts/Cultural partner organizations (Institution/initiative, website, contact person)
– Artists/creatives/cultural actors in the project
– Brief project description (150 words)
– Detailed project description including goals, collaboration, roles, impact (as an attachment)
– Target groups & plan how to reach them
– Participatory elements
– Preliminary schedule (as an attachment)
– Preliminary budget (as an attachment)

Maximum funding amount per project: $30,000 USD.
Co-financing of 50% is required (in-kind contributions, own funds, and/or third-party funds).
 

Proposals will be evaluated based on:

• Relevance to the objectives of "Sister Cities – Connecting Places" (25%)
• Quality and originality of the concept (25%)
• Degree of participation and inclusivity and the project’s potential to reach broad and diverse local audiences (25%)
• Strength of collaboration between sister city partners and its cultural and/or artistic partners on this project (15%)
• Feasibility and sustainability of the project design (10%)

Application opens	February 13, 2026
Scheduled information sessions (dates TBA) and one-on-one feedback opportunities with the Goethe-Institut USA	February 17 – April 17, 2026
Application Deadline	April 19, 2026
Notification of decisions	May 4, 2026
Orientation, Onboarding and Coaching sessions organized by the Goethe-Institut USA	May-June 2026
Project implementation period	June 2026 – Sept 2027
Project close out	December 2027

 

Sister Cities International, Washington, DC and Deutscher Städtetag (Association of German Cities), Berlin and Cologne serve as key partners supporting communication, coordination and the selection processes within the United States and Germany.