Application guide

This guide is intended to help you craft a strong application that meets the criteria for Balansepotten.

Balanseprat at Lokal Bar. Lokal Bar has previously received funding from Balansepotten.
Photo: Hannah Kleiven

We recommend that you closely follow the guidelines below to increase your chances of receiving support. Good luck with the application process, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or need further guidance.

Thematic focus

In which specific area related to diversity and equality does your project fall?

Start by describing the thematic focus of your project. The primary goal of Balansepotten is to support projects that actively contribute to a more equal and diverse cultural sector. We emphasize projects within the following areas:

  • Equality for people with disabilities

  • Anti-racism

  • Equality for LGBTQ+ individuals

  • Prevention of sexual harassment and discrimination

  • Gender equality

  • Combating ageism

  • Combating size discrimination

  • Addressing class perspectives and measures against economic inequality

  • Capacity-building on norm-critical perspectives

Make sure your project clearly addresses at least one of these themes. Try to be as specific as possible. We have gathered several existing initiatives that may serve as inspiration or guidance here: Erfaringsbanken (Experience Bank).

Objectives

What challenges in the cultural sector will your project address?

Describe how your project will tackle these specific challenges or gaps in the current cultural landscape. Identify areas that need improvement and explain how your project will help address these issues.

Target group

Who is the target group for the project?

Clearly define who will benefit from your project. It is important that the project does not only benefit individuals or target internal organizations but that multiple groups or communities in society experience positive effects.

Potential for structural change

What structures in the cultural sector will your project challenge?

The principle of working on a structural level is important. This means addressing and changing the underlying systems, norms, and practices that contribute to inequalities, lack of freedom, and underrepresentation in the cultural sector. This could, for example, involve challenging language barriers, unconscious biases, or uneven distribution of power and resources. Structural work often requires sustained efforts to create lasting and positive changes. Discuss how the project's theme will be carried forward in the cultural sector and/or the specific field it targets. This could be through recruitment, dissemination, and access to information, tools or resources, training and skill-building, or other measures that impact the cultural sector on a broader level.

Impact

How will the results of the project be made available and disseminated, and what long-term benefits will it bring?

Emphasize how your project will have a lasting impact on the cultural sector. Consider how your project can influence structural changes in the long term and explore how it can strengthen and renew the cultural sector beyond the immediate duration of the project.

Contributing something new

How does your project stand out?

There are many ways to approach diversity and equality in new and unconventional ways. Present how your project brings something new to the cultural sector and how it differs from projects that have already received support. A complete overview of supported projects can be found here: Previously Supported Projects.

Inclusion and accessibility

Is your project inclusive and accessible to all?

It is important that projects seeking funding are designed in a way that ensures inclusion and provides equal opportunities for all participants. Accommodations might include making the project accessible for people with various disabilities. It could also involve accommodating different religious practices, dietary needs, or providing accessible restrooms and changing rooms for transgender and non-binary individuals. The common thread for all accommodations is recognizing that people are different and approaching individuals with openness and flexibility.