European Broadcasting Union - EBU
Founded in February 1950, the European Broadcasting Union - EBU is the largest professional association of national broadcasters in the world with 71 active members in 52 countries of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and 46 associate members in 29 countries further afield. Activities include operation of the Eurovision and Euroradio networks, coordination of news and sports programming, promotion of technical standardisation, legal advice, and the defence of public service broadcasting.
In April 2003, at the EBU Radio Assembly, delegates from 54 public broadcasting organizations supported the idea to organize a Radio Day of European Cultures. The EBU has been an organising partner and has played an integral role in staging this bi-annual event since 2003.
PRIX EUROPA
PRIX EUROPA has grown into the continent’s largest competition for television, radio and the emerging media, but has no commercial interest.
For the fourth time, the European Radio Day will take place within the framework of PRIX EUROPA - this time under the theme Languages through Microphones. The Radio Day of European Cultures 2009 will bring listeners of all European countries together through the theme of multilingualism.
PRIX EUROPA was initiated in 1987 by the Council of Europe and the European Cultural Foundation. The competition amalgamated with Prix Futura Berlin in 1997. The Dutch Prix Iris joined PRIX EUROPA in 2000, followed by the Prix Genève-Europe in 2005.
PRIX EUROPA enjoys the Patronage of the Council of Europe, to which PRIX EUROPA awarded the Golden Patronage for 20 years of continuous support in 2006. The European Broadcasting Union EBU/UER approved PRIX EUROPA from the start and in 2002 joined the Alliance of its supporters.
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg RBB, home of the PRIX EUROPA Festival Office, has been hosting the week-long festival in Berlin and Potsdam since 1997 in cooperation with the Länder Berlin and Brandenburg, the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg and the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. Festival Director is Susanne Hoffmann. The European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam provides the Secretariat of PRIX EUROPA.
The PRIX EUROPA Alliance 2009 consists of 24 organisations and bodies and is presided over by its President Dr. Gottfried Langenstein, ARTE President, together with the two Vice-Presidents Doris Pack, Member of the European Parliament and Frank-Dieter Freiling, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen.
European Commission - DG Culture & Education
The European Commission embodies and upholds the general interests of the European Union and acts as a driving force in the integration process. It proposes directions to take and implements the measures decided on by the Council and Parliament.
The Commission enhances the European identity in all European media by promoting their development, production and distribution.
The Radio Day of European Cultures 2009: Languages Through Microphones stands under the patronage of Leonard Orban, member of the European Commission responsible for multilingualism.
The EC has also allocated production grants for the Radio Day 2009. Five production grants of € 4,000 each for bi- or multinligual radio programmes connecting audiences who do not usually listen or talk to each other.
The grants will be allocated to productions which effectively find their different and distant audiences, using two or more languages and who have their prime broadcast on the Radio Day of European Cultures, Sunday, 18 October 2009.
All radio formats will be considered for these grants: Live magazines, radio plays, quiz shows, documentaries, song-, literature- or language-contests, reportages, phone-ins, discussions, satires, sketches, comedies, radio essays, music based progammes of all kinds as well as mixtures of all of the above. Cross border, cross-language coproductions are especially welcome!