The present award procedure is intended to conclude a framework contract with an agency experienced in complex cultural development processes and in the support of funding programmes in the cultural sector (hereinafter referred to as "contractor"). The contractor is to accompany the Ministry of Culture responsible for culture in North Rhine-Westphalia (Ministry of Culture and Science [MKW], hereinafter referred to as "Client") in the supervision and further development of the newly established funding programme Neue Künste Ruhr (hereinafter referred to as "NKR") in the sense of process support.

The NKR funding programme was created as part of the Ruhr Conference, with which the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is pursuing the goal of shaping the Ruhr Metropolis as an economically strong and livable future region for all people. In this context, the State Cabinet decided on 05.11.2019 to set up a decade project for the development of the so-called New Arts from 2020-2030. The Ruhr area is to become so attractive as a "metropolis of the arts" by 2030 that more and more young artists are bound to the region through excellent working and living conditions. In order to achieve this goal, the NKR funding programme will comprehensively support the New Arts in particular, which are to shape the cultural profile of the region in the future. The NKR funding programme covers the four funding areas Digital Arts, Urban Art, Contemporary Circus and the electronic music club scene.

The Rosy DX agency was commissioned to set up the NKR funding programme, which began implementing it in 2020. The contract ended on 31.03.2022. On the basis of rosy DX's preparatory work already carried out, from October 2022 onwards, the new contractor will supervise the organisational implementation of the funding programme on the one hand and accompany the further development of the funding programme on the other. Rosy DX's final report sets out the objectives and measures of the NKR funding programme, some of which have already been implemented. The final report is made available to the contractor as a working basis.

Specifically, the contractor's order includes the following tasks:

1. Supervision / Process Support Funding Programme NKR

a) Content-related advice and support of the applicants, both in the run-up to and at the time of application, as well as after approval (e.g. with information material on the application, e.g. in the form of video tutorials, possibly in the form of events). Note: The application advice regarding formal questions is carried out by the district governments as granting authorities.

b) Preparation, implementation and follow-up of the jury meeting, which currently takes place twice a year, on the basis of an existing catalogue of criteria and evaluation system (including preparation of the application documents, provision of materials, obtaining the jury votes initially submitted in writing, coordination of dates, organisation, moderation and recording of the meetings, preparation of letters of acceptance and rejection), evaluation of the written jury evaluations and preparation of a Collective template in preparation for the jury meeting for the client.

c) Preparation, implementation and follow-up of the advisory board meetings and future steering committee meetings (including coordination of dates, organisation, moderation and minutes of the meetings).

d) ongoing: flow of information and exchange with applicants

e) ongoing: regular coordination with the client (continuously by telephone/e-mail, 1 x a month a jour fixe of approx. 2 hours on site at the client's premises or as a video conference, if necessary. Preparation of progress reports on the current status of the work as required and prior consultation with the client)

f) ongoing: state-wide, nationwide and international research on actors of the NKR in order to be able to provide information about what is currently happening in the scene, strengthening and expanding the network, e.g. by establishing contact and maintaining contacts with potential funding recipients as well as determining the needs (see also section A. II. 2. a)),

g) ongoing: public relations work, i.e. announcement and application of the funding program, the funded and other projects in the network as well as announcement and application of the application deadlines, etc.

- through an editorial contribution per month on the NKR homepage on funded NKR projects or actors who have not yet received NKR funding

- on the social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) in the form of two postings per week, re-postings, follower acquisition and engagement with other users and actors of the network (community management)

- by setting up and maintaining an e-mail distribution list of the NKR network (beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries),

- by preparing drafts for press releases in consultation with the client;

- possibly through events.

- technical and editorial support of the already existing NKR homepage (including web hosting and technical maintenance as well as editorial support of the homepage such as answering user questions via contact form)

For these public relations measures, the contractor should regularly obtain documentation material of the projects (photos/videos/texts) in order to publish them on the NKR online channels for the promotion of the programme. The eligibility criteria stipulate that the beneficiaries must provide relevant material.

2. Support in the further development of the NKR funding programme

a) Strengthening and expanding the network: The contractor should act as

- act as a single point of contact for the NKR network,

- Strengthen and expand the NKR network

- and stimulate the exchange of NKR actors also between the four funding areas.

To this end, contacts must be maintained on an ongoing basis and information on current developments made available online and on request (see also paragraphs A. II. 1. e) - i)). By strengthening the network, a close professional exchange and possible cooperation between the currently rather decentralized actors in the Ruhr area are to be promoted. The intensive exchange between the contractor and the stakeholders is intended to contribute to the continuous further development, improvement and awareness of the NKR funding programme.

b) Establishment and organisation of steering committees and coordination office: The contractor shall be a central point of contact in the establishment and organisation of the steering committees of the anchor projects and the other coordination point in the field of urban art and shall assume a mediating position for the actors and bodies involved (see points A. I. 5./6.).

c) If necessary, advising the client: If necessary, the contractor should advise on the expansion of further suitable funding structures (e.g. NKR residencies and NKR fellowships), on any new jury appointments and on bundling the previously decentralised strands in the individual funding fields.

3. Final report and project evaluation

At the end of the assignment, a final report will be drawn up detailing how the funding programme has been further developed in accordance with the above points and beyond. The type and scope of the final report is based on the document prepared by Rosy DX (138 pages), which is made available to the contractor. Details are to be finally clarified in the order implementation.

4. If necessary, further optional services that arise during the course of the project

Since the current framework conditions for the funding programme may change over the course of the contract period, further optional services may be required. This could include, for example, the implementation and planning of event formats as well as studies on content-related topics of the New Arts or comparable achievements.

A detailed description of the order is shown in the service description.