CulturePolis celebrates two decades of culture, collaboration, and belonging — from a small initiative in Corfu to a Euro-Mediterranean network.

Corfu, June 5, 2026

Twenty years ago, on June 5, 2006, a small group of friends and associates, led by Vassilios Laopodis—who was returning to Greece after 18 years of service at the European Commission—met in Corfu with an idea that was, at that moment, simultaneously modest and ambitious. Modest, because there were no venues, no staff, and no budget. Ambitious, because the idea itself — that Corfu, a small island at the crossroads of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, could become the hub for a different kind of European cultural dialogue — was genuinely brand new.

On that day, the Court of First Instance of Corfu registered the organization under the name “Europe of Cultures Forum: Adriatic–Ionian Chapter,” representing the European organization “Europe of Cultures Forum” in the region. The name was a statement of intent: this was not a local cultural club, but a forum for the cultures of an entire interregional sea — the Adriatic and the Ionian, the maritime route that for millennia has connected Greece, Italy, Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, and the wider Balkans with the rest of the Mediterranean. Corfu was chosen not just because it was the birthplace of the organization’s founder, nor despite the fact that it is an island, but precisely because it is one: a place that belongs, by geography and history, to more than one world at the same time.

On September 13, 2013, the organization was officially renamed CulturePolis — a name that carried, in its Greek suffix polis, the dual meaning of both city and a community of citizens, and in its international prefix, the uninterrupted Euro-Mediterranean cultural mission of the organization.

Today, on the twentieth anniversary of that founding date, we take stock of what two decades have built.

What twenty years look like

They look like 50+ implemented projects, the vast majority funded by the European Union under competitive programs such as Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, Creative Europe, Interreg, CERV, and others. Projects dedicated to intercultural dialogue, cultural heritage, sustainable rural development, the creative economy, digital innovation, and the future of island communities.

They look like a network of 300+ partner organizations in more than 30 countries — municipalities and regional authorities, universities and research centers, NGOs and civil society organizations, public bodies, and private enterprises — connected to each other not merely by potential contractual obligations, but by a shared conviction that Europe is forged through its cultures.

They look like the “1st International Conference on Adriatic–Ionian Intercultural Dialogue,” co-organized with the European Parliament in Corfu in June 2008, back when the concept of a connected Adriatic-Ionian cultural space was still questioned and far from taken for granted.

They look like a series of collaborative projects that put Corfu on the European cultural map: SUSTCULT, TOGETHER, SPACES, READ-IN-CLUB, DIVERTIMENTO, INNOVIMENTOR, AGRICULT, GROW Observatory, as well as local initiatives like the Cultural Meetings of the Fortress, the Gastronomy Club of Corfu, and dozens of others.

And finally, they look like CorfuGen — the Center for Culture, Sustainability, and Innovation — the physical reference point for all this accumulated experience and expertise. CorfuGen is launching its first public program in the summer of 2026 across five venues on the island, powered by a team of six young female volunteers who, alongside the staff of CulturePolis, decided to contribute to the vision for Corfu’s regeneration, choosing to build their future here instead of leaving. CorfuGen is, in many ways, the fullest expression of what CulturePolis has always strived to do: not to speak about communities, but to build with them.

The island at the center of everything

Corfu has always been a contradiction. It is relatively small — 585 square kilometers, 100,000 inhabitants — yet its history contains layers that few nations can claim: Venetian, French, British, almost Ottoman, Byzantine, Ancient Greek. It sits at the crossroads of the Adriatic and Ionian, between Western and Eastern Europe, between the Latin and Orthodox worlds, between the old continent and the Mediterranean basin. It was no accident that this island became the home of the oldest university in the Greek-speaking world, and of philharmonic orchestras long before orchestras existed anywhere else in Greece.

It was also no accident that a group of people chose this island in 2006 to launch a forum for European cultural dialogue.

For twenty years, CulturePolis has tried to honor that choice. We have tried to be worthy of this place: to take its history seriously, to understand its present honestly, and to work — persistently, gradually, project by project — toward a future where the island’s communities flourish instead of emptying out, where its youth find reasons to stay instead of reasons to leave, and where its extraordinary position at the crossroads of European cultures is leveraged as a common good for all.

A reason for gratitude

Twenty years of work in civil society is not an individual affair. It is a collective act sustained by hundreds of people over time.

We are grateful to every corporate or public benefit organization that trusted us with a project, a signature, or a conversation.

We are grateful to every team member, employee, volunteer, and partner who dedicated their time and intellect to this work, especially those who did so when the work was difficult and the results seemed far away.

We are grateful to the Region of Ionian Islands, the Municipalities of Corfu, other regional bodies, and public services for the institutional trust they have repeatedly shown in CulturePolis. The Declaration of Corfu in July 2025, signed by the Governors of the Ionian Islands, Northern Aegean, and Southern Aegean, formalized Corfu’s commitment to regenerative island development as a model for the Euro-Mediterranean.

And we are grateful, above all, to Corfu itself — the island that hosted us, tested us, and refused to let us settle for anything less than what we deserve.

Looking ahead

Our twentieth anniversary is not just a moment for retrospection; it is a starting point. CorfuGen opens this summer. Our first open community days in villages across Central and Southern Corfu will be the most direct expression of what CulturePolis has always believed: that culture is a practice, a relationship; not something you visit, but something you inhabit.

We are building a six-venue center that we hope will still be here in another twenty years, nurtured by the communities it serves, connected to the partner network from which it grew, and deeply rooted in the island that gave it a reason to exist.

To everyone who was a part of these first twenty years: thank you. To everyone who will be a part of the next: we are just getting started!