About Us

Danish Cultural Institute is a self-governing institution. Since 1940 we have been engaged in fostering mutual understanding between people and cultures.

We believe that the arts and culture are among Denmark’s most important assets. We are commited to sharing knowledge on and sympathy for the values of the Danish society. In cooperation with partners, we develop  international culture and societal events, projects and people to people contacts that can provide mutual value and inspiration.

It is our mission to contribute to strengthening Denmark’s way of handling some of the challenges of globalisation. This we do by focusing on arts, culture and society within a prioritised number of themes: children and youth, education, science, welfare and sustainability. We also focus on developing new ways of cooperation, which stimulate innovation and co-creation. In our activities, we always try to create opportunities for intercultural relations, understanding, sustainable growth and development.

The branch in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania opened on August 18 1990 by the Danish minister of Education, Bertel Haarder, just a year before all three Baltic countries regained their independence from the Soviet Union. The underlying ambition was to show that Denmark supported the Baltic fight for independence and this was much more attainable for a self-governing institution than for a public institution.

In the beginning, we worked to create fruitful cooperation between Denmark and the Baltics by supporting popular interest in citizenship and education. This way, Denmark provided societal support to the Baltic states without expressing political opinions. Today, the vision is basically the same, although the countries have developed. Our focus still is to facilitate intercultural dialogue between Denmark and the Baltics, focusing on the general themes of the DCI. With UrbCulturalPlanning (launched February 2019) we are using culture and creativity to create more social and environmental sustainable cities. Another thematic focus is the creative industries where we as a partner in the Creative Ports project are creating links between Danish and Baltic enterprises. The creative industries in the Baltics are experiencing financial growth which make these countries evident partners for Denmark.

Danish Cultural Institute has:

Five institutes in: China, Brazil, India, Latvia, and Türkiye.

Activities in 14 countries including Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, and the Eastern Neighbourhood Countries.

Under Projects and Events & Updates, you can find information about the projects and events, we are involved in.