The Gulbenkian Culture Programme supports contemporary creation in the fields of Literature, Performing Arts, and Cinema, with an emphasis on encouraging innovation, promoting new talents and internationally expand their projects. This support includes the ongoing training of professionals and the public in Arts and Culture.

In conjunction with other departments of the Foundation, namely the Gulbenkian Museum and the Music Service, the programme ensures the participation of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the contemporary cultural debate on artistic and literary creation, and gives the Portuguese public as well as the cultural and academic community access to leading figures in international contemporary thought.

It promotes initiatives to disseminate knowledge in the fields of Arts and Culture, in the form of public events, conferences and debates, and the creation of cultural reference portals.

The programme organises a series of cultural and artistic events, both autonomously and in collaboration with external programmers. The exhibition of artistic activities of contemporary creativity supported by the Foundation in the areas of Literature, Performing Arts, and Cinema will have a prominent place in the agenda. The section called “Gulbenkian Convida…” [“Gulbenkian Invites…”] intends to open the doors of the Foundation three times a year to varied audiences in lesser used spaces, both in the Garden and at the Headquarters. These events will be organised in partnership with other institutions, with other departments within the Foundation, or as the result of a proposal by a guest collaborator.

This programme is also responsible for the Foundation’s editorial policy, which favours digital media as the primary vehicle for the publication of new works and the reissuing of previously published ones. Along with the Colóquio/Letras journal and its own list of publications, it supports publications by other institutions.