European Cultural Policies 2015: A Report with Scenarios on the Future of Public Funding for Contemporary Art in Europe, takes a look into the future of cultural funding in Europe 15 years on. The view is bleak, indicating that regardless of whether the funding is private or public, art is becoming increasingly instrumentalised in the pursuit of economic interests or in the service of national or European wish to construct a certain identity. In the face of the forecasts made, can AlmostReal be successful in its attemp to develop a new funding approach that support engaged forms of collaboration between independent (micro)organisations, a way of funding that breaks from the pattern of instrumentalising art? Here is an email thread which shows the first intention to consider developing an ALMOSTREAL event that deals with the issues of cultural policy from a practitioners point of view.