Established in 2014, Creative Europe is a funding Programme aimed at supporting initiatives in the Culture and Creativity industry (CCI) all over Europe. During the last programming period, Creative Europe has made possible for many organisations to find opportunities to experiment innovative projects and cooperate to exchange new practices across many disciplines and EU borders.
The new Creative Europe Programme will be active all along the 2021-2027 period. It will sustain initiatives in the CCI helping organisations and artists to recover from the emergencies imposed by the pandemic crisis.
Also for this reason the programme has been increased by 50% in comparison with the 2014-2020 budget.
For those interested to Creative Europe funding it is important to take note of its main programming strands:
CULTURE: related to all sectors of interventions except audiovisual and news media;
MEDIA: related to all initiatives in the audiovisual and news sector;
CROSS-SECTORAL: concerning to all interdisciplinary and cross-sector initiatives.
70% of the total budget of the Programme will be concentrated on Cooperation projects in culture and creativity. These are initiatives aimed at connecting organisations in order to help mobility of artists, dissemination of their works and practices, co-production of artistic creations. Calls are aimed at funding cooperation initiatives according to their dimension: small, medium or large cooperation projects.
Besides, other kinds of initiatives are eligible to funding:European Platforms are initiatives that support organisations for showcasing and promoting creators and artists, especially emerging talent, through a genuine Europe-wide programming. The international platforms help organisations to collaborate to help professionals to develop their skills, internationalise their careers and contribute to the competitiveness in different culture and creative sectors.
European cultural networks are another field of support from the Creative Europe Programme. They are member-based structures encompassing thousands of operators and professionals in specific fields from dance to classical music to cultural heritage, etc. They are official representative bodies consulted by the Commission and help design the EU’s culture policy. They also facilitate the internationalisation of artists’ careers and contribute to the transfer of skills, competences and know-how among peers.
Translation works on European literature are also supported by Creative Europe. The scheme offers funding for translation and promotion of European books for publishers, groups of publishers and/or other partners such as bookshops.
Individual mobility schemes are aimed at providing mobility experiences for artists and creative professionals. These initiatives have been experimented through the i-Portunus scheme in the previous programming peiod. Mobility grants help artistis to develop international collaborations and co-productions, thus contributing to both their professional development and the internationalisation of their careers.
Pan-European Cultural Entities are aimed at supporting cultural entities – such as orchestras – whose aim is to offer training, professionalisation and performance opportunities for young, highly talented artists.
Prizes are aimed at supporting works on cultural diversity, talent artists. They also include European Awards on Heritage, Literature, Contemporary Literature.
European Capitals of Culture is a yearly action promoting the contribution of culture to the long-term development of cities. Awards include the European Heritage Label attributing to cultural sites with a symbolic European value and significant role in the history and culture of Europe and/or the building of the EU.
Interventions in favour of the audiovisual sector (MEDIA Strand) are divided in clusters. The content cluster supports the development of films, TV series, documentaries and videogames, and encourages collaboration and innovation in the creation and production of high-quality European audiovisual works. The business cluster promotes business innovation, competitiveness, scalability and talents in the European audiovisual sector, to strengthen its position in relation to its global competitors. Specific groups that drive the internationalisation of the sector, such as distributors, sales agents – as well as key market and networking initiatives – are target groups of this cluster, which aims at strengthening cross-border collaboration, learning and knowledge sharing. The audience cluster strengthens the accessibility and visibility of works for their potential audiences through distribution channels and platforms. The focus is on stimulating audience growth and renewal, engaging young audiences, supporting new voices, promoting access to diverse European works and ensuring access to audiovisual content for all EU citizens.
Last but not the least, there is the CROSS-SECTORAL strand that aims at exploiting the potential for collaboration between different cultural and creative sectors. The CROSS-SECTORAL strand has the following priorities:
to support cross-sectoral transnational policy cooperation by emphasising the key role of culture to achieve social inclusion and artistic freedom and promoting the visibility of the programme and the transferability of results;
to support Creative Innovation Labs to encourage innovative approaches to content creation, access, distribution, and promotion across cultural, creative and other sectors, taking into account the digital shift and covering both market and non-market dimensions;
to support the establishment and activities of Creative Europe desks in all participating countries and to stimulate cross-border cooperation and the exchange of best practices within the cultural and creative sectors.
The Commission has recently published the first calls for proposals opened for the 2022 year. 7 calls are expected to fund projects for:
More than 110 MEUR are available for proposals with deadline on the end of March / beginning of April 2022.