The Creative Europe Programme: a new hope for Culture?

Have you ever heard of the Creative Europe Programme?
Here, you’ll discover the main points about this cultural initiative. Its main goal is to promote and sustain the arts and creativity and and it has been created by the European Commission for 2021-2027.

As we have witnessed, the Covid-19 pandemic has severely affected the world of culture and entertainment. Consequently, the European Commission has drawn up an action plan to revive the sector, using multiple approaches through the Creative Europe 2021-2027 programme.

The programme allocated a budget of € 2.44 billion, almost double the budget of € 1.47 billion of the previous program for 2014-2020.

The programme has two main objectives:

• the protection, development, and promotion of European heritage, linguistic and cultural diversity;
• boosting the competitiveness and economic potential of cultural and creative activities, especially in the audiovisual area.

Compared to the previous one, this year’s programme will contain new features:

• greater emphasis on transnational innovation and inclusion (e.g., the inclusion of socially marginalized groups);
• easier access to funds thanks to higher co-financing rates;
• cooperation at the European level to support greater competitiveness in the audiovisual sector;
• a more efficient professional mobility scheme for artists;
• implementation of actions aimed at encouraging specific creative sectors such as architecture, music, and cultural heritage.

The programme will follow the trend of inclusiveness, environmental sustainability and digital innovation. Therefore, the main areas that it will work on are the culture strand, the media strand and the cross-sectoral strand.
Now, we will go deeper into each of them.

CULTURE STRAND

In the Culture strand, the programme’s support will range from the sectors of architecture and design to performing arts, music, and literature. It will aim at fostering cooperation among artists and organizations in and out of Europe. Moreover, it will increase the environmental and digital shift in the Creative and Culture sectors (for example, through the digitalization of cultural heritage with the use of AI and 3D technologies), promoting innovation and creativity.

Another chance for artists will be provided by digital technologies and live events, representing a stage to showcase and develop their talent. Furthermore, the mobility scheme of i-Portunus will offer the opportunity to stimulate networking activities, connecting international artists among participating countries.

MEDIA STRAND

The MEDIA strand focuses on European audiovisual and film production, fostering its development according to the evolution of the digital world. The aim is to have the European film industries well-known globally and engage all types of audiences. Its priorities are divided into four specific clusters around which action will be implemented: content (promote and raise recognition of European values), business (scale up according to digital transformation and encourage cross-border collaboration), audience (increase audience on multiple platforms), and policy support (promote a unified EU approach siding with European values of diversity, equality, etc.).

CROSS-SECTORAL STRAND

The third strand promotes cooperation among different sectors that, through collective effort, can face structural and technological challenges and innovative solutions. The tools created to achieve this goal are policy cooperation and the Creative Innovation Lab. For instance, the latter encourages diversifying innovative solutions within various cultural and creative sectors.

Moreover, an accent has been put on supporting its funding to promote media literacy, pluralism, and media freedom. The aim is to stimulate business growth and development and encourage a higher quality of journalism.

In conclusion, this initiative of the Creative Europe Programme will strengthen the cultural sector on the transnational level and reach new audiences with innovative and creative mechanisms. 

References:

Creative Europe | Culture and Creativity (europa.eu)

Creative Europe Calls for Proposals 2021: Culture strand (europa.eu)