Increased support to international mobility of European artists

The EU intends to continue its efforts to promote the international mobility of European artists, encouraged in this respect by the success of the i-Portunus pilot project funded by the Europe Creative programme. In 2019, it enabled 343 original European artists from 36 countries to work abroad for 15 to 85 days.

To be eligible for support from i-Portunus, applicants had to demonstrate that they were pursuing a well-defined objective, such as international collaboration, working in a production-oriented artistic residency or developing their professional activity in the destination country. Between April and September 2019, more than 3,200 requests for assistance were submitted by artists and culture professionals.

A conference was held in Brussels on 15 and 16 October for a debate on how to improve this programme. These discussions will be taken into account in the recommendations presented to the Commission at the end of the project.

In 2020, the Commission will invest an additional 1.5 million euro in two similar experiments. This action should also be continued under the next Europe Creative Programme 2021-2027.