New Financing opportunities for cultural and creative activities

The framework programme “Creative Europe “, the new programme for culture and artistic creation has a budget of 1.46 billion euro for the period 2014-2020.

56 % of this amount will be spent on the sub-programme “MEDIA” that focuses on training in the areas of film, audiovisual and audience development and festivals. 31% will be allocated to “Culture” sub- programme which focuses on supporting artists and professionals through transnational cooperation projects and the development of networks. 13 % will be allocated to the development of a new cross-sectorial strand with the establishment of a financial guarantee to support loans to businesses and cultural and creative organisations.

Thus, the first calls of the framework programme Creative Europe were published on 11 December 2013 and aim to provide funding opportunities for projects in the fields of culture, audiovisual and arts. In this context, the annual work program for 2014, recently published by the European Commission, sets priorities and objectives to be implemented in the three sub-programmes to foster the safeguarding and promotion of European cultural and linguistic diversity and to strengthen the competitiveness of the cultural and creative sectors with a view to promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. 

Specifically, the call for proposals “Support to film festivals” under the MEDIA sub-programme supports activities that aims to promote culture and to increase the public interest for European audiovisual works. The total budget available for co-financing of actions is 3.25 million euro. The EU financial contribution for this project is between 19 000 and 75 000 euro and will take the form of a lump sum depending on the number of European films. 

In addition, the call for proposals “Support for training” under the same sub-programme aims to develop training measures promoting the acquisition and knowledge building by audiovisual professionals. The total budget available for the co-financing of actions is 7.5 million euro. The EU grant for this project may not exceed 60 % of the total eligible costs for European activities, and 80% for international ones.

Finally, the “Creative Europe” programme contributes to the designation of the two European Capitals of Culture each year (Umeå in and Riga in 2014), to the development of the European Heritage Label and to the ceremony awards rewarding authors, the European architecture and the emerging talents.