Culture is being erased from EU research and innovation funding. How do we save it?
The next Horizon Europe programme (2028–2034) is being shaped right now, and culture is disappearing from its architecture.
The European Commission’s proposal has no dedicated component for culture or artistic research. The European Parliament’s draft report on Horizon doesn’t fix the proposal either: culture gets a nod as a ‘horizontal principle,’ but receives no dedicated home similar to the current Cluster 2. That means less ring-fenced budget, less visibility, and fewer dedicated calls. The draft also proposes to dissolve Horizon’s Society pillar entirely, folding it into a Competitiveness pillar as a fifth policy window.
For this part of the Horizon programme, horizontal means everywhere in theory, nowhere in practice.
That’s why Culture Action Europe, as part of the Artistic Research Alliance which is coordinated by ELIA , and alongside Michael Culture Association, submitted proposals for amendments to the Parliament’s draft report with two core demands:
- Rename ‘Global Societal Challenges’ policy window to ‘Culture and Global Societal Challenges’ and explicitly include culture in its scope.
- Double the budget for culture-related research: from €2.28 billion in the current 2021–2027 Horizon to €5 billion in 2028–2034.
Without a dedicated component, we lose everything Cluster 2 built in the current programme: visibility, money, and the recognition of arts, cultural and creative sectors and industries as a strategic priority for Europe’s research and innovation.
We call on shadow rapporteurs Lina Galvez, Ivars Ijabs, Ville Niinistö, and Nikos Pappas to table relevant amendments, and on rapporteur Christian Ehler to carve out the space for culture in Horizon Europe that it deserves.