The first calls under the Culture Strand of the new Creative Europe programme 2021-2027 have just been published, with fresh funding opportunities for cooperation projects, European networks, and pan-European cultural entities.
The announcement follows the launch of the seven-year programme, the only one specifically dedicated to European cross-border cultural cooperation, after the green light by the EU’s co-legislators, and the adoption, last week, of the 2021 annual work programme.
First, the Call for European Cooperation projects (deadline: 7 September). With a budget of over €60 million, this call will support projects involving a large diversity of players active in different cultural and creative sectors. The focus is on European artistic cooperation and innovation on topics such as audience engagement, social cohesion, digitisation, contribution to the European Green Deal and sector-specific challenges in the book, music, architecture and culture heritage sectors.
Applicants can choose between small (minimum 3 entities from 3 different eligible countries), medium (minimum 5 entities from 5 different eligible countries) or large (minimum 10 entities from 10 different eligible countries) scale projects depending on the size of their consortium.
As anticipated at the time of the presentation, Creative Europe will have easier access to funding through higher co-financing rates, featuring greater contribution levels from the EU. The maximum EU grant will change according to the dimension of the project. For the small-scale, the grants can cover 80% of the total eligible costs, with a maximum of 200,000 euros. A rate of 70% co-funding will apply to the brand-new category of medium-range cooperations, up to 1,000,000 euros, while for large-scale cooperation the co-financing rate will be of 60%, with a maximum of 2,000,000 euros.
Second, the Call for European Networks of cultural and creative organisations aim to support about 30 networks covering cultural and creative sectors, two more than in the current period (deadline: 26 August). With a budget of €27million for the period 2021-2023, this call will support capacity-building projects implemented by representative, multi-country, membership-based networks of European cultural organisations. Networks must have a shared mission, governance rules, and members’ rights and obligations, as formally specified (in “statutes” or equivalent) and agreed upon by its members.
Third, the Call for Pan-European cultural entities (deadline: 26 August 2021). With a budget of €5.4 million for the period 2021-2023, this call will support cultural entities – in the case of this call, orchestras with artists from at least 20 countries – whose aim is to offer training, professionalization and performance opportunities for young highly-talented artists.
The calls are available on the Funding and Tenders Portal of the European Commission.
