The Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027 has a budget of € 2.44 billion, compared to €1.47 billion of the previous programme (2014-2020).

The maximum EU grant amount is of €200 000 per project.

The Creative Europe Programme is open to cultural and creative organisations from EU Member States, as well as non-EU countries. Subject to certain conditions, countries of the European Economic Area, candidate/potential candidate countries and European Neighborhood Policy countries can also participate in the programme.

Here are some examples:
• Initiatives related to the European Green Deal: artists using materials derived from food waste to promote the circular economy.
• Projects promoting an economy for people, such as highlighting great women composers to support gender equality.
• Digital projects that display Europe’s small towns through modern technologies.
• Initiatives promoting the European way of life, like projects using clothing as a means of dialogue for women refugees.
• Projects strengthening Europe in the world, such as supporting the film industry in European countries without viable industries.
• Initiatives for a new push for European democracy, like projects using the arts to question the resilience of the rule of law and Europe’s democracy.

The programme covers the following strands:
– CULTURE: cultural and creative sectors, apart from the audiovisual sector
– MEDIA: the audiovisual sector
– CROSS-SECTORAL: activities across all cultural and creative sectors

The ECOC scheme is particularly relevant for regional development. It can help finance tourism and cooperation projects or platforms under the horizontal actions of the CULTURE strand. Cultural events like music or performing arts festivals are also eligible for funding. In the MEDIA strand, film festivals and markets may play a role in national and international tourism. In addition, city branding through culture contributes to the value of urban areas, thereby attracting more visitors.
Furthermore, the programme’s CULTURE strand provides for sectoral actions, including developing the creative aspects of the design and fashion sectors, along with sustainable cultural tourism.

The programme supports projects that promote contemporary European creative works and heritage (covering intangible, tangible and industrial outputs). This includes architecture, music, literature, the performing arts, films, festivals, cultural tourism, and flagship initiatives such as the European Capitals of Culture (ECOC) or European Heritage Days.

• Project Title: Heritage for PEOPLE

The project “VerSus+ / Heritage for PEOPLE” focuses on raising public awareness about material and intangible heritage conservation, and more sustainable architecture. 

The project pays special attention to

• Children and young people
• Local, regional and national heritage management authorities
• Experts and specialists in architecture
• Craftsmen
• Construction and tourism companies
• Cultural, educational and social organisations

It also intends to include migrants and refugees as a way of introducing them to the local culture. Initiatives intend to demonstrate the lessons that can be learned from vernacular heritage for future society. They are carried out in places where this heritage is under pressure from mass tourism and other changes. For example, islands and archipelagos with available administrative, technical and social partners. 

These pilot projects are designed as a testing ground for implementing actions in social participation, education, communication and promotion in several contexts and through different media. The present project intends to highlight the sustainable aspects of life on islands, archipelagos and other geographically-limited areas. An approach will be drawn up from this initiative to be applied to other situations. The experiences of each island will also provide perspectives for best practices and skills development in the entire country in question.

In addition, promotion and support from associate partners will make it possible to apply these experiences to other similar European and international cases.

EU contribution: €197.250,00

• Project Title: Festivalfinder.eu (a)Live Now

“In Europe the arts are just a festival away” is the slogan of the recently launched interactive search engine and online portal FestivalFinder.eu. It is a result of the pilot project Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe (EFFE), which drove 2,000 festivals to register on the site by 19 September 2019.

Having focused on getting festivals to sign up, FestivalFinder.eu (a)Live Now has now launched this tool with partners from 6 different sectors and perspectives: festivals, cities, national tourism boards, the press, academia and tech. The ultimate goal is to increase audience access to the arts and provide information on the rich diversity of festivals across Europe.

EU contribution: €199,437

• Official website  
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• Creative Europe on Funding & Tenders
• Find calls for proposals
• Funding opportunities in Culture and Creativity
• Discover more funding opportunities for the Cultural and Creative Sectors
• Regulation on Creative Europe
• 2023 Creative Europe programme