As from 1 January this year, the European Union’s new ‘Creative Europe’ funding programme came into operation, bringing to the table a total budget of €1.46 billion to finance projects and initiatives over the next 7 years.
In-spite of the fact that the introduction of austerity measures has negatively affected public spending on culture and the arts, the European Commission has increased the budget of this fund by an additional 9% over preceding culture-related funding programme. This increased allocation is distributed over a plethora of different funding stands targeting the needs of various creative sectors.
One of the most noteworthy differences in the new programme is the introduction of a funding strand dedicated towards assisting the development of digital games. The programme in its entirety however is separated into two distinct sub-programmes covering ‘Culture’ and ‘Media’ respectively. Each one of these two sub-programmes is in turn divided into several other areas dedicated to specific project proposals.
The ‘Culture’ sub–programme allows for the creation of collaborative artistic projects having some form of European dimension between cultural operators. Within this sub-programme applicants may also apply for financial assistance for the creation of thematic multi-national platforms and networks aimed at assisting and promoting artists within their own country and overseas, to bring about enhanced exposure of European artistic works. The programme also allows for the provision of financial assistance in the translation of literary works of fiction into other European languages. The scope of this financial support is to expand the circulation of literary works within the European Union.
The ‘Media’ aub-programme is primarily dedicated towards the provision of assistance to European audiovisual works. Projects submitted under this programme are aimed at increasing and improving the skills required by the sector, as well as the creation of audience development projects intended towards extended markets through the cultivating of calibre audiovisual consumers. Additional funding opportunities under this programme consist of the hosting of film festivals as well as other financial instruments to facilitate the creation and distribution of European films and video games.
One of the advancements in the new programme is the introduction of funding options that allow for the creation of smaller cultural cooperation projects. Whereas individual project proposals awarded under the previous funding programme where often given grants of hundreds of thousands of Euro, the flexibility introduced in the new programme will incentivise smaller projects through the removal of minimum project budget sizes.
‘Small Scale Cooperation Projects’ for example allow for projects that do not exceed a grant request of €200,000 and provides a co-financing rate of 60%. Projects under this funding strand need to have a minimum of two other European partners, and the next deadline for cooperation projects is the October 1.
All projects under the ‘Creative Europe’ programme require the participation of other European partners, while applicants may also make use of national funding instruments such as the Malta Arts Fund and the Malta Film Fund to compliment the co-financing requirements of their projects. This will induce a synergy between local and European funds and provides an opportunity to increase the value of project proposals while satisfying both national and European aims and priorities.
‘Creative Europe’ boasts other European initiatives aimed at promoting European art, culture and heritage such as ‘European Capitals of Culture’, the ‘European Heritage Label’ and prizes in the fields of literature, music, conservation and architecture.
The overall aim of this programme is that of boosting the growth and expansion of Europe’s creative economy through the creation of quality works, recognition of talent, increased mobility, larger market absorption and widespread distribution of artistic and audiovisual works.
For more information on the ‘Creative Europe’ programme one can contact MEUSAC on 22003300 or [email protected]
Culture Sub- Programme Funding Strands
MEDIA Sub- Programme
Funding Strands
European cooperation projects
Development - Video games
Access to Markets -single
Distribution - Support to sales agents
European platforms
Reaching the audience - Audience development
Access to Markets - FPA
Transnational distribution of European Films – the "Cinema Selective" Scheme
European networks
International Co-Production funds
Reaching the audience - Cinema networks
Television Programming of Audiovisual European Works
Literary translation projects
Training
Distribution - Automatic support
Development of Single Projects and Slate Funding
Film Festivals