number of funding opportunities available for stakeholders during the COVID-19 context; this approach will also promote the transition towards a more regular programming cycle, to be implemented as of 2023. At the same time, the co-financing rates for Culture co-operation projects, as well as for several MEDIA actions, were raised as a response to the urgent liquidity needs of the beneficiaries. These are concrete responses to the urgent need for funding and perspectives for these sectors, to support their recovery and resilience in the COVID context. This will allow the Programme to launch more projects early on, to channel needed support into the suffering sectors and to deliver results quickly in the first years of the Programme. Accessibility, streamlining and administrative simplification are key The majority of the Programme’s target groups is composed of micro- and small organisations with limited access to public funding. In this context, the following simplification measures have been introduced:
wider application of lump-sums, to simplify the management and reporting for beneficiaries and the monitoring of projects. The focus will not be on expenses but on deliverables and results;
where feasible and relevant, make use of budgetary commitments in multi-annual instalments to reduce administrative burden when providing long-term support to beneficiaries;
simplified verification of financial capacity;
several Creative Europe grants are managed through the corporate eGrant system which is a fully paperless and interactive tool, with electronic signatures and correspondence that will facilitate and speed up the administrative processes of the grant management. Beneficiaries will be provided with guidance on how to use this new tool.
2022 PRIORITIES: CULTURE STRAND In 2022, the CULTURE strand of the new Creative Europe will continue to be anchored to policy development and EU policy cooperation in the field of culture, notably in line with the objectives of the 2018 New European Agenda for Culture and the Council Work Plan for Culture 2019-2022. Policy cooperation and actions of the programme will also cover emerging priorities – such as the contribution to the EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life - and high-level initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus19 and the Year of European Youth20. The Programme will mainstream through its actions the cross-cutting issues of inclusion and diversity, notably gender balance, and greening of Creative Europe (i.e. contributing to the achievement of an overall target of 30% of the Union budget expenditures supporting climate objectives). In this context, the Programme intends to pursue the following priorities:
Resilience and recovery: in 2022, close to 85 million EUR will be allocated to support cooperation
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https://europa.eu/new-european-bauhaus/index_en On 15 September 2021, President von der Leyen announced in her State of the Union Address that the European Commission will propose to make 2022 the Year of European Youth, “a year dedicated to empowering those who have dedicated so much to others” and to provide them with a post-pandemic perspective. This includes quality employment, quality learning, well-being but also cultural participation. The Creative Europe programme will contribute to that objective through a multitude of actions and projects supported under the Culture strand which target also young people and promote their personal, social and professional development through creativity. 20
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