1.2 PREPARING THE NEW CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME

In December 2020 political agreement was reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the European Commission’s 2018 proposal for the new Creative Europe programme. The first key difference was in the budget, which was significantly increased to approximately EUR 2.4 billion for the period 2021-2027, an increase of 80% on an EU-27 basis. This increase reflected two major considerations: first, the cultural and creative ecosystem is central to the European project, and second, this ecosystem is currently going through a very serious crisis. This budget increase will allow Creative Europe to respond by supporting more projects and more professionals, thus helping the sectors weather this storm and emerge stronger.

The programme’s restated objectives aim to build on the successes of Creative Europe so far. They take into account the dual nature of the cultural and creative sectors, recognising, on the one hand, the intrinsic and artistic value of culture and, on the other, the economic value of those sectors, including their broader contribution to growth and competitiveness, creativity and innovation. The new programme will, in particular, aim to pursue these objectives in a way that encourages inclusion and diversity and that contributes to sustainability.

Compared to the previous programme:

The Culture strand has been strengthened, in particular, by simplifying access to the Cooperation scheme, increasing the budget for the Platforms scheme, providing for mobility grants for artists and professionals, and introducing a sectoral approach complementing the horizontal instruments, as well as adding the projection of an international dimension.

The MEDIA strand has been adapted in a spirit of evolution and not of revolution. The support measures have been refocused so that they are more effective, more understandable and more in line with the current needs of the sector. Three strong axes are reflected in this new programme: transnational creation, notably of co-productions; support to innovation – artistic, entrepreneurial and technological; stronger collaboration at European level to strengthen competitiveness. Support will continue to be offered to the entire audiovisual value chain around four clusters: creation, business, audiences and policy cooperation.

The Cross-sectoral strand incorporates several changes to reflect new objectives. The strand now comprises support for Policy Cooperation and Outreach; the launch of a Creative Innovation Lab to support cross-sectoral innovation; support to the news media sector, for the first time. The strand will continue catering for the Creative Europe Desks. The support to the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility market instrument has been integrated in the new InvestEU programme.

At the service of large and smaller organisations

Already in 2020 work began on preparing for implementation of the new programme to ensure streamlining and administrative simplification. As small organisations with limited access to public funding make up the majority of Creative Europe’s target groups, several simplification measures were developed to make it easier for them to take part in the programme. These include the wider application of lump sums, to focus not on expenses but on deliverables and results; simplified verification of financial capacity; management of calls for proposals through the corporate eGrant system. This is a fully paperless and interactive tool, with electronic signatures and correspondence.