ICEC - Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies

The Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies (ICEC) advises and mentors cultural companies and professionals in various sectors: the performing arts, the visual arts, audiovisual media, digital culture, books and music, etc., and provides them with financing aid and tools, as well as services to help them with internationalisation, business training and developing client bases. Through these activities, the ICIC helps to weave a competitive, high-quality cultural fabric and also promotes consumption habits and creation of audiences. The ICEC also manages the Filmoteca de Catalunya and is a patron and founding member of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia Foundation, member of the Board of Directors of FiraTàrrega and representative of the Government of Catalonia for the same, and partner in the Audiovisual Park of Catalonia. The ICEC also participates as a protective partner of Avalis (which provides SMEs and freelancers operating in Catalonia with access to credit) and is a member of Consortium for the Refurbishment and Equipping of Theatres in Barcelona. In regard to books, the ICEC accompanies and gives support to business projects, focusing its activity on the promotion of Catalan publishers and booksellers by providing industry companies with help in publishing, marketing and promotion activities. The ICEC’s Books Area also makes it easier for industry agents to work in unison, improving mutual understanding and generating internal synergies to strengthen the foundation of the publishing business fabric. It hones its efforts through three main actions. First, by promoting publishing in Catalan and Occitan, to ensure that there is an extensive, diverse and quality catalogue available to readers. Secondly, by supporting the different stakeholders in the publishing chain, to promote a rich and varied ecosystem. And finally, by promoting reading and the revitalisation of cultural habits, to thus organically strengthen the book sector. At the ICEC, we promote the professionalisation of the entire Catalan cultural sector through training, consulting and mentoring programmes, as well as the internationalisation of cultural companies. We also make different types of grants and funding available and work with them to grow their audience base.

GRANTS

The ICEC makes available to cultural companies different lines of support that follow the entire value chain, from production to promotion, distribution, dissemination and

exhibition.

FUNDING

The ICEC accompanies and supports cultural business projects, with the main objective of promoting business culture in the cultural environment. To attain this goal, the ICEC seeks to increase cultural companies’ autonomy by making them less reliable on restrictive non-repayable grants, through the progressive adoption of a financial culture based on their familiarisation with the use of funding sources. To this end, through the Business Development Area, the ICEC directly provides cultural companies with two major financing tools: repayable contributions and participation loans. Additionally, the ICEC indirectly provides cultural companies with a third source of funding: loans for fixed and current assets from the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF). The line of credit that the ICF makes available to Catalan cultural companies is complemented by a guarantee fund from the Ministry of Culture, which facilitates companies’ access in terms of reducing the requirements for guarantees.