Film culture – Image © Sergio J Lievano – Fotolia
(BRUSSELS) – The European Commission adopted the 2022 work programme for Creative Europe Thursday, with an increased budget of around EUR 385m to help support the Covid-hit cultural and creative sectors.
The budget is nearly EUR 100 million more compared to 2021, and adoption of the work programme will be followed by the launch of the relevant calls for proposals.
The EU executive praised the cultural and creative sectors for their resilience over over the past two years. “The EU stands by their side to support their recovery, their creative process and their innovation potential,” said Culture Commissioner Mariya Gabriel: “We invite artists, creators and culture professionals to explore and benefit from the many funding opportunities provided by Creative Europe.”
The culture strand of the programme will include new calls and initiatives for the music, cultural heritage, performing arts and literature sectors. In addition, it will launch a mobility scheme, offering opportunities to artists, creators or cultural professionals to go abroad for professional development or for international collaborations, and to find new audiences, co-produce, co-create or present their work.
The MEDIA strand focuses on audio-visual and several novelties are introduced in 2022. Support to the development of innovative video games and virtual reality experiences will be funded. A new action, ‘MEDIA 360 degrees’ will target leading industrial fora engaging with businesses across the audio-visual value chain. To further boost innovation the Media Market Gateway will be launched for promising start-ups. Collaboration between film festivals will be strengthened through networks.
Finally, the cross-sectoral strand will increase funding for the Creative Innovation Lab for joint-innovation projects involving several creative sectors, contributing also to the New European Bauhaus. It will also widen support to the news media through additional measures to nurture media freedom.
The Commission says Creative Europe will address key issues affecting the cultural and creative sectors. MEDIA funded projects will be required to implement strategies for greening and diversity, including gender balance. Creative Europe will therefore contribute significantly to the political priorities of the Commission on sustainability and inclusion. The programme will include initiatives that cover additional EU priorities, such as the contribution to the EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life – as well as the European Year of Youth.
2022 Annual Work Programme for the implementation of the Creative Europe Programme
