New Creative Europe will support the cultural and creative sectors with €2.4 billion

On 26 May 2021, the European Commission officially launched the Creative Europe programme for 2021-2027 by adopting the work programme for the first year. With a budget of 2.4 billion euro, the new programme will support the European cultural and creative sectors to reach their full potential and recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2021 around €300 million will be allocated to help professionals and artists from all cultural sectors to collaborate across disciplines and borders, in order to find more opportunities and to reach new audiences. The total programme budget of €2.4 billion over seven years has increased by 63% compared to the previous one.

Creative Europe aims to increase the competitiveness of cultural sectors, while supporting their efforts to become greener, more digital and more inclusive. It puts a stronger emphasis on transnational creation, global circulation and promotion of European works, innovation across sectors, and ease of funding access through higher EU co-financing rates. All funded actions and projects should respect gender equality and the EU's environmental commitments in the design and implementation of their activities.

The formal adoption of the legal basis of the programme is expected in early June and the first calls for proposals will be announced in the coming weeks.