The EU’s Culture programme (2007-2013) has a budget of €400 million for projects and initiatives to celebrate Europe’s cultural diversity and enhance our shared cultural heritage through the development of cross-border co-operation between cultural operators and institutions.
Three objectives…
The Culture programme aims to achieve three main objectives: to promote cross-border mobility of those working in the cultural sector; to encourage the transnational circulation of cultural and artistic output; and to foster intercultural dialogue.
…and three strands
For the achievement of these objectives, the programme supports three strands of activities: cultural actions; European-level cultural bodies; and analysis and dissemination activities.
There is good news and bad news about strands 1.1, 1.2.1 and 1.3.5 of this programme:
- The good news is that this is one of the easier EU programmes to apply for – recent changes have considerably simplified the criteria and the application procedures.
- The bad news for some is that the focus of the programme is only on co-operation projects involving at least 3 partner organisations (not individuals) from at least 3 different eligible European countries.
To be eligible, projects must be a genuine cultural collaboration between at least three cultural organisations from at least three different eligible European countries. “Culture” includes all aspects of performing arts, visual arts, literature and heritage – but it excludes audiovisual projects (these are covered under the MEDIA programme for the audiovisual sector).
You should also be aware that the European Commission is keen to support “interdisciplinary” projects covering several cultural areas or heritage and / or projects which address the theme of “intercultural dialogue” (which aims “to strengthen respect for cultural diversity…to support the coexistence of different cultural identities & beliefs…to acknowledge the contribution of different cultures to the EU member states’ heritage & way of life…”). There is also a strand for literary translation projects (see above).
The EU will provide up to 50% of the costs of such projects.
THE CULTURE PROGRAMME DOES NOT SUPPORT TOURS OR BILATERAL EXCHANGES OR CAPITAL PROJECTS OR THE PURCHASE OF EQUIPMENT OR ACTIVITIES JUST HAPPENING IN ONLY ONE COUNTRY (or activities “dressed up” to look European but which are actually just pretending to be European to try to access these funds).
You will find our downloadable three-step guide to the Culture programme very useful.
If you are interested in the Culture programme or any other EU funding opportunities, why not also book a place on EUCLID’s popular, helpful and interesting CulturEuro seminars?
