The Commission says that with a budget of around €385 million, nearly €100 million more compared to 2021, Creative Europe strengthens its support to creative and cultural partners taking account of the challenges resulting from the COVID-19 crisis and growing global competition.

The culture strand of the programme will include new 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.

The MEDIA strand focuses on audiovisual and various new initiatives will be introduced in 2022. Support to the development of innovative video games and virtual reality experiences will be funded. A new programme, “MEDIA 360 degrees”, will target leading industrial businesses engaging with audiovisual firms. To further boost innovation the “Media Market Gateway” will be launched for promising start-ups. Collaboration between film festivals will also be strengthened.

Finally, the cross-sectoral strand of the programme will increase funding for the Creative Innovation Lab for joint innovation projects involving different creative sectors, contributing also to the New European Bauhaus. It will also widen support to the news media with additional media freedom measures.

Creative Europe will also address key issues affecting the cultural and creative sectors. MEDIA funded projects will be required to implement strategies to “go green” and increase diversity, including gender balance. Creative Europe will therefore contribute significantly to the political priorities of the Commission on sustainability and inclusion. The programme will also include initiatives covering 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.

The Commission is encouraging the cultural and creative sectors to engage with CulturEU, the recently launched online guide to all EU funding. The interactive website brings together a total of 75 funding opportunities from 21 different EU programmes. To read the Commission’s press release in full and for a link to the 2022 work programme, click here.