This action will support projects involving a large diversity of players active in different cultural and creative sectors, to carry out a broad spectrum of activities and initiatives. The action is anchored in the policy framework of the Culture strand of the Creative Europe programme and its cross-cutting issues (inclusiveness, reduction of environmental impact and gender equality). European cooperation projects are also designed to contribute to the implementation of emerging EU policy initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus.

European cooperation projects are open to all the cultural and creative sectors. However, considering that this action aims to pursue the objectives of the CULTURE strand of the programme, projects involving exclusively organisations from the audio-visual sector and projects of an exclusive audiovisual content are not targeted for funding under it.

Topic CREA-CULT-2023-COOP-2 - Medium-scale projects:

• The consortium most be composed of minimum 5 entities from 5 different eligible countries.
• The maximum EU grant amount is of EUR 1 000 000 per project.
• The funding rate is of maximum 70%

Support will be given to cooperation projects contributing to one of the following objectives:

• Objective 1 - Transnational creation and circulation: to strengthen the transnational creation and circulation of European works and artists;
• Objective 2 – Innovation: to enhance the capacity of European cultural and creative sectors to nurture talents, to innovate, to prosper and to generate jobs and growth.

In addition to contributing to the objectives referred to above, projects shall address at least one (and no more than two) of the following priorities:

1. Audience: to increase cultural access to and participation in culture as well as audience engagement and development both physically and digitally;
2. Social inclusion: to promote societal resilience and to enhance social inclusion in/through culture in particular of/for people with disabilities, people belonging to minorities and people belonging to socially marginalised groups, as well as intercultural dialogue;
3. Sustainability: in line with the European Green Deal and the New European Bauhaus, to co-create, adopt and disseminate more environment-friendly practices, as well as to raise awareness on sustainable development through cultural activities;
4. Digital: to help the European cultural and creative sectors to undertake or accelerate their digital transition, also as a response to the COVID-19 crisis;
5. International dimension: to build the capacity within the European cultural and creative sectors, including grass-roots organisations and micro-organisations, to be active at the international level – in Europe and beyond;

Further to these priorities, annual sector-specific priorities for the following sectors have been defined to reinforce the programme’s sectoral approach: cultural heritage, music, book and publishing, architecture, fashion and design, sustainable cultural tourism. These priorities are based on political dialogues and stakeholders’ consultations such as the Music Moves Europe Initiative or the experiences of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, and respond to identified shared needs in those cultural and creative sectors whose specific challenges require a more targeted approach. Indicatively 20% of the budget allocated to this action will be used to support projects addressing these sector-specific activities.

6. Annual sector-specific priority (for the sectors of cultural heritage, music, book and publishing, architecture, fashion and design, sustainable cultural tourism): capacity building and training activities (and other skills development activities such as mentoring, peer learning, networking, etc.) specific to the sectors mentioned above. The objective of this priority is to foster talents and enhance the entrepreneurial and professional development capacities of artists and professionals, of the concerned sectors to adapt to new creative processes, business models and market developments, and to embrace digital and green transition. Particular focus will be put on the acquisition of skills and knowledge on:

• Entrepreneurship and professional development (such as audience development, marketing, promotion, distribution, monetisation, self-entrepreneurship, contract and remuneration negotiation etc.),
• Digitalisation (3D, AI technologies, big data, blockchain, Metaverse, NFT, etc.),
• Greening of the value chain and sustainable business models.

Please refer to the call section 2 for more details.

Expected impact

This action will support approximately 130 projects.

This action is expected to foster cooperation between organisations active in the culture field, to increase the European dimension of creation and circulation of European artistic content as well as to encourage the development, experimentation, dissemination or application of new and innovative practices.

This action is expected as well to contribute to the implementation of the Commission’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 and the European Green Deal.