Europe earmarks nearly €2 billion for culture

A new culture programme unveiled by the European Commission has a proposed budget of €1.8bn for 2014–2020. The scheme as a whole, ‘Creative Europe’ will offer support to projects across the range of creative industries, but €500m is to be specifically for culture. The overall proposed budget represents a 37% increase on current levels: the Culture programme alone was previously allocated €400m. The main aim of Creative Europe is to enable 300,000 artists and cultural professionals to reach new audiences beyond their home countries, and for thousands of organisations and individuals to benefit from training to gain new skills and strengthen their capacity to work internationally. The scheme will build on the Culture and MEDIA programmes which have supported the cultural and audiovisual sectors for more than 20 years. The Commission is also proposing to allocate more than €210m for a new financial guarantee facility to enable small operators to access up to €1bn in bank loans, as well as €60m to support policy cooperation, new approaches to audience building and new business models. The budget proposal is now under discussion by the Council of 27 Member States and the European Parliament, which will take the final decision. European networks representing the cultural and creative sectors are invited to attend an information session on the programme on 30 January 2012 in Brussels.