UK benefits from Creative Europe’s first grants

Thirty-eight UK-based cultural and creative organisations are set to benefit from the first round of funding from the European Commission's revamped Creative Europe programme. With UK organisations involved in almost two-thirds of the 58 projects funded, they are the “best networked” in Europe. However, just 10% of successful projects are UK-led, lower than the 25% funded in the last round of the old EU Culture Programme.

Twenty-eight organisations from the UK applied as lead partners, with a 25% success rate. Those receiving funding to lead projects include York’s Pilot Theatre, which receives €2m for a collaboration between ten European theatres developing 40 theatre productions, and the European Union Youth Orchestra, which together with the International Youth Foundation receives more than €1.9m for a long-term project developing the skills of young musicians from EU member states. Recipients of smaller awards include Tate Liverpool, the British Council, and Manchester-based Curated Place, which has secured €199k to help six composers from across Europe work with musicians from the UK, Iceland and Norway.

The European Commission’s seven-year Creative Europe funding programme replaces the Culture and MEDIA Programmes. €1.46bn is being made available for collaborative projects in the cultural, creative and audio-visual sectors from 2014–2020.