European Cooperation Projects Medium Scale

• Medium-scale projects, a novelty of the 2021-2027 Creative Europe Programme, have already proven their quality both in the applications received and the results achieved in the first years of the Programme implementation.
• The action European Cooperation Projects fosters transnational cooperation and exchanges 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.
• Medium-scale projects must have a minimum 5 entities from 5 different eligible countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme with a maximum duration of 48 months.
• European Cooperation Projects fosters transnational cooperation and exchanges 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.
• All proposals must take into consideration the cross-cutting issues of inclusion and diversity, notably gender equality and greening Creative Europe in the design and the implementation of their project.
• The action is anchored in the policy framework of the Culture strand of the Creative Europe Programme and its cross-cutting issues of inclusion and diversity notably gender balance as well as greening Creative Europe. EU Cooperation Projects are transnational projects involving cultural and creative organisations from different countries taking part in the Programme. Projects can cover one or more cultural and creative sectors and can be interdisciplinary.
• Proposals are expected to present a clear cross-border cooperation dimension as this is at the core of the European Cooperation Projects.
  
• European Cooperation Projects are also designed to contribute to the implementation of emerging EU policy initiatives such as the New European Bauhaus.
• Concerning greening of Creative Europe (environment and the fight against climate change), applicants are strongly encouraged to take into account the ‘Study on Greening the Creative Europe Programme’ and in particular the Good Environmental Practices Guide included there, and to propose in their projects activities that minimize the impact on climate and environment. Common practices include the following examples (other good practice examples can be found in the study mentioned above.
• Concerning inclusion and diversity notably gender balance, applicants are strongly encouraged to:
  • Propose activities that reach out to people from different geographical and socio-economic background in order to ensure equal access and participation.
  • Propose methodologies for implementing the project with a gender perspective, promote gender equality and non-discrimination mainstreaming inspired by the Gender Mainstreaming Toolkits and Guides.
  • Include artists with disabilities in the creative process and activities of the project, as well as stimulate their active participation.
• This action is expected to support at least 130 projects.

• The consortium most be composed of 5 entities from 5 different eligible countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme.
• In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must be legal entities (public or private bodies) established in one of the eligible countries;
• Creative Europe Participating Countries;
• EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories; (OCTs)); non-EU countries; listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries).
• The project coordinator must have had a legal existence for at least 2 years on the date of the deadline for submission.

Support will be given to 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; Transnational creation and circulation is important for the advancement of collaborations, increased outreach and in many cases necessary for the viability and development of cultural organisations, institutions and individuals. Co-production is also a tool to stimulate creativity, share resources and facilitate the trans-national distribution of content and the circulation of artists. Projects will consider the new context such as health or environmental concerns and integrate innovative (digital) ways of producing and disseminating content.
• 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.
  Innovation, in a broad sense, is necessary for the evolution of the cultural and creative sectors and their competitiveness. Innovations can be of technological and artistic nature; they may include the joint creation and production of innovative European works and their dissemination to a wide and diverse audience. Innovations also include the development and experimentation of new practices or models, as well as the transfer and dissemination of innovative practices from more advanced European regions or sectors or disciplines to other regions in Europe. Areas of innovation can encompass a social or societal dimension such as: audience engagement/development, gender equality, the inclusion of people with disabilities, people belonging to minorities and people belonging to socially marginalised groups, fighting climate change, digitisation, etc., as well as culture’s contribution to health and well-being, especially mental health, given the existing evidence and the persisting mental health crisis affecting in particular the youth.

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

• Audience: to increase access to, engagement and participation in culture and in particular content from countries other than their own-for all types of audience;
• Social inclusion: to promote societal resilience, including the important role of culture for health and wellbeing (particularly mental health), 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;
• Sustainability: to co-create, adopt and disseminate environment-friendly practices, as well as to raise awareness on sustainable development through cultural activities, in line with the European Green Deal and the New European Bauhaus;
• Digital: to help the European cultural and creative sectors to undertake or accelerate their digital transition, and to embrace the opportunities and to address the challenges raised by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies (e.g., generative AI, big data, virtual worlds, blockchain, NFT, etc.);
• International dimension: to build the capacity within the European cultural and creative sectors, including grass-roots organisations and micro-organisations, to be active across borders – in Europe and beyond - and to contribute to the development of international cultural relations and the Union’s global strategy for international relations through culture.
• Annual priority: Support to Ukrainian cultural and creative sectors. With this priority, it is intended to offer an adequate response to the consequences of the war of aggression in Ukraine having devastating effects on the Ukrainian cultural heritage, on cultural organisations as well as artists, which cannot operate and reach out to their national and international audiences. Projects addressing this priority should focus their effort on supporting Ukrainian cultural organisations and professionals (including artists) to allow them to continue creating and showcasing Ukrainian culture and/or prepare the post-war recovery.
• All proposals must take into consideration the cross-cutting issues of inclusion and diversity, notably gender equality and greening Creative Europe in the design and the implementation of their project.

• For medium scale projects the maximum EU grant amount is €1,000,000 per project.
• The funding rate is a maximum of 70%