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Creative Europe 2021-2027 Programme brings €2.44 billion to support Cultural & Creative Sectors

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On 26th May, 2021, the European Commission launched new actions to support the cultural and creative sectors in Europe and beyond, following the adoption of the work programme for the first year of the Creative Europe 2021-2027 programme.

On 26th May, 2021, the European Commission launched new actions to support the cultural and creative sectors in Europe and beyond, following the adoption of the work programme for the first year of the Creative Europe 2021-2027 programme. In 2021, Creative Europe will allocate an unprecedented budget of around €300 million to help professionals and artists from all cultural sectors to collaborate across disciplines and borders, in order to find more opportunities and to reach new audiences. Today's adoption lays the foundations for the first calls for proposals under the new programme. These calls will be open to all organisations active in the relevant cultural and creative sectors. The total programme budget of €2.4 billion over seven years has increased by 63% compared to the previous one.

Creative Europe also aims to increase the competitiveness of cultural sectors, while supporting their efforts to become greener, more digital and more inclusive. Special attention is given to reinforcing the resilience and recovery of the cultural and creative sectors in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Within Creative Europe, the MEDIA sub-programme supports the development and distribution of films and audiovisual works with international appeal, in Europe and beyond. It contributes to the nurturing of talents, and manages targeted actions to enhance media literacy, pluralism and freedom. The programme will continue to promote European cultural and linguistic diversity.

In 2014, the MEDIA programme became part of the Creative Europe Programme and has awarded €13 million in direct funding to Irish companies across the Film, Documentary, Animation, TV and Video Games sectors between 2014 and 2020.

'It has been a very strong seven years for the Irish audiovisual industry. We’re honoured to be in a position to be able to help the industry tell their stories to audiences across the world. It’s wonderful to see so many strong creative projects coming to life with the support of MEDIA. We look forward to the next Creative Europe programme and to supporting the Irish audiovisual sector for years to come.’ Orla Clancy, Creative Europe Desk Ireland – MEDIA Office

'Creative Europe MEDIA has invested almost €2 million in the audiovisual and Video Games sectors in the West of Ireland with half a million invested in Gaeltacht companies. We hope to build on this strong foundation in the next Programme.' Eibhlín Ní Mhunghaile, Creative Europe Desk MEDIA Office Galway

The cultural and creative sectors have always been a rich facet of European life, contributing not only to Europe's social cohesion and diversity but also to Europe's economy representing 4.2% of the EU's total GDP and 3.7% of the EU's workforce.

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