Creative Europe

Creative Europe is the only EU programme designed specifically for the cultural and creative sectors. Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2021/818 sets an envelope of €1.842 billion in current prices and an additional €600 million in 2018 prices, which is why the European Commission quotes a total of €2.44 billion. The programme funds not single events but cooperation between organisations from different countries and the circulation of works across borders.

Three strands

Culture (at least 33% of the budget) covers all cultural sectors except the audiovisual one: music, performing arts, literature, heritage, architecture, design. MEDIA (at least 58%) covers film, television and video games: development, distribution, festivals, training. Cross-sectoral (up to 9%) covers actions across sectors, including news media and media literacy.

Ukraine’s status

The agreement on Ukraine’s participation in the 2021–2027 programme was signed on 15 December 2021. It opened the Culture and Cross-sectoral calls, while participation in MEDIA stayed limited until Ukraine aligned its audiovisual legislation with EU law. On 11 December 2024 the European Commission and Ukraine signed an amendment to the agreement allowing full participation in MEDIA. A Ukrainian organisation can be both a partner and a project coordinator.

Main calls of the Culture strand

European Cooperation Projects are the main entry point. The 2026 call had two categories: small-scale projects (at least 3 organisations from 3 countries, a grant of up to €200,000, a rate of up to 80%) and medium-scale projects (at least 5 organisations from 5 countries, up to €1,000,000, up to 70%). Large-scale projects, with at least 10 organisations from 10 countries, are not announced every year: there were none in 2026, so their conditions should be checked in the call document of the year they appear. A project lasts up to 48 months, and one organisation can be coordinator in only one application per call.

Circulation of European literary works is a call for publishers to translate, publish and promote fiction: a package of at least 5 works, a rate of up to 60%, and a grant from €100,000 to €300,000 depending on the number of books. European Networks and European Platforms are multi-year grants for Europe-wide structures; for Ukrainian organisations it is more realistic to become their members than to apply. Culture Moves Europe offers individual mobility grants for artists and residencies; the scheme is implemented by the Goethe-Institut and applications do not go through the EU portal.

Lump sum and the own contribution

The grant in cooperation projects is a lump sum: a fixed amount set by the agency on the basis of the estimated budget in the proposal and the funding rate. Receipts are not checked at reporting, but payment is tied to the completion of work packages: an unfinished package is not paid. After the agreement is signed a pre-financing payment normally arrives, there are no interim payments, and the balance is paid after completion.

A rate of 80% or 70% means that the consortium covers the rest of the budget itself. For a small organisation this co-financing is the main risk, so the source of the own contribution should be identified before applying.

Who runs it and where to start

The calls are run by the executive agency EACEA and published on the Funding & Tenders Portal. To apply, each participant needs a PIC. Ukraine has a national office of the programme, Creative Europe Desk Ukraine, which advises applicants free of charge and helps with partner search.

A typical mistake is to submit a national project with nominal foreign partners. What is assessed is the European dimension: what each member of the consortium does and why the result would not exist without cooperation.