Tell us what you think about the Creative Europe programme, so we can make it even better. This is the incipit of the campaign launched by the European Commission on their official pages to promote a public consultation on the Creative Europe Programme.
Together with other data, the feedback collected from this consultation will put up to the final evaluation of the 2014-2020 Creative Europe Programme as the interim evaluation of the 2021-2027 programme. Collectively, these will feed into a European Commission report submitted to the European Parliament and Council of the European Union to reflect on the future of the Creative Europe programme.
Our own experience
So far our experience with the Creative Europe programme has been focused around a few projects, which have been key to Materahub progression into testing its methodology on up-skilling and re-skilling the creative workforce.
Crafthub
We have the one and only large-scale project Crafthub, chosen by the European Commission as a best practice and relevant for us on many different aspects. First of all the focus on craft and its relevance in contemporary practices, which living in Matera was fairly obvious yet never explored; the second was the social impact and the number of local professionals and stakeholders it involved both for the workshop and the organisation of the final exhibition.
Cultural Bees
Then Cultural Bees, one medium scale project aiming to develop and implement a training program and digital toolkit that support the promotion of entrepreneurship skills in the Cultural and Creative Industry among youth.
Artapp and Collab4Hysust
And then the two small scale projects Artapp and Collab4Hysust both focused on access to resources in the sake of building new business models. Other than the cooperation projects we have also been active in other programmes such as i-Portunus and Cultural Moves Europe, where Paolo Montemurro also participated in the initial consultation since our own Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs mobility initiative was taken as a benchmark for structuring the programme.
Only Positive Vibes for Creative Europe
Well, where do we start?
I must confess, what follows might sound a bit poignant, but we genuinely believe that Creative Europe has been a real game-changer for the sector over the past few years, especially thanks to several improvements made between the first and second rounds of the programme.
Many organizations, more internal competencies
First, a major turning point was the introduction of the small-scale project category. This opened doors for many organizations that had previously been excluded due to co-financing constraints, which were up to 50% for large-scale projects. This change has allowed organizations to start with small-scale projects and gradually scale up, leveraging internal competencies.
Flexibility and freedom
Additionally, the new lump-sum funding mechanism has provided more flexibility in administrative and financial management, making it easier for smaller organizations to experiment and innovate.
Another significant improvement in the 2021-2027 period is the cascade funding system, which offers direct financing to cultural organizations beyond just project funding. This new approach, which includes funding for artists and third parties, is a major win. For example, in our own Collab4HySust project, selected organizations can participate in an acceleration path, giving them the freedom to allocate funds as needed.
A fast transition to practice
But most importantly, as we are sure it has for many other organizations, participating in the Creative Europe calls has enabled the Materahub team to transition from theory to practice, allowing for extensive testing of our training models, especially those developed within the Erasmus programme in previous years.
Although our aim was always to enhance competencies such as internationalization and professionalization, Creative Europe allowed us to implement some models without a preliminary development phase. This means we can directly engage with creative organizations and immediately start testing.
With Creative Europe, we had the necessary resources to invest directly in cultural operators, with the lead organization acting as an intermediary to facilitate a wide range of activities and innovations.
So, what are you waiting for?
Go and have your say at the consultation. Creative Europe has done, and can still do, a lot for our sector. Together, we can ensure that Creative Europe remains a vital force for creativity and culture across the continent.