European Cooperation projects

Expected Impact:

The action aims at having a transformative impact on the cultural landscape by fostering cross-border partnerships that invigorate the exchange of ideas and techniques, significantly enriching the sector. It should magnify the global presence of European art, ensuring its appreciation and access worldwide, thus broadening its impact. By facilitating collaboration among diverse organizations, the action should spark innovation, enabling the development and widespread dissemination of cutting-edge practices that enhance the competitiveness of the European cultural sector. This transnational cooperation should open new avenues for professionals, boosting their skills and fostering career growth and ensuring that cultural and creative sectors remain vibrant and resilient.

Objective:

European Cooperation Projects are transnational projects involving organisations in the cultural and creative sectors from different countries taking part in the programme. They give cultural organisations of all sizes, including micro-organisations and small-sized organisations, the possibility to co-produce, cooperate, experiment, innovate, be mobile and learn from each other. The action aims to improve access to European culture and creative works and to promote innovation and creativity. Projects can cover one or more cultural and creative sectors and can be interdisciplinary.

Proposals must present a clear cross-border cooperation dimension as this is at the core of the European Cooperation Projects.

Topic CREA-CULT-2026-COOP-1 - Small Scale projects:

• The consortium must be composed of minimum 3 independent entities from 3 different eligible countries.
• The maximum EU grant amount is of EUR 200 000 per project.
• The funding rate is of maximum 80%

Support will be given to projects addressing 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 are 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 integrate new and creative 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.

Projects responding to this objective should be of capacity-building nature. Innovation should be understood in a broad sense. 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, working conditions of artists, gender equality, the inclusion of people with disabilities, people belonging to minorities and people belonging to socially marginalised groups, fighting climate change, digitisation and AI for the benefit of creativity and creators, etc., as well as culture’s contribution to health and well-being.

Scope:

Activities must align with the specific objective the proposal has chosen to contribute to under this call (i.e. Objective 1 – Transnational creation and circulation or Objective 2 – Innovation).

Activities may include, but are not limited to (non-exhaustive list):

• Promoting the transnational mobility of artists and professionals with a view to enabling them to cooperate transnationally;
• Strengthening audience development and improving access to European cultural and creative works;
• Improving capacity by developing new and enhancing existing skills and competencies for cultural professionals, emerging artists and stakeholders engaged in cultural and creative sectors and promoting innovative approaches to creation, new and innovative models of revenue, management and marketing for the cultural sectors;
• Contributing to aspects of inclusion and gender equality and enhancing intercultural dialogue, promoting shared EU values and mutual understanding and respect for other cultures;
• Actively involve young people in cultural and creative activities to foster innovation, co-creation, and intergenerational dialogue;
• Raising awareness activities and strategies aimed at increasing the understanding visibility, and appreciation of common history, values and cultural diversity and reinforcing a sense of belonging to a common European space.