Next Generation EU & the new MFF: What does the future hold for the cultural and creative sector?
The EU has a lot on its plate these days: an ongoing health crisis as the coronavirus pandemic hits a serious second wave, rising tensions with Turkey and an economy that is only just starting to feel the ill effects of several months’ severe disruption.
As a knock-on effect, the cultural and creative sector (CCS) seems to be slipping down the European agenda, despite the significant contribution of arts and culture to Europe’s GDP. Culture and the arts have been notably absent from recent negotiations around both the Next Generation EU (NGEU) Recovery Fund and the new Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 (MFF), lending a feeling of uncertainty to the outlook for CCS funding.
Old budgets and plans are nearing their end and the debate around European funding is getting heated. Still, initiatives in culture and arts have not stopped coming—just not from where you'd expect.
Which sources of funding are likely to see out 2020 and sustain our sector in 2021 and beyond? The answer lies in recent policymaking developments on both the European as well as the national level.
“Initiatives in culture and arts have not stopped coming—just not from where you’d expect.”
The CCS sidelined at ‘la rentrée’
This year’s rentrée kicked off with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen giving her first State of the Union address on 16 September. It signaled the direction the union is likely to take in the coming year.
Von der Leyen made no direct reference to the CCS in her 79-minute speech, save for a brief mention of culture in the context of Europe’s fight against climate change. As buildings in the EU generate more than 40% of emission, she singled this out as a key area on which to focus to reduce waste and improve sustainability. She stressed that the New European Bauhaus would be a cultural project for Europe, in addition to an environmental and economic one.
The very next day, a broad majority of the European Parliament adopted a resolution to bring attention to the critical measures needed to support the CCS. In short, they called for a doubling of Creative Europe’s budget in the upcoming MFF, a repeal of Schengen travel restrictions hindering European cultural exchange, and an earmarking of at least 2% of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for cultural professionals.
A resolution certainly shows the direction in which MEPs are willing to nudge the European agenda. However, the debate around the future of CCS funding has had an overall unpromising start: the most recent EU Council, for example, was almost wholly dedicated to foreign policy talks over how to deal with Turkey.
In response, important lobbying voices like Culture Action Europe are encouraging member states to prioritise culture in their recovery plans on the national level.
EU countries take matters in their own hands
France Relance, the French resilience and recovery plan, has made a strong start, dedicating 2% of its €100 billion budget to five priorities: €614m for cultural heritage, €426m for creation and distribution, €113m for artistic employment and education, €428m for strengthening strategic cultural sectors, and €419m for long-term CCS strategy.
Sweden also unveiled its national crisis package, with €3.4 billion for Swedish culture up to the end of 2021, the largest budget the sector has been allocated to date. Reflecting on this historic decision, one minister described the initiative as “a guiding choice for the future [due to] the intrinsic value of culture for an open and democratic society”.
Does this mean that CCS professionals should increasingly look to their own governments rather than European funding in the coming months and years?
Not quite.
The tail end of 2014-2020 funding opportunities
With all this talk of the NGEU and the new MFF, it’s important to keep in mind that previously approved cycles of funding have not yet been exhausted for the European cultural and arts sector. Plenty of calls are still being launched, as major programmes look to spend the last of their remaining budgets.
Art and the digital: Unleashing creativity for European industry, regions and society, for example, will fund proposals developing synergies between the arts and digital technologies, including the creation of local centres across European regions that promote those synergies.
“Previously approved cycles of funding have not yet been exhausted for the European cultural and arts sector.”
A call for proposals for a new pilot project for the safeguarding and promotion of culture in the Outermost regions and the Overseas Countries and Territories has also just been announced.
In August, two new calls were launched under Erasmus+, providing €100m to support educational and CCS organisations in responding to new needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The calls will fund projects that enhance digital education and training, and promote skills development through creativity and the arts.
As it winds down, Horizon 2020 is also offering opportunities for the cultural sector at the cross-section of key European priorities such as digital innovation and climate change.
Specifically, the European Museum Collaboration and Innovation Space is inviting museums to work with creative and technology partners to integrate innovative digital technologies into their operations. Likewise, this European Green Deal call will explore the link between cultural behaviours and climate change.
With the recent explosion in fake news and disinformation, Europe is also eager to pour funding into media and literacy initiatives.
And finally, while Creative Europe 2014-2020 calls have now been technically exhausted, iPortunus recently announced it will issue five new calls for programmes that will be carried out from the end of 2020 to the end of 2021 to support the international mobilities of individual artists and cultural professionals.
What’s next?
As negotiations continue around the MFF and the NGEU, a big concern for the CCS will not only be how much funding the EU will ultimately decide to allocate to culture and the arts, but also how soon these funds will be made available.
If all goes well, Creative Europe 2021-2027 will have a strong kick off. As a pandemic relief strategy, the budget will be top-loaded in 2021 and 2022, tapering off in the later years of the funding period. Releasing a large proportion of the budget early on aims to stimulate Creative Europe grant applications from the cultural, creative and AV sectors. CCS professionals will get opportunities to boost their day-to-day engagement with their audiences, as well as to develop their international cooperation initiatives.
On a separate front, EU finance ministers are currently trying to push through a compromise around the Recovery and Resilience Facility, so that 10% of total recovery spending is made available in 2021, compared to the foreseen 7% (up from €47.075 billion to €62.5 billion), with members states having the final say as to how these funds will be allocated.
As part of the NGEU, REACT EU will be using its funding budget of €55 billion to support European workers and SMEs as they navigate their way out of the pandemic. As the CCS has been categorised as an at-risk sector, culture and the arts stand to benefit from these fresh funds.
The European funding landscape is complex and uncertain, more so now that the EU is focused on dealing with crises on multiple fronts. As direct funds through European programmes are still under heavy debate, the CCS must focus on fending for itself on the national level.
With the European Commission expecting member states’ recovery plans by the end of April 2021, it’s time for the CCS to step up: organisations must lobby hard and implement their advocacy strategies targeting the local stakeholders that matter—cultural and finance ministers alike.
Arne van Vliet is the Creative Director of TrueMotion. He’s passionate about the creative arts and specialises in finding funding for innovative creative projects that are reshaping the arts landscape in Europe.