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Funding

Culture first became an active concern of the European Community as a direct consequence of the Treaty on European Union of 1992 (the Maastricht Treaty). The Treaty extended Community responsibility into new areas, including culture. To achieve this, Article 3 of the (basic) EC Treaty was revised to extend the objectives of Community action to make "a contribution to education and training of quality and to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States".

In addition Article 151 of the EC Treaty requires the Community to take cultural aspects into account in its action under other provisions of the Treaty and to promote cultural diversity. The consequence of this is that culture must be taken into consideration when developing activities and policies, for example those involving education, economic and social cohesion among Member States, job creation and the elimination of social exclusion.

In the initial post-Maastricht period this increased responsibility for culture found practical expression in Community programmes such as Kaleidoscope (cross-border artistic collaboration), Ariane (literature) and Raphael (heritage). These were superseded by the Culture 2000 programme, which has now been superseded in its turn by a new funding programme, 'Culture 2007'.

The specific objectives of the Culture 2007 programme are:

  • to promote the transnational mobility of people working in the cultural sector;
  • to encourage the transnational circulation of works and cultural and artistic products;
  • to encourage intercultural dialogue.

Calls for proposals have already been published. See the EU's UK Cultural Contact Point - Euclid - website for further details.

European Capital of Culture

In 1999 the "European City of Culture" was renamed the "European Capital of Culture" and is now financed through the Culture 2000 programme. It was launched on the initiative of Melina Mercouri by the Council of Ministers in 1985 as an initiative designed to bring European peoples closer. For 2007, the honours go jointly to Luxembourg and Sibiu in Romania. Liverpool and Stavanger will be host capitals in 2008, and Linz (Austria) and Vilnius (Lithuania) in 2009. The cities of Essen (Germany), Pécs (Hungary) and Istanbul (Turkey) have been proposed as the European Capitals of Culture in 2010. Click here for further information.

Audiovisual industries

The MEDIA programme has a budget of €400 million for the period 2001-06 to support the development, distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works. These include fiction (cinema and television), creative documentaries, works of animation and multimedia.

The programme also allocates €50 million to business and legal training (marketing and intellectual property law), training in technology (computer graphics and multimedia) and courses on screenplay writing for foreign audiences.

A budget of €755 million budget for the new Media 2007 Programme to run from 2007-2013. Media 2007 has now been adopted.

The UK MEDIA TEAM helps to promote and administer the MEDIA Programme in the UK.

Other support for culture

In addition to Culture 2000 and MEDIA, there are a number of potential sources of funding and support available under other EU programmes not primarily concerned with culture.

The eContentplus programme

Carrying on from eContent , the four-year eContentplus programme (2005-08) supports the development of multi-lingual content for innovative, on-line services across the EU. With a budget of €149 million, eContentplus seeks to "tackle the fragmentation of the European digital content market and improve the accessibility and usability of geographical information, cultural content and educational material." The programme's UK contact point is the Office of Science and Technology (OST).

The TEN-Telecom programme

This programme is intended to help the development of e-services across Europe in order to achieve an inclusive information society. It has a budget of €276 million for 2000-06. eTEN helps companies to launch e-services by providing up to 50% of the cost of feasibility studies and 10% of the subsequent investment. The UK contact point for eTEN is OST (see above).

Education and training in the arts

In addition to training activities under the MEDIA programme, several programmes run by the European Commission cover the training of professionals in the cultural sector.

The education and training programmes Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci offer support for such activities as education and training in the arts, cultural management and crafts, educational projects in schools on cultural topics and projects to raise cultural awareness. One of the key themes of these programmes is language learning.

The Youth programme is more informal: it finances youth exchanges with a cultural theme, for example voluntary work by young people to restore the cultural heritage and youth initiatives in the arts.

Environment

The LIFE programme part-finances environmental conservation projects that exploit the full potential of natural sites. For example, these may include tourist development projects for historic sites.

Regional and social development

The EU Structural Funds have a budget of €195 billion for the period 2000-06 to encourage the development of less-favoured regions and to promote social and human development. The Structural Funds could provide the bulk of the EU's expenditure on cultural activities, where they act as a source of employment and promote local development through activities such as tourism. For an analysis of the Structural Funds and their potential benefit to culture in the UK, see the Arts Council of England website.

Financial aid focuses on three main objectives:

  • helping regions to catch up where their development is lagging behind (Objective 1);
  • supporting economic and social conversion in areas facing structural difficulties (Objective 2); and
  • modernising systems of training and promoting employment (Objective 3).

Objective 1 is geographically specific and applies only to certain regions of England, namely Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, South Yorkshire and Merseyside (elsewhere in the UK, West Wales and the Valleys also receive Objective 1 funding; Northern Ireland and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland were Objective 1 areas between 1994 and 1999, but have now lost that status). Objective 2 is also geographically specific but the list of areas to which it applies is extensive. Objective 3 is not limited by geographical area.

Projects under Objectives 1 and 2 frequently have a cultural dimension, for example restoring and developing the architectural and cultural heritage, building cultural facilities, setting up cultural and tourist services and providing training in the arts or in the management of cultural activities.

Objective 3 projects, which include training for young people or the unemployed, can relate to activities such as arts and crafts. The Objective also covers funding to promote employment and the setting-up of small businesses.

The Commission's regional policy website has further information and identifies national contacts, which vary according to the objectives and programmes involved.

Support for investment

The European Investment Bank (EIB) can provide bank loans or venture capital instruments for companies operating in the audiovisual sector. The EIB also provides long-term loans to support certain investment projects with a cultural component. These activities are carried out in conjunction with the Commission's own programmes to promote European audiovisual content, research and development, and the development of less-favoured regions. See also the European Investment Fund.

Cooperation with non-member countries

The European Union has concluded a large number of cooperation or association agreements with non-member countries in central and eastern Europe (many of which have now joined the EU), Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean region and with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Some of these agreements include provisions on culture that allow cooperative projects to receive financing. The EuropeAid Co-operation Office manages all these programmes.

Sources of further information
  • EUCLID is an independent information consultancy that holds the contract from the EC and the UK government to be the "UK Cultural
    Contact Point", providing advice and information on the EU's Culture 2007 funding programme, and also on other opportunties for the cultural sector from the EU. They operate the www.culture2007.info website and also provide a listing of EU programmes for the cultural sector at http://eufunds.culture.info.EUCLID also run seminars on EU funding opportunities which are promoted via its website, www.euclid.info. EUCLID has also recently been appointed by Arts Council England to provide additional European and international information to the arts sector in England - mainly through the umbrellawww.culture.info portal.
  • The European Commission has its own European Culture Portal, which provides further details on all the programmes discussed. The Commission also has a general 'Culture' site;
  • Eurimages is the Council of Europe's fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European films. It was set up in 1989 and currently has 30 member states;
  • Europa Nostra is a non-profit, pan-European umbrella organisation for those involved in the fields of architectural and natural heritage. Through its annual award scheme, Europa Nostra selects and recognises particularly deserving achievements in the fields of restoration, conservation etc. Its secretariat is in The Hague;
  • The European Audiovisual Observatory was set up in 1992 to gather and distribute information and data on economic, legal and financial matters relating to the film industry, television, video and new media in 35 European countries;
  • The European Council of Artists (ECA) seeks to further the interests of professional artists, writers and performers in Europe and to foster cooperation between them. It was founded in 1995 and is based in Denmark;
  • The European Cultural Foundation was founded in 1954 by Denis de Rougemont with the aim of adding a human dimension to the economic, technical and legal initiatives of the new Europe-in other words, to create "a Europe of the spirit and of the heart". The statutes of the ECF state: "The Foundation shall have as its aims to promote cultural and educational activities and research of a multinational nature and of a European character." It is based in the Netherlands;
  • The European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (EFAH) exists to identify and highlight the needs of the European artistic community to European decision-makers, and to encourage the community's participation in decision-making. It also aims to improve the exchange of information on the arts and heritage in Europe, between the cultural sector and those involved in cultural policy-making, and to act as consultant in the field of arts and heritage to European, national and regional policy and decision-making bodies;
  • The members of the European Union Baroque Orchestra are chosen from among the most talented young music students across Europe who are setting out on professional careers as baroque orchestral musicians. The 21 successful players, who are selected by audition, are members of the orchestra for six months, starting with training and rehearsals for an international concert tour;
  • The European Union Youth Orchestra was established to show through music the cooperation and unity of European young people and to provide a symbol of the European ideal. The Orchestra's 140 members are selected each year from over 4 000 applicants aged between 14 and 23 from the 25 EU Member States; and
  • NEMO-the Network of European Museum Organisations-is an independent network which represents the European museum community and acts as an information relay point between the European Union and museum organisations.