CREATIVE EUROPE : Support for European cooperation projects - EACEA 45/2016

Deadline: Nov 23, 2016  
CALL EXPIRED

Implementation of the Creative Europe Culture Sub-programme scheme: 'Support for European cooperation projects'

Introduction

This call is based on Regulation N° 1295/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11/12/2013 establishing the Creative Europe Programme (2014-2020), hereafter referred to as 'the Regulation', and in particular, Chapter III of the Regulation articles 12 and 13 concerning the implementation of the Culture Sub- programme1.

The detailed conditions of this call for proposals can be found in the guidelines for 'support for European cooperation projects' (see section VI below). These guidelines constitute an integral part of this call for proposals.

I. Priorities of the Culture Sub-programme

Pursuing to the Regulation establishing the Creative Europe Programme, the priorities can be spelled out as follows:

• -  Promoting the transnational mobility of artists and professionals with a view to enabling them to cooperate internationally and to internationalise their careers and activities in the Union and beyond, when possible on the basis of long-term strategies;

• -  Strengthening audience development as a means of stimulating interest in and improving access to European cultural and creative works and tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Audience development seeks to help European artists/cultural professionals and their works reach as many people as possible across Europe and extend access to cultural works to under-represented groups. It also seeks to help cultural organisations adapt to the need to engage in new and innovative ways with audiences both to retain them, to build new audiences, diversify audiences including reaching current "non-audiences", and to improve the experience for both existing and future audiences and deepen the relationship with them;

• -  Fostering creativity, innovative approaches to creation, and new ways of ensuring spillover effects to other sectors. Developing and testing new and innovative models of revenue, management and marketing for the cultural sectors, in particular as regards the digital shift. A particular focus shall be given on supporting activities enabling cultural professionals to gain new skills, on those having an educational dimension and on those seeking to foster intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding  among people from different cultures or backgrounds as well as to build on culture with a view to helping counter all forms of discrimination.

  - Helping the integration of refugees into the EU through showcasing and co-creation activities of cultural and audio-visual nature across Europe, which are relevant for this specific target group. Enhancing mutual cultural understanding and fostering intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, and respect for other cultures. The focus will be on the cross-border exchange of best practices, valuable knowledge and experiences, and practical hands-on action involving refugees as target audiences and/or as actors. More in general, this focus will enable further building on the importance of democratic and political values and the benefit derived by citizens from a vibrant and informed political debate as an aspect of cultural activity. 

II. General conditions for participation

General conditions for participating in the schemes of the Culture Sub-programme are set in this section while specific conditions for each scheme are referred to in section III below. All conditions are set in accordance with the Regulation.

Eligible countries

Applications from legal entities established in one of the following country categories are eligible as long as all conditions referred to in Article 8 of Regulation are met and the Commission has entered into negotiations with the country:

1. EU Member States and overseas countries and territories which are eligible to participate in the Programme pursuant to Article 58 of Council Decision 2001/822/EC2;

2. Acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates benefiting from a pre-accession strategy, in accordance with the general principles and general terms and conditions for the participation of those countries in Union programmes established in the respective Framework Agreements, Association Council Decisions or similar agreements;

3. EFTA countries which are parties to the Agreement on the EEA, in accordance with the provisions of the EEA Agreement;

4. The Swiss Confederation, on the basis of a bilateral agreement to be concluded with that country;

5. Countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy in accordance with the procedures defined with those countries following the framework agreements providing for their participation in EU

   programmes.

The Agency may select proposals from applicants from non EU countries provided that, on the date of the award decision, agreements have been signed setting out the arrangements for the participation of those countries in the Programme established by the Regulation referred to above.

Eligible applicants

The schemes are open to European cultural and creative operators which are active in the cultural and creative sectors as defined in article 2 of the Regulation who are legally established in one of the countries participating in the Culture Sub-programme.

The schemes are open to cultural operators which have had a legal personality for at least 2 years on the date of the deadline for submission of applications and which are able to demonstrate their existence as a legal person. Natural persons may not apply for a grant.

Eligible projects

The Culture Sub-programme will not support any projects including pornographic or racist material or advocating violence. The Culture Sub-programme shall support, in particular, not-for-profit projects.

Specific eligibility criteria related to each scheme are specified in section III below.

Eligible activities:

Eligible activities must intend to achieve the objectives and priorities set for the Culture Sub-programme. 

The activities must relate to the cultural and creative sectors as defined in Article 2 of the Regulation and repealing Decisions No’s 1718/2006/EC, 1855/2006/EC and 1041/2009/EC. Activities dedicated exclusively to the audio-visual sectors are not eligible under the Culture Sub-programme.

Exclusion criteria

Applicants must not be in a situation that will exclude them from participation and/or from award as defined by the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the Union and its rules of application3.

Selection criteria

The following criteria apply for all schemes unless otherwise specified under provisions detailed below. Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding (financial capacity) to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the project is being carried out and to participate in its funding. Applicant organisations must have the professional competencies and qualifications required to complete the proposed project (operational capacity).

Applicants must submit a declaration on their honour, completed and signed, attesting to their status as a legal person and to their financial and operational capacity to complete the proposed activities.

In addition to the declaration on honour, applicant organisations applying for a grant above EUR 60 000 must submit together with their application, complementary and mandatory documents as described in the specific guidelines.

Audit report

The grant application must be accompanied by an external audit report produced by an approved external auditor when the requested amount is equal or above EUR 750 000 or when the application concerns a framework partnership agreement. This report shall certify the accounts for the last two available financial years.

This obligation does not apply to public bodies and international organisations under public law. This obligation may not apply to education and training establishments if decided by the competent authorising officer on the basis of his analysis of management risks.

III. Specific conditions for participation

This call covers the following schemes of the Culture Sub-programme: 

EACEA 45/2016 – Support for European cooperation projects 

The Culture Sub-programme seeks to support projects mainly working on: A. transnational mobility
B. audience development
C.1. capacity building – digitisation

C.2. capacity building - new business models C.3. capacity building - education and training.

Supported projects shall therefore include a substantiated strategy and detailed description of how they plan to implement one or more of these programme priorities. When submitting their applications, applicants must tick a maximum of 3 of these 5 priorities which are the most relevant to their project, and rank these 3 priorities by order of relevance.

Eligibility criteria

Eligible applicants: See section II – general conditions for participation – Eligible applicants. 

Eligible projects: Depending on the scale, needs, nature, objectives and priorities of the project, the applicant will have to choose to apply under either category 1 – Smaller scale cooperation projects or under category 2 – Larger scale cooperation projects.

The project leader can apply only once a year under either category 1 or under category 2. An applicant applying as project leader under either category 1 or category 2 can be a partner in several other projects presented by another project leader under either category 1 or category 2.

Category 1 – Smaller scale cooperation projects This category includes projects that:

• -  shall involve a project leader and at least two other partners having their legal seat in at least three different countries taking part in the Creative Europe – Culture Sub-programme. Either the project leader or one of the partners must have their legal seat in one of the countries referred to in categories 1, 3 or 4 of the eligible countries.

• -  are the subject of an application requesting a EU grant of no more than EUR 200 000 representing maximum 60% of the eligible budget.

In case of selection, the project leader of a category 1 project may submit an application for a new category 1 or category 2 project under subsequent calls.

Category 2 –Larger scale cooperation projects This category includes projects that:

• -  shall involve a project leader and at least five other partners having their legal seat in at least six different countries taking part in the Creative Europe – Culture Sub-programme. Either the project leader or one of the partners must have their legal seat in one of the countries referred to in categories 1, 3 or 4 of the eligible countries.

• -  are the subject of an application requesting a EU grant of no more than EUR 2 000 000 representing maximum 50% of the eligible budget.

In case of selection, the project leader of a category 2 project will not be eligible to submit other applications under category 2 as long as the project is on-going. This means that a project leader of an on-going category 2 project is not eligible to be the project leader of another category 2 project unless the eligibility period of the selected cooperation project is over when the eligibility period of the category 2 project for which they apply as project leader begins. Project leaders of an on-going category 2 project may, however, submit an application for a new category 1 project under subsequent calls.

For both categories of projects, the maximum duration (eligibility period) is 48 months.

For both categories, the project must be based on a cooperation agreement concluded between the project leader and the partners.

Eligible activities: See section II – general conditions for participation – Eligible activities. Award criteria
Eligible applicants will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

1. Relevance (30)

This criterion evaluates how the project will contribute, on the basis of the programme priorities, to reinforcing the sector's professionalization and capacity to operate transnationally and internationally, to promoting transnational circulation of cultural and creative works and mobility of artists, to reaching new and enlarged audiences and to improve access to cultural and creative works.

To this end, the project should include a substantiated strategy to implement the programme priorities.

2. Quality of the content and activities (30)

This criterion evaluates how the project will be implemented in practice (quality of the activities and the deliverables, the experience of the staff in charge of the project and working arrangements). 

3. Communication and dissemination (20)

This criterion evaluates the project's approach to communicating its activities and results and to sharing knowledge and experiences with the sector and across borders. The aim is to maximise the impact of the project results by making them available as widely as possible at local, regional, national and European levels, so that they have a reach beyond those directly involved in the project and an impact beyond the project's lifetime.

4. Quality of the partnership (20)

This criterion evaluates the extent to which the general organisation and coordination of the project will ensure the effective implementation of the activities and will contribute to their sustainability.

IV. Budget

The Creative Europe – Culture Sub-programme has a total budget of EUR 457.8 million for the 2014-2020 period. The total appropriations for 2017 for this call will be around EUR 35.500.000.

The Agency reserves the right not to distribute all funds available.

V. Deadline for applications

Deadline for submission of European cooperation projects: 23 November 2016, before 12:00 CET/CEST (Midday, Brussels time)

If the deadline for submission falls on a public holiday in the applicant's country, no extension will be granted. Applicants must take this into account when planning their submission.

The submission procedure can be found in the respective guidelines on the websites mentioned under section VI below.

VI. Further information

The detailed conditions for application can be found in the specific guidelines on the following websites: Directorate-General for Education and Culture

http://ec.europa.eu/culture/index_en.htm

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe_en