Support to Festivals 2018 - EACEA/17/2017 (Deadline 26 April 2018)

Deadline: Apr 26, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

These guidelines are based on Regulation No 1295/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11/12/2013 concerning the implementation of a programme of support for the European cultural and creative sector (CREATIVE EUROPE)1 and its corrigendum of the 27/06/2014 (OJ L189/260).2

The European Commission is responsible for the implementation of the Creative Europe Programme and for the decision to grant individual European Union funds. The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency hereafter "the Agency" manages the Culture and MEDIA Sub-programme on behalf and under the supervision of the European Commission.

General background information about the Creative Europe programme can be found on the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/index_en.htm

2. OBJECTIVES – THEMES – PRIORITIES

2.1. Objectives

Within the field of promoting transnational circulation, one of the priorities of the MEDIA Sub- programme shall be to:

• • support audience development as a means of stimulating interest in and improving access to European audiovisual works in particular through promotion, events, film literacy and festivals.

The MEDIA Sub-programme shall provide support for the following measures:

• support initiatives presenting and promoting a diversity of European audiovisual works;
• support activities aiming at increasing knowledge and interest of audiences in European audiovisual works.

2.2 Targeted projects

The MEDIA Sub-programme encourages European audiovisual festivals taking place in countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme which:

• demonstrate strong efficiency in audience development (especially toward young audience) by implementing activities before, during or after the event including such as: year-long activities and/or decentralisation to other cities (with smaller partner festivals nationally and/or cross- border) and/or any efficient outreach activities towards non-core film festival audience;

• demonstrate a commitment to innovative actions especially in the areas of outreach and audience development using the latest digital technologies and tools such as social media and online activities in order to create a permanent community; amplify innovative approaches beyond expanding their reach (for instance cross-platform programmes etc);

• organize initiatives for film literacy (for example film education) in close cooperation with schools and other institutions throughout the year;
• place strong emphasis on European films in general and especially films from countries of low audiovisual production capacity;
• place strong emphasis on non-national European programming and geographic diversity of non-national European programming;
• demonstrate interest to initiate and further develop collaboration and partnerships with other European film festivals across borders to increase resource efficiency including sharing of subtitling/dubbing, online viewing platforms etc.

3. TIMETABLE

The indicative timetable is the following:

a) Publication of the call

September, 2017

b) Deadline for submitting applications

26 April 2018 12:00 (noon, Brussels Time)

c) Evaluation period

May - August 2018

d) Information to applicants

September 2018

e) Signature of grant agreement or notification of grant decision

October 2018

f) Starting date of the activities

Between 1 November 2018 and 30 April 2019

g) Duration of the action

12 months

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at EUR 3.2 M.

This amount is subject to the availability of the funds after the adoption of the budget for 2018 by the budgetary authority.

The EU financial contribution will take the form of a lump sum. See details in section 11.2. The Agency expects to fund 75 proposals.

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

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applications shall comply with the following requirements:

• -  they must be received no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 3 of the present guidelines;

• -  they must be submitted using the online application form (see section 14 of the present guidelines);

• -  they must be drafted in one of the EU official languages, preferably in English or French.

The application form must be accompanied by a balanced budget and all the other documents referred to in the application form.

Failure to comply with those requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.

In order to submit an application, applicants must provide their Participant Identification Code (PIC) in the application form. The PIC can be obtained by registering the organisation in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) hosted in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal. The Unique Registration Facility is a tool shared by other services of the European Commission. If an applicant already has a PIC that has been used for other programmes (for example the Research programmes), the same PIC is valid for the present call for proposals.

The Participant Portal allows applicants, to upload or update the information related to their legal status and attach the requested legal and financial documents (see section 14.2 for more information).

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Applications which comply with the following criteria will be subject of an in-depth evaluation.

6.1. Eligible applicants

This call for proposals is open to European entities (private companies, non-profit organisations, associations, charities, foundations, municipalities/Town Councils, etc.) established in one of the countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme (see below) and owned directly or by majority participation, by nationals from such countries.

Applications from legal entities established in one of the following countries are eligible as long as all conditions referred to in Article 8 of the Regulation establishing the Creative Europe Programme are met:

− 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/EC;

− 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 European Union programmes established in the respective Framework Agreements, Association Council Decisions or similar agreements;

• −  EFTA countries which are members of the EEA, in accordance with the provisions of the EEA Agreement;

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

• −  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 European Union programmes;

The Programme shall also be open for bilateral or multilateral cooperation actions targeted at selected countries or regions on the basis of additional appropriations paid by these countries or regions.

The Programme shall permit cooperation and joint actions with countries not participating in the Programme and with international organisations which are active in the cultural and creative sectors such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development or the World Intellectual Property Organisation on the basis of joint contributions for the realisation of the Programme's objectives.

The Agency may select proposals from applicants in 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.

(Updated list of countries that fulfil the conditions referred to in Article 8 of the Regulation and that the Commission has started negotiations with can be found on the following link:

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe/library/eligibility-organisations-non-eu-countries_en

For applicants from the United Kingdom: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article II.16.2.1(a) of the grant agreement.

In order to assess the applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested:

• private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required),

• public entity: copy of the resolution or decision establishing the public company, or other official document establishing the public-law entity.

Natural persons may not apply for a grant.

6.2 Eligible activities

Only applications submitted by eligible entities organising audiovisual festivals in countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme will be accepted.

For applicants from the United Kingdom: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article II.16.2.1(a) of the grant agreement.

By audiovisual festival is understood an event:

• programming eligible films (fiction, documentaries or animation), that are being screened to wide audiences including general public as well as accredited international audiovisual professionals and press;

• taking place over a specific period of time, in a prior defined city;

• having a clear regulation/selection procedure.

A minimum of 70% of the eligible programming presented to the public during the festival OR a minimum of 100 feature films (or 400 short films – in case of short film festivals) must originate from countries participating in the MEDIA Sub-programme (see section 6.1) hereinafter referred to as “European Films”.

Within this "MEDIA Sub-programme countries" programming:

• At least 50% of the films must be non-national.

• At least 15 such countries must be represented.

Activities must start during the following periods:
 

Proposals submitted on 26 April 2018

Activity starting date Between 1/11/2018 and 30/04/2019

Duration 12 months

The period of the action3 starts 8 months before the start date of the activities4 and ends 4 months after this date. The duration of actions is 12 months.

However, if after the signing of the agreement or notification of the decision and the start of the action it becomes impossible for the beneficiary, for fully justified reasons beyond his control, to complete the action within the scheduled period, an extension to the eligibility period may be granted. A maximum extension of 6 additional months will be granted, if requested before the deadline specified in the agreement. The maximum duration will then be 18 months.

The following events are not eligible:

- Festivals dedicated to works that are not considered as eligible, such as commercials, live-broadcast events, TV series, music videos, video games, amateur films, mobile phone films, trailers and non- narrative artistic works.

- Thematic Festivals such as cultural events or art/technology/science-related events, as well as highly specialized festivals dealing with specific topics (for example: tourism, sport, ecology, nature, environment, gastronomy, fashion, health etc.) are not eligible.

Only applications that fulfil the eligibility criteria will be considered for a grant. If an application is deemed ineligible, a letter indicating the reasons will be sent to the applicant.

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

7.1. Exclusion from participation

An applicant will be excluded from participating in calls for proposals procedure, if it is in any of the following situations:

a) it is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding up procedures, its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, it is in an arrangement with creditors, its business activities are suspended or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under national legislation or regulations;

b) it has been established by a final judgement or a final administrative decision that the applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the law of the country in which it is established, with those of the country in which the authorising officer is located or those of the country of the implementation of the grant;

c) it has been established by a final judgement or a final administrative decision that the applicant is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the applicant belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:

(i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of selection criteria or in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision;

(ii) entering into agreement with other persons with the aim of distorting competition; (iii) violating intellectual property rights;

(iv) attempting to influence the decision-making process of the Agency during the award procedure;

(v) attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;

d) it has been established by a final judgement that the applicant is guilty of any of the following:

(i) fraud, within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;

(ii) corruption, as defined in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of EU Member States, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997, and in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA, as well as corruption as defined in the legal provisions of the country where the authorising officer is located, the country in which the applicant is established or the country of the implementation of the grant;

(iii) participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

iv) money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(v) terrorist-related offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;

(vi) child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;

e) it has shown significant deficiencies in complying with the main obligations in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision financed by the Union’s budget, which has led to its early termination or to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or which has been discovered following checks, audits or investigations by an Authorising Officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;

f) it has been established by a final judgement or final administrative decision that the applicant has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95;

g) in the absence of a final judgement or where applicable a final administrative decision, the applicant is in one of the cases provided in (c) to (f) above based in particular on :

i. facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by the Court of Auditors, OLAF or internal audit, or any other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body;

ii. non-final administrative decisions which may include disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body responsible for the verification of the application of standards of professional ethics;

3. decisions of the ECB, the EIB, the European Investment Fund or international organisations;

4. decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of the Union's competition rules or

of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national competition law.

v. decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body.

(h) where a person who is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the applicant, or who has powers of representation, decision or control with regard to that applicant (this covers the company directors, members of the management or supervisory bodies, and cases where one person holds a majority of shares), is in one or more of the situations referred to in points (c) to (f) above.

(i) where a natural or legal person that assumes unlimited liability for the debts of that applicant is in one or more of the situations referred to in point (a) or (b) above.

If an applicant is in one of the situations of exclusion listed above, it should indicate the measures it has taken to remedy the exclusion situation, thus demonstrating its reliability. They may include e.g. technical, organisational and personnel measures to prevent further occurrence, compensation of damage or payment of fines. This does not apply for the situations referred in point (d) of this section.

In the cases provided in (c) to (f) above, in the absence of a final judgement or where applicable a final administrative decision, the Agency may exclude an applicant provisionally from participating in a call for proposals where their participation would constitute a serious and imminent threat to the Union's financial interests.

7.2. Rejection from the award procedure

An applicant will not be awarded a grant for this procedure if
(a) it is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with the above section 7.1;

(b) it has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply that information;

(c) it was previously involved in the preparation of a call for proposals where this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

Rejection from this procedure and administrative sanctions (exclusion or financial penalty) may be imposed on applicants or affiliated entities where applicable, if any of the declarations or information provided as a condition for participating in this procedure prove to be false.

The applicants should be informed that the Agency may publish on its internet site the following information related to the exclusion and, where applicable, the financial penalty in the cases referred to in points (c), (d), (e) and (f) of the section 7.15:

(a) the name of the applicant concerned;
(b) the exclusion situation;
(c) the duration of the exclusion and/or the amount of the financial penalty.

In case of a preliminary classification in law (i.e. absence of a final judgement or a final administrative decision), the publication shall indicate that there is no final judgement or final administrative decision. In those cases, information about any appeals by the applicant, their status and their outcome, as well as any revised decision of the authorised officer, shall be published without delay. Where a financial penalty has been imposed, the publication shall also indicate whether that penalty has been paid.

The decision to publish the information is taken by the Agency either following the relevant final judgement, final administrative decision or preliminary classification in law, as the case may be. That decision shall take effect three months after its notification to the economic operator.

The information published shall be removed as soon as the exclusion has come to an end. In the case of a financial penalty, the publication shall be removed six months after payment of that penalty.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001, where personal data is concerned, the Agency shall inform the applicant of its rights under the applicable data protection rules and of the procedures available for exercising those rights.

7.3. Supporting documents

Applicants must sign a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in the above sections 7.1. and 7.2, filling in the relevant form attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals. If applicable, the relevant documentary evidence which appropriately illustrates any remedial measures taken should be provided in annex to this declaration. The declaration is available at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe/funding/support-for- festivals-172017_en

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

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

8.1. Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out or the year for which the grant is awarded and to participate in its funding. The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application:

1. a)  Low value grants (≤ EUR 60 000): - a declaration on their honour.

2. b)  Grants > EUR 60 000:
   - a declaration on their honour,

   - the financial statements (including the balance sheet, the profit and loss accounts and the annexes) of the last two financial years for which the accounts have been closed,

   - financial capacity form provided for in the application form, filled in with the relevant statutory accounting figures, in order to calculate the ratios as detailed in the form.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if the RAO considers that financial capacity is not satisfactory, he may:

• -  request further information;

• -  propose a grant agreement without pre-financing;

• -  propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see section 11.4 below);

• -  propose a grant agreement without pre-financing but an interim payment based on expenses already occurred;

• -  reject the application.

8.2 Operational capacity

Applicants must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed action. In this respect, applicants have to submit a declaration on their honour, and, for those applying for a grant above EUR 60.000 the following supporting documents:

- a summary of the activities of the applicant over the last two years (if not fully available, an organisation chart of the applicant showing the structure of the organisation and the functions of the main staff).

9. AWARD CRITERIA

Eligible applications will be assessed on the basis of the following criteria:

1 Relevance

This criterion assesses the activity towards the audience and in particular outreach mechanisms, including online activities, the use of the latest digital technologies and tools such as social media and film literacy actions of the project.

Max. points 30

2 Quality of the content and activities

This criterion assesses the European dimension of the programming including its cultural and geographic diversity as well as the quality of the collaboration and partnerships with other European film festivals across borders.

Max. points 30

3 Dissemination of project results, and impact and sustainability

This criterion assesses the size of the audience and professional community and the impact on the promotion and circulation of European audiovisual works (the use of digital technologies and mechanisms to facilitate commercial or alternative distribution).

Max. points 30

4 Organisation of the Team

This criterion assesses the distribution of the roles and responsibilities of the Team vis-à-vis the specific objectives of the proposed action.

Max. points 10

Detailed description of the award criteria and breakdown of points:

Relevance (30 points)

This criterion will take into account:

· Consistency of the quality of activities towards the audience, taking into account the applicant’s definition of existing/potential audience (10 points)

• ·  Efficiency of the festival’s outreach mechanisms including online activities, the use of the latest digital technologies and tools such as social media (10 points)

• ·  Effectiveness of the film education initiatives, including actions for young audiences (10 points) Quality of the content and activities (30 points)
  This criterion will take into account:

• ·  The quality and impact of actions put in place towards collaboration and partnerships with other European film festivals across borders (15 points).

• ·  The European dimension and the festival’s strategy to put forward/ highlight the programming devoted to European non-national films and the programming originating from countries with low audiovisual production capacity (10 points)

• ·  The geographic diversity and the festival’s strategy to extend the number of eligible countries represented (5 points)

  Dissemination of project results, and impact and sustainability (30 points)

  This criterion will take into account:

• ·  The expected size of the audience and level of participation of professional community taking into account its evolution over last editions (10 points)

• ·  The efficiency of the mechanisms facilitating commercial or alternative distribution of the featured European films and the use of digital technologies (10 points)

• ·  The efficiency of the actions implemented to promote the programming and the European talents beyond the event (10 points)

  Organisation of the team (10 points)

  This criterion will take into account:

· The festival’s organisation structure and the relevance of the distribution of the roles and responsibilities of the team in the activities described in the application (10 points)

10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS

In the event of a grant awarded by the Agency, a grant agreement or a grant decision, drawn up in euro and detailing the conditions and level of funding, will be sent to the beneficiary, as well as the procedure in view to formalise the obligations of the parties.

Public link:   Only for registered users