Creative Europe : monitoring report 2018.
Date: 2019-08-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology
Subjects: EU programme, artistic creation, audiovisual industry, competitiveness, cultural policy, cultural promotion, culture, culture industry, multimedia

CREATIVE EUROPE

Monitoring report
2018

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CREATIVE EUROPE 
M O N I T O R I N G   R E P O R T   2018

CONTENTS

01. INTRODUCTION 

Executive summary 

The creative and cultural sectors  

The Creative Europe Programme 

02. TAKING CREATIVE EUROPE FORWARD 

A key year for policy development 

A new european agenda for culture 

Accompanying the cross-border circulation of works 

A more ambitious Creative Europe 2021-2027 

Renewed dialogue with stakeholders 

Spotlight on gender balance  

Spotlight on the European Year of Cultutral Heritage   

03. DELIVERING CREATIVE EUROPE  

Overview of applications and grants by scheme 

Consistently high absorption capacity  

A relatively small budget in comparison to the size of the sectors 

Supporting SMEs 

Simplifying participation for beneficiaries 

Participation of EU Member States in MEDIA  

04. SAFEGUARDING CULTURAL DIVERSITY,  
STRENGTHENING COMPETITIVENESS  

Reaching wider audiences 

High quality, internationally recognised content 

Leveraging investment, supporting growth  

Equal opportunities 

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CREATIVE EUROPE05. MEDIA FOCUSING ON TALENT, CONTENT,  

CIRCULATION AND PROMOTION   

Fostering talent and skills at European level  

High quality innovative content  

Circulation and collaboration across borders 

Promoting European works, reaching audiences 

Success stories 

06. CULTURE SUB-PROGRAMME’S PRIORITIES –  

EUROPEAN PARTNERSHIPS, PROFESSIONAL MOBILITY AND  
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT 

Connecting organisations - creating partnerships 

A diversity of sectors  

Building capacities  

Mobility and circulation 

Innovative approaches – innovation for value 

Audience development: towards accessible and inclusive culture 

07. SUPPORTING ACCESS TO FINANCE  

Success stories 

08. CROSS-SECTORAL COLLABORATION 

Success stories 

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MONITORING REPORT 2018LIST OF MAPS, FIGURES AND TABLES

Map 1: Countries participating in Creative Europe 

Map 2: MEDIA-supported training programmes by hosting country, 2018 

Map 3: Distribution of 700 cultural organisations taking part in  
cooperation projects selected in 2018 

Map 4: Guarantee Facility agreements with financial intermediaries,  
as of end-2018   

Figure 1: Key themes in the Cultural Stakeholder Dialogue  

Figure 2: Distribution of MEDIA budget by scheme, 2018 

Figure 3: Distribution of Culture budget by scheme, 2018 

Figure 4: Support per Europa Cinemas member screen (€, 2018) 

Figure 5: Annual budget of Creative Europe, 2014-2018 [€ million] 

Figure 6: Creative Europe institutional roles  

Figure 7. Member States’ share of MEDIA support relative to share  
of non-national film releases 

Figure 8: Co-production in TV Production scheme between different  
capacity countries 

Figure 9: Split of MEDIA grants between partners in TV co-productions, 2018 

Figure 10: Profession of the participant, as declared in a survey  
during training programmes, 2018  

Figure 11: Relations between schemes in Culture, 2018  

Figure 12: Main sectors financed through the cooperation, network, platforms  
and literary translation calls in 2018 

Table 1: European Film Forum meetings in 2018  

Table 2: Schemes with the highest shares of high quality applications  
rejected due to insufficient budget, 2018 

Table 3: MEDIA-supported films recognised with an award announced in 2018 

Table 4: Culture-supported awards 

Table 5: Top cinema admission results for MEDIA-supported films, 2018 

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CREATIVE EUROPE01.

INTRODUCTION

This  Report  illustrates  the  achievements  of  Creative  Europe 
in  2018,  in  line  with  its  mission  to  safeguard  cultural  diver-
sity  and  strengthen  the  competitiveness  of  the  cultural  and 
creative  sectors,  in  particular  the  audiovisual  sector.  In  pre-
senting the wide range of activities undertaken and the results 
achieved, the report shows the value of Creative Europe as a 
whole, which is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

The  results  of  the  Programme  need  to  be  assessed  both  in 
terms of their cultural and artistic value as well as their eco-
nomic  value,  reflecting  the  dual  nature  of  the  cultural  and 
creative sectors. To do so, we have drawn on qualitative and 
quantitative evidence from a variety of sources, including the 
programme beneficiaries, and have used performance indica-
tors where relevant.  

This Monitoring Report is a response to the recommendation 
of the mid-term evaluation of Creative Europe to strengthen 
the monitoring of results on an annual basis. As such it aims 
to  shed  further  light on the strengths of the Programme and 
the areas for improvement in the context of the ongoing dis-
cussions on the successor Programme under the Multiannual 
Financial Framework 2021-2027.

5

MONITORING REPORT 2018EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Report begins by looking at how Creative Europe in 
2018 accompanied the development of policy on the cul-
tural and creative sectors. The Programme has played a 
direct role in supporting the Agenda for Culture, and the 
implementation  of  actions  therein,  and  will  support  the 
New European Agenda for Culture.  Furthermore, Creative 
Europe  supported  the  cross-border  circulation  of  works, 
in line with the objectives of the Audiovisual Media Ser-
vice (AVMS) and Copyright Directives. In 2018 there was 
a special focus on gender balance, where the audiovisual 
sector is a trend setter, and in contributing to the Europe-
an Year of Cultural Heritage.  

The second chapter illustrates how policy was translat-
ed  into  practice through the effective delivery of sup-
port. Creative Europe achieves added value by supporting 
transnational projects, for example co-productions, which 
mobilise  collaboration  between  creative  profession-
als  across  Europe.  The  beneficiaries  are  at  the  heart  of 
the Programme and therefore we are always striving to 
improve  and  simplify  the  implementation  processes.  In 
2018 we again spent 100% of the budget.  This could 
be achieved thanks to the big number of high quality pro-
ject  proposals  received.  However,  we  could  not  support 
many of them due to budget constraints, in particular un-
der the MEDIA and Culture sub-programmes. The Com-
mission proposal for a new Creative Europe programme 
for the period 2021-2027 contains an ambitious budget 
corresponding  to  an  increase  of  approximately  34  %  in 
comparison to the current programme, in order to create 
more opportunities as well as to support innovation and 
tackle new priorities.   

Progress  in  meeting  the  overall  objectives  of  Creative 
Europe, i.e. safeguarding cultural diversity and strength-
ening  competitiveness,  is  presented  in  chapter  3.  The 
measurement through key performance indicators shows 
in  particular  how  diversity  was  strengthened  by  help-
ing European content reach wider audiences, one of the 
key challenges for the cultural and creative sectors. The 
chapter also highlights the economic perspective through 
the role Creative Europe plays in leveraging investment by 
acting as a guarantee of quality. 

Creative Europe is organised into the MEDIA and Culture 
Sub-programmes and a Cross-sectoral Strand. Chapters 
4-7 look in more detail at how each part has performed. 

MEDIA is active in key parts of the audiovisual industry’s 
value chain. In 2018 MEDIA continued to provide support 
to a high volume of new content, providing development 
support to over 413 films, equivalent to about 25% of 
Europe’s  production.  High  quality  TV  drama,  which  is 
capturing the imagination of new cross-border audiences, 
was another highlight. 2018 was also a year of innova-
tion  in  distribution  and  promotion  through  a  prototype 
online Directory of European Films on VOD platforms and 
the promotion of European works online. 

The  Culture  Sub-programme  continued  with  its  support 
to  hundreds  of  partnerships  between  thousands  of  cul-
tural  and  creative  organisations  from  all  across  Europe. 
In  2018,  130  new  partnerships  were  created,  add-
ing to those started in previous years, but still very much 
alive.  The  result  was  an  impressive  mass  of  projects  in 
the  form  of  international  co-productions,  co-creations, 
tours, residencies, literary translations or learning oppor-
tunities, showcasing the fabulous creativity of European 
talent  and  boosting  cultural  diversity.  2018  was  also 
the European Year of Cultural Heritage, and the Cul-
ture Sub-programme contributed to the resounding suc-
cess of this Year that reached close to 12.8 million people 
through 23 000 events across Europe.

The  results  of  the  Cultural  and  Creative  Sectors 
Guarantee  Facility  (CCS  GF)  surpassed  expecta-
tions. This market instrument complements grant fund-
ing  by  encouraging  financial  intermediaries  to  lend  to 
cultural  and  creative  projects.  2018  was  only  the  sec-
ond  full  year  of  operation  of  this  new  instrument,  but 
there was strong market demand. In response, the Eu-
ropean Fund for Strategic Investment was mobilised to 
top up the CCS GF by EUR 60 million, equivalent to 50% 
of the initial budget. In 2018 a further three guarantee 
agreements  were  signed  with  financial  intermediaries, 
bringing  the  total  to  12  agreements  in  9  participating 
countries by the end of the year. 

Other types of cross-sectoral projects were also supported 
to encourage collaboration across industry silos. The 
most recent example, the Masters Module on technology 
and the arts, addresses the skills gap which exists at the 
crossroads of creativity and technology. 

6

CREATIVE EUROPECREATIVE EUROPE IN 2018

2 432
PROJECTS

€ 174 m
BUDGET

100 %
BUDGET
EXECUTED

SUPPORTING 
SMEs

High absorbtion rate

The majority of beneﬁciaries 
are micro, small and 
medium-sized industries

KEY 
ACHIEVEMENTS

RENEWED DIALOGUE
LISTENING AND LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS

› European Film Forums inspiring MEDIA 
› Voices of Culture strengthening collaboration

EUROPEAN YEAR OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
THE PAST MEETS THE FUTURE

› 23 000 events organised 
› 12.8 million people reached

FINANCIAL AND REGULATORY ACTION
HAND IN HAND

› Audiovisual Services Directive adopted;
› Copyright revision progressed;
› New Agenda for Culture accepted.

TOWARDS GENDER BALANCE
LONG ROAD

› MEDIA promoted transparency by sharing data on gender;
› 50% of participants in training programmes were women 

but only 30% of MEDIA applicants were women.

SAFEGUARDING DIVERSITY
CONCRETE RESULTS

› MEDIA reached 122 mln audience
› 35 ﬁlms won 61 major prizes
› Music Moves Europe linked new artists with new audience
› 700 organisations took part in 2018 cooperation projects

STRENGTHENING COMPETITIVENESS
PROGRESS

› Creative Europe acts as a guarantee for quality and leverages wider investment
› MEDIA support was matched by 350 mln € 
Culture supported was matched by 50 mln €

Simpliﬁcation of the programme is a priority
Applicants are given highly appreciated support by Creative Europe Desks and EACEA

7

MONITORING REPORT 2018THE CREATIVE AND CULTURAL SECTORS 

Culture and creativity play a crucial role in our societies 
today  and  in  shaping  our  European  future,  because  of 
their dual cultural and economic role, triggering positive 
impact in other sectors of society, such as education, in-
novation or healthcare. Audiovisual content, such as films 
and television series, as well as music, literature, theatre 
and other forms of cultural expression, connect people 
across  borders  through  powerful  human  stories  and 
narratives. Thus, Europe's rich and diverse cultures man-
ifest themselves strongly in the daily life of the Union's 
citizens  and  enrich  their  lives  as  well  as  strengthening 
mutual understanding. Furthermore, Europe’s culture and 
creativity are recognised throughout the world and con-
tribute  to  strengthening  the  image  of  Europe  as  a 
creative continent and promote our values. 

The  cultural  and  creative  sectors  fully  contribute  to  the 
Union's  economic  development,  generating  jobs  and 
growth, and are thus key for Europe's future. The insights 
gained  through  the  Cultural  and  Creative  Sectors  Guar-
antee Facility (which is discussed in a discussed in chap-
ter  7)  reveal  several  positive  trends.  The  latest  market 
analysis (1) confirms that the cultural and creative sectors 
(CCS)  represent  a  significant  share  of  the  EU  econ-
omy  (over  4%  of  EU  GDP)  and  provide  quality  jobs 
(6.7 million jobs) especially for young people. In fact, the 
sectors’ share of EU GDP is comparable to those of the 
ICT and the Accommodation and Food Services sectors. 
CCS businesses are resilient, outperforming the survival 
rates of service enterprises. Since 2008, the number of 
CCS companies has been growing by 4.3% annually and 
they now account for at least 10% of the service sector 
in most countries. Overall, employment has been stable 
since 2008, with an annual growth of 1%, but with some 
sectors, such as audiovisual and media, growing by 3% 
annually. Moreover the shift to a EUR 1.85 billion surplus 
in  the  EU  trade  balance  for  cultural  goods  indicates  an 
increase in global demand for EU cultural goods. Europe-
an companies are amongst the leading world brands. At 
the same time, the cultural and creative sectors have a 
positive impact on other industries that depend on their 
creative content, such as consumer electronics, telecoms 
services and tourism.

Creative Europe supports the CCS in helping them adapt 
in  order  to  address  the  challenges  they  face  and  take 
advantage of great opportunities. The European CCS are 
highly diverse, reflecting Europe’s unique cultural diversi-
ty. As a consequence, cultural markets have tended to be 
fragmented along national and linguistic lines, and this is 
in particular reflected in the fabric of the audiovisual in-
dustry or the music industry, which are made up of small 
independent  companies.  It  is  therefore  challenging  for 
European companies to compete with Hollywood studios 
or online global players which enjoy economies of scale 
and network effects. At the same time, diversity is part of 
Europe's cultural richness and gives the CCS a distinctive 
appeal. Therefore, there is an opportunity to increase 
collaboration across borders to produce unique con-
tent, for example through co-production of works for cin-
ema, TV, music, theatre or publishing. This will also create 
new  opportunities  for  the  CCS  to  play  a  greater  social 
role, as a catalyst for greater mutual understanding and 
a shared sense of belonging amongst European citizens. 

Globalisation and the digital shift continue to trans-
form  the  economic  and  social  landscape  and  have  a 
profound  impact  on  the  way  cultural  content  is  creat-
ed and disseminated. Thus, whilst cinema is a favourite 
cultural activity for Europeans, European films account 
on  average  for  only  one  third  of  audiences  as  the  box 
office remains dominated by US productions. In addition, 
whilst the share of EU films available on VOD is increas-
ing,  they  are  available  in  fewer  countries  compared  to 
US  productions  (2).  Yet  the  digital  shift  is  creating  new 
opportunities  for  growth,  e.g.  new  subscription  models 
for music and audiovisual streaming services, and new 
types of storytelling such as virtual reality. Technology 
such as artificial intelligence can also be an enabler to 
address  key  challenges  for  the  CCS,  such  as  reaching 
wider and younger audiences, and enriching their expe-
rience. Thus, support is needed to create content which 
appeals to audiences across borders and to disseminate 
it through different channels.

(1)  Market  Analysis  of  the  CCS  in  Europe,  European  Investment  Fund, 
2019

(2)  European Audiovisual Observatory

8

CREATIVE EUROPE  © Bart Heemskerk

Access to sustainable and diversified funding remains 
a key issue.  Public funding for culture has been dropping 
in recent years in most EU Member States. Access to pri-
vate funds remains a challenge as commercial financial 
institutions  have  traditionally  viewed  cultural  projects 
as excessively risky because their assets are intangible, 
i.e.  talent  and  creativity.  For  example,  debt  financing 
represents  only  a  marginal  share  of  film  financing,  ac-
counting for 2% of the budgets of European films. 

However, the experience gained through the implemen-
tation  of  the  Cultural  and  Creative  Sectors  Guarantee 
Facility  shows  there  is  great  potential  for  bridging  the 
financing gap. A key factor will be changing the percep-
tion of the financial sector about the CCS, through tar-
geted,  up  to  date  business  information  about  the  new 
opportunities.  This  could  create  a  virtuous  circle  of  in-
vestment and renewed growth.  

9

MONITORING REPORT 2018THE CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME

Creative  Europe  is  the  European  Union's  framework  pro-
gramme  for  support  to  the  cultural  and  creative  sectors, 
with a total budget of EUR 1.46 billion for the period 2014-
2020. It brought together three earlier programmes (ME-
DIA, Culture and MEDIA Mundus) to create a single compre-
hensive instrument to increase efficiency, more effectively 
seize the opportunities of the digital shift and address mar-
ket fragmentation.

 ›

 ›

The Culture Sub-programme covers cultural sector in-
itiatives, such as those promoting cross-border coop-
eration, platforms, networking, literary translation, and 
special actions such as the European Capitals of Cul-
ture or prizes in the fields of architecture, cultural her-
itage, popular and contemporary music, and literature.

A Cross-sectoral Strand for all cultural and creative 
sectors  includes  a  Guarantee  Facility  and  supports 
transnational  policy  cooperation.  This  strand  also 
provides support for Creative Europe Desks in all par-
ticipating countries, which reach out to stakeholders.

The Programme complements actions at national level in 
the field of culture and the audiovisual sector, reflecting the 
policy priorities of the EU in the cultural and creative fields.

Creative Europe is open to cultural and creative organisa-
tions from EU Member States, as well as, under certain con-
ditions, to some non-EU Member States. Currently, Creative 
Europe includes EU countries and 13 non-EU participating 
countries. Participation in MEDIA is subject, in particular, to 
alignment  with  Directive  2010/13/EU  (Audiovisual  Media 
Services Directive – AVMSD).

The architecture of the Programme recognises the hetero-
geneity of the cultural and creative sectors, their different 
target  groups  and  the  need  for  tailor-made  approaches. 
This  is  why  the  Programme  is  structured  around  two  in-
dependent  Sub-programmes  (MEDIA  and  Culture)  and  a 
Cross-sectoral Strand.

 ›

Created  in  1991  as  a  complement  to  the  Televi-
sion Without Frontiers Directive, MEDIA as it is now 
known,  targets  the  audiovisual  sector,  fosters  the 
creation of audiovisual content (films, TV series, vid-
eo  games)  and  its  access  to  European  and  global 
audiences through all distribution channels.

Map 1: Countries participating in Creative Europe

 EU member states

 Non-EU countries

*Countries also eligible to apply for the Cross 
Sectoral call "Bridging Culture and Audiovis-
ual Content through Digital"

**Partial participation in the MEDIA 
Sub-programme is defined as participation 
in four schemes, i.e. participation in Training, 
Festivals, Film Education and Market Access 
activities, as well as in the Cross-Sectoral 
call "Bridging Culture and Audiovisual Con-
tent through Digital".

***Kosovo - This designation is without prej-
udice to positions on status, and is line with 
UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on 
the Kosovo Declaration of Independence

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CREATIVE EUROPE02.

TAKING CREATIVE EUROPE 
FORWARD

As a funding programme, the full value of Creative Europe is 
achieved by integrating its support measures within a policy 
framework. This section highlights the role of Creative Europe 
in accompanying the European Union's policies on the cultural 
and creative sectors.

11

MONITORING REPORT 2018A KEY YEAR FOR POLICY DEVELOPMENT

In  2018,  a  new  phase  began  as  the  European  Union 
strengthened the framework for the cultural and creative 
sectors, with a focus on:

 ›

 ›

 ›

Adopting  a  New  European  Agenda  for  Culture,  set-
ting out a vision for cultural cooperation at EU level 
to better address common challenges together;

Stimulating the cross-border circulation of works, in 
particular  with  the  adoption  of  the  revised  Audio-
visual Media Services Directive and progress in the 
negotiations on a new Copyright Directive  as well as 
on a new directive on online transmissions of broad-
casting organisations and retransmissions of televi-
sion  and  radio  programmes  replacing  the  satellite 
and cable broadcasting (“SatCab”) Directive;  

Proposing a new Creative Europe Programme post-
2020, to build on achievements so far and scale up 
efforts in response to recent developments.  

Action was taken on key themes for the cultural and cre-
ative sectors. The European Year of Cultural Heritage 
celebrated  our  common  heritage  as  a  resource  for  Eu-
rope’s future, underlining its social and economic value. 
Also,  in  2018,  Creative  Europe  recognised  the  strategic 
importance of gender balance in the creative and cultur-
al  sectors,  in  particular  in  audiovisual,  and  took  several 
measures to address this.

Throughout 2018 a structured dialogue with stakehold-
ers was pursued to ensure that their concerns and propos-
als were fully taken on board, in a spirit of partnership.

The results achieved in these areas are discussed in the 
next section. 

  EFF in the Berlinale, 2018  

© EU

12

CREATIVE EUROPEA NEW EUROPEAN AGENDA FOR CULTURE

As announced in the New European Agenda, the European 
Commission presented an Action Plan for Cultural Heritage 
as a follow-up to the Heritage Year, asking Member States 
to  draft  similar  plans  at  national  level  and  follow  up  on 
the 10 European themes. The New European Agenda also 
foresees to incorporate outcomes of the Year into future 
EU programmes and Cohesion Policy. Finally, the document 
supports the enforcement of the future EU Regulation on 
the import of cultural goods through an Action Plan on il-
licit trade in cultural goods. The establishment of a science 
policy stakeholder social platform on endangered cultural 
heritage is also mentioned.  

The New European Agenda and Work Plan are aligned with 
the  proposals  for  the  new  Creative  Europe  Programme 
2021-2027.  They  propose  a  stronger  involvement  of 
Member States in policy collaboration and implemen-
tation of policy results through joint actions. Results from 
the Open Method of Coordination between Member States 
will  also  feed  into  the  new  Programme  in  areas  such  as 
gender  equality,  social  cohesion  and  audiovisual  co-pro-
ductions. 

The Council’s new Work Plan will pursue and build on the 
outcomes of the work carried out so far. In particular, it will 
enable the continuation of the dialogue between Member 
States  on  cultural  issues  initiated  in  2008  following  the 
adoption of the very first Agenda for Culture.

A major contribution to cultural cooperation at EU level, and 
a key achievement in 2018, was the Commission’s adop-
tion of a New European Agenda for Culture (22 May) and 
the corresponding Council adoption of Conclusions on the 
Work plan for Culture 2019-2022 (27 November). 

The New European Agenda for Culture (the “New European 
Agenda”) responds to the European Leaders' invitation to 
do more, through culture and education, to build cohesive 
societies and offer a vision of an attractive European Un-
ion (3). It aims to harness the full potential of culture to help 
build a more inclusive and fairer Union, supporting innova-
tion, creativity and sustainable jobs and growth.

The New European Agenda has three strategic ob-
jectives, focusing on social, economic and external 
dimensions. The social dimension implies using the pow-
er of culture and cultural diversity in favour of social cohe-
sion. Among other objectives, the document emphasises 
the need to protect and promote Europe's cultural herit-
age as a shared resource. Under the economic dimension, 
the New European Agenda supports jobs and growth in 
the cultural and creative sectors, by promoting arts and 
culture  in  education.  It  also  calls  for  boosting  relevant 
skills such as digital, entrepreneurial, traditional and spe-
cialised,  and  encouraging  innovation  in  culture.  The  ex-
ternal dimension focuses on strengthening international 
cultural  relations,  as  well  as  reinforcing  cooperation  on 
cultural heritage.   

In  the  2018  European  Year  of  Cultural  Heritage,  a  lot  of 
activities were taking place at local, regional and national 
levels across the EU. To make sure these efforts leave a 
legacy beyond 2018, the New European Agenda highlights 
that the European Commission proposes to support long-
term  projects  under  four  core  objectives:  Engagement, 
Sustainability, Protection, and Innovation. 

(3)  Bratislava declaration, September 2016

13

MONITORING REPORT 2018ACCOMPANYING THE CROSS-BORDER  
CIRCULATION OF WORKS

Another achievement was the Regulation on cross-border 
portability of online content services, which allows Euro-
peans to enjoy online content services when travelling in 
the EU. This became applicable on 1 April 2018.

The  regulatory  instruments  and  funding  support  thus 
mutually reinforce each other in the drive to strengthen 
cross-border  circulation.  The  strengthened  regulatory 
framework  underpins  the  presence  and  visibility  of 
European  works  in  line  with  the  objectives  of  MEDIA. 
At  the  same  time,  MEDIA  accompanies  the  evolving 
regulatory framework by fostering collaboration across 
the value chain in order to support projects with high 
circulation potential. 

Furthermore,  in  2018  the  Commission  supported  a  dia-
logue between Member States, through the Open Method 
of  Coordination,  on  improving  the  circulation  of  Europe-
an films. This process led to the production of a practical 
toolkit based on best practices for policy makers, industry 
players and creators to inspire them when devising sup-
port schemes or producing films. The group produced 10 
recommendations,  including  boosting  the  promotion  of 
films, for example by using the cast in promotional tours, 
sharing  and  using  data  to  better  target  audiences,  and 
incentivising co-productions.

A  key  objective  of  MEDIA  has  been  to  increase  the 
cross-border  circulation  of  European  works,  in  line  with 
the Digital Single Market strategy, at the same time as 
protecting and promoting the European ecosystem, val-
ues and culture. In 2018 important steps were taken to 
strengthen and update the framework for the audiovis-
ual sector in this regard. The online challenges for audio-
visual  content  are  now  better  addressed  by  the  revised 
Audiovisual Media Service Directive, which was adopted 
in November 2018. In particular, the Directive reinforces 
the obligations applicable to on-demand service provid-
ers to promote European works. The revised rules contain 
a clear obligation on such providers to secure at least a 
30% share of European works in their catalogue, as well 
as to ensure prominence for these works. This will make 
sure that there is a minimum presence of European works 
across Member States. 

In  addition,  political  agreement  was  reached  in  Decem-
ber  2018  on  the  Directive  on  online  transmissions  and 
retransmissions  of  radio  and  TV  programmes.  The  new 
rules will contribute to a wider distribution of radio and TV 
programmes across the EU, making it easier for European 
broadcasters to make certain programmes available on-
line and for retransmission operators to offer more radio 
and TV channels from different Member States (4). 

Significant progress was also achieved in 2018 in the ne-
gotiations on the proposed Directive on Copyright in the 
Digital  Single  Market,  with  the  adoption  by  the  Council 
and  the  European  Parliament,  of  their  respective  man-
dates. One of the objectives of the Directive is to ensure 
more  cross-border  and  online  access  to  copyright-pro-
tected content for citizens, in particular by facilitating the 
licensing of audiovisual and out-of-commerce works. The 
Commission assisted the co-legislators in the intense tri-
logue negotiations that started in October 2018 (5). 

(4)  Negotiations were successfully concluded leading to the adoption of 
Directive 2019/789/EU on 17 April 2019.

(5)  Negotiations were successfully concluded leading to the adoption of 
Directive 2019/790/EU on 17 April 2019.

14

CREATIVE EUROPEA MORE AMBITIOUS CREATIVE EUROPE 2021-2027

2. CULTURE: 

EUR 609 million from the new budget would be allocat-
ed to promoting Europe's cultural and creative sectors. 
Cooperation projects, networks and platforms would be 
set up to connect talented artists and cultural organisa-
tions  across  Europe  and  make  it  easier  for  creators 
and  professionals  to  cooperate  across  borders. 
New actions, such as a mobility scheme for artists and 
targeted  support  to  specific  sectors,  such  as  music, 
publishing  or  architecture,  would  be  introduced  to  en-
hance the structuring effect of the Programme. Special 
actions,  such  as  the  European  Capitals  of  Culture,  the 
European  Heritage  Label,  EU  cultural  prizes  or  Euro-
pean  cultural  organisations  with  a  broad  geographical 
coverage  would  be  supported.  A  stronger  international 
dimension  would  be  developed,  including  international 
promotion and support to exports. 

3. ACROSS CULTURAL AND MEDIA SECTORS: 

EUR 160 million would support activities which address 
the cultural and creative sectors as a whole. Policy co-
operation  and  outreach  would  be  promoted,  including 
through cross-border exchanges of experience and sup-
port actions. A Creative Innovation Lab would be intro-
duced to foster innovation at the crossroads of the cul-
tural and creative sectors, including through technology, 
to facilitate access, distribution, promotion and monet-
isation of content. The new Programme would support 
the news media sector to promote a diverse and plural-
istic  media,  strengthening  quality  journalism  and  fos-
tering media literacy. The Creative Europe Desks would 
continue  to  be  supported.  Whereas  this  strand  in  the 
past supported access to finance through the Guarantee 
Facility,  this  would  happen  in  future  through  InvestEU, 
a new centralised instrument outside Creative Europe.

.

The  Commission  tabled  a  proposal  for  a  new  Creative 
Europe  Programme  post-2020  in  May  2018,  and  ne-
gotiations  began  on  this  text  with  all  relevant  Union 
institutions  and  bodies.  The  proposal  builds  on  the 
achievements  of  the  current  Programme  whilst 
strengthening the response to address the trans-
formation  of  the  cultural  and  creative  sectors.  To 
do so, it combines additional resources and a strength-
ening  of  existing  actions  with  the  introduction  of  new 
activities and innovative approaches. The new Creative 
Europe  Programme  will  contribute  to  reaching  the  ob-
jectives of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and 
the  new  European  Agenda  for  Culture  by  funding  rele-
vant support measures.

For  the  next  long-term  EU  budget  2021-2027,  the  Eu-
ropean Commission in 2018 proposed funding for Cre-
ative  Europe  to  EUR  1.85  billion,  an  increase  of  some 
34% compared to the current programme, in particular 
the MEDIA and Culture sub-programmes. The proposal 
maintained the existing architecture of the Programme 
of  two  Sub-programmes  and  a  Cross-sectoral  Strand, 
which are outlined below.

1. MEDIA: 

EUR 1 081 billion would fund audiovisual projects and 
stimulate  competitiveness  in  the  audiovisual  sector  in 
Europe.  MEDIA  would  continue  to  support  developing 
skills  and  talent  as  well  as  the  development,  distribu-
tion and promotion of European films, TV programmes 
and  video  games.  The  overall  objective  will  be  stimu-
late  circulation  and  consumption  of  audiovisual  works 
across the EU and beyond with the view to harness in-
dustry’s  competitiveness  and  expose  audiences  to  Eu-
rope’s cultural diversity. There would be a focus on the 
power of networks and cooperation. We plan to expand 
the  existing  Europa  Cinemas  network,  one  of  the  big-
gest  successes  of  the  Programme  and,  based  on  this 
example, new networks for festivals and VOD services 
are envisaged. In the years ahead, more money would 
be invested in the international promotion and distribu-
tion  of  European  works  and  innovative  storytelling,  in-
cluding virtual reality. The online Directory of European 
Films available on VOD would be continued in order to 
reinforce the circulation of European works.  

15

MONITORING REPORT 2018RENEWED DIALOGUE WITH STAKEHOLDERS

The European Commission attaches priority to maintain-
ing a continuous and structured dialogue with the stake-
holders of Creative Europe. With the cultural and creative 
sectors undergoing a profound transformation, dialogue 
is crucial in order to build a common vision by exchanging 
on recent developments, focusing on the priorities for the 
future and exploring opportunities for innovation.

Over  time,  the  stakeholders  –  which  include  industry 
leaders,  representative  associations,  local,  national  and 
international  funding  bodies  –  have  developed  a  sense 
of ownership and of community around Creative Europe 
thanks to the strong relationships built this way.

Thus, the dialogue with stakeholders has become an in-
tegral part of the Programme, helping to chart its course 
and ensure its relevance and added value. At the same 
time, the dialogue is an opportunity for the Commission 
to exchange on the wider context of EU policies, including 
synergies with other relevant EU programmes.

The  following  section  presents  how  stakeholders  dia-
logues are organised by MEDIA and Culture. 

EUROPEAN FILM FORUM

The  European  Film  Forum  is  a  structured  dialogue  with 
stakeholders which aims to develop strategic orientations 
for  strengthening  the  audiovisual  industry  in  the  digital 
era. The meetings take place throughout the year, taking 
advantage of festivals which bring the industry together. 

In  2018  the  exchanges  were  deepened  on  what  should 
be  the  focus  of  Creative  Europe  MEDIA  post-2020,  as 
preparations  for  the  new  Programme  need  to  be  made 
well in advance. The Forum provided a great setting for 
exchanges with representatives from across the industri-
al value chain, including producers, distributors, cinemas, 
broadcasters and online platforms, as well as members 
of  the  European  Parliament  and  Member  State  funding 
bodies.  Overall,  the  discussions  showed  strong  support 
for  a  more  ambitious  programme  to  enable  industry  to 
be competitive in the digital era, on the European stage 
and beyond.

ANNUAL EVENTS WITH BENEFICIARIES

Culture  has  a  tradition  to  organise  yearly  events  with 
beneficiaries. The purpose of those events is not only to 
provide projects with advice on how to run their projects –
which sometimes are highly complex – but equally impor-
tantly  to  build  a  sense  of  community  between  Creative 
Europe  beneficiaries  and  the  Commission  as  there  are 
shared  common  objectives.  For  instance,  the  following 
events have been organised in 2018: 

 › Meeting with new projects selected in the frame 
of  European  Year  of  Culture  Heritage  –  Berlin, 
June 2018 - The meeting was set up in conjunction 
with  the  European  Culture  heritage  Summit  organ-
ised  by  Europa  Nostra  (a  Creative  Europe  funded 
network),  the  German  Cultural  Heritage  Committee 
(DNK) and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation 
(SPK). Our beneficiaries had full access to the Sum-
mit. The Summit, with the motto “Sharing Heritage 
–  Sharing  Values”,  was  the  largest  European  event 
taking  place  during  the  Year  with  more  than  1500 
participants. 

 ›

 ›

Annual European network meetings – Brussels, 
June 2018: The Commission annually meets the 28 
Creative Europe funded networks (6) to exchange on 
current and upcoming policy initiatives in the field of 
culture.  Creative  Europe  networks  represent  more 
than 4000 organisations and artists across all cre-
ative and culture sectors. As representative bodies, 
their feedback is important to help the Commission 
steer culture policy.

Cooperation kick off meeting – Brussels, Octo-
ber  2018.  Every  year,  newly  selected  cooperation 
projects are invited to Brussels for 2 days of intense 
plenary  meetings  and  workshops  with  representa-
tives  of the  Commission  and the  Education,  Audio-
visual and Culture Executive Agency. In 2018, more 
than 350 people took part in this event share their 
project  objectives,  challenges  and  solutions.  These 
events  also  bring  together  representatives  of  net-
works  and  platforms  with  these  fresh  beneficiaries 
to engage in exchange and dialogue.

16

(6)  See the full list on: 
https://ec.europa.eu/culture/resources/networks_en

CREATIVE EUROPETable 1: European Film Forum meetings in 2018 

Occasion

Title

Conclusions/Takeaways

Berlin International  
Film Festival

13 February

The Future of MEDIA: 
Connecting Europeans 
through Films

Cannes Film Festival

14 May

Teaming Up for Wider 
Audiences

CineEurope Barcelona

11 June

The Business Case for 
European Content

Annecy International 
Animation Film Festival 

Building Brands:  
the Road to Success

14 June

Venice International Film 
Festival 

1 September

Creating the Buzz around 
Movies: Promotion, Festivals 
and the role of MEDIA after 
2020

Increased access to a diversity of films and TV series, which tell 
powerful human stories and embody European values, will build mutual 
understanding and a sense of shared identity. MEDIA can contribute to the 
cultural dimension of the European project by helping European films reach 
wider and younger audiences across borders. MEDIA can effectively mobilise 
collaboration across industry silos to strengthen distribution and promotion 
of films through pan-European campaigns. However, a significant budget 
increase will be needed to match this ambitious goal. 

European films can do more to reach their audiences. Online platforms can 
build audiences by complementing the theatrical experience, for example by 
giving films an extended life after theatrical release. However, industry has 
been rather slow to learn how to reach wider and younger audiences online. 
More collaboration between platforms, producers, sales agents, distributors, 
cinemas and associations is key to harnessing technology, for example by 
pooling resources, building common tools and sharing data. 

Public support focuses on content creation and Europe produces high 
quality, diverse films. However, the audiences for independent European 
films are low and few are commercially viable. To ensure sustainability of 
the industry more investment is needed in distribution and promotion of 
works to raise their visibility in the context of fierce competition. A number 
of options were discussed. Distributors need to take risks to invest in the 
cross-border promotion of films. Streaming platforms could help find 
audiences for certain films although independent producers should be 
careful to ensure ‘win-win’ partnerships. Data can be used more to better 
understand audiences but whilst respecting creative freedom.

Animation works travel well at European level because they more easily 
capture young audiences and cross-cultural borders. The characters 
or brands can be reproduced through other cultural sectors such as 
publishing, games or fashion. Building brands is key because licensing of 
merchandising around content is very important for revenue. Cooperation 
with broadcasters and well designed marketing campaigns are key in this 
context. Post-2020 a strengthened Creative Europe could focus more on 
animation, e.g. by supporting collaboration on brand development.  

Film festivals have a central role in promoting films but their effectiveness 
could be increased through more collaboration at a European level. 
Discussions showed that festivals could work together more through 
networks focusing on concrete synergies such as developing technology 
and tools, sharing data, film education and supporting smaller countries. 
However, there is no single formula and each network should focus on its 
own needs, whilst allowing each festival to maintain its identity.

San Sebastián International 
Film Festival 

International Film Funds: 
Co-productions and  
Market Access

Co-production funds are a key tool for encouraging larger-scale films; they 
are good for their international circulation as well as for developing lower 
capacity countries.

24  September

Lumière Film Festival, Lyon

Films of the Past for the 
Audience of the Future

18 October

Tallinn Black Nights Film 
Festival

30 November

Creativity, Technology, 
Finance: Sustaining European 
Diversity post-2020

Films are jewels of our common culture and need to be preserved and 
treasured; today’s digital technology helps increase access to classic 
cinema and increase its economic success; cinema classics can inspire new 
generations of young Europeans to love film and to love Europe. The role 
of MEDIA in supporting film heritage was highlighted by the launch of the 
Directory of European Films which will promote the circulation of films online.

The audiovisual industry needs to adapt to three trends which are 
driving innovation: new business models, e.g. using venture capital; new 
technologies, e.g. use of blockchain to manage transactions; development 
of new forms of diverse storytelling and promotion, e.g. augmented and 
virtual reality.

17

MONITORING REPORT 2018CREATIVE VOICES OF CULTURE

As  a  key  element  of  the  European  Agenda  for  Culture, 
the  Creative  Europe  Voices  of  Culture  provides  a 
framework  for  discussions  about  culture  between  EU 
civil  society  stakeholders  and  the  European  Commis-
sion. The dialogue aims to strengthen the advocacy ca-
pacity of the cultural sector in policy debates on culture 
at European level, while encouraging it to work in a more 
collaborative way. 

Engaged  in  2015  as  a  follow-up  to  the  structured  dia-
logue started with cultural organisations in 2008 togeth-
er with the adoption of the first Agenda for Culture, the 
process will have covered eight themes by 2018. 

The  themes  were  selected  in  accordance  with  the  pri-
orities  of  the  Work  Plan  (WP)  for  Culture  2015-2018, 
which sets out priorities for European cooperation in cul-
tural  policy-making.  Through  this  strategic  document, 
the Council also established working groups of Member 
States to work on the priorities within the framework of 
the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) process (a light 
but  structured  way  for  EU  Member  States  to  cooperate 
at a European level). Both Voices of Culture and the OMC 
feed the reflections of all relevant stakeholders – be they 
cultural  organisations,  local  and  national  authorities  or 
the Commission – on how best to support the further de-
velopment of the cultural and creative sectors in Europe 
and  respond  to  emerging  challenges.  The  Figure  below 
shows the wide spectrum of issues covered.

Figure 1: Key themes in the Cultural Stakeholder Dialogue 

SOCIAL INCLUSION:
PARTNERING WITH
OTHER SECTORS       

SKILLS, TRAINING &
KNOWLEDGE
TRANSFER IN
CULTURAL HERITAGE       

THE INCLUSION OF
REFUGEES &
MIGRANTS THROUGH
CULTURE       

INTERCULTURAL
DIALOGUE CULTURE
IN SHARED PUBLIC
SPACES      

STAKEHOLDERS’
COMMITTEE(cid:4)
EYCH 2018      

DEVELOPING
ENTREPRENEURIAL &
INNOVATION
POTENTIAL OF CSS       

PARTICIPATORY
GOVERNANCE OF
CULTURAL HERITAGE      

AUDIENCE
DEVELOPMENT VIA
DIGITAL MEANS       

18

CREATIVE EUROPEIn 2018, there was a special focus on two themes: 

“Social inclusion, partnering with other sectors”:

“Voices of Culture and Heritage”:

How can public policies foster the contribution of culture 
to social inclusion through partnership with other sectors? 
The discussions resulted in a Brainstorming report, listing 
critical success factors and obstacles, and giving recom-
mendations on how to improve partnerships between the 
cultural and other sectors. It also addresses the problem 
of rising exclusionary attitudes among the wider popula-
tion and proposes possible actions.

The aim of this call was to open a dialogue with civil so-
ciety and stakeholders active in the field of cultural her-
itage and allow for an exchange of information on ideas 
and activities planned during the European Year of Cul-
tural Heritage 2018, both by the EU and by stakeholders. 
The  call  involved  creation  of  a  Stakeholders  Committee 
consisting  of  35  organisations  who  together  laid  the 
foundations for the success of the year.03.

The  European  Parliament  secured  a  budget  of 
EUR 1.5 million for “Music Moves Europe: Boost-
ing  European  music  diversity  and  talent”.  The 
preparatory  action  was  officially  launched  by  Com-
missioner for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture Ti-
bor Navracsics. The aim was to test suitable actions 
for  more  targeted  EU  funding  for  music  post-2020. 
The  Commission  followed  up  with  four  calls  on  the 
following themes: offline and online distribution, art-
ist  and  repertoire  development,  professionalisation 
and  training,  and  export  of  European  music  outside 
Europe.  After  a  successful  first  year  of  funding  in 
2018  the  European  Parliament  voted  an  extension 
of the Preparatory Action, doubling the budget (EUR 
3  million  for  2019).  The  Commission  launched  the 
new Music Moves Europe dialogue with the sector in 
spring 2019 to discuss the most topical issues related 
to  musical  diversity  in  Europe  and  the  competitive-
ness of the industry. 

Another  special  action  that  continued  in  2018  was 
the  Music  Moves  Europe  dialogue  that  addressed 
stakeholders in the music industry. Music constitutes 
an important pillar of European culture and is a pow-
erful  tool  for  cultural  diversity,  social  inclusion  and 
soft power diplomacy. Music Moves Europe (MME) is 
the  overarching  framework  for  the  European  Com-
mission's initiatives and actions in support of the Eu-
ropean music sector. 

The dialogue with the sector commenced already in 
late 2015 to identify the main challenges facing the 
sector. The outcomes of the dialogue were summa-
rised  in  the  AB  Music  Working  Group  report*.  Since 
then, the Commission has regularly attended Europe-
an showcases, music fairs and festivals to exchange 
information with the music sector. For 2018, 

19

MONITORING REPORT 2018SPOTLIGHT ON GENDER BALANCE 

Equality between women and men is a fundamental EU 
value, an EU objective and a driver of economic growth. 
Creative Europe has recognised the strategic importance 
of gender diversity, in particular in the audiovisual sector, 
which is a trend setter, and in 2018 took steps to address 
the issue.  

In 2018, Creative Europe MEDIA collected data on gender 
balance in the Programme. The figures show that, overall, 
MEDIA compares favourably with wider trends. For exam-
ple, only about 20% of all European films were directed 
by women* whereas 39% of films or TV projects support-
ed by MEDIA were directed by women, while 50% of par-
ticipants in MEDIA-supported training programmes were 
women. Furthermore, there is no negative gender bias in 
the selection process as the success rate of female appli-
cants is slightly higher than that of males.

Nonetheless,  the  overall  proportion  of  male  and  female 
applicants was 71 % / 29 % in the period 2014-2018. Thus, 
in some parts of MEDIA there is good gender balance, but 
in others it is weaker. This shows that MEDIA does support 
change, but there is still a lot to do and improve. 

European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, 
Mariya Gabriel, took the initiative to promote transparen-
cy by sharing the MEDIA gender results with stakeholders 
at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. This was followed up at 
the Lumière 2018 Grand Lyon Film Festival in October, in 
particular with the screening of a film, Women Pioneers 
in  European  Cinema,  co-produced  by  MEDIA  and  the 
European Women in Audiovisual Network (EWA).

Subsequently, a European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) 
workshop  in  December  concluded  that  the  EAO  would 
help  align  divergent  national  monitoring  by  preparing  a 
common  methodology  based  on  a  shared  definition  of 
the gender gap.

The steps taken in 2018 will be followed up with further 
measures within the current Creative Europe Programme 
and post-2020. 

* European Audiovisual Observatory 2016

  Women Pioneers in European Cinema 

Pioneers 1, 2, 3.  
© EWA - european women’s audiovisual network

Alice Guy-Blache – the first ever fiction film director (1896) and first woman 
founder of a production company (1910)

Elvira Notari – active from the silent film era, she laid the foundations for the 
Italian neorealist movement

Lotte  Reiniger  –  inventor  of  silhouette  animation,  directed  one  of  the  first 
feature-length animated film in Europe, inspiring Walt Disney

20

CREATIVE EUROPECreative Europe Culture has also seen the emergence of more and more projects propos-
ing concrete strategies for tackling the issue of women's and underrepresented groups' 
empowerment, setting clear milestones for the evolution of the sectors in terms of gen-
der balance and challenging its capacity to be more inclusive. 

For instance, Keychange (a supported cooperation project) a pioneering international in-
itiative of the UK’s PRS Foundation, empowers women to transform the future of music. 
The project and the international campaign it launched set concrete milestones to be 
achieved by festivals willing to show their commitment to gender equality. Sixty emerg-
ing  artists  and  innovators  from  across  Europe  are  invited  to  international  festivals  to 
take part in a series of showcases, collaborations and creative labs. Backed up by an in-
novation fund, Keychange aims to accelerate change and create a better, more inclusive 
music industry for present and future generations. Project partners tackle discrimination 
whilst enabling female artists to build a sustainable international profile, develop new 
business models and extend their reach to audiences in Europe and beyond. 

Wom@rts  is  another  example  of  gender-inquality  awareness  project  that  started  its 
activities in 2018. Wom@rts” is a 4-year project proposed by ten partners from eight 
different European countries (Spain, Finland, Lithuania, France, Ireland, United Kingdom, 
Croatia and Slovenia) and 20 associated partners. The project consists in a transnational 
network and platform to develop awareness of gender inequality in cultural and creative 
industries and providing visibility to women artists.  The project aims to highlight and 
support the creativity of women from a cross-sectoral perspective, focussing on Litera-
ture/publishing/comics, Fine & Visual arts and (incl. printmaking, lens based media, new 
digital tendencies), Performing arts (music & performances) and Cinema. Transversally, 
it  plans  to  include  particular  focus  on  the  marketing  and  entrepreneurial  capacity  of 
female creatives. 

Female creators and artists are clear contributors to the cultural diversity of 
Europe,  and  in  line  with  Creative  Europe  general  objectives,  Wom@rts  should 
contribute to save and promote such values.

21

MONITORING REPORT 20182. 

 Campaign visuals and promotional material

2.1.  Templates

A series of campaign and promotional materials will be developed before the campaign’s launch  

and throughout the year. These can be found here: 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k458ijg64rq8q59/AAB7EBRuWSRt4mUnL1QAWkjBa?dl=0 

2.2.  The visual identity/Logo

A. Main logo

This is the main logo for the new European Year of Cultural Heritage.  

The logo exists in several variants which are described in 2.3.

Main Title

Font Bebas Neue Regular

Overlapping Coloured Rectangles 

2018

Europ ean Year 

of Cultural 

Heritage 

EU Flag

Main Hashtag

Font PF Square Sans Cond Pro Medium

B. Logo + slogan

We encourage the use of the logo together with the slogan for any communication material. 
However, for certain formats (brochures, leaflets, etc.), the two elements can be separated  
and preference should be given to the logo itself as a hook in order to label activities and 
productions realized under the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE EUROPEAN YEAR  
OF CULTUTRAL HERITAGE  

2018
Europ ean Year 
of Cultural 
Heritage 

5

The 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH) was 
an exceptional celebration of our common European her-
itage as a resource for Europe’s future. The only European 
Year under the Juncker Commission, the European Year of 
Cultural Heritage was a wide-ranging and inclusive initi-
ative involving all EU institutions, all EU Member States 
and  nine  partner  countries,  as  well  as  a  broad  array  of 
cultural stakeholders and international organisations, the 
Council of Europe and UNESCO. Its aim was to encourage 
the  sharing  and  appreciation  of  Europe's  cultural  herit-
age, to raise awareness of common history and values, 
and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common Eu-
ropean space. The European Year was an opportunity to 
underline the social and educational value of heritage, its 
economic significance, and its role in raising the profile of 
the EU in the world.

More than 23,000 events were held across Europe dur-
ing  the  year,  officially  launched  by  Commissioner  Tibor 
Navracsics at the European Culture Forum in Milan in De-
cember 2017.  Together, the events reached close to 12.8 
million people. They illustrated the cultural, social and ed-
ucational value of heritage, its economic significance, as 
well as heritage’s role in raising the profile of the EU in the 
world. Close to 14 2000 initiatives received the official la-

bel of the European Year of Cultural Heritage. In addition, 
the  2018  European  Heritage  Days  –  co-funded  by  the 
Culture Sub-programme of Creative Europe – engaged up 
to 30 million people in over 60 000 events across Europe, 
raising their awareness of the European dimension of cul-
tural heritage.

In December 2018, as a lasting legacy of the European 
Year,  the  Commission  published  a  European  Framework 
for Action on Cultural Heritage with 65 actions to be im-
plemented in 2019 and 2020.

Creative Europe contributed to the success of the EYCH 
in a number of ways. A dedicated EUR 5 million call for 
cooperation  projects  was  launched.  Twenty-nine  out-
standing  projects  were  selected.  From  remembrance  to 
contemporary creation inspired by cultural heritage, and 
from  gastronomy  and  dance  to  archaeology  and  archi-
tecture, these projects made a vibrant contribution to the 
Year. In addition, a special event dedicated to European 
Film Heritage was organised in October at Lumière 2018, 
the Grand Lyon Film Festival of classic films. At the same 
time,  thanks  to  a  budget  amendment  by  the  European 
Parliament,  cross-sectoral  initiatives  promoting  integra-
tion of film and cultural heritage will follow up the EYCH in 
2019 (see section on cross-sectoral collaboration).

‹  Europa Nostra, the leading 

European heritage organisation 
supported by Creative Europe, 
and the European Investment 
Bank Institute have announced 
the most threatened heritage 
sites in Europe for 2018. This new 
list of 7 Most Endangered was 
announced during the European 
Year of Cultural Heritage. The aim 
is to provide technical advice, 
identify possible sources of 
funding and mobilise wide support 
to save these heritage landmarks.

22

CREATIVE EUROPE03.

DELIVERING CREATIVE 
EUROPE 

In 2018, a total of 2 432 projects were supported by the Pro-
gramme (2 195 by MEDIA and 237 by Culture), representing 
EUR 174 million of EU funding. This section provides a break-
down of how that budget was allocated and spent, giving an 
overview of the types of projects supported, the rate of budget 
execution, the participation of Member States and measures 
taken to simplify the participation of beneficiaries.

23

MONITORING REPORT 2018OVERVIEW OF APPLICATIONS AND GRANTS BY SCHEME

An  overview  of  the  Sub-programmes  is  given  below, 
showing  how  the  support  was  organised  to  respond  to 
the needs of the sectors. 

MEDIA  provides  support  along  the  whole  of  the  value 
chain and has focused on four main areas:

 ›

Skills:  helping  audiovisual  professionals  to  develop 
creative, technical and business skills relevant to op-
erating at the European level.

 ›

 ›

 ›

Quality  content:  supporting  content  that  can  travel 
by developing new audiovisual works and supporting 
production of certain TV works.

Circulation and collaboration: increasing the theatri-
cal distribution of films across borders.

Promotion  and  audiences:  fostering  access  to  Eu-
ropean  films  through  festivals,  cinemas  and  online 
services.

Figure 2: Distribution of MEDIA budget by scheme, 2018

Skills

Quality content

Circulation and collaboration

Promotion and audiences

¢ Funding (€ m) 

¢ Number of projects

12.5

12.7

1 131

20.5

F
u
n
d
n
g

i

(
€
m

)

25

20

15

7.5

5.4

49

137

74

i

g
n
n
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r
T

i

l

e
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a
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8.4

2.6

85

58

s
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A

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e
k
r
a
M

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A

l

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S

3.7

30

42

n
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i
s
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l

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1.5

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t
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I

9.8

476

10.9

8.6

10

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0

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30

e
n
L

i

n
O

3.4

72

s
l
a
v
i
t
s
e
F

1.9

8

n
o
i
t
a
c
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d
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m

l
i

F

s
k
r
o
w
t
e
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a
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C

i

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i
t
a
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A

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i
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S

l

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N

200
1200

1000
1000

800
800

600
600

400
400

200
200

0
0

24

CREATIVE EUROPE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In 2018, CULTURE support was channelled through four 
main schemes:

 ›

Cooperation  projects  offering  an  opportunity  for 
organisations in Europe to team up and develop tai-
lor made projects. This included a call for small and 
large-scale  cooperation  projects  and  exceptional 
cooperation linked to the European Year of Cultural 
Heritage (EYCH);

 ›

 ›

 ›

European Networks of professionals – an impor-
tant building block for the structuring of the creative 
and culture sectors;

Platforms for the promotion of emerging artists 
– an innovative mechanism to link emerging artists 
with new European audiences;

Literary translation – support to European publish-
ers to translate and promote European books.

Figure 3: Distribution of Culture budget by scheme, 2018

s
t
c
e
o
r
p

j

f
o

r
e
b
m
u
N

100

80

60

40

20

0

86

25.5

¢ Funding (€ m) 

¢ Number of projects

16.4

n
o
i
t
a
r
e
p
o
o
C

r
e

l
l

a
m
s

s
t
c
e
o
r
p

j

29

4.8

6.6

28

7.5

s
k
r
o
w
t
e
N

8
1
0
2

s
t
c
e
o
r
p

j

n
o
i
t
a
r
e
p
o
o
C

H
C
Y
E

e
h
t

o
t

d
e
t
a
e
r

l

15

s
m
r
o
f
t
a
P

l

2.4

46

n
o
i
t
a
l
s
n
a
r
t

y
r
a
r
e
t
i
L

16

1.2

k
r
o
w
e
m
a
r
f

n
o
i
t
a
l
s
n
a
r
t

y
r
a
r
e
t
i
L

17

n
o
i
t
a
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e
p
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C

r
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g
r
a

l

s
t
c
e
o
r
p

j

F
u
n
d
n
g

i

(
€
m

)

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

25

MONITORING REPORT 2018 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONSISTENTLY HIGH ABSORPTION CAPACITY 

The  Creative  Europe  Programme  has  a  consistently  high 
absorption capacity. In 2018, under the Culture and MEDIA 
strands, 100% of the budget was committed and spent.

The  success  rate  of  applications  is  unfortunately  low  in 
several areas because a high number of quality pro-
jects could not be supported with the available budget. 
In the Culture Sub-programme, the average selection rate 
of the cooperation strand in 2018 was 14.8%. In MEDIA, 
the selection rate was as low as 19% in the Development 
Single scheme. 

Table  2  illustrates  the  high  demand  for  the  programme 
and  the  number  of  high  quality  projects  which  could  not 
be supported in 2018. It should be noted that the Commis-
sion has proposed for the period 2021-2027 a budget for 
the new Creative Europe programme, which corresponds to 
an increase of approximatively 34 % in comparison to the 
current programme, in particular for the MEDIA and Culture 
sub-programmes. (7). 

Budget constraints are also apparent when beneficiaries 
receive reduced levels of support. The best example of 
this is Europa Cinemas, a very successful network of cin-
emas specialising in European films. Whilst the network 
has steadily grown by over 23% from 2209 screens in 
2014 to 2709 in 2018, the budget has dropped by 1.5%, 
leading to a reduction in the average level of support per 
screen, equivalent to EUR 2.2 million.

In other cases, the level of financial support has not kept 
up with the evolution of the market. This is the case of 
high quality TV series, which have become culturally more 
significant in recent years, attracting talent from the big 
screen and corresponding audiences, but whose produc-
tion budgets have also grown to well over EUR 1 million 
per hour. For example, the series Babylon Berlin cost an 
estimated EUR 40 million whilst the MEDIA contribution 
was capped at EUR 1 million.

(7)  Calculated on the basis of 75% as the high quality threshold

Table 2: Schemes with the highest shares of high quality applications rejected due to insufficient budget, 2018

Calls with lowest  
selection rate

High quality projects  
rejected

Hypothetical budget required to 
finace them [€ m]

Additional % of strand budget 
needed to finance them

Development Single Project

Development Slate Funding

TV Programming

Festivals

SUB-TOTAL MEDIA

Cooperation projects smaller

Cooperation projects larger

SUB-TOTAL CULTURE

TOTAL CREATIVE EUROPE

171

43

32

22

268

30

20

50

318

6.9

7.1

11.1

0.9

27.4 

5.7

29.5

35.3

62.4

6.3%

6.5%

10.2%

0.8%

23.8%

8.9%

45.9%

54.8%

35.8%

26

CREATIVE EUROPEFigure 4: Support per Europa Cinemas member screen (€, 2018)

6 000

5 500

5 000

4 500

4 000

3 500

3 000

Funding per screen (€)

 5037

4 868

4 570

4 175

4 290

3 917

4 453

4 337

4 294

4 370

4 069

3 762

3 951

3 510

3 585

2004 

2005  2006  2007  2008 

2009  2010 

2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016 

2017  2018

  Cinema Dom na Kinoto (Sofia, Bulgaria),  
member of the Europa Cinemas network.  
©Alexander Stanishev

27

MONITORING REPORT 2018A RELATIVELY SMALL 
BUDGET IN COMPARISON 
TO THE SIZE OF THE 
SECTORS

The size of the cultural and creative sectors is estimated 
at 4% of EU GDP or EUR 290 billion in added value (8). 
The  Creative  Europe  budget  is  relatively  limited  com-
pared to the scale of the sector. In fact, Creative Europe 
funds for the period 2014-2020 are equivalent to an av-
erage of EUR 209 million per year, which represents only 
0.07%  of  the  value  of  the  sector  in  Europe.  This  ratio 
emphasises  the  need  to  target  support  in  those  areas 
that  offer  most  added  value.  The  mid-term  evalua-
tion of the Programme concluded that in order to 
have a structuring effect on the sector a significant 
budget increase would be needed. 

SUPPORTING SMEs

The fabric of Europe’s cultural and creative sectors con-
sists  mainly  of  small  or  medium  sized  enterprises  and 
cultural  organisations.  In  the  Culture  Sub-programme, 
small organisations are the main participants and 
beneficiaries in cooperation projects. Over 70% of ben-
eficiaries  from  2014  to  2018  were  micro  or  small  or-
ganisations. They took part in cooperation, networking, 
exchange of good practice, mobility, co-production and 
capacity building opportunities of this scheme. In MEDIA 
as well the majority of beneficiaries qualify as SMEs.

These  figures  show  that  Creative  Europe  reaches  out 
to smaller players. However, given the intense interna-
tional competition and the emergence of a digital single 
market where content is increasingly accessible across 
borders, there is also a need to develop collaboration 
and  other  business  models  which  allow  European 
players to scale up.

(8)  Eurostat, EIB

Figure 5: Annual budget of Creative Europe, 2014-2018 [€ million]

107.1

104.3

102.3

51.7

49.4

48.1

108.2

51.2

109.7

64.3

Media

Culture

2014 

2015 

2016 

2017 

2018

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

28

CREATIVE EUROPESIMPLIFYING PARTICIPATION FOR BENEFICIARIES

A priority is to ensure wide and easy access to EU funds 
for  European  cultural  organisations  regardless  of  their 
size or location.

The Education, Audiovisual and Cultural Executive Agen-
cy (EACEA), which is in charge of implementing the Pro-
gramme,  provides  information  and  support  to  Cre-
ative  Europe  beneficiaries  (through  annual  kick-off 
meetings  for  example)  and  monitors  funded  projects 
(each  project  has  a  dedicated  project  officer).  EACEA  is 
moving toward paperless relations: it has created online 
application forms to facilitate access to the Programme 
and online reporting to collect data and success stories 
from funded projects. EACEA continuously provides feed-
back and policy support to the European Commission to 
improve guidelines and financial support.

An evaluation survey sent by EACEA in 2018 to its appli-
cants and beneficiaries showed that 79% of the Crea-
tive Europe respondents were satisfied with the ser-
vice provided by the Agency. The EACEA beneficiaries 

assessed the courtesy, commitment and competence of 
the Agency’s personnel most positively whilst the feed-
back on access to information, including the website and 
other information materials, showed there was room for 
improvement. 

The  Programme  also  has  a  network  of  44  Creative 
Europe  Desks  (CED)  in  all  participating  countries. 
CEDs help the cultural and creative sectors access fund-
ing from Creative Europe (through advice and support to 
applicants),  promote  the  Programme  and  help  optimise 
the reach of funded projects. 

More than three quarters of all applicants under Culture in 
2018 indicated that they had contacted their local Creative 
Europe Desks before submitting an application. The share 
was  lower  in  the  MEDIA  Sub-programme  (43%)  where 
some schemes with a high volume of applications do not 
need specific advice (e.g. Distribution Automatic). Almost 
all applicants (99%) who contacted the desks before 
applying were satisfied with the services provided. 

Figure 6: Creative Europe institutional roles 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Policy development, monitoring, supervision, 
pilot actions, stakeholder dialogue

EDUCATION, AUDIO(cid:20)
VISUAL AND CULTURE 
EXECUTIVE AGENCY
Implementation of Creative 
Europe programme 

CREATIVE EUROPE 
DESK
Promotion of the programme 
and assistance to applicant and 
beneﬁciary organisations

29

MONITORING REPORT 2018PARTICIPATION OF EU MEMBER STATES IN MEDIA 

Creative Europe funds are awarded to projects on the ba-
sis of objective criteria, in order to identify the best, high 
quality applications, regardless of their origin. The partici-
pation rates of Member State participation in MEDIA vary 
widely and reflect, in particular, the differences between 
countries  in  their  size  and  capacity  of  their  audiovisual 
industries.    However,  whilst  there  is  a  tendency  for  the 
countries  with  bigger  audiovisual  sectors  to  participate 
more  in  MEDIA,  there  is  also  a  tendency  for  “lower  ca-
pacity” countries to participate above the level that their 
relative size would suggest.  Therefore MEDIA has an in-
clusive effect at the European level.  The participation of 
EU Member States in MEDIA is given in Figure 7. 

Furthermore, the transnational value of MEDIA needs to be 
fully acknowledged. It supports local distributors to distrib-
ute works from other countries and thus the producers are 
indirect beneficiaries. For example, in 2018, EUR 2.2 million 
were granted around Europe to distribute Belgian films and 
EUR 2 million for both Danish and Polish films.

MEDIA  also  supports  European  networks.  In  Table  3  the 
support to the members of the Europa Cinemas network 
is broken down on a country by country basis. However, the 
figure for Belgium includes 13 networks which for historical 
reasons are officially located in Brussels but in fact provide 
support to their members all over Europe. 

MEDIA also prioritises support to  co-productions, which 
bring  creatives  together  to  collaborate  across  borders.  
Whilst  the  budgeting  is  accounted  for  according  to  the 
split of the grant between co-beneficiaries, it should be 
recalled that these are joint projects.   In the field of high 
quality  TV  series,  where  production  costs  are  rising  as 
competition  for  audiences  stiffens,  co-productions  have 
added  value  as  they  can  help  bring  together  financing 
from  different  sources.  Thus,  co-productions  help  scale 
up productions and make them more competitive. MEDIA 
support is shared amongst the partners in line with their 
co-production agreements.  

Figure 7. Member States’ share of MEDIA support relative to share of non-national film releases

¢ Share of MEDIA support (EU)

¢ Share of EU non-national ﬁlm releases by country of origin

FR  DE 

IT  BE  UK  NL  DK  ES  PL  SE  CZ  AT 

IE  EL  FI  PT  RO  LU  SI  HU  SK  HR  BG  ET  LT  LV

Source: 2017, Lumiere Database,  
European Audiovisual Observatory.

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

30

CREATIVE EUROPEMEDIA is working towards a level playing field to ensure 
the participation in MEDIA of Member States with differ-
ent capacities in the audiovisual field.  A study published 
by  MEDIA  in  2018  makes  recommendations  for  a  com-
prehensive approach and suggested the following defini-
tion of a level playing field:

“A  level  playing  field  ensures  that  the  MEDIA  Sub-pro-
gramme  supports  the  best  talent,  wherever  located,  to 
operate across borders and internationally. It also ensures 
that MEDIA supports the needs of low capacity countries 
and or countries and regions with a restricted geographical 
and/or linguistic area, in particular through the transnation-
al circulation of high-quality works that have the potential 
to travel from all Member States to audiences in all Mem-

ber States. It therefore supports the objective of MEDIA to 
foster cultural and linguistic diversity across Europe.”

In particular, the report recommended that both the produc-
tion and distribution parts of the industry should be taken 
into account in assessing capacity in order to give a more 
holistic view. The study also proposed a number of options 
for  measures  to  effectively  support  a  level  playing  field 
whilst avoiding unintended distortions of MEDIA support. 

The Commission will take the study into account and con-
tinue the dialogue with Member States. On this basis it 
will prepare proposals for a revised approach, under the 
successor programme post-2020, to facilitate participa-
tion of all Member States in MEDIA.

Figure 8: Co-production in TV Production scheme between different capacity countries

LCC-LCC

1

HCC-HCC

5

MCC-LCC

3

MCC-MCC

3

HCC-LCC

2

HCC-MCC

24

 Countries of two co-producers with the highest of 
co-production shares.

Co-productions and TV works

Co-productions  are  always  a  centre  of  at-
tention  in  MEDIA  schemes  supporting  the 
TV  production  phase.  In  support  to  TV  se-
ries,  co-productions  account  for  almost 
80% of all projects. Most involve countries 
with  different  languages  and  a  party  in  a 
high  audiovisual  capacity  country  (HCC) 
and  a  medium  audiovisual  capacity  coun-
try  (MCC).  The  figures  show  that  MEDIA 
has  helped  promote  collaboration  across 
borders, but there is more to do to promote 
more collaboration with low audiovisual ca-
pacity countries (LCC). 

31

MONITORING REPORT 2018Figure 9: Split of MEDIA grants between partners in TV co-productions, 2018

Creative Europe

80 000 €
grant

1 000 000 €
grant

38 400€

41 600€

200 000€

400 000€

400 000€

Negativ
CZECH REPUBLIC

Alegria
FRANCE

Ripple World
IRELAND

Cinenord Drama
NORWAY

Sirena Film
CZECH REPUBLIC

‹  Milos Forman –  

A Way for Freedom
(in production)

‹  Atlantic Crossing
(in production)

32

CREATIVE EUROPE 
 
04.

SAFEGUARDING 
CULTURAL DIVERSITY, 
STRENGTHENING 
COMPETITIVENESS 

Creative Europe support has two interlinked general objectives: 
to safeguard cultural and linguistic diversity and to strengthen 
competitiveness. European film and other cultural expressions 
reflect the diversity of Europe, while also showcasing our sim-
ilarities. They thus help bring people together by strength-
ening mutual understanding of our differences whilst feeding 
a sense of shared European identity. At the international level, 
the Programme also contributes to EU public diplomacy. 

At  the  same  time,  the  cultural  and  creative  sectors  need  to 
be economically robust industries to face global competition 
for investment and for audiences in a market which continues 
to grow worldwide and is driven by creativity and innovation. 
Creative Europe contributed to meeting these objectives in a 
number of ways, as explained in the next pages.

33

MONITORING REPORT 2018REACHING WIDER AUDIENCES

Audiences are at the heart of Creative Europe. MEDIA 
helps  European  films  and  series  find  their  audiences  in 
competition with the dominance of Hollywood studios at 
the  box  office  as  well  as  the  rise  of  global  online  plat-
forms.  The  growing  number  of  productions  means  that 
the competition for eyeballs is tougher than ever. Firstly, 
MEDIA supports distribution of content to people across 
different channels from cinema to TV and VOD. Secondly, 
it  helps  stimulate  the  demand  and  appreciation  for  the 
unique  character  of  European  films  by  supporting  film 
festivals  and  film  education  activities,  focusing  on  the 
young to help build the next generation of cinema lovers. 

In 2018, completed MEDIA projects reached an audience 
of than 122 million people through all these activities (9). 

MUSIC,  supported  by  the  Culture  Sub-programme,  is 
a  good  example  of  a  sector  where  Creative  Europe  can 
bring benefits by helping less represented genres or coun-
tries  expand  their  audience  outside  their  home  country 
in  Europe  and  beyond.  In  2018  an  estimated  20  music 
projects  were  financed  by  the  Culture  Sub-programme 
across different schemes, linking the diversity of Europe-
an music to new audiences.

(9)  The number of 122 million is based only on reports from distributors 
which were MEDIA beneficiaries, which means that the overall consump-
tion of MEDIA-supported works may be higher.

FEDORA  –  The  European  Circle  of  Philanthropists 
of Opera and Ballet (supported platform) – has de-
veloped  new  business  and  funding  models:  it  offers 
prizes  for  promising  opera  and  ballet  co-production 
teams. When it received a grant from Culture, corpo-

rate sponsors perceived it as an endorsement of the 
platform’s credibility and ambitions, and subsequent-
ly  FEDORA  managed  to  obtain  new  private  sources 
of funding. 

‹  Le syndrome ian 1  
© Marc Coudrais

34

CREATIVE EUROPELITERATURE  is  another  example  where  safeguarding 
diversity  at  European  level  requires  positive  action.  Eu-
ropean  books  –  especially  from  smaller  territories  –  do 
not travel easily across borders and, when they do travel, 
need  to  be  promoted  to  kindle  the  interest  of  potential 
new  readers.  The  Culture  Sub-programme  supports  Eu-
ropean  publishers  in  their  relentless  efforts  to  bring  Eu-
ropean books to diverse readerships. It supports around 
60 publishers every year, and in 2018 an estimated 440 
books were translated and promoted via traditional and 
digital channels. With more than 70% of all translations 
coming  from  smaller  languages,  the  library  of  Creative 
Europe-supported  books  fully  reflects  the  linguistic  and 
creative diversity of European stories. 

Thanks  to  the  Culture  Sub-programme,  Croatian 
publisher VBZ has raised its profile in its own coun-
try by creating a prestigious "Around Europe in 30 
books"  collection  with  books  from  30  countries 
demonstrating the richness of European literature, 
whilst  Iperbora,  an  Italian  publisher  specialising  in 
Nordic  literature,  has  been  able  to  diversify  into 
children’s books. 

LIVEUROPE  (supported  platform)  is  a  platform 
supporting concert venues in their effort to promote 
the circulation of emerging European artists outside 
their  home  country.  It  works  as  a  safety  net  to  en-
courage  music  venues  to  take  risks  and  book  more 
acts outside their geographical comfort zone. Thanks 
to  the  Culture  Sub-programme  of  Creative  Europe, 

Liveurope  has  established  an  incentive  funding 
mechanism encouraging venues to book more young 
European artists. Since its launch in 2014, Liveurope 
has  supported  over  1  800  artists  (on  average  360 
artists  per  year)  of  more  than  30  nationalities  and 
currently has members in 14 countries. 

‹  Liveurope KinoSiska  

© NejcKetis

35

MONITORING REPORT 2018HIGH QUALITY, INTERNATIONALLY  
RECOGNISED CONTENT

An  indicator  of  the  success  of  Creative  Europe  in  safe-
guarding cultural diversity is the international critical ac-
claim which its supported works receive. 

In 2018 (Table 3), 34 films supported by MEDIA won 
61 major international prizes, compared to 50 prizes 
won in 2017. 

The Programme also supports prizes and awards across 
the other cultural and creative sectors. These are organ-
ised by representative organisations to reward emerging 
talents and give more visibility to European cultural rich-
ness and creativity.

Table 3: MEDIA-supported films recognised with an award announced in 2018

Film  
(original title, director)

Country of 
production

No of 
awards

Ceremony

Category

COLD WAR 
(Zimna wojna, dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)

GIRL  
(dir. Lukas Dhont)

PL, UK

BE, NL

DOGMAN  
(dir. Matteo Garrone)

IT, FR

THE HEIRESSES  
(Las Herederas,  
dir. Marcelo Martinessi)

THE BREADWINNER  
(dir. Nora Twomey)

PY, FR, DE, 
BR, IT

IE, CA, LU, US

RED  
(Rojo, dir. Benjamin Naishtat)

AR, BR, FR, NL, 
DE, BE

ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE  
(Un día más con vida,  
dir. Raúl de la Fuente; DamianNenow)

BORDER  
(Gräns, dir. Ali Abbasi)

PL, ES, DE

SE, DK

6

6

4

4

3

3

2

2

Cannes 

Best Director

European Film 
Awards 

Screenwriter; Film; Director; Actress; 
Editor

Cannes 

San Sebastian

European Film 
Awards

Un Certain Regard Best Performance; 
Un Certain Regard FIPRESCI Award; 
Camera d’Or

Audience Award for Best European 
Film; Premio Sebastiane

European Discovery – FIPRESCI Award

Cannes 

Best Actor

European Film 
Awards

Actor; Costume Designer; Hair and 
Makeup Artist

Berlinale

Annecy 

San Sebastian 

Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize; Silver 
Bear for Best Actress; FIPRESCI Critics 
Prize; Teddy Readers’ Award

Jury Award; Audience Award; Best 
Original Music

Silver Shell for Best Director; 
Silver Shell for Best Actor; Best 
Cinematography

San Sebastian 

Audience Award

European Film 
Awards

Animated Feature Film

Cannes 

Un Certain Regard

European Film 
Awards

Visual Effects Supervisor

36

CREATIVE EUROPEFilm  
(original title, director)

Country of 
production

No of 
awards

Ceremony

Category

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME 
(Chiamami col tuo nome, dir. Luca  
Guadagnino)

IT, FR, BR, US

IN THE AISLES  
(In den Gängen,  
dir. Thomas Stuber)

THE FAVOURITE  
(dir. Yannis Lanthimos)

TOUCH ME NOT  
(dir. Adina Pintilie)

UTØYA: JULY 22  
(Utøya 22. Juli, dir. Erik Poppe)

3 DAYS IN QUIBERON  
(3 Tage in Quiberon,  
dir. Emily Alef)

DE

IE, UK, U

RO, DE, CZ, 
BG, FR

NO

DE, AT, FR

A FAITHFUL MAN  
(L’homme fidèle, dir. Louis Garrel)

FR

A FANTASTIC WOMAN  
(Una Mujer Fantástica,  
dir. Sebastián Lelio)

BERGMAN – A YEAR IN A LIFE 
(Bergman – Ett År, ett Liv,  
dir. Jane Magnusson)

CLIMAX  
(dir. Gaspar Noe)

DONBASS  
(dir. Sergei Loznitza)

FUNAN  
(dir. Denis Do)

CO, DE, ES, US

SE, NO

DE, BE

DE, UA, FR, 
NL, RO

FR, LU, BE

HAPPY AS LAZZARO  
(Lazzaro Felice, dir. Alice Rohrwacher)

IT, CH, FR, DE

HIGH LIFE  
(dir. Claire Denis)

IN THE FADE  
(Aus Dem Nichts, dir. Fatih Akin)

MUG  
(Twarz, dir. Malgorzata Szumowska)

QUIÉN TE CANTARÁ  
(dir. Carlos Vermut)

THE BIG BAD FOX AND  
OTHER TALES… 
(Le Grand Méchant Renard et Autres 
Contes,  
dir. Patrick Imbert, Benjamin Renner)

UK, FR, DE, 
PL, US

DE, FR, IT

PL

ES, FR

FR, BE

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Oscar 

Best Adapted Screenplay

European Film 
Awards

Berlinale 

Venice 

Berlinale

People’s Choice

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury; Guild 
Film Prize

Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize; Coppa 
Volpi for Best Actress

Golden Bear for Best Film; GWFF Best 
First Feature

Berlinale 

Special Mention Ecumenical Jury;

European Film 
Awards 

European Film 
Awards 

Cinematographer (Prix Carlo di Palma)

Composer

San Sebastian 

Best Screenplay (ex aequo)

Oscar 

Best Foreign Language Film

EFA 

Documentary

Cannes 

Directors’ Fortnight Art Cinema Award

Cannes 

Un Certain Regard Best Director

Annecy (MIFA)

Crystal for a Feature Film

Cannes 

Best Screenplay

San Sebastian 

FIPRESCI Prize

Golden Globe 

Best Motion Picture – Foreign 
Language

Berlinale 

Silver Bear Grand Prix Jury

San Sebastian 

Premio FEROZ ZInemaldia

Annecy 

André-Martin Award for  
French Feature Film

37

MONITORING REPORT 2018Film  
(original title, director)

Country of 
production

No of 
awards

Ceremony

Category

THE CAPTAIN  
(Der Hauptmann; dir. Robert Schwentke)

DE, FR, PL, CN

THE DAY I LOST MY SHADOW  
(dir. Soudade Kaadan)

SY, FR, LB, QA

THE DEATH OF STALIN  
(dir. Armando Iannucci)

UK, FR, BE, 
CA, US

THE PRAYER  
(La Prière, dir. Cédric Kahn)

THE TROUBLE WITH YOU  
(En Liberté! dir. Pierre Salvadori)

SAMOUNI ROAD  
(La Strada dei Samouni,  
dir. Stefano Savona)

FR

FR

IT, FR

SOFIA  
(dir. Meryem Benm’Barek-Aloisi)

FR, QA, BE, MA

WOMAN AT WAR  
(Kona fer í stríðo, dir. Benedikt Erlingsson)

IS, FR, UA

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

European Film 
Awards 

Venice

Sound Designer

Lion of the Future (L. de Laurentiis 
Venice Award for a Debut film)

European Film 
Awards 

Comedy

Berlinale 

Silver Bear for Best Actor

Cannes 

Semaine de la Critique SACD Award

Cannes 

Golden Eye

Cannes 

Un Certain Regard Best Screenplay

Cannes 

Semaine de la Critique SACD Award

38

CREATIVE EUROPETable 4: Culture-supported awards

YOUNG TALENT  
ARCHITECTURE AWARD (YTAA)

2018 saw the second edition of the YTAA, a joint initiative of Creative Europe, 
the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, the Architects’ Council of Europe and 
the European Association for Architectural Education. It supports recently 
graduated Architects, Urban Planners and Landscape Architects by rewarding 
the best diploma projects of the last two years in Europe and beyond (with 
China and South Korea as guest countries in 2018). The four winners in 2018 
– selected from 334 projects submitted by 451 students – were Hendrik 
Brinkmann (DE), Julio Gotor Valcárcel (ES), Matthew Gregorowski (UK) and Loed 
Stolte (NL).

EUROPEAN UNION PRIZE  
FOR LITERATURE (EUPL)

The EUPL is organised by a consortium of the European Writers’ Council, 
the Federation of European Publishers and the European and International 
Booksellers Federation, with the support of Creative Europe. Since its first 
edition in 2008, 108 emerging authors from 37 European countries have been 
translated into several languages and reached new markets thanks to this 
Prize. In 2018, to celebrate the prize’s 10th anniversary, all the laureates were 
invited to take part in a special contest on Europe: "A European story: EUPL 
winners write Europe”.

MUSIC MOVES EUROPE  
TALENT AWARDS (MMETA)

In 2018 the MMETA replaced the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) as 
the annual EU prize for popular and contemporary music. In past years, the 
EBBA has launched the careers of Adele, Stromae and Dua Lipa. In 2018 the 
aim remained the same: to reward the transnational and cultural ambitions of 
young musicians, like the Spanish artist Rosalia (R’N’B/Urban), British Bishop 
Briggs (Pop), Icelandic Reykjavikurdaetur (rap) or Swedish Albin Lee Meldau.

EUROPA NOSTRA  
AWARDS

Also called European Heritage Awards, these recognise exemplary 
accomplishments in conservation, research, dedicated service, education and 
awareness-raising in the area of heritage. In 2018 there were 29 laureates, 
including the network of NGOs protecting Venice and a public educational 
programme for youth in Finland.

39

MONITORING REPORT 2018LEVERAGING INVESTMENT, SUPPORTING GROWTH 

Creative  Europe  achieves  an  economic  impact  that  is 
greater than its financial support by encouraging invest-
ments from multiple partners to build projects together.

MEDIA  is  active  throughout  the  audiovisual  ecosystem, 
from  supporting  cutting-edge  training  programmes  to 
films  which  have  won  international  recognition  to  sup-
porting  access  to  markets.  Its  track  record  of  success 
has allowed it to become a quality mark and to leverage 
funds  from  other  sources.  In  2018  total  MEDIA  support 
of EUR 110 million leveraged EUR 350 million from other 
funding sources for a total of EUR 460 million. This repre-
sents a leverage ratio of more than three. 

In  addition,  MEDIA  beneficiaries,  which  are  typically 
audiovisual  SMEs,  report  that  the  support  has  helped 
them to consolidate their position in a very competitive 
environment, with 98% of beneficiaries reporting an im-
proved market position due to MEDIA support (10). 

Creative Europe funding acts as guarantee of quality 
which  helps  organisations  to  attract  other  investments 
(be it public or private). For instance, the 237 Culture pro-
jects selected in 2018 raised more than EUR 50 million of 
investments to match the Culture grants. Projects funded 
under Creative Europe Culture are selected for their ability 
to anticipate new cultural and creative trends or develop 
new business models, enhance cultural participation, as 
well as improve accessibility to cultural works.

INVESTING IN THE DEVELOPMENT  
OF PROJECTS

In 2018 EACEA conducted a survey among pro-
ducers who had received MEDIA grants in 2014 
and 2015 for the development of their projects 
(Development  Single,  Development  Slate  and 
Video  Games).  This  survey  collected  data  on 
whether the projects were finally produced and, 
if  so,  how  they  performed.  A  total  of  613  ex- 
beneficiaries responded (response rate of 66%), 
with 51% reporting that their projects had either 
been produced or were still in production. The re-
maining projects were either still in development, 
abandoned or put on hold.

Of  the  film  projects  produced  or  in  production, 
59%  became  co-productions  with  a  compa-
ny  from  another  country.  Looking  back,  89%  of 
beneficiaries reported an increase in the market 
position of their company. The  MEDIA support 
is  identified  as  a  seal  of  quality  and  the 
funding  was  often  crucial  for  the  feasibili-
ty of the projects, whether the beneficiary was 
producing the EUR 40 million Babylon Berlin or a 
EUR 70 000 creative documentary.

(10)  EACEA final reports

40

CREATIVE EUROPEEUROPEAN CAPITALS OF CULTURE 

The European Capital of Culture (ECOC) initiative has 
proved to be an excellent stimulus for cultural diversi-
ty, creativity and… investment. The two 2018 ECOCs, 
Leeuwarden in the Netherlands and Valetta in Malta, 
received  EUR  1.5  million  from  Creative  Europe  (the 
Melina Mercouri Prize). In 2018, Friesland, the region 
around Leeuwarden, was visited by a record number 
of  5.4  million  tourists.  The  economic  impact  of  the 
ECOC in the region, including the spending generated 
by extra tourists and revenues for the cultural sector, 
is estimated at around EUR 300 million. There were 
a total of 1 600 international cultural collaborations 
during the year while 70% of the Frisian population 
was involved in ECOC-related projects and 10% acted 
as volunteers.

In 2018, the Commission received the ex-post evalu-
ation of the previous edition*, when the ECOCs were 
Danish  Aarhus  and  Cypriot  Pafos.  The  study  found 
that  Aarhus  2017  reached  an  audience  of  3.3  mil-

lion people, helped create 1 965 full-time jobs in the 
Central Denmark Region and increased private sector 
turnover by EUR 159 million, while the return on pub-
lic investment in the initiative was 300%. With a pop-
ulation of only 35 000, Pafos was one of the smallest 
ECOC hosts ever. The city’s small size inspired all cit-
izens,  both  local  residents  and  the  international  ex-
patriate community, to actively engage with the Pro-
gramme,  including  through  a  Volunteer  Programme 
that  mobilised  more  than  350  people.  Pafos  2017 
also offered a platform for physical improvements to 
cultural facilities.

Matera (Italy) and Plovdiv (Bulgaria) are the two 2019 
ECOCs.  Upcoming  ECOCs  are:  Rijeka  (Croatia)  and 
Galway (Ireland) in 2020; Eleusis (Greece), Timișoara 
(Romania)  and  Novi  Sad  (Serbia)  in  2021;  Kaunas 
(Lithuania)  and  Esch  (Luxembourg)  in  2022;  and 
Veszprém (Hungary) in 2023.

* https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/sites/creative-eu-
rope/files/ecoc_2017_ex_post_evaluation_final_report.pdf

‹  Leeuwarden-fryslân 2018 

© Chris Mangion (Valletta) 2018

41

MONITORING REPORT 2018EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

Creative  Europe  Culture  has  also  placed  emphasis  on 
sustaining projects that seek to remove barriers and that 
encourage  the  social  inclusion  and  the  cultural  partici-
pation  of  underrepresented  and  disadvantaged  groups, 
contributing to social wellbeing and solidarity. To this end, 
nearly  all  funded  projects  address  one  or  several  equal 

opportunities  themes.  Gender  equality,  migrants,  race 
and  ethnic  origin  are  especially  high  on  the  agenda  to-
gether with disability and special needs. Other frequently 
addressed themes are ageing, sexual orientation and re-
ligion/beliefs.  

EQUAL MASTERY OF ARTISTS  
WITH DISABILITIES 

UN-LABEL – New Grounds for inclusive Performing 
Arts  (supported  cooperation  project)  aims  to  cele-
brate uniqueness under the simple assumption that 
'there is no identity without otherness'. Professional 
performers, experienced cultural workers, scientists 
and  artists  invested  their  skills  and  creativity  in  a 
dynamic inclusive dialogue. A group of eight mixed-
abled  young  artists  were  trained  through  tandem 
workshops  to  form  the  core  team  of  the  project. 
The  project  worked  with  over  100  artists  with  and 
without  disabilities  from  13  European  countries  to 
explore  the  artistic  possibilities  of  multidisciplinary 
inclusive stage works.

HERITAGE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES 

HERITAGE  CONTACT  ZONE  (supported  cooper-
ation  project)  has  as  its  goal  the  promotion  of  a 
new and inclusive sense of inheritance of European 
cultural  heritage.  Starting  from  the  idea  that  her-
itage  sites  constitute  powerful  'contact  zones'  for 
processing contested aspects of history, the project 
created five local exhibitions of ‘new’ European her-
itage, which include objects and stories of margin-
alised communities. Public spaces in France, Greece, 
Hungary,  the  Netherlands  and  Romania  testified 
to  conflictual  and  neglected  narratives  of  Europe-
an  heritage,  including  Dutch  colonialism,  the  North 
African diaspora, Roma heritage, totalitarianism, or 

42

  Performance UnLabel  

© Ylmaz Ulus

European wars. The project developed participatory 
capacities at cultural and heritage institutions to en-
hance a sense of belonging for all citizens.

  Heritage Contact Zone  

© Lena Birkhold

CREATIVE EUROPEINTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

ORPHEUS & MAJNUN (supported cooperation pro-
ject)  is  a  participatory  opera  project  fusing  the  an-
cient  Greek  myth  of  Orpheus  and  Eurydice  with  the 
famous Arab love story of Layla and Majnun, which 
both reflect basic, essential human experiences: love, 
existential loss and longing. It connected seven Euro-
pean  partnering  institutions,  their  stakeholders  and 
community  groups.  It  was  also  a  flagship  event  of 
Valetta, European Capital of Culture 2018. 

  Orfeo & Majnun_Rehearsal  

© H. Segers - La Monnaie De Munt

PHONE HOME (supported cooperation project) was inspired by real-life stories re-
lated to displacement and migration. By bringing together community-based theatre 
work, new forms of interaction and audience participation, spectators were conduct-
ed into a thrilling experience: three theatres from different countries co-generated a 
performance to be watched simultaneously at the respective venues, while being in-
terlinked via video-conferencing. This use of technology corresponded to the topic of 
the project: miscommunication on all levels with regard to refugees and migration.

THE ROSE AND THE THORN (supported cooperation project) is a 2018 circus vari-
ation on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. JR Circus’s project held workshops in Italy, 
the Netherlands, Romania and the UK to unite the international crew and develop 
the show. It transformed Romeo and Juliet into an acrobatic struggle between love, 
hate, intercultural dialogue and EU integration.

43

MONITORING REPORT 201805.

MEDIA FOCUSING ON 
TALENT, CONTENT, 
CIRCULATION AND 
PROMOTION  

Europe’s audiovisual industry needs to adapt constantly in a 
very  dynamic  environment  as  digital  technology  transforms 
the way audiovisual content is created and disseminated. At 
the  same  time,  global  online  players  are  growing  rapidly. 
MEDIA  helps  the  industry  face  these  challenges  by  building 
its capacity to operate at a transnational level, so that films 
and audiovisual works can find markets and be seen beyond 
national and European borders. MEDIA is active at key stages 
across the industry’s value chain in order to build a European 
ecosystem which is able to reach wider audiences.

44

CREATIVE EUROPEFOSTERING TALENT AND SKILLS AT EUROPEAN LEVEL 

Few other industries have adopted the on-the-job, learn-
ing-by-doing,  lifelong-learning  approach  to  the  extent 
present  in  the  audiovisual  industry.  A  university  degree 
is never enough in this sector, so participating in profes-
sional training is a must for every beginning and experi-
enced filmmaker. This is why MEDIA devotes considerable 
amounts to supporting the most cutting-edge workshop 
organisers in Europe. Some of the training courses sup-
ported in 2018 targeted precise groups of film profession-
als  (e.g.  scriptwriters),  some  a  special  market  segment 
(e.g. animation) and some were aiming at inter-sectoral 
creative cross-fertilisation. 

MEDIA-supported professional training courses cover the 
full  spectrum  of  skills  needed  in  the  audiovisual  world: 
high-tech technical, business-related and creative. There 
was an even split of male and female participants among 
the total number of 2 839 professionals trained. Every 
project  recruited  participants  from  different  countries. 
The following endorsement by the accomplished Serbian 

documentary  filmmaker  Mila  Turajlić,  shows  the  added 
value of this action:

  The  pan-European  system  of  training  pro-
grammes created by MEDIA has been incredibly 
important for my professional career – from the 
practical learning to the network and friends and 
collaborators, it essentially provided me with a 
roadmap  through  the  European  audiovisual 
landscape,  and  for  this  I  am  incredibly  grate-
ful. It also opened the doors to the industry for 
me when I was starting out, because it sets in 
place  relationships  where  young  and  first-time 
filmmakers can easily access their more expe-
rienced  colleagues  which  made  me  feel  like  a 
welcome member of the community 

In  2018  54  training  courses  in  16  countries  were 
held with MEDIA support. 2 839 participants in those 
courses came from a broad range of countries, with those 
from smaller countries participating relatively more.

Figure 10: Profession of the participant, as declared in a survey during training programmes, 2018 

PROFESSION OF PARTICIPANTS OF TRAININGS

Animator 28

Artist/Designer 353

Cinematographer 44

Director 548

Distributor/Sales Agent 45

Exhibitor 93

Finacier 19

Game developper 137

14 Film Archive

25 Marketing

13 Lawyer

13 Festival

35 Post-production

999 Produceur

271 Scriptwriter

204 Other

TOTAL 2839

45

MONITORING REPORT 2018SERIAL EYES 

Serial eyes prepares the next generation of European TV writers and producers 
to bring first-class storytelling to television screens. The writers’ room experi-
ence is at the core of the Programme: the twelve Serial Eyes participants learn 
to work as a group and develop a European model of showrunning. They are 
taught  in  Germany,  the  UK  and  Denmark  by  US  and  European  showrunners, 
head  writers,  producers  and  commissioning  editors  who  mentor,  lecture  and 
train in writing and pitching.

ACE

ACE  is  an  exclusive  network  of  experienced  independent  film  producers  from 
Europe  and  beyond.  It  has  220  members,  who  often  collaborate.  16-20  new 
producers are selected every year for the ACE programme of advanced training, 
after which they are welcome in the network. During the year of training they re-
ceive advice on their projects from consultants with outstanding track records in 
story development, financing and international distribution. The alumni include 
producers of such significant 2018 films as Girl and Happy as Lazzaro.

Map 2: MEDIA-supported training programmes by hosting country, 2018

Lithuania 

Poland 

Czech Rep. 

Denmark 

1

4

3

3

United Kingdom  5

Ireland 

1

The Netherlands  6

Belgium 

Luxembourg 

France 

2

2

8

Germany 

10

Italy 

Croatia 

Greece 

Bulgaria 
"

Georgia 

4

1

1

1

1

46

"

"

"

"

"

CREATIVE EUROPEHIGH QUALITY INNOVATIVE CONTENT 

MEDIA  stands  for  high  quality  content  which  travels.  To 
make sure that films and TV series do not remain at home, 
but are shared across Europe, MEDIA helps productions to 
appeal to audiences across borders. In 2018 MEDIA dedi-
cated 31% of its budget to the creation of quality content.

Development funding supports the crucial phase when a 
project is born. The key elements are brought together, in-
cluding the financial partners, the script and the distribu-
tion strategy. This will help determine if production should 
go ahead. Altogether in 2018 MEDIA secured financial 
resources for the development of around 413 new 
film concepts for a total of over EUR 17 million. Pri-
ority is given to co-productions as they are more effective 
in reaching audiences, representing 60% of cross-border 
audiences for films. 

contributes to this creativity by supporting the production 
of TV series by independent European producers, who are 
a pillar of diversity. Quality co-productions are prioritised 
as  they  are  an  excellent  way  to  scale  up  and  build  ca-
pacity at the European level by bringing together produc-
ers,  scriptwriters  and  talent  from  different  countries.  In 
2018 almost EUR 13 million was made available to 42 TV 
works  (series  and  documentaries),  with  four  co-produc-
tions being awarded the maximum grant of EUR 1 million.

The experience of 2018’s My Brilliant Friend shows how 
MEDIA’s  contribution  to  high-budget  drama  pays  off.  
The EUR 1 million investment helped secure a top-level 
budget,  allowing  the production  of a  high  quality  series 
which was sold in many territories and was able to com-
pete in the market against big budget US productions.

TV remains the most popular form of cultural expression 
and is a very dynamic area, reaching cross-border audi-
ences  with  compelling,  new  types  of  stories  (11).  MEDIA 

Looking ahead, MEDIA will contribute to identifying solu-
tions  for  simplification  of  the  co-production  process  in 
order to exploit their potential more fully.   

(11)  Production  and  circulation  of  TV  fiction,  European  Audiovisual  Ob-
servatory, January 2019. TV series of 3-13 episodes, which can be re-
garded as high-end TV series, account for 45% of all titles and 22% of 
all hours. This is the format that travels best and represents the majority 
of non-national titles.

‹  SeriesLab at TorinoFilmLab 

©TorinoFilmLab

47

MONITORING REPORT 2018FEMALE CHARACTERS STOLE  
THE LIMELIGHT IN 2018 

MY BRILLIANT FRIEND (L’AMICA GENIALE),  
dir. Saverio Costanzo

My  Brilliant  Friend  was  co-produced  by  Italian 
Wildside  and  Belgian  Umedia,  with  the  backing  of 
broadcasters  including  Italian  RAI  and  US  based 
HBO, which secured sales to over 150 territories. It 
was a unique, creative example of private and public 
broadcaster collaboration. This eight-episode drama 
series  is  based  on  the  acclaimed  novel  by  Elena 
Ferrante, which tells the story of spontaneous, life-
long, difficult friendship of two talented girls grow-
ing up in the poverty of post-war Naples. The Italian 
premiere attracted almost 8 million viewers (30% of 
the total audience). MEDIA contributed EUR 1 million 
to this EUR 30 million budget production.

THE FAVOURITE,  
dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

In  the  autumn  of  2018  one  of  the  most  acclaimed 
European directors of his generation, Yorgos Lanthi-
mos presented audiences with a period comedy-dra-
ma  about  plots,  ambition,  jealousy  and  power.  The 
story  is  based  on  real  events  at  the  British  court  of 
Queen Anne. Deborah Davis started writing the script 
in 1998! When it was ready in 2003, it was developed 
by the British company Scarlet Pictures with the sup-
port of EUR 50 000 from MEDIA. When it was finally 
produced in 2018 it became “the favourite” of juries 
immediately upon release, starting with winning Silver 
Lion Grand Jury Prize in Venice. This dissecting, pre-
cise drama revolves around three female characters. 
British actress Olivia Colman’s lead role was awarded 
with an Oscar, Venice’s Coppa Volpi, a Golden Globe, 
a BAFTA and Rachel Weisz received the BAFTA award 
and Oscar nomination for a supporting role.

48

See trailer at: ›  

See trailer at: ›  

CREATIVE EUROPECIRCULATION AND COLLABORATION ACROSS BORDERS

MEDIA  support  is  key  to  allow  films  to  be  distributed 
across Europe, with a focus on reaching the magic of the 
big screen in cinemas through dedicated support for dis-
tribution  as  well  as  for  online,  with  the  aim  of  reaching 
wider audiences. In 2018 MEDIA supported the theat-
rical release of over 500 films across borders.

Distributors  and  sales  agents  are  given  support  to  dis-
tribute  films  of  their  choice.  The  funding  is  calculated 
on the basis of their box-office results in order to reward 
success in reaching audiences, as experience shows that 
distributors  are  prudent  when  targeting  territories,  with 
an average reach of 2.4 territories per film in 2017. Imple-
mentation was simplified in 2018, so that each distributor 
was  awarded  a  single  grant  covering  the  different  films 
in their portfolio, thus lightening the application process. 
In  addition,  19  films  were  selected  for  wide  distribution 
across  an  average  of  25  countries  through  consortia  of 
distributors. Online release costs were also eligible, to ac-
company the theatrical release where relevant. 

In 2018, a new approach was developed to enable sales 
agents and distributors in consortia to work much more 
closely together to give European films the best possible 
chance  to  reach  audiences.  This  approach  will  be  rolled 
out in 2019. A film for distribution, which will be selected 
on the basis of the content as well as the marketing strat-
egy,  will  be  supported  through  a  single  grant  covering 
multiple territories. This will make for better co-ordination 
not just across EU borders but also across the value chain. 
Thus producers, sales agents and distributors will share 
marketing  material,  know-how  and  important  feedback 
to increase the impact of promotion campaigns. 

Support was also given in 2018 to facilitate the release 
of works in multiple territories through business-to-busi-
ness promotional activities as well as facilitating access 
for  European  professionals  to  audiovisual  markets  and 
exhibitions, in Europe and beyond.

The  latest  data  available  shows  that  the  circulation  of 
films  evolved  positively  over  the  period  2013-2017.  In 
particular,  the  number  of  films  with  more  than  five  re-
lease markets increased by 11% to 225 and the number 
of  films  with  more  than  10  release  markets  increased 
by  19%  to  129.  In  addition,  the  market  share  of  Euro-
pean films distributed across borders has grown. Where-
as  in  2013,  26%  of  audiences  for  European  films  were 
cross-border, this had grown to 30 % by 2017 (12). Audi-
ence results in 2018 are illustrated by Table 6 on the top 
cinema admissions for MEDIA supported films:

Together, these figures show that there has been struc-
tural growth in the circulation and audiences of Europe-
an films within the EU. Thus, the support that MEDIA has 
consistently given to building a European audiovisual eco-
system has contributed to a positive impact. 

Furthermore,  there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  export 
of European films to global markets. In 2013, 566 films 
were  exported,  whereas  by  2017  this  had  increased  to 
671, a rise of 19%. MEDIA has contributed to this growth 
through its support to the promotion of European cinema 
in global markets, including the US and in Asia.

The  answers  of  2014-2015  Development  beneficiaries 
in  the  survey  cited  previously  and  whose  projects  had 
been distributed by 2018 show that 80% of the finished 
projects  were  distributed  in  another  country.  On  aver-
age, a film was distributed in 9.7 countries (6.9 MEDIA 
countries).  Between  MEDIA  countries,  there  are  certain 
patterns,  with  distribution  focusing  on  neighbouring 
countries or countries with the same language. In terms 
of distribution elsewhere, 40% of the projects were dis-
tributed in the USA, 30% in Canada, 23% in Japan and 
20% in China.

(12)  European Audiovisual Observatory Lumière Database

49

MONITORING REPORT 2018Table 5: Top cinema admission results for MEDIA-supported films, 2018 *

TITLE

Film Nationality

Main producer

Admissions in EU,  
outside country of origin

PADDINGTON 2 

DEMAIN TOUT COMMENCE

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A  
THOUSAND PLANETS

THE SON OF BIGFOOT

HAPPY FAMILY

THE SQUARE 

TOIVON TUOLLA PUOLEN

A UNITED KINGDOM

OZZY

THE LITTLE VAMPIRE 3D

UK

FR

FR

BE

DE

SE

FI

UK

ES

DE

Marmalade Films

Mars Films

Valerian SAS

Movi3D: nWave Pictures

United Entertainment

Platform Produktion

Sputnik Oy

Pathe Productions Ltd

Pachacamac

First Look

4 545 730 

3 716 760 

3 689 547 

2 346 096 

1 132 863 

1 112 100 

754 756 

702 645 

695 325 

628 206 

Source: MEDIA Sub-programme data

COLD  WAR  –  One  of  the  most  awarded  European 
films  of  2018  was  Pawel  Pawlikowski's  Cold  War 
(original  title:  Zimna  wojna).  This  Polish-French-UK 
coproduction depicts an intimate love story between 
two fatefully mismatched Polish musicians who can-
not  stand  being  apart  but  also  sometimes  cannot 
stand  each  other  either.  The  film  is  inspired  by  the 
director's parents and set against the background of 
the  Cold  War  in  the  1950s  in  Poland,  Berlin,  Yugo-
slavia  and  Paris.  It  received  the  award  for  Best  Di-

rector at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018; was the 
great winner of the European Film Awards 2018 with 
several prizes and was nominated for the Oscars. It 
is a good example of a Creative Europe MEDIA-sup-
ported success story as it received EUR 60 000 from 
MEDIA Slate funding development in 2014 and was 
later supported in distribution for a total amount of 
nearly EUR 1.1 million for the release in 26 territories. 
Its global box office by spring 2019 was estimated at 
EUR 18 million.

  See trailer at:

50

CREATIVE EUROPE ›

producers,  distributors,  VOD  services  etc.  to 
adapt their activities and improve the availabil-
ity of films.

The  Directory  is  the  fruit  of  collaboration  between 
MEDIA  and  the  European  Audovisual  Observatory, 
which is responsible for the development and main-
tenance  of  the  tool.  The  concept  was  refined  and 
adapted  during  four  rounds  of  consultations  with 
industry  stakeholders.  It  has  received  wide  support 
from the industry and during the 2018 Cannes Film 
Festival numerous film organisations * signed a Mani-
festo committing to participate by providing the data. 

The prototype of the Directory was presented at Lu-
mière  2018,  the  Grand  Lyon  Film  Festival,  in  Octo-
ber 2018 and the beta version was launched in April 
2019  at  a  ceremony  at  the  European  Parliament  in 
Strasbourg.  The  full  service  will  be  launched  by  the 
end  of  2019.  The  launch  of  this  database,  Lumière 
VOD,  was  made  possible  thanks  to  the  support  of 
Amazon  Prime  Video,  Ampere  Analysis,  Apple,  CNC, 
EuroVOD,  FilmDoo,  Filmin,  Filmtoro  JustWatch,  Kino 
Fondas,  La  Cinetek,  La  Pantalla  Digital,  Le  Kino.ch, 
Mediathèque Numérique, Netflix, realeyz, uncut, Uni-
versCiné, VOD Club, VOD.lu and Vodeville. 

*  Including  European  Film  Agency  Directors,  European  Film  Academy, 
Studio Canal, Bertelsmann, ARTE, Europa Distribution

LUMIÈRE VOD, THE ONLINE DIRECTORY 
OF EUROPEAN FILMS

Lumière VOD aims to increase the circulation of Euro-
pean films by facilitating greater availability of works 
online through video on demand services (VOD). The 
project  was  launched  by  Commissioner  Mariya  Ga-
briel  in  2017  as  an  important  tool  in  ensuring  that 
European films attract the audiences they deserve. 

The principal function of the online Directory of Eu-
ropean  Films  is  to  collect  and  show,  in  a  clear  and 
user-friendly way, where European films are available 
online. Such a clear database will contribute to iden-
tifying  new  market  opportunities  for  European  films 
and to the emergence of innovative businesses in the 
growing online market (e.g. other online tools). At the 
same time, the Directory is a support to the correct 
implementation  of  the  provisions  on  promotion  of 
European works in the AVMS Directive (monitoring of 
the quotas, i.e. the requirement for platforms to offer 
– and display prominently – 30% of European films 
in their catalogues). VOD services will update the in-
formation from their catalogues on a voluntary basis.

The  Directory  is  a  free,  publicly  available  website 
catalogue,  which  is  an  on-line  transparency  tool 
featuring data on European films and their availability 
in VOD services in different Member States. It will be 
useful as a reference point to many groups of users: 

 ›

 ›

consumers  interested  in  watching  a  film  online 
(the  catalogue  will  be  searchable  by  the  title, 
name of director etc.);

national authorities to be better informed on the 
offer of European films in their country;

51

MONITORING REPORT 2018PROMOTING EUROPEAN WORKS, REACHING AUDIENCES

Each film and TV series, large or small, needs to find its 
audience.  Marketing  and  promotion  strategies  make  a 
huge difference in the visibility of a film or TV with poten-
tial audiences in Europe and in global markets.

In 2018, MEDIA supported promotion activities in several 
ways:

 ›

 ›

 ›

 ›

support to festivals and audience development;

support to cinema networks; 

promotion of European works online;

pan-European screening of MEDIA-supported films.

talent or building online platforms to increase access to 
films. The results of this study will be taken into account 
already in the relevant call for applications in 2019.

MEDIA also co-finances the Europa Cinemas network of 
cinema  theatres.  With  over  1  000  cinemas  in  33  coun-
tries, Europa Cinemas has helped audiences for European 
films  to  grow  and  to  discover  a  highly  diverse  range  of 
films from all over Europe. In 2018, 60% of the screenings 
in Europa Cinemas theatres featured European films, in-
cluding 33% which were non-national European films, i.e. 
films from another country. The network sold 39 million 
admissions to European films (7.5% more than in 2015). 

Festivals play a crucial role in promoting European works 
as the critical reviews, the reaction of the audiences and 
the showcasing of a film raise the profile of a new film 
and prepare the ground for its release to the general pub-
lic.  In  2018,  MEDIA  co-financed  a  total  of  72  festivals, 
of  which  27  were  in  low  production  capacity  countries. 
Overall, a total of over EUR 3.4 million was awarded to 
European festivals, which reached about four million peo-
ple.  In  order  to  maximise  the  impact  of  this  support,  a 
study was conducted to assess the potential for greater 
collaboration among festivals. The study analysed exist-
ing models of collaboration between festivals and found 
that some collaboration already exists but there is scope 
for deepening partnerships in order to innovate and have 
a  greater  impact,  for  example  in  the  discovery  of  new 

MEDIA has supported the promotion of European works 
online through marketing of European VOD services, in-
creasing European films in VOD catalogues and stimulat-
ing  innovative  distribution  strategies.  Some  positive  re-
sults have been achieved with the revenue of supported 
services growing at an average of 14% and the number of 
subscribers by an average 25%. Some innovative services 
were supported, such as Medici TV which is presented be-
low.  Nonetheless, the services are primarily national and 
have  limited  audiences  compared  to  the  wider  market 
trends. MEDIA support so far has had a limited impact in 
fostering cross-border VOD collaboration between exist-
ing European VOD services and this aspect will need to be 
strengthened  in  response  to  the  increasing  competition 
from global players.

52

‹  Open-air screening of the 

Thessaloniki Film Festival at the 
Port of Thessaloniki, Greece   
© Thessaloniki Film Festival archive

CREATIVE EUROPESUCCESS STORIES

TRANSILVANIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL  

TIFF is the most important film-related event in Ro-
mania and combines a public film festival with an in-
dustry section. It has maintained audience develop-
ment as a constant priority and in 2018 the audience 
increased to 133 000 compared to 125 000 in 2017. 
The Festival is constantly looking at how to develop 
new ways of engaging with wider audiences and the 
festival team is continuously innovating for this pur-
pose through studies and outreach. 

 ›

 ›

 ›

EducaTIFF is a longstanding educational programme 
and  a  well-established  brand  that  reaches  out  to 
young audiences, up to 6 500 in 2018. Innovation is 
also supported through InfiniTIFF, a platform dedicat-
ed to new forms of audiovisual storytelling aiming to 
connect moviegoers and artists to cutting-edge ideas 
in VR and interactive cinema. 

The TIFF industry section supports the development 
of new projects in a variety of ways:  

 ›

Transilvania Pitch Stop with the traditional de-
velopment  workshop  addressed  to  first  and  sec-
ond-time directors from Romania and the Republic 
of Moldova, and the newly established co-produc-

tion  market  open  to  projects  coming  from  coun-
tries around Romania and the Black Sea; 

Transilvania Talent Lab – a hands-on training 
programme for professionals active in the man-
agement of a cinema;

Less is More, the European platform for devel-
oping low budget scripts, initiated by Le Groupe 
Ouest (France);

First  Films  First,  the  intensive  training  pro-
gramme for young cineastes from the Southeast 
of Europe preparing their first feature fiction film.

  Dan Grigore, Let’s Go Digital,  

award ceremony

MEDICI.TV   

This  innovative  service,  which  uses  the  power  of 
audiovisual  to  reach  out  to  music  lovers,  has  in  10 
years become the world’s leading SVOD platform for 
videos of classical music and the performing arts. The 
platform proposes 2 200 programmes (mostly Euro-
pean)  available  worldwide,  with  an  additional  120 
live events featuring the best artists and musical in-
stitutions of our time: Vienna Philharmonic, Salzburg 
Festival, Tchaikovsky Competition... The platform also 
has an innovative business model, including sponsor-

ship.  Some  of  the  live  events  are  offered  free  as  a 
marketing tool to drive wide audiences. Thanks to the 
investment in marketing and promotion activities, the 
platform had achieved more than 16 000 subscribers 
by  the  end  of  2018,  a  46%  year-on-year  increase. 
MEDICI.TV was supported in 2017 with a MEDIA grant 
of EUR 280 000. 

53

MONITORING REPORT 2018EUROPEAN CINEMA NIGHT  

From 3-7 December 2018, 34 cinemas belonging to 
Europa  Cinemas  network  in  27  EU  countries  organ-
ised  special  screening  events,  choosing  21  different 
European films which had received a MEDIA grant. 

It was a first of its kind initiative, based on the grass-
roots engagement of the Europa Cinemas members. 
It  was  a  unique  occasion  to  unite  over  7  000  Eu-
ropeans  in  all  the  diversity  of  their  cinema  and  for 
MEDIA  to  bond  with  the  audiences  at  an  emotional 
level. European cinemagoers were able to learn more 
about  how  the  Programme  benefits  their  own  lives 
and meet the staff of the Creative Europe Desks, who 
were coordinating the events locally. 

The  events  had  a  common  branding,  but  the  cine-
ma managers were free as to the concepts for their 
edition.  All  events  featured  a  post-screening  dis-
cussion. Directors were present at eight screenings, 
distributors at six, producers at five and lead actors 
at  three.  In  some  locations  the  discussion  was  or-
ganised around a social problem which was tackled 
in  the  featured  film,  e.g.  in  Bratislava  the  issue  of 
domestic  violence  was  addressed.  In  Estonia,  the 
event  featured  a  children’s  animation  film  and  an 
entertainment show afterwards. 

The popularity of this initiative outgrew expectations 
with  almost  all  the  seats  booked  ahead.  It  caught 
the interest of many local media outlets, also thanks 
to the strong engagement of European Commission 
Representation offices. 

3 > 7 DECEMBER 2018

#EuropeanCinemaNight   
#WeAllLoveStories  

AMSTERDAM 
ΑΘΉΝΑ  
BARCELONA  
BERLIN  
BRATISLAVA  
BRUXELLES 
BUCUREȘTI 
BUDAPEST 
CLUJ-NAPOCA 
DUBLIN 
ESPOO 
GENT 
HAMBURG 
KØBENHAVN 
KRAKÓW 
LISBOA 
LJUBLJANA 
LONDON  
LUXEMBOURG 
MADRID 
MILANO 
NANTES 
PARIS 
PRAHA 
RĪGA 
ROMA 
SAN ĠILJAN 
СOФИЯ 
STOCKHO    LM 
TALLINN 
VILNIUS 
WARSZAWA 
WIEN 
ZAGREB

SPONSORED BY

CO-ORGANISED WITH

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

  Kino Europa, Zagreb (Croatia) during the screening of ‘Cold War’ during the 

European Cinema Night 2018  
© Zagreb Film Festival/Samir Ceric Kovacevic

54

CREATIVE EUROPE06.

CULTURE SUB-
PROGRAMME’S PRIORITIES – 
EUROPEAN PARTNERSHIPS, 
PROFESSIONAL 
MOBILITY AND AUDIENCE 
DEVELOPMENT

The geographical fragmentation of European markets along lin-
guistic and national borders, and the relative isolation of artists 
and  cultural  organisations  represent  important  challenges  for 
the European cultural and creative sectors. The priorities of the 
Culture Sub-programme are to reinforce the capacities of the 
sectors’ professionals to develop international partnerships, to 
increase the transnational mobility of artists, to encourage the 
transnational circulation of works and ideas and to develop new 
ways of reaching out and engaging with the audience so that 
European cultural richness is accessible to all!

55

MONITORING REPORT 2018CONNECTING ORGANISATIONS -  
CREATING PARTNERSHIPS

The  Culture  Sub-programme  offers  three  main  types  of 
funding  mechanism  to  facilitate  multi-country  and/or 
multidisciplinary partnerships and exchanges.

little experience of working at European level, involve 
more grassroots organisations and provide room for 
experimentation and innovation. 

 ›

 ›

Cross-sectoral  cooperation  is  essential  to  break 
down  silos  and  build  on  the  diversity  of  the  cultur-
al and creative operators. Cooperation projects give 
European cultural organisations of all sizes the pos-
sibility  to  co-produce,  cooperate,  experiment,  be 
mobile and learn from each other. Since 2014 more 
than  395  cooperation  projects  have  been  funded, 
connecting more than 2 500 organisations. In 2018, 
130 new cooperation projects were created un-
der the scheme.

To better respond to the needs of small organisations 
searching for partners in Europe, Culture opened up 
new  opportunities  for  cross-border  cooperation  in 
2018  by  dedicating  40%  of  the  total  budget  – 
for quality small cooperation projects. This has 
helped build capacity for cultural organisations with 

 ›

 ›

To reflect the audience development priority, a new 
platform scheme was launched in 2014 to support 
initiatives helping emerging artists and creators find 
audiences outside their home countries. This tool has 
proved to be well suited to the needs of the sectors: 
from five platforms initially funded in 2014, 15 plat-
forms were financed in 2018. They involve over 
230 organisations from 37 countries. 

The  network  scheme  offers  long-term  support  and 
continuity  to  pan-European  cultural  networks.  The 
28 networks financed in 2018 represent more than 3 
000 cultural and creative organisations across most 
of  the  Creative  Europe  programme  countries.  Their 
role is to strengthen the capacity of the cultural and 
creative sectors, and disseminate good practices.

Map 3: Distribution of 700 cultural organisations taking part in cooperation projects selected in 2018

AL 
AM 
AT 
BA 
BE 
BG 
CY 
CZ 
DE 
DK 
EE 
EL 
ES 
FI 
FR 
GE 
HR 
HU 
IE 
IS 

3
1
20
2
39
9
3
18
39
22
9
29
52
10
64
7
28
19
18
2

IT 
LT 
LU 
LV 
MD 
MK 
MT 
NL 
NO 
PL 
PT 
RO 
RS 
SE 
SI 
SK 
TN 
UA 
UK 

70
7
1
6
1
6
2
35
14
23
28
25
25
17
22
3
3
2
43

TOTAL  727

"

56

LITHUANIA 

POLAND 

DENMARK 

UNITED KINGDOM  5

IRELAND 

THE NETHERLANDS  ?

BELGIUM 

LUXEMBOURG 

GERMANY 

10

CZECH REP. 

FRANCE 

ITALY 

CROATIA 

GREECE 

BULGARIA 

GEORGIA 

1

4

3

1

2

?

3

8

4

1

1

1 

1

"

"

"

"

"

CREATIVE EUROPEFigure 11: Relations between schemes in Culture, 2018 

COOPERATION  PROJECTS

 130 new projects 
facilitating coproduction, collaboration, 
experimentation and learning 

PLATFORMS 
15 innovative initiatives 
for the promotion of 
emerging artists to 
European audiences 

NETWORKS 

28 long-term organisations  
building capacities and 
disseminating sector good 
practices

One of the supported networks is the ARCHITECTS’ 
COUNCIL  OF  EUROPE,  whose  broad  activities  in 
2018  included  negotiating  mutual  professional  rec-
ognition with Japan and South Korea and the prepa-
ration of a study of the architecture sector in Europe. 

The  results  of  the  study  show  that  there  are  more 
than 500 000 architects in Europe, with women ac-
counting for 53% in the 30-39 age group (compared 
to only 32% in the 50-59 group). The market for ar-
chitectural services was worth EUR 16.4 billion.

  ACE leaflet to promote European 
architects outside the EU © ACE

57

MONITORING REPORT 2018A DIVERSITY OF SECTORS 

Culture cover a variety of sectors.  More than half of all 
projects  were  in  the  sector  of  performing  arts.  In  2018 
there  was  a  significant  positive  change  for  heritage 

stakeholders thanks to the special call related to the Eu-
ropean Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. 

Figure 12: Main sectors financed through the cooperation, network, platforms  
and literary translation calls in 2018 

Other & multidisciplinary
4 %

Books & reading
8 %

Cultural heritage 
16 %

Performing arts 
(mainly music, theatre, dance)
59 %

Architecture
2 %

Design and applied arts 
1.5 %

Visual arts
8.5 %

58

CREATIVE EUROPEBUILDING CAPACITIES 

The  Culture  Sub-programme  supports  capacity  build-
ing for cultural and creative operators in terms of new 
business  models  and  digitisation  or  to  increase  the 

capacity  of  professionals  to  operate  internationally. 
In  2018  approximately  2  600  learning  experiences 
were implemented. 

EUROPEAN  MUSIC  INCUBATOR  (supported  co-
operation  project)  is  an  innovative  support  tool  to 
break  the  boundaries  between  music  and  other 
creative  sectors  at  local  and  European  levels.  Five 
partners,  including  French  coordinator  Trempolino, 
working  through  the  music  value  chain,  created  an 
experimental transnational skills training and men-
toring programme aimed at musicians interested in 
developing an entrepreneurship mindset, new busi-
ness models and diversification of activities.

  EMI Meet-up 

© David Gallard

The EUROPEAN TALENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMME 
(ETEP)  (supported  platform)  was  created  by  Stichting 
Eurosonic  Noorderslag  to  boost  the  international  ca-
reers of European artists. It facilitates bookings of Euro-
pean acts at international festivals. Since the partners 
include  the  European  Broadcasting  Union  and  local 
media, every such booking generates media exposure. 
Since its launch in 2003 and until 2018, 1 445 artists 
from  all  European  countries  have  given  over  4  000 
shows at 122 associated festivals. 

  Michelle David &  

The Gospel Sessions_EurosonicAir 
© Jessie Kamp

59

MONITORING REPORT 2018MOBILITY AND CIRCULATION

Mobility of artists and circulation of their works is at the 
heart of every Culture Sub-programme scheme. It guar-
antees the smooth transnational mobility of CCS profes-
sionals  and  helps  overcome  the  obstacles  hampering 
their capacity to work within and outside the EU. 

Mobility  in  the  Culture  Sub-programme  is  about  facili-
tating the movement of artists and professionals across 
national boundaries. By tackling this critical issue, which 
has  become  one  of  the  Programme’s  priorities,  Culture 
addresses one of the most important challenges for the 

inherently diversified European cultural and creative sec-
tors: how can professionals internationalise their careers? 
How can they learn from other countries' good practices 
in the different domains? How can they cooperate, build 
networks and have access to new markets?  How can art-
ists and professionals from one country be known to and 
be appreciated by people in another country? 

In  2018  an  estimated  2  800  mobility  experiences 
were undertaken, supporting results-oriented mobility.

EDN21: STRENGTHEN-IMPACT-IMAGINE 
(supported network)

The European Dancehouse Network (EDN) promotes 
the professional development of independent dance 
artists across borders. EDN's Carte blanche is a pop-
ular  initiative  for  short-term  exchanges.  The  host 
organisation  accommodates  a  dancer  for  up  to  a 
week on a come-and-see basis, offering him/her the 
opportunity of meeting local cultural operators, get-
ting to know the functioning of the dance house itself 
and  enabling  peer-to-peer  learning  and  knowledge 

exchange.  The  growing  success  of  this  initiative  is 
proved by the number of applications exceeding the 
available places and the testimonies: 

"What I appreciated most about the Carte Blanche 
was that it was a reciprocal exchange. As much as 
I learned from being in Barcelona, I think I also was 
able to give some good ideas and information about 
the  Irish  context  to  those  I  spoke  with,"  says  Hazel 
Hodgins,  Programme  Manager  at  Dance  Ireland 
Dublin after her Carte Blanche at Mercat de les flors 
in Barcelona. 

‹  Michelle David & The Gospel 

Sessions_EurosonicAir 
© Jessie Kamp

60

CREATIVE EUROPEINNOVATIVE APPROACHES – INNOVATION FOR VALUE

By including since 2014 the specific sub-priorities "Capac-
ity building – New Business Models" and "Digitisation", the 
Culture Sub-programme aims to encourage the sector 
to adapt to a constantly evolving technological and 
financial  international  environment.  CCS  organisa-
tions take advantage of the funding from Creative Europe 
to explore new rationales and concrete solutions for cre-
ating, delivering and capturing financial but also cultural 
and social value. By doing so, they play an important role 
in the creation of a competitive European common cul-
tural space. 

Through  the  projects  funded  by  the  Culture  Sub-pro-
gramme, new know-how, tools and support mechanisms 
are created and made available for the sector: from mu-
seums and other cultural heritage institutions working on 
digitisation  of  their  collections,  to  projects  fostering  the 
adaptive  re-use  of  industrial  heritage,  thus  giving  new 
value to underexploited spaces and territories, to projects 
developing new manufacturing models based on a global 
exchange of creative ideas. Together, they all contribute 
to connecting professionals to the market and boosting 
both emerging and established talents. 

Projects across all sectors and at different stages of the 
cultural value chain develop innovative approaches. Inno-
vation can be found in new models for engaging audiences, 
but also in business models that enable organisations to 
develop resilience and financial sustainability. 

In these innovation paths, projects very often contribute 
to the identification of skills gaps and develop capacity 
building activities covering those needs. They contribute 
to designing the jobs of the future and propelling Eu-
ropean professionals onto the international market. 

FACTORIES OF IMAGINATION:  
INVESTING IN CULTURAL CHANGEMAKERS  
(supported network)

Resilience is a key concept of the last decade, refer-
ring  to  our  capacity  to  react  and  adapt  to  a  quickly 
evolving environment. More than a concept, resilience 
is  a  practice,  which  can  be  taught.  This  is  the  aim 
of  Factories  of  Imagination,  a  four-year  programme 

developed  by  the  Trans  Europe  Halles  network.  The 
project  provided  capacity  building  activities  for  the 
members  in  the  areas  of  organisational  develop-
ment,  new  business  models  and  cultural  leadership 
–  altogether  80  activities  in  15  European  countries 
benefited 6 000 professionals. The partners brought 
together  change-makers  from  a  variety  of  sectors 
(arts,  social,  education,  business,  etc.)  to  contribute 
to the socio-economic development of their region. 

‹  Factories of Imagination –  

Investing in Culture Changemakers 
© Sophie Harbinson for Here&Now

61

MONITORING REPORT 2018THE DISTRIBUTED DESIGN MARKET PLATFORM 
(supported platform) coordinated by Institut d’Arqui-
tectura Avancada de Catalunya acts as an exchange 
and networking hub for the European Makers Move-
ment.  The  initiative  aims  to  develop  and  promote 
the connection between designers, makers and 
the market. It consists of online and offline activi-
ties, such as workshops, fairs and bootcamps, that 

promote and advocate for emerging creative talent 
in  Europe  and  their  business  productivity  and  sus-
tainability. It fosters a European Maker and Design 
culture by supporting makers, their mobility and cir-
culation of their work, providing them with interna-
tional opportunities and highlighting the most out-
standing talents. 

‹  Distributed design lamp challenge  

© DDMP

62

CREATIVE EUROPEAUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT:  
TOWARDS ACCESSIBLE AND INCLUSIVE CULTURE

People  are  the  backbone  of  open  and  thriving  cultural 
and creative sectors. With the aim of increasing the reach 
of  European  works,  fostering  participation  and  ensuring 
social  inclusion,  the  Culture  Sub-programme  recognises 
audience development as a key priority.

engage  with  cultural  activities.  Funded  projects  often 
promote  the  participation  of  citizens  and  communities 
through  active  spectatorship  and  direct  involvement  in 
decision-making processes, thus fostering people's com-
mitment to cultural and public life. 

Audience development not only means more people but 
also a more diversified and more engaged audience 
reaching  out  especially  to  people  who  never  or  rarely 

BE  SPECTACTIVE!  (supported  cooperation  project) 
is  an  action-research  project  which  operates  in  the 
field of performing arts. It is centered on experimen-
tal forms of audience development and engagement. 
It  seeks  to  develop  new,  replicable  ways  of  co-pro-
ducing shows with the participation of artists, cultur-
al  operators,  citizens  and  spectators  in  the  creative 
and  organisational  process.  People's  participation  is 
fostered through active spectatorship, by giving the 

decision-making role to the audiences: the spec-
tators discuss and select many of the performance’s 
aspects. The widespread mobility of the artists par-
ticipating in this project enables dissemination of its 
results.  Be  SpectACTive!  Is  coordinated  by  Italian 
Associazione  Culturale  Capotrave  –Kilowatt  and  in-
volves  some  of  the  most  innovative  organisations 
working on active spectatorship in Europe. 

‹  Refuge by Viliam Dočolomanský 

© Vojta Brtnický

63

MONITORING REPORT 201807.

SUPPORTING ACCESS TO 
FINANCE 

Access  to  finance  is  more  challenging  for  Small  and  Medi-
um-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the cultural and creative sec-
tors  than  for  other  SMEs  and  has  been  identified  as  a  core 
barrier  to  growth  in  the  sector.  For  example,  debt  financing 
accounts for only 2% of the financing of European films (13). 
Some of the reasons are the intangible nature of CCS assets 
and collateral, the limited size of the market, and the lack of 
training (on the part of financial intermediaries) to address the 
sector's specificities.

(13)  Film financing report, EAO

64

CREATIVE EUROPEThe  Cultural  and  Creative  Sectors  Guarantee  Fa-
cility (CCS GF), the financial instrument of the Creative 
Europe Programme, improves lending to creative SMEs by 
offering portfolio guarantees and counter-guarantees to 
financial intermediaries who offer loans to entrepreneurs 
in the cultural and creative industries.  

2018  was  only  the  second  full  year  of  implemen-
tation  of  the  Guarantee  Facility  but  it  experienced 
strong  market  demand.  The  European  Fund  for  Stra-
tegic Investment was mobilised to top up the CCS GF by 
EUR 60 million, equivalent to 50% of the initial budget, 
and this was deployed in 2018. A further three guaran-
tee agreements were signed with financial intermediaries 
in 2018, bringing the total to twelve agreements in nine 
participating countries by the end of the year. 

Expected  debt  financing  from  agreements  already 
signed  amounts  to  over  EUR  900  million.  Over  800 
SMEs  and  organisations  have  benefited  from  loans 
backed by the CCS GF. 

In addition to the guarantees, the instrument also offers 
the CCS Capacity Building Scheme, a training programme 
which  helps  financial  intermediaries  better  serve 
creative  and  cultural  SMEs  by  providing  high-level 
consultancy and support. A framework agreement on ca-
pacity building was signed in May 2018 and the training 
courses  are  now  being  delivered  to  interested  financial 
institutions. 

A communication strategy, which aims to raise awareness 
about this new funding opportunity, forms an important 
part  of  the  CCS  GF  implementation.    A  broad  range  of 
concerted  actions  promoted  the  Creative  Europe  Guar-
antee Facility in 2018: from video  and  traditional  case 
studies, through market analysis (14) to information days 
or dedicated workshops with risk and marketing depart-
ments of participating banks.

(14)  https://www.eif.org/what_we_do/guarantees/cultural_creative_
sectors_guarantee_facility/ccs-market-analysis-europe.pdf

Map 4: Guarantee Facility agreements with financial intermediaries, as of end-2018  

DENMARK
Vaekstfonden

BELGIUM
PMV 
Start SA

FRANCE
Bpifrance 
IFCIC

SPAIN
CERSA

ITALY
CDP

PORTUGAL
CGD

CZECH REP.
Komercni Banka

POLAND
BGK

€40.3 m

€15 m
€10 m

€30 m 
€111.4 m 

€142.9 m

€285.7 m

€25 m

€25.5 m

€125 m

ROMANIA
Libra Internet Bank €9.9 m

65

MONITORING REPORT 2018  CCS GF information brochures for potential applicants

Watch the promotional video at: ›  

SUCCESS STORIES

EDITORA OQO

Location:

Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain

Financial Intermediary:

CERSA

Sector:

Publishing

Number of employees:

6

Financing purpose:

Book production

Website:

http://oqo.es/fr/

Editora OQO focuses on producing books, video and digi-
tal content for children up to the age of 10. Alfonso Couto, 
CEO, worked in children’s theatre for more than 20 years, 
but with time, he moved into the publishing world, estab-
lishing his own company to produce illustrated children’s 
books.  “We  make  all  our  books  and  series  ourselves. 
That’s very important to us,” he explains.

But the business cycle is quite particular and this affects 
their  finances:  “The  real  target  for  us  is  the  end  of  the 
year. September-December is when we make most sales, 
but we need to be ready, and that means lots of expend-
iture in the first part of the year. So, in the early part of 
2017, we needed financing in order to boost the produc-
tion  of  our  books  and  prepare  ourselves  for  the  second 
part of the year,” Alfonso explains.

This financing was made possible by an EU-guaranteed 
loan, backed by the EIF and CERSA under the CCS GF. As 
Alfonso explains, getting the necessary financing in this 
world is no easy task: “Banks always have doubts. They 
don’t  understand  these  types  of  projects.  For  example, 
with books, we have high up-front production costs. Then 
we ship them to a bookshop where they will feature on 
the shelves for, say, two years. Only when the bookshop 
sends  back  unsold  copies  will  they  then  pay  us  for  the 
books they have managed to sell. It’s not a classic financ-
ing model and banks don’t like that.”

While children’s books remain the company’s main focus, 
Editora OQO is looking more and more beyond books to 
other  areas  like  the  digital  world:  “The  digital  world  is 
often  considered  to  be  beyond  parents’  control  and  as-
sociated with bad influences. We want to challenge that 
assumption and use digital capabilities to convey educa-
tional messages to our kids. If the kids are migrating to 
the digital world, we have to follow them.”

“Translating  a  book  to  the  digital  world,  creating  a  dig-
ital  album,  gives  you  a  different  range  of  possibilities,” 
he adds. “You have more margin of manoeuvre with the 
images and words since there is less limitation on things 
like the number of pages. This is why we are working on 
illustrated digital albums.”

66

CREATIVE EUROPEKAAI

Location:

Antwerp, Beligum

Financial Intermediary:

PMV

Sector:

Fashion, retail

Number of employees:

2

Financing purpose:

Production

Website:

https://kaai.eu/bags/

The leap from a stable job in a large organisation to start-
ing-up your own business can be a daunting prospect and 
definitely takes a lot of courage. But that’s exactly what 
ex-top executives Ine Verhaert and Helga Meersmans did, 
quitting their positions in top management at large fash-
ion  companies  to  start  their  own  business.  “Before,  we 

coordinated large teams. Now, we do everything on our 
own – from marketing to web development and logistics,” 
says Ine, co-founder of KAAI, which designs and produces 
handbags for working women.

With a clear vision and years of experience in the bag, Ine 
and  Helga  set  up  the  whole  production  process  in  less 
than a year. However, securing finance was another story. 
“Our long careers in the fashion industry were not enough 
to  convince  the  banks,”  explains  Ine,  “Fashion  is  simply 
not a hot topic for financing.” Nevertheless, thanks to 
an EU-guaranteed loan from PMV, supported by the 
EIF under the Investment Plan for Europe, KAAI got 
off the ground. “We started producing the handbags, set 
up sales and marketing and are about to open our flag-
ship store here in Antwerp” says Ine just days before the 
store opens in late August 2018.

HIFILM  
PRODUCTIONS:  
A to Z production services

Location:

Bucharest, Romania

Financial Intermediary:

Libra bank

Sector:

Media production

Number of employees:

8

Financing purpose:

Working capital / cash flow

Website:

http://www.hifilm.ro/

HiFilm is a Romanian production company that provides 
complete  production  services  for  documentaries,  adver-
tising,  film  and  television.  Founded  in  2004  and  based 
in central Bucharest, HiFilm maintains a vast network of 
connections  in  the  global  film  industry,  from  acclaimed 
directors to specialised camera workers, through which it 
can recruit the right professional for every task. This ena-
bles HiFilm to carry out complex and challenging produc-
tion projects, their portfolio ranging from Romanian films 
to international advertisements for Coca-Cola or Danone 
to feature films like Toni Erdmann.

The company’s services cover the full range of activities 
involved in a production, starting with location scouting, 
casting or set design, and going all the way to post-pro-
duction. It employs eight persons on a full-time basis. 

While undergoing a period of growth, the company faced 
significant  cash  flow  difficulties  related  to  the  gap  be-
tween supporting production costs and receiving the final 
payments. In order to support the business, HiFilm sought 
a  loan  from  Libra  Bank,  with  a  guarantee  from  the  EIF 
under the CCS GF. 

“This financing was definitely important, a crucial help 
for us”, explains company founder Ada Solomon. “Here 
in Romania there isn’t any real alternative. This type of 
activity has a very hard time accessing financing from 
traditional banking. After a period of significant growth 
and  with  a  number  of  projects  ongoing,  we  are  cur-
rently trying to consolidate the business”, explains Ada. 
“Without the financing, we wouldn’t have been able to 
have this stability”.

67

MONITORING REPORT 201808.

CROSS-SECTORAL 
COLLABORATION

The  Cross-sectoral  Strand  connects  the  Culture  and  MEDIA 
subprogrammes  by  focusing  on  issues  and  projects  at  the 
crossroads of different parts of the creative and cultural sec-
tors.  This  allows  Creative  Europe  to  strengthen  collaboration 
across  industry  silos,  promote  innovation  and  respond  in  an 
agile  way  to  the  opportunities  and  challenges  faced  by  the 
creative sectors. 

68

CREATIVE EUROPEUnder  the  Cross-sectoral  Strand  Creative  Europe  sup-
ports several activities, in particular:  

 ›

 ›

 ›

The  Creative  Europe  Desks,  which  provide  assis-
tance to potential applicants and are well placed to 
foster cross-sectoral collaboration;

Studies and data analysis, in cooperation with the 
European Audiovisual Observatory and under the Eu-
ropean Agenda for Culture;

Communication  activities  to  increase  awareness 
and raise the visibility of Creative Europe;

 ›

 ›

Policy cooperation and innovation by empowering 
players to work cross-sectorally;

Cross-sectoral projects. 

An example of a cross-sectoral initiative is the new pro-
ject  launched  in  2018  to  promote  film  heritage  in  the 
context  of  the  European  Year  of  Cultural  Heritage.  This 
project  will  support  the  restoration  and  digitisation  of 
classic European films as well as screenings in cinemas 
or venues reflecting the richness of European architecture 
e.g. museums or heritage sites. 

SUCCESS STORIES

During 2018 implementation went forward on cross-sec-
toral projects launched in previous years, including those 
presented below: the European Network of Creative Hubs,  
The Masters Module – combining technology with arts and 
entrepreneurial skills, and business exposure, and support 

for  refugee  integration.  There  was  great  interest  from 
the cultural and creative sectors in these calls for pro-
posals and not all high quality proposals could be sup-
ported, demonstrating the potential for more cross-sec-
toral collaboration.

THE EUROPEAN NETWORK OF CREATIVE HUBS 

A creative hub is a place that brings creative people together. The objective of the Cre-
ative Hub project was to reinforce networks of creative hubs at EU level, enhance ex-
changes of experience and provide capacity-building for creative hub managers, cultural 
and creative professionals and entrepreneurs. A platform and a peer-to-peer mobility 
scheme  were  developed,  as  well  as  publications  and  policy  papers.  The  project  was 
funded for two years (February 2016-February 2018) and was carried out by the British 
Council and a consortium of small creative hubs in different cities (Bios-Romantzo/Ath-
ens, Kulturni Kod-Nova Iskra/Belgrade, Betahaus/Berlin, Creative Edinburgh and Factoria 
Cultural/Madrid) – together with the European Business Network (EBN) in Brussels. The 
European Creative Hubs Network has in the meantime become an independent 
network that continues to connect and collaborate. The unique results obtained by 
the peer-to-peer learning schemes are best explained by the participants themselves. 
Tania Santos, Founder & Manager at the Cru co-working space in Porto, worked for a 
week in the Betahaus co-working space in Berlin and testified: “This experience was very 
useful to us and made us realise that the size of hub does not matter : there are core 
issue that are always the same.”  

69

MONITORING REPORT 2018THE MASTERS MODULE – COMBINING TECHNOLOGY WITH ARTS 
AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS, AND BUSINESS EXPOSURE

This  pilot  action  is  dedicated  to  supporting  university  consortia  in  designing  innovative, 
interdisciplinary curricula for master’s degrees which combine technology with arts and 
entrepreneurial skills. The project addresses the skills gap which exists at the cross-
roads of creativity and technology. The grants from Creative Europe stimulate innova-
tive learning environments e.g. online video courses. The responsiveness of the universi-
ties to the call for proposals proved that this initiative was very relevant. Creative Europe 
received 32 applications, of which four were chosen in view of the available budget of 
EUR 1.5 million. The chosen consortia are run by: Birmingham City University in Britain, 
Maynooth University in Ireland, Politecnico Milano in Italy, and University of Nova Gorica in 
Slovenia. The first students are expected to enrol in the new programmes in 2019. 

SUPPORTING THE INTEGRATION OF REFUGEES  
THROUGH ARTS AND CULTURE

Set up in response to the need to facilitate the integration of new migrants and refugees, 
the aim of the support was to create and test initiatives to facilitate intercultural dialogue 
and mutual understanding, and to share the results with a view to constant improvement. 
The  supported  projects  try  to  find  best  practices  in  bringing  together  host  and 
refugee communities to challenge prejudices and correct misinformation. 

REACT, coordinated by the acta Community Theatre 
in the UK, used community theatre to demonstrate 
how it is possible to foster concrete integration and 
mutual understanding at the local level. While refu-
gees and local citizens were engaged to create and 
perform new plays based on their experiences and 
cultures, the project also worked on strategies to en-

courage  collaboration,  sharing  and  learning.  It  also 
created  educational  tools  to  support  the  develop-
ment of similar projects around Europe – one of the 
most  notable  outputs  is  a  handbook  for  organisa-
tions seeking to work on the integration of migrant 
communities,  including  testimonies  from  REACT 
participants.  

‹  Performance It’s my life  

© Mark Simmons - acta Community Theatre Ltd 

70

CREATIVE EUROPEGETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU

In person

All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct Information Centres. 

You can find the address of the centre nearest you at: http://europa.eu/contact

On the phone or by e-mail

Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. 

You can contact this service 

– by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls), 

– at the following standard number: +32 22999696 or 

– by electronic mail via: http://europa.eu/contact

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU

Online

Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on the Europa 
website at: http://europa.eu  

EU Publications

You can download or order free and priced EU publications from EU Bookshop at:  
http://bookshop.europa.eu. Multiple copies of free publications may be obtained by contacting Europe 
Direct or your local information centre (see http://europa.eu/contact)

EU law and related documents

For access to legal information from the EU, including all EU law since 1951 in all the official language 
versions, go to EUR-Lex at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu

Open data from the EU

The EU Open Data Portal (http://data.europa.eu/euodp/en/data) provides access to datasets from the EU. 
Data can be downloaded and reused for free, both for commercial and non-commercial purposes.

CreativeEuropeEU

@MEDIAprogEU and @europe_creative

https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/