European Commission
Cultural sector policies are the responsibility of individual Member States (subsidiarity principle). The Commission’s role is to help them meet common challenges, such as the impact of digital technologies, changing governance models and the need to support innovation in the cultural and creative sectors. Heritage is progressively better taken into account in the policies and programmes of other sectoral policies. This section presents the various funding possibilities for heritage (see also the (Mapping of cultural heritage actions in EU policies, programmes and activities).
1. Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (Directorate-General Education and Culture – DGEAC)
Program Creative Europe (DGEAC)
Following theEuropean Agenda on Culture of 2007, the Commission adopted a new agenda in May 2018, which focuses on the positive contribution of culture to Europe’s societies, economies and international relations. It defines strengthened working methods with Member States, civil society and international partners. Member States shall define the subjects and working methods for cooperation in the field of culture, through work programmes:
Council’s Work Programme for Culture 2019-2022, adopted at the end of 2018, defines 5 priorities:
- Sustainability in the field of cultural heritage ;
- Cohesion and well-being;
- An ecosystem supporting artists,
- Professionals of culture and creation and European content;
- Gender equality; international cultural relations.
Learn more about:
- Pilot call for cultural and creative industries. Objective: to explore activities aimed at bridging the gap between cultural heritage education/skills development and the labour market, encouraging links with the creative sector, industries and "third places" (creative clusters, production spaces, fab-labs, cultural centres, etc.). A single project will be supported for a period of 28 months, from the beginning of 2020, with a maximum amount allocated of €1,050,000. Deadline for submission: August 12
- Support programme for the cultural and creative sectors : Creative Europe and pContact Point in France: Relay Culture Europe (register for the Newsletter at the bottom of the home page)
- Grants, calls for tenders
- Council’s Work Programme for Culture 2019-2022
- Information portal of theEducation, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA)
The European Commission’s Cultural heritage (DGEAC)
European Heritage Label : created in 2005 following the meetings for Europe of Culture in Paris, this label aims to highlight the European dimension of monuments, natural or urban sites, cultural landscapes, places of memory, archaeological sites, including underwater sites, cultural property and objects and intangible heritage, which bear witness to European history and heritage. Its aim is to strengthen the citizens of Europe’s sense of adherence to a shared European identity and to foster their sense of belonging to the common cultural space. Each state can submit a file every two years. Today 38 sites are certified in Europe, 4 of which are in France.
- Vyou want to file a file ? Site of the Ministry of Culture
European Cultural Heritage Prize / Price Europa Nostra Launched in 2002 by the European Commission and managed by Europa Nostra, this prize rewards exemplary initiatives in the field of European heritage conservation and awareness raising. The prizes are awarded annually for work in countries participating in the Culture Programme. It is supported by the Creative Europe program. Each year, up to 30 outstanding heritage initiatives are recognized. Of these, 7 are awarded the Grand Prix (€10,000) as well as the public prize, awarded after an online vote.
European Heritage Days (JEP) : initiative launched in 1984 by France, taken over in 1991 by the Council of Europe and since 1999 has become a joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Commission. The JEP are now organised in 50 countries, between the end of August and mid-October, this year, the theme proposed to all Europe is «art and entertainment»
- since 2017, a call for tenders has been proposed: Call for European Stories (Price €10,000, call published in March, submission in April)
Open method of coordination (MOC) This form of cooperation is used in many fields and introduced in the cultural sector by the European Agenda on Culture in 2001. Within this framework, working groups composed of experts from the ministries of culture and national cultural institutions meet on themes chosen by the States:
- 2011-2012: a working group on the "mobility of collections" in the field of museums.
- 2015-2018: one of the 4 priorities, is dedicated to cultural heritage, two working groups have met: on the Participatory Governance of Cultural Heritage (2015-2016) and on the transmission of knowledge and knowledgeto fight and propose solutions to remedy the announced shortage of professionals in certain heritage sectors in Europe (2017-2018)
- 2019-2022: the work plan for culture, adopted at the end of 2018, defines 5 priorities, of which 1era is dedicated to “sustainability in the field of cultural heritage” ».
Suites of theEuropean Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 :
The European Commission has launched «10 European initiatives». These 10 initiatives are based on four principles of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018: commitment, sustainability, protection and innovation. Each initiative brings together a series of actions and projects on the material, intangible and digital aspects of cultural heritage and benefits heritage professionals and local communities, children and young people, hard-to-reach groups and the general public.
The Commission has just adopted a European Heritage Action Plan (document in English), which provides for the follow-up of these initiatives and the establishment of a European Heritage Expert Group (1era meeting on 15-16 October 2019).
European Capitals of Culture: to highlight the richness and diversity of cultures; to celebrate the cultural links uniting Europeans; to strengthen citizens' sense of belonging to a common cultural space; to promote the contribution of culture to the development of cities. They shall be designated four years before the actual year. This period is necessary for the planning and preparation of the event in order to strengthen the international influence of cities; to improve their image of giving a new breath to culture and stimulate tourism. An evaluation report is published on the results achieved each year.
Learn more about:
- Support programme for the cultural and creative sectors : Creative Europe and pContact Point in France: Relay Culture Europe (register for the Newsletter at the bottom of the home page)
- Pilot call for cultural and creative industries. Objective: to explore activities aimed at bridging the gap between cultural heritage education/skills development and the labour market, encouraging links with the creative sector, industries and "third places" (creative clusters, production spaces, fab-labs, cultural centres, etc.). A single project will be supported for a period of 28 months, from the beginning of 2020, with a maximum amount allocated of €1,050,000. Deadline for submission: August 12, 2019
- Creative Professionals Mobility Pilot Project: i-portunus
- « Mapping cultural heritage actions in EU policies, programmes and activities », which presents the European programmes to finance heritage actions in all European policy sectors
Some reference texts :
- Communication “ Towards an integrated approach to European cultural heritage », 2014 Communication « Local authorities: actors for development », 2008
- Communication 'Towards an EU strategy in international cultural relations', 2016
- Council conclusions on the strategic dimension of cultural heritage for a sustainable Europe, 2014
- Council conclusions on participatory governance of cultural heritage, 2014
Program ERASMUS + (DGEAC)
The European Commission’s flagship programme in the field of lifelong learning, the Erasmus+ programme has just celebrated its 30th anniversary,
As part of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, the Ministers of Culture have asked the European Commission to consider the creation of a new cultural mobility programme, an “ERASMUS of culture”. An i-protunus pilot programme has just been launched in the creative field to foreshadow this future programme.
The ERASMUS+ programme can finance exchanges between cultural professionals, such as the project "Sharing knowledge and know-how on the management of historic gardens", initiated by France and funded by the European Commission in 2017-2018 (Key Action 1), which enabled meetings, training and exchanges of knowledge and know-how between professionals, managers and owners of historic gardens in four European countries.
Learn more about the program Erasmus+ and its three "key actions":
- Key Action 1: Mobility for learning purposes
- Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and exchange of good practice
- Key Action 3: Support for political reform
- Sport component
Learn more about youth activities on: European Youth Portal
- Calls for proposals and important dates : ERASMUS+ website in France
- The projects of strategic partnerships (Key Action 2 / Cooperation for Innovation and Exchange of Good Practices) – application deadline: 01 October 2019 at 12.00
- The projects of mobility youth and individuals (Key Action 1 / Mobility of Individuals for Education and Training) – application deadline: 01 October 2019 at 12.00
- Les Dialogues between young people and decision-makers (Key Action 3 / Support for Policy Reform) – application deadline: 01 October 2019 at 12.00
- The European Solidarity Corps (for 18-30 year olds): these volunteer activities allow young people to make their contribution to solidarity activities led by associations, public institutions, local authorities and even companies, especially those in the social and solidarity economy:
- Volunteer missions (12 months maximum, in another country in Europe),
- Internships, excluding school courses, from 2 to 6 months (full time), in France or Europe,
- Jobs, from 3 to 12 months (full time), in France or Europe,
- Financing to set up its own “solidarity project”.
- The European Solidarity Corps
- The initiative DiscoverEU to travel in Europe
Europe for Citizens Programme 2014/2020
For more than ten years, the European Commission’s «Europe for Citizens» programme has been funding projects that work on memory, the mutual knowledge of European citizens and their rapprochement with the European Union.
The projects funded should raise awareness of the EU’s work of remembrance, history and common values, as well as its ambition to promote peace, European values and good-to be of its peoples and to encourage the democratic and civic participation of citizens throughout the EU, by improving their understanding of the process of European policy making and by arousing their interest and commitment to that process.
Applicants to the program must apply to one of the following streams:
Tier 1 : European Memory (raising citizens' awareness of memory and common history and the values and objectives of the European Union). Maximum grant: €100,000.00
2019 Priorities: 1919 Peace treaties ending the First World War (including the Treaty of Versailles); 1939 End of the Spanish Civil War in a European perspective; 1979 Elections to the European Parliament (first European Parliament elected by direct universal suffrage) 1989 Democratic revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall; 2004 15 years of EU enlargement to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. 2020 Priorities: 1950 Declaration by Robert Schuman; 1990 German reunification; 2000 Proclamation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
Stage 2 : Democratic engagement and civic participation (encouraging democratic and civic participation of citizens at European level) by
- Town twinning (maximum grant: €25,000.00)
- City networks (maximum grant: €150,000.00)
- Civil society projects (maximum grant: €150,000.00)
Learn more about the Program Europe for the citizens
1. Cohesion policy (DG Regional and Urban Policy - DG REGIO)
a) Regional policy
For the period 2014-2020, financing earmarked for regional and cohesion policy amounts to €351.8 billion. This represents 32.5% of the total EU budget for this period, making cohesion policy the EU’s main investment policy. All cohesion policy programmes are co-financed by the Member States, which should bring the total amount of funds available to over 450 billion euro.
Support for the economic development of the Member States is financed by the Structural and investment funds (ESI Fund):
- European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): regional and urban development
- European Social Fund (ESF): social inclusion and good governance
- Cohesion Fund (FC): economic convergence of less developed regions
- European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD): A key element of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy, which has made it a priority for 2014-2020 to make agriculture fairer, greener and more efficient. ;
- European Fund for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (EMFF): it also supports the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It helps people in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors and coastal populations to adapt to the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which entered into force on 1 January 2014.
INTERREG, or «European Territorial Cooperation (ETC)», is also part of the cohesion policy framework. It aims to strengthen economic, social and territorial cohesion by reducing the differences in development between the different territories of the European Union.
Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), INTERREG has been the framework for transnational, cross-border and interregional cooperation for over 25 years.
2014 was the starting point of the 5e INTERREG programming period, ending in 2020
European territorial cooperation consists of three components:
- cross-border cooperation - Interreg A (74% of the financial envelope): financing projects on both sides of a common border, on land or sea, in order to meet common challenges and/or exploit joint development potential;
- transnational cooperation - Interreg B (20% of the envelope): financing projects in larger geographical areas aimed at strengthening cooperation between national, regional and local entities in order to promote integrated territorial development;
- interregional cooperation - Interreg Europe - and networks - Interact, Urbact, Espon – (6% of the envelope): programmes to encourage knowledge and the sharing of good practices and networking in innovation, energy efficiency, urban development etc.
b) Urban policy
European Urban Agenda
The urban agenda is based on the Amsterdam Pact, which in 2016 marked the recognition of issues related to urban issues. It sets out three objectives: to improve regulations to better take into account the needs of cities in European policies, to encourage exchanges between urban authorities, Member States and the European Commission, and facilitating cities' access to European funds.
In 2018, two additional themes were added at the request of the Member States, one of which is entitled «cultural heritage», so that heritage is better taken into account in urban policies.
Find out more about the European Urban Agenda and the portal URBACT
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