Culture Moves Europe: the largest EU mobility scheme provides new opportunities for artists and cultural professionals

Today, the Commission launches Culture Moves Europe, its new permanent mobility scheme for artists and cultural professionals, as well as a first call for individual mobility, during a high-level event in Brussels, Belgium. Benefiting from a total budget of €21 million under the Creative Europe programme for a three-year-period (2022-2025), Culture Moves Europe becomes the largest European mobility scheme for artists and cultural professionals targeting all Creative Europe countries and sectors covered by the Culture Strand of the programme.

Participants will include representatives of the EU institutions, stakeholders and organisations from the cultural sector. Culture Moves Europe addresses the pressing needs of the cultural and creative sectors for inclusive and sustainable mobility opportunities with reinforced attention to emerging artists.

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “With Culture Moves Europe, the Commission paves the way for the future of the cultural and creative sectors. And it offers enhanced opportunities for emerging artists and cultural professionals to gear up their skills and their ties with European partners. It acknowledges how mobility exchanges shape our present and influences the future of our intertwined communities. It bridges mobility with sustainability and inclusion, as promoted by the European Green Deal.”

Implemented by the Goethe-Institut on behalf of the Commission, Culture Moves Europe comprises two actions: individual mobility and residencies. Through mobility grants, it will offer an opportunity to around 7,000 individual artists and cultural professionals to go abroad, in the EU and beyond, for professional development or international collaborations, to take part in artistic residencies or to host artists and cultural professionals. The residencies action will be launched in early 2023.

The first call for individual mobility targets artists and cultural professionals working in the following sectors: architecture, cultural heritage, design, fashion design, literary translation, music, visual arts and performing arts from the countries participating in the Creative Europe programme and travelling to another Creative Europe country, for a duration of 7 to 60 days for individual artists and of 7 to 21 days for groups of people (2 to 5 people).

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Background

The current call is open from October 10, 2022 to May 31, 2023. Individual mobility action will operate on a basis of the rolling calls open every year from autumn to spring with monthly evaluations.

Culture Moves Europe’s Mobility Grant includes: standard travel costs (€350 round trip up to 5,000 km and €700 round trip for distances longer than 5,001 km) and €75 per diem to contribute to the subsistence and accommodation expenses.

Additionally, in line with horizontal priorities of the programme, such as inclusion and sustainability, several top-ups are foreseen:

• Green top-up: additional €350 to encourage artists and cultural professionals not to use air-travel.
• Support for artists and cultural operators with special needs linked to disability.
• Support for applicants coming from Outermost Countries and Territories and outermost regions or travelling to those destinations.
• Family top-up for artists who have a child younger than 10 years old.
• Visa top-up to purchase a visa.

Also, Ukrainian artists, who may not be able to leave the country, could exceptionally apply directly for virtual mobility. In that case, they would receive €35 per diem.

Source: European Commission — Press Release