Creative Europe is a program of the European Commission to support culture and the audiovisual sector.

Building on the previous Creative Europe program, the program will also support the European cultural and creative sector in the period 2021-2027. Culture and freedom of creation are crucial for the European Union and its citizens because they contribute to the strengthening of democracies and values. The cultural and creative sector and industry play a crucial role in European cultural diversity.

The program follows the structure of the previous program and includes three subprograms:

• The subprogram Culture covers the cultural and creative sectors, except for the audiovisual sector
• subprogram MEDIA includes the audiovisual sector
• The cross-sectoral subprogram includes activities in all cultural and creative sectors

The budget of the Creative Europe program for the period 2021-2027 is 2.44 billion euros, and in the previous period (2014-2020) 1.47 billion euros were available. The Creative Europe program invests in activities that strengthen cultural diversity and respond to the needs and challenges of the cultural and creative sectors.

The main objectives of the program are: to preserve, develop and promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and heritage, to increase the competitiveness and economic potential of the cultural and creative sectors, especially the audiovisual sector. In order to further strengthen the cultural and creative sector in Europe and encourage the financing of more cultural projects, a financial instrument was introduced within the Creative Europe program - the Cultural and Creative Sector Guarantee Program, amounting to €181 million. The capacity building program helps the financial sector to better understand the needs of the creative sector and encourages financial intermediaries to become more active lenders to creative SMEs in the future. Support includes artists, cultural professionals and organizations, filmmakers, TV, music, interdisciplinary arts, heritage and the video game industry. Mobility, international cooperation, translations of European literary works, functioning of European networks and European platforms are encouraged through program competitions in the sub-program Culture. The MEDIA program activity supports the worldwide distribution of more than 1,000 European films and provides support to professionals in the audiovisual sector in their international career. The innovations in the program will contribute to the recovery of these sectors, helping them to become more inclusive, digital and environmentally sustainable.