EU funding

IMPALA is a strong advocate for increased support for culture and music in the EU’s budget.  

 

In the context of the discussions on the 2021-2027 EU budget and recovery package, along with other organisations from the sector IMPALA has played a leading role in giving the new Creative Europe programme a significant boost and in introducing a €2.3bn cluster dedicated to creative industries under Horizon Europe, the EU’s innovation and research programme.

 
Creative Europe
 
Creative Europe is the EU’s only programme dedicated to culture. For the period 2021-2027, the overall programme has a budget of €2.44 billion. This is a separate programme to Music Moves Europe, see below

The programme consists of 3 strands:

MEDIA (audiovisual) 58%

Culture (all other sectors, including music) 33%

Cross-sectoral strand (all sectors, with focus on cross-cutting issues & news media) 9%

The strand of most direct relevance to the music sector is the Culture strand. In total over the 2021-2027
period
, the Culture strand has a budget of just over €800 million which was frontloaded with a third of it committed in the first 2 years of the programme.

The Culture strand finances 3 types of action:

Horizontal actions: support for cultural cooperation projects, networks of professional organisations, platforms for the promotion of European artists and works, individual mobility schemes.

Sector-specific support: 20% of the overall envelope dedicated to cooperation projects within the Culture strand is used to finance sectoral actions which complement the horizontal actions mentioned above. Some sectors have been identified, including music. The percentage allocated to this sector specific support could further evolve over time. 

Special actions: music prize, book prize, European Capital of Culture, etc. 

Culture Moves Europe, a new EU mobility scheme, was launched in October 2022. Particularly focused on emerging artists, this scheme will run between 2022 and 2025. With a budget of €21m, it aims to support around 7,000 artists, creators and cultural professionals. You can learn more about the scheme here and apply here

Music Moves Europe

 

IMPALA has actively campaigned for Music Moves Europe, the EU’s preparatory action for music, which was designed to pave the way towards more structural and targeted support for music under the new EU programmes 2021-2027. 

Horizon Europe

As part of the new €2.3bn cluster dedicated to cultural and creative industries, the first music projects under the EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon Europe are starting in 2023, contributing to at least two of the following expected outcomes:

-Provide new/improved methodologies for capturing the economic and societal value of music.

-Develop indicators to better detect the performance of the European music sector and its contribution to economic and social development, as well as to sustainability. Promote standardised data collection about the music (sub-)sector(s) to measure the contribution of the EU music sector to the whole economy, the number of employed in the EU music sector, and music consumption on live, broadcast and digital platforms.

-Increase the transparency of the music industry, in particular the online/streaming business, through better data provision. Provide an estimation of the impact of music participation to the society.

-Provide policymakers with effective tools for measuring and enhancing the impact of EU policy making, in the context of Music Moves Europe and beyond, on the music sector.

EU projects

IMPALA also helps develop EU projects with members through its EU projects committee. The IMPALA Campus project, which received EU funding as part of the second edition of the Music Moves Europe preparatory action,  took place in the first half of 2021. The IMPALA Campus was a business-oriented training programme for young artists and recorded music professionals to help them boost their careers through a series of classes and mentoring sessions delivered by industry experts. In September 2022, IMPALA launched another EU project which received EU funding via the third edition of Music Moves Europe: IMPACTS, IMPALA’s Climate Training and Standards project, aims to build new climate literacy capacity for independent music companies in Europe to help them achieve a net zero carbon footprint. 

IMPALA is also involved in projects as expert. For example, IMPALA sat on the advisory board of a Music Moves Europe study on funding gaps in the music sector and a possible European music observatory. We also participate in the steering committee of the EU’s Music Moves Europe Talent Awards project and the ongoing European Music Export project also funded by Music Moves Europe.  

IMPALA keeps its members updated on relevant calls and has a note on EU funding opportunities for cultural and creative SMEs. Copies are available on request and in the members-only resource section of our website, see links below.

We have also prepared a podcast episode on access to funding with Remi Harris MBE – listen to it here and another one on European projects with Nuno Saraiva and Evelyn Sieber you can listen to here

IMPALA – Independent Music Companies Association

Rue des Deux Eglises 37-39, 1000, Brussels, BELGIUM

+32 2 503 31 38

info@impalamusic.org