Georgia joins Creative Europe programme for 2021-2027
Mariya Gabriel, the European Commission's Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, and Thea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, signed the agreement on Georgia's inclusion in the programme this week. Photos via Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia.
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Georgia has joined the next instalment of Creative Europe, a European Union programme set to support cultural and creative sectors in member and partner states between 2021-2027, with the signing of the agreement marking the renewal of the country's participation in the initiative following its first inclusion in 2015.
On Wednesday, Thea Tsulukiani, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, and Mariya Gabriel, the European Commission's Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, remotely signed the agreement on Georgia's inclusion in the programme over the next seven years.
Joining in an associated status, Georgia will seek to benefit from the programme's support for "culture, creative and audiovisual sectors" and aid the integration of the country's cultural field in Europe, the culture ministry said.
[The next instalment of Creative Europe will] promote cultural and linguistic diversity, heritage and competitiveness, and will allow cultural and creative organisations and professionals to co-create and cooperate across borders and to reach wider audiences, tackling current societal questions and supporting emerging artists
- European Commission
The EU programme makes use of a budget of over €2.4 billion in efforts to "help artists, creators, cultural professionals and organisations cooperate and co-create across borders", Creative Europe said, with Gabriel noting the "critical" role of the project in "promoting Europe's cultural diversity as well as the competitiveness of cultural and creative sectors".
In the current phase, launched in early 2021, the initiative aims in particular to support the news media sector and use of technologies, as well as strengthen resilience of media and audiovisual industries.
In the previous phase of the programme, Georgia joined Creative Europe in 2015 as the first country from the Eastern Partnership with the European Union to become a participant state, with 33 projects from the country gaining €1.5 million in financing from the programme until 2020. Cinematic, literary, museum and other sectors were supported through Georgia's participation in the initiative.
Georgia will soon become a member of Creative Europe and reap the benefits of €1 billion in support that will go towards preserving and supporting the country’s culture, including art, theatre, music, traditional dance and more.
Two Georgian cultural organisations have been awarded financial support within a Europe-wide program for creative projects after winning two separate contests.
Georgia and five other Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries are teaming up with EU member states to deepen cooperation between the cultural and creative sectors and mainstream cultural heritage as a key component in the drive to achieve integrated, sustainable and participative urban development.
Georgia's capital Tbilisi is launching a four-year collaboration with the largest European network of public theatres with an international conference on theatre and technology starting this week.
Georgia's capital Tbilisi and the Black Sea coastline city of Batumi are two of the 49 most recent cities to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, an initiative aiming to stimulate creative industries and showcase cities supporting them.
Three locations in Georgia's west - the Black Sea port city of Poti, Imereti provincial capital Kutaisi, and Zugdidi in the Samegrelo region - will receive up to €30,000 in European Union funding to develop strategies for their cultural and creative sectors, as part of the EU4Culture project launched this year to support Eastern Partnership countries.