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.