On 22 July, Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Agreement on BiH participation in the EU programme ‘Creative Europe’. By signing this Agreement, BiH participates in the European creative space, while the country’s cultural and creative actors will obtain access to the 1.5 billion euro from the ‘Creative Europe’ fund.

“BiH is well known for its wide range of cultural and artistic activities and it has great potential for the future. This is a very significant development and it will strengthen the links between BiH creative and cultural actors and the EU. It will boost the further development of creative and cultural industries in BiH,” said Head of Delegation/EU Special Representative, Ambassador Peter Sorensen, welcoming the signature.

‘Creative Europe’ is the European Commission’s framework programme providing support to the cultural and media sectors in the period 2014-2020. This programme follows the previous Culture Programme and MEDIA programme and funding represents a 9% increase over its predecessors. The programme consists of two sub-programmes. The Culture sub-programme is focused on supporting the cultural sector while the MEDIA sub-programme supports the audio-visual sector.

For BiH, it is especially important that ‘Creative Europe’ supports initiatives to translate and promote literary works across the European Union as well as supporting networks helping the cultural and creative sector to operate competitively and transnationally. In addition, this programme also helps to establish platforms for promoting emerging artists, distribution of artistic works, supports the production of television programmes, promotes interests in films, such as cinema networks or film festivals, and secures measures that facilitate international co-production and strengthening of the circulation and distribution of audio-visual works. More than 20 films, directed by some of the biggest names in Europe, screened at the this years’ Cannes International Film Festival, including seven films in competition for the top prize the Palme d’Or, were supported by Creative Europe.

All 28 members of the EU as well as the candidates and potential candidate countries have access to ‘Creative Europe’. Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland also have access, depending on the specific agreements.

Read more about ‘Creative Europe’ here: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/index_en.htm