Call for Applications: Pan-European Cultural Entities (PECE) Programme

Objectives

• This action supports projects proposed by cultural entities – in the context of this call for proposals, orchestras – whose aim is to offer training, professional development, and performance opportunities to young musicians with great potential.
• The specific objectives of this action are the following:
  • support the professionalisation of young musicians, offering them opportunities for high standard career development through recruitment, training and touring and performance opportunities.
  • foster the artistic excellence of youth orchestral performance.
  • support the activities of organisations and artists who act as promoters and ambassadors of EU values.

Priorities

• The Programme mainstreams through its actions the cross-cutting issues of:
  • Inclusion and diversity, notably gender balance: projects shall facilitate access to European cultural and creative content for all groups and audiences, especially for professionals and participants with disadvantaged backgrounds and fewer opportunities related to disability or health problems, including mental health, economic, social or geographical obstacles to promote societal resilience, enhance social inclusion and allow for intercultural dialogue.
  • Greening of Creative Europe: projects shall contribute to the European Green Deal, in particular, by making efforts to adopt more environmentally sustainable (green) practices, strengthen synergies, build up capacity and knowledge and disseminate green ideas and, by this, contribute to the achievement of the overall target of 30% of the Union budget expenditure supporting climate objectives.
• Proposals should also address the following specific priorities:
  • Artists and cultural professionals: empowering the cultural and creative sectors.
    • In the current context, the need to promote fair, inclusive, and diverse frameworks supporting emerging artists careers and cultural and creative professionals is crucial and should be a key strategic consideration when drafting proposals. Projects’ proposals should include effective ways to ensure and promote better working conditions and fairer remuneration, skills evelopment and life-long learning as well as artistic freedom.
  • Culture for the people: enhancing cultural participation and the role of culture in society
    • With this priority, applicants should propose concrete activities to build the capacities of young music professionals, aiming at the development of their artistic and, more generally, professional skills as well as audience engagement and development that help promote citizenship, values, and democracy.
  • Culture for co-creative partnerships: strengthening the cultural dimension of EU external relations
    • With this priority, applicants should propose concrete activities to build the capacity of Orchestras and European young talents to be (more) active outside the EU borders, within and beyond the Creative Europe participating countries, to contribute to foster international cultural relations
  • Culture for digital transformation: help the European cultural and creative sectors to fully take advantage of new technologies to enhance their competitiveness
    • Proposals may also help to build the capacities of the Orchestras and the young music professionals to critically and creatively embrace the above-mentioned opportunities and changes driven by the digital transformation based, inter alia, on the EU’s digital strategy that aims to make this transformation work for the cultural sectors and for the people).

Funding Information

• The total estimated available call budget is EUR 7 200 000 for the period 2024- 2027.

Duration

• Projects should not normally exceed 48 months.

Eligible Activities

• The activities should include:
  • an adequate mix of training, mentoring programmes, apprenticeship activities or advice to music professionals. and
  • an adequate mix of workshops, events, concerts, exchanges, coproductions, online and offline activities aiming at the discovery of the orchestral world for diverse audience, and notably young audience.

Expected Impact

• This action is expected to support 3 to 5 projects.
• These projects will:
  • develop the careers of young musicians who must be nationals/residents of at least 20 countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme.
  • reflect the diversity of culture and European musical genres.
  • encourage the participation and access of new and young audiences to culture, by allowing them to experience orchestral music at first hand, working on both traditional and innovative formats, between artistic excellence and social engagement.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible participants (eligible countries)
  • In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
    • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
    • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
      • Creative Europe Participating Countries:
        • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
        • non-EU countries:
          • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature.
• Specific cases
  • Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of selfemployed persons, i.e., sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person.
  • International organisations — International organisations are eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
  • Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) cannot be part of the consortium.

For more information, visit EC.