The call for “European Cooperation Projects” under the Creative Europe Programme – Culture strand for 2026 is now open, with a deadline for submitting project proposals on 5 May 2026 at 17:00 (Central European Time).
The support provided by the European Union under the call for “European Cooperation Projects” is intended for projects implementing a wide range of activities and initiatives involving organisations from the cultural and creative sectors in the 40 countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme – Culture strand.
With a budget of approximately €60 million for 2026, around 150 projects are expected to be supported. These projects will foster cooperation among organisations active in the field of culture in the countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme – Culture strand, in order to strengthen the transnational dimension of the creation and circulation of European artistic content, the mobility of artists and professionals from relevant sectors, as well as the exchange of knowledge and experience among cultural organisations, etc. In addition, the projects are expected to encourage the development, experimentation, dissemination of information and application of new and innovative practices.
OBJECTIVES
Objective 1 – Transnational creation and circulation: to strengthen the transnational creation and circulation of European works and artists.
Transnational creation and circulation are key to advancing cooperation, increasing visibility and audiences, and in many cases are essential for the sustainability and development of cultural organisations, institutions and individuals. Co-production is also a tool for stimulating creativity, sharing resources and facilitating the transnational distribution of content and the mobility of artists. Projects should integrate innovative and creative ways of producing and disseminating content.
Objective 2 – Innovation: to strengthen the capacities of the European cultural and creative sectors to support talents, foster innovation, create jobs and ensure economic growth.
Projects responding to this objective should focus on capacity building, which may be of a technological or artistic nature. This may include the joint creation and distribution of European works to diverse audiences, the development of new practices, as well as the transfer of successful working models from more advanced regions.
Innovation may also encompass social aspects such as: audience development, improving artists’ working conditions, gender equality, inclusion of persons with disabilities and minorities, combating climate change, digitization and the use of artificial intelligence to support creativity, as well as culture’s contribution to health and well-being.
European Cooperation Projects are open to all cultural and creative sectors. However, given that this call is part of the Culture strand, projects with exclusive audiovisual content and/or composed exclusively of organisations from the audiovisual sector are not eligible to apply.
CATEGORIES
New: The 2026 call for European Cooperation Projects includes two categories:
Small-scale cooperation projects (CREA-CULT-2025-COOP-1): minimum 3 partners from 3 eligible countries / EU grant up to €200,000 (up to 80% of the total project budget);
Medium-scale cooperation projects (CREA-CULT-2025-COOP-2): minimum 5 partners from 5 eligible countries / EU grant up to €1,000,000 (up to 70% of the total project budget).
PROJECTS DURATION
The duration of projects in both categories is up to 48 months.
ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS
Legal entities (private and public) established (registered) in one of the 40 countries participating in the Creative Europe Programme – Culture strand. Natural persons are not eligible to apply under this call.
APPLICATION DEADLINE
The deadline for submitting project proposals is 5 May 2026, at 17:00 (Central European Time).
Information about the call can be found at the following link.
Applications must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Opportunity Portal at the following links:
• Small-scale cooperation projects – here
• Medium-scale cooperation projects – here
More information about the criteria and the procedure for submitting project proposals can be found in the Call document (CREA-CULT-2026-COOP Version 1.0 of 5 March 2026) at the following link