{"id":5598,"date":"2026-03-02T09:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hacnumedia.org\/?p=5598"},"modified":"2026-02-18T22:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:37:21","slug":"with-local-and-national-subsidies-declining-is-europe-a-panacea-for-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hacnumedia.org\/en\/with-local-and-national-subsidies-declining-is-europe-a-panacea-for-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"With Local and National Subsidies Declining, Is Europe a Panacea for Culture?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As public support tightens in France, an increasing number of cultural organizations are turning to European funding programs. What are the eligibility conditions for these funds? What human and strategic resources do they require? In a context of intensified competition, are smaller organizations disadvantaged compared to larger institutions better equipped to respond to these calls for projects? An analysis with several European project experts. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The decline in local and national subsidies, now well documented by the Observatoire des Politiques Culturelles Cartocrise<\/a>, affects cultural organizations across the entire country, across all disciplines. The digital creation sector, which has nevertheless gained increased visibility in recent months\u2014particularly given the central role technology plays in our daily lives\u2014is not immune to this trend. In this context, many digital creation organizations have recently announced projects supported by European funds. For example, Electroni[k]<\/a>, together with five partners (OHME<\/a>, iii<\/a>, LEV<\/a> Festival, ULB<\/a>, and VUB<\/a>), is rolling out Solar Futures<\/a>, a Creative Europe<\/a>\u2013funded initiative. The project invites three artists to create three works exploring ecological, digital, and societal futures. In concrete terms, European funding can reach several million euros, but it can also take the form of more modest support of just a few thousand euros. The Chromosph\u00e8re<\/a> project, a touring full-dome festival organized with co-hosts in Greece (ADAF<\/a>), Poland (Patch Lab<\/a> Festival), Italy (LPM<\/a>), Hungary (Fonix<\/a>), and Romania (Art Mirror<\/a>), enabled AADN<\/a> to secure approximately \u20ac35,000. \u201cAn amount that made it possible to design a rich event, for both professionals and the public, entirely free of charge,\u201d notes Cyrielle Tissandier<\/a>, AADN\u2019s production manager. \u201cIt was particularly relevant in view of our goal of democratizing practices.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

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Alterfutura x Chromosphere AADN – Planetarium Vaulx en Velin – Credit Valentin Bisschop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

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These collaborations between European partners are multiplying rapidly. But are European programs now oversubscribed? Looking more closely at the European Commission\u2019s report A Decade of Creative Europe<\/a>, published in December 2025, the answer clearly points to an overload. In 2021, there were 463 submissions to the Creative Europe Cooperation call, the program that appears to be the most well-known; by 2023, that number had risen to 831. As a direct result, the success rate dropped sharply, from 27% to 17% over the same period. Political deadlock at the national level, which began in 2024 and worsened in 2025, further exacerbated these figures (last year\u2019s success rate was 7%), making access to these funds increasingly conditional.Should this discourage applicants? Certainly not, given the diversity of programs\u2014and therefore objectives\u2014and the potential transformative opportunities they offer to cultural actors. <\/p>\n\n

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