About the programme

In December 2013, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted the Creative Europe programme for 2014-2020. The programme offers support for European culture, cinema, television, music, literature, performing arts, cultural heritage and related fields. With a budget of EUR 1.46 billion, the programme supports the development of the Cultural & Creative Sectors (CSS) by funding the activities of at least 250,000 artists and cultural professionals, 2,000 cinemas, 800 films and 4,500 translations of books. In addition, the financial instrument planned in the programme will increase access to financing for small entities from the cultural and creative sectors.

The Programme Office: Creative Europe Desk Polska is responsible for the promotion of the programme in Poland and the support of Polish entities in participating in the programme. The office is commissioned and supervised by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The financial instrument support is provided by the National Contact Point for Financial Instruments of the EU Programmes.

The Creative Europe programme consists of the MEDIA and Culture sub-programmes and the so-called a cross-sectoral component which includes, inter alia, the financial instrument.

  • The MEDIA sub-programme is targeted at entrepreneurs and institutions from the audiovisual sector. Its aim is to increase the competences of the European audiovisual sector and to facilitate international distribution of European audiovisual works, also outside the EU.
  • The Culture sub-programme aims to support entities from the cultural and creative sectors, including in terms of international activity.

The support under the MEDIA and Culture components is available. Detailed information on sub-programmes and opportunities for participation are published on the Creative Europe Desk Polska website:

Financial Instruments

As part of the cross-sectoral component of the Creative Europe programme, the Cultural & Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (CCS GF) was launched. The instrument aims to ensure access to preferential repayable financing for small and medium-sized enterprises from the cultural and creative sectors.

The Guarantee Facility covers guarantees and counter guarantees provided by the European Investment Fund (EIF) to financial intermediaries  – banks and other institutions that offer repayable financing (loans, leases, guarantees, etc.) to entities from the cultural and creative sectors. The guarantees are of a portfolio nature, covering up to 70% of the potential loss of an intermediary (including principal and interest) arising from a borrower’s default. The guarantee is capped at 10, 18 or 25% of the portfolio of eligible transactions, depending on the expected loss ratio of the portfolio.

The financing covered by the guarantee may be used by enterprises from the SME sector and the so-called “Small public enterprises” (enterprises with more than 25% public participation, otherwise meeting the definition of an SME) that are active in the cultural or creative sectors, are planning to do so, or have carried out projects with a CCS scope during the last two years before submitting the application to receive financing. Classification of activities to the cultural and creative sectors follows the catalogue of four-digit NACE codes (equivalent to the PKD subclasses).

The maximum value of financing for an entrepreneur that may be guaranteed under the instrument amounts to EUR 2 million. The financing can be used for:

  • acquisition of assets (tangible and intangible),
  • working capital (e.g. gap financing, credit lines, etc.),
  • transfer of an organized part of the enterprise.

 In Poland, the intermediary of the financial instrument of the Creative Europe programme is Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego which in September 2018 concluded an agreement with the European Investment Fund regarding a counter-guarantee. On this basis, BGK grants its own portfolio guarantees to banks operating in Poland, granting loans to entrepreneurs. The current list of banks offering preferential financing for entrepreneurs from the cultural and creative sectors is available on the Financing for beneficiaries website. (podlinkować stronę)

Advisory support for financial intermediaries

The Creative Europe programme also offers free capacity building support for CCS GF financial intermediaries. The support concerns cooperation with enterprises from the cultural and creative sectors in the field of repayable financing, including in particular:

  • credit risk assessment of entities with CCS, taking into account possible collaterals,
  • business models in individual CCS,
  • evaluation of applications for funding,
  • promotion of the offer under CCS GF,
  • extending the offer of intermediaries to new CCS/new activities.

The objective of the instrument is to support financial institutions in understanding the specificity of CCS and to encourage them to cooperate with entities from these sectors. Agents who sign a Guarantee agreement for the Cultural and Creative Sectors may apply for support.

The total budget of the Credit Guarantee Facility and Advisory Support is EUR 121 million (up to 10% of this amount was allocated to capacity building). The call for candidates for financial intermediaries (Call for Expression of Interest) was announced by the European Investment Fund on July 18, 2016 and will last until September 30, 2020.

Detailed information on the financial instrument of the Creative Europe programme is available at the National Contact Point for Financial Instruments of the EU Programs.

 Download: KPK report entitled “Bankability of the cultural and creative sectors in Poland”. If you have any questions about the report, please contact: PROGRAMY@kpkUE.gov.pl

© The National Contact Point for Financial Instruments of the EU Programmes. All rights reserved. The above publication is under the copyright and cannot be copied, published, presented and distributed in any form without a consent of the NCP. Quoting parts of the publication is permitted upon providing the source. The publication is financed from the state budget funds by the Minister in chargé of economy, which are being forwarded by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.

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