Launch of Creative Europe’s Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility

The Creative Europe programme launches its Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (CCSGF).

Through the European Investment Fund (EIF) the European Commission will provide under this facility guarantees and counter-guarantees on debt financing to financial Intermediaries in order to improve access to finance to SMEs from cultural and creative sectors in the EU countries as well as in Norway and Iceland.

This instrument is the first with such a wide scope. It will cover the development, the creation, the production, the dissemination and the preservation of goods and services which embody cultural, artistic or other creative expressions, as well as related functions such as education or management.

The cultural and creative sectors include inter alia architecture, archives, libraries and museums, artistic crafts, audiovisual (including film, television, video games and multimedia), tangible and intangible cultural heritage, design, festivals, music, literature, performing arts, publishing, radio and visual arts.

Gaps in financing are a critical issue in the cultural and creative sectors, and the offer of loans can be scarcen as it had been previously studied.

The budget of the CCS GF will be €121 million, and it should help leveraging €600 million worth of loans.

Further info is available in a comprehensive presentation and a factsheet.

2 luglio 2016