(19 June 2014) – Serbia is the first non-European Union country to sign up and participate in the new Creative Europe programme.
Today’s agreement means that Serbian organisations will be able to benefit from funding under the Culture sub-programme of Creative Europe. They will, for example, be able to apply for grants for multiannual cooperation projects, for book translations, for setting up cultural networks or establishing multinational cultural platforms.
Serbia is also expected to join Creative Europe’s MEDIA sub-programme after bringing its audiovisual legislation in line with EU law.
Serbian cultural organisations benefitted extensively from the previous Culture Programme (2007-2014). In total, they received around €1.2 million in grants as project leader for some 40 projects selected for EU funding.
Dozens more Serbian organisations also benefitted from the programme as co-organisers of projects. In 2011, Serbian author Jelena Lengold was awarded the EU Prize for Literature for the country.