Brussels, 30th May 2018

Today, the European Commission presented its proposal for the post-2020 Creative Europe programme for cultural and creative sectors.

It proposes to allocate €1.85bn to the overall programme, which would be divided between the MEDIA programme for the audiovisual sector (€1.08bn), the Culture programme for the other cultural and creative sectors (€609m), and €160m to fund SMEs and other organisations working across all sectors. 

Building on the Music Moves Europe initiative, for the very first time the Commission is also proposing sectoral support for music.  

IMPALA’s Executive Chair Helen Smith commented: “It’s great to see the idea of dedicated EU support for music come to fruition. This is real innovation and will enable EU funds to add more value in a more efficient and targeted way. We look forward to working with the European Parliament and members states to build on this proposal and secure a strong budget for culture and for music”.

In February, 37 organisations from the music sector penned a letter welcoming a new EU pilot programme for music and urging the EU to introduce dedicated funding for music. 

More recently in April, 70 organisations from across the cultural and creative sectors sent an open letter to EU institutions calling for a significant boost to the EU culture budget.  

Helen Smith concluded: “This will be a smart use of EU money and it is vital to focus on smaller actors. They are the backbone of the sector, the real innovators and risk takers. Strengthening these players is the way to develop a truly sustainable economy of diversity”. 

About IMPALA

IMPALA was established in April 2000 to represent European independent music companies. 99% of Europe’s music companies are SMEs. Known as the “independents”, they are world leaders in terms of innovation and discovering new music and artists – they produce more than 80% of all new releases and account for 80% of the sector’s jobs (for more information, see the features of independents). IMPALA’s mission is to grow the independent music sector, return more value to artists, promote cultural diversity and entrepreneurship, improve political access and modernise perceptions of the music sector. See the organisation’s key achievements in IMPALA’s milestones.