Funding tips for touring and artist mobility
Finding funding for art and culture work and projects is a constant challenge for everyone working in the field. One objective for Theatre in Palm project is also to share useful tips and information about finding and raising funds. Here are some expert tips for this spring from TIP project manager, Kaisa Adair. She works as Senior Advisor at Turku University of Applied Sciences´ Project Management Office. One of her areas of expertise is mapping funding opportunities and preparing funding applications especially for the creative industry.
Performe Europe – supporting touring
Performe Europe is a European Union funding instrument to support touring. Minimum requirements are to have at least one show touring at least in three countries, and that the actual artistic work is already produced and ready to tour.
Themes that are prioritised are Inclusion and diversity OR Fight against climate change. These themes and how those will be addressed in the show and tour, need to be described in the application.
Co-financing is possible in this funding, but not mandatory. 5 % of the total funding will be allocated to projects which involve a partnership with Ukrainian partners.
Applicants can apply for grants in three categories based on the number of partners and extent of the tour (countries, shows):
- 12.000 € Small partnership projects
- 32.000 € Medium partnership projects
- 60.000 € Large partnership projects.
Pro tip
You can find examples of previously approved projects in here: Perform Europe Selected Projects. You can look at these as a reference what type of tours have been funded and how they did it.
Deadline for this year is already 31 March, 2024. The application is not very complicated to prepare but it does require some networking and time for registration and validation. You can find the guidelines and eligibility and awarding criteria here: Perform Europe 2023-2026 Open Call guidelines.
Before applying you need to register on the Perform Europe Website. Here you can take a look how the application form looks like in the system (it is not the actual application form but just a pdf- image of it).
Pro tip
You can create an account and look for partners in Europe for touring in the matchmaking platform.
Culture Moves Europe – mobility grant
Culture Moves Europe is a mobility grant for individual artists and cultural professionals and groups (up to 5 people) to explore, create, learn and connect. Grant can be used for travel and subsistence costs. There are also individual top-ups available e.g. for greener travel, visa costs and disability support.
Projects can last between 7 to 60 days for individuals and 7 to21 days for groups. It is important to notice, that the mobility cannot be interrupted and for group projects, all group members must be at the destination for the whole period of the project implementation. Also, the grant cannot be used to merely present previously created work.
The mobility project needs to pursue two of the following goals:
- To explore: to conduct creative and artistic research, to investigate, inspire and work on a specific theme or a new concept.
- To create: to engage in a creative process seeking to produce a new piece of artistic/cultural work.
- To learn: to enhance the participants’ competences and skills through non-formal learning or collaboration with a specialist.
- To connect: to develop a professional network, to strengthen the participants’ professional development, to engage with new audiences.
To apply, read the call document carefully: Culture Moves Europe document. Then register and apply via the Goethe-Application Portal.
Current call is open until 31 May, 2024 and the following call from autumn to winter in 2024. You should submit your application at least four months before the start of the mobility.
Pro tip
This is a rolling call so grants are awarded each month. So do try to apply well before the call deadline. This way you have a better change for getting the grant as there usually is a rush of applications just before the deadline and at some point the allocated total budget for grants will be used-up.
