European Commission's new Creative Europe programme

Thousands of people working in cinema, TV, culture, music, performing arts, heritage and related areas are set to benefit from increased EU support under the new Creative Europe programme unveiled by the European Commission at the end of November.

Creative Europe will build on the experience and success of the Culture and MEDIA programmes which have supported the cultural and audiovisual sectors for more than 20 years.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/1399&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en 

(Click to the video link above)

With a proposed budget of €1.8 billion for the period 2014-2020, Creative Europe will be a boost for Europe's cultural and creative industries. The proposed budget increase for Creative Europe represents a 37% increase on current spending levels.

The Commission is also proposing to allocate more than €210 million for a new financial guarantee facility, which would enable small operators to access up to €1 billion in bank loans, as well as around €60 million in support of policy cooperation and fostering innovative approaches to audience building and new business models.

Please click on the following link for more information: http://bit.ly/vRaFMV

Strand 1.2.2 e-forms now online

The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) has now published the e-forms for the upcoming round of Strand 1.2.2: literary translation projects. You can find them here.

EU support for Literary Translation is aimed at enhancing knowledge of the literature and literary heritage of fellow Europeans by way of promoting the circulation of literary works between countries. Publishing houses can be awarded grants for translations and publication of works of fiction from one European language into another European language.

You can read more about this funding by downloading a copy of the programme guide at this link.

Alternatively you can contact the Cultural Contact Point at ccp@artscouncil.ie to request a copy.

Fáilte Ireland 2012 Festivals and Events Initiative now open

Fáilte Ireland's Festivals and Events Initiative is intended to assist festivals and events that:

• Attract significant numbers of overnight visitors to the host locality.
• Animate key destinations within Ireland.
• Provide quality visitor experiences of Ireland's culture, heritage and landscape.
• Raise awareness or attract media coverage of the attractions of the locality.
• Demonstrate financial and environmental sustainability.

For full details and application forms please visit the Fáilte Ireland website: http://www.failteireland.ie/festivals  

The Centre of Professional Training in Culture has launched a new website

The Centre of Professional Training in Culture has launched a website dedicated to the ASLECT project.  The ASLECT project - Active Seniors Learn, Educate, Communicate and Transmit is supported by the Lifelong Learning Programme. The project addresses the presence of older people within cultural organisations from a double perspective: as users/beneficiaries of educational and cultural programmes and equally as learning resources for developing new programmes addressing the community.

The http://www.aslect.eu website presents examples of best practice from different projects. 

Asolo International Art Festival 2012

International Festival of Film on Art and Artist’s Biographies
Films on Art – Artist’s Biographies – Films on Architecture and Landscape – Films on Design
and Enterprise – Video Art & Computer Art – Productions by Cinema Schools

The 2012 Asolo International Art Festival has opened the competition for the 2012 edition of the festival. The festival will be held from the 18 to 29 August 2012.

To be eligible to participate, films must have been produced no earlier than 2010 and must fall into one of the following categories:

• Art
• Artist's biographies
• Architecture and lanscape
• Design and enterprise
• Video art
• Computer art

The deadline for applications is 15 April 2012. You can download the application form at the following link: http://bit.ly/uZlAPm

Presentations now online from Create's Art and Civil Society Symposium

Create, the national development agency for the collaborative arts in social and community contexts, hosted a symposium in Cork on 20 and 21 October on the subject of Arts and Civil Society.

The event was supported in part by the Cultural Contact Point Ireland and brought together a wide range of speakers to discuss the current and future relationship of arts and civil society.  The presentations from the symposium are now available online on the Create website. They can be viewed here.

The symposium provided participants with an opportunity to participate in a discussion with a national and an international cohort of artists, thinkers, community activists and civil society leaders.