About Pro-CCS
What is CCS?
Cultural and creative sectors, or CCSs, are sectors whose activities are based on cultural values, or other artistic individual or collective creative expressions and are critical for the creation of a shared European identity. Culture has always been a vibrant social resource, able to heal wounds in times of crisis. Culture is a vital component of European integration and solidarity. It unites the European multitude of mentalities and histories in all their diversity, and shapes a common space for Europeans to develop a shared identity.
CCSs constitute one of the most dynamic industries in the European Union and the global economy. The sectors have tremendous economic value: they make up 4.2% of the European Union’s GDP and create 7.4 million jobs, employing mainly young people. CCSs are important for ensuring the continued development of societies and are at the heart of the creative economy. Knowledge-intensive and based on individual creativity and talent, they generate considerable economic wealth.
What will Pro-CCS do?
The Pro-CCS project focuses on how to address the challenges CCSs face in accessing finance as this is one of the most critical obstacles to the sector´s growth. Among others, access to finance is prevented by specific characteristics of CCSs organisations: lack of tangible assets, high uncertainty of market demand, generation of value over long and uncertain periods of time, lack of knowledge of funding opportunities etc.
The Pro-CCS: Microfunding for Culture project supports overall CCSs by reinforcing the competences of professionals active in the sectors and aims at bridging the cultural and creative sectors with the financial sector in order to facilitate access to credit.
The project will develop:
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- a training course for business development services and financial tutors
- a distance training course for cultural and creative sector professionals
- a toolkit for financial intermediators to support business start-ups in CCS
- a conference to bring the findings of the projects research to policymakers
Why microfunding for CCS?
CCSs are largely composed of small and medium-sized enterprises, non-profit organisations and independent creative professionals that often lack access to financial support and might not have the specific skills for realising and managing their business ideas. The Covid-19 crisis was particularly critical for the CCSs due to the sudden and massive loss of revenue opportunities. The suspension of activities and the cancellation (or postponement) of events, shows and festivals generated a chain of negative effects, which were difficult to compensate for even when venues could reopen and events could be organised.
