CIRCE funding opportunities

Fellowship programme

With the fellowship programme, CIRCE brings together young academics and creatives in the cultural and creative industries from all over Europe, with a particular focus on promoting exchange with young experts from the UK post–Brexit. The aim is to highlight, question, and reshape the innovative power of the creative economies through a wide range of voices and perspectives. The programme aims to fund people who, despite the multiple crises of our time, dream of a just, inclusive, diverse, sustainable and crisis–resistant future and actively reimagine and reshape it using the tools and potential of the cultural and creative economies.

A total of 40 fellowships will be awarded for a period of six months, the winners of which will receive 3,800 euros every month to work on their project from April to September. The programme will admit equal numbers of scientific researchers and young entrepreneurs or creative professionals under the age of 35 who focus on the research field of innovation and the potential of cultural and creative industries in Europe. The participants should be active at the interfaces of business and science, technology and the non–technical world, art and culture, education and social transformation. Findings from the projects could both contribute to the development of products or services and find their way into recommendations for policy makers.

Possible areas of action:

• The European idea — Relevance and resilience beyond Brexit;
• Climate change and environmental degradation — The urgent need for action and coordination;
• Globalisation and diversity – Towards diverse and inclusive growth;
• Social inequality, value and solidarity–based economies — Avenues for a fairer society;
• Solutions for pandemics — Impact minimisation and prevention;
• Demographic changes and aging democracies — Navigating challenges and seizing opportunities;
• Technology, digital, and social transformation — Preparing for the forthcoming disruption.

To apply for the fellowship programme, pre–registration on the CIRCE website is required until February 28. Application process will last from March 1 to March 10.

 Creative Impact Fund

With the Creative Impact Fund, CIRCE supports practitioners from the cultural and creative industries. The focus is on the implementation or further development of entrepreneurial project ideas that work on innovative solutions to the major issues and challenges of the present and future. In total, the Creative Impact Fund will finance 13 business innovation projects. Five projects whose solutions have been field–tested and are ready for the next step of development will receive support of up to 200,000 euros each. Eight project ideas, which aim to achieve a proof of concept, can apply for 50,000 euros each.

Possible areas of action:

• The European idea — Relevance and resilience beyond Brexit;
• Climate change and environmental degradation — The urgent need for action and coordination;
• Globalisation and diversity – Towards diverse and inclusive growth;
• Social inequality, value and solidarity–based economies — Avenues for a fairer society;
• Solutions for pandemics — Impact minimisation and prevention;
• Demographic changes and aging democracies — Navigating challenges and seizing opportunities;
• Technology, digital, and social transformation — Preparing for the forthcoming disruption.

To apply for the Creative Impact Fund programme, pre–registration on the CIRCE website is required until February 28. Application process will last from March 1 to March 10.

The Creative Impact Research Centre Europe (CIRCE) is a European think tank that addresses the question of how policy can support the cultural and creative industries and strengthen their impact in Europe. For many years, the United Kingdom played a leading role in policy making for the cultural and creative industries. Political decisions on the further development of the sector were largely based on its scientific evaluations. After Brexit, CIRCE, together with experts from the UK and other European countries, is now taking on the task of continuing to make use of and advance these findings in order to secure the innovative strength and competitiveness of the cultural and creative industries in Europe.