€60 Million for SMEs in Creative and Cultural sectors

In addition to the initial €121 million the European Fund for Strategic Investments have provided the Cultural and Creative Sector Guarantee Facility with €60 million to strengthen  SMEs in the sector. It is done through the Creative Europe Programme and it aims at supporting the scaling up of culture and creative projects and to make the m more competitive. The expectations are that this action will make €1 billion available as loans to the SMEs in the CCS (Culture and Creative Sector).

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"Access to finance is more challenging for Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) in the cultural and creative sectors than for conventional SMEs. Some of the reasons are the intangible nature of their assets and collaterals, the limited size of the market, and the lack of training (on the part of financial intermediaries) to address the sector's specificities."

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The guarantees will allow banks and other financial institutions from an enlarged number of countries to significantly increase financing for projects in the cultural and creative sectors. The Capacity building programme will help the financial sector improve its understanding of the creative sectors and encourage the financial intermediaries to become more active lenders to creative SMEs in the future.

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Financial guarantee facility for the cultural and creative sector

When launched in 2016 this instrument for SMEs in the Creative and Culture Sectors this guarantee facility aims to enhance the access to finance in order to support growth and competitiveness in a sector with many challenges.

Read more about the Financial Guarantee Facility and get answers to some important questions:

• How does the CCS Guarantee Facility work?
  
• What can the financial intermediaries offer?
  
• What are the benefits for intermediaries and CCS SMEs?
  

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Digital accessibility

Digitisation and Digital Preservation are very interesting opportunities and challenges for the CCS SMEs. With new Technologies like AR and VR the Cultural heritage of Europe can be accessible for all Europeans - and there is a lot of work to do and new Business Models to be developed.
Read more about it here...

To the EU Commission article about the €60 million funds