CREA-COOP European Cooperation Projects: the application, step by step

What it is

European Cooperation Projects are transnational projects involving organisations in the cultural and creative sectors from different countries taking part in the Creative Europe programme. They give cultural organisations of all sizes the possibility to co-produce, cooperate, experiment, innovate, be mobile and learn from each other. Each project addresses one of two objectives — transnational creation and circulation, or innovation — at one of two scales, Small or Medium.

Who can apply

Legal entities (public or private bodies) established in an EU Member State (including overseas countries and territories) or in a non-EU country taking part in Creative Europe — listed EEA countries and countries associated to the programme. International organisations are eligible. The coordinator must have had a legal existence for at least 2 years on the date of the deadline for submission.

Minimum consortium

Small Scale: at least 3 independent entities from 3 different eligible countries. Medium Scale: at least 5 independent entities from 5 different eligible countries. Affiliated entities and associated partners do not count towards the minimum.

Scales

Small Scale (CREA-CULT-2026-COOP-1) · Medium Scale (CREA-CULT-2026-COOP-2)

Duration

Normally no more than 48 months.

Grant

A lump sum fixed from the estimated budget you build in the official detailed budget table and the call's funding rate. Small Scale: up to €200,000, at a funding rate of at most 80%. Medium Scale: up to €1,000,000, at most 70%.

Deadlines

Deadlines are set in each call. Check the current deadline on the call's topic page on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

How many applications

An organisation, identified by its PIC number, can apply only once as coordinator under the call, whichever scale it chooses, and can be part of at most 3 applications, as coordinator or partner.

How it is scored

To be considered for funding a proposal must score at least 70 points out of 100. Individual thresholds per criterion: 15/30, 15/30, 10/20 and 10/20 points.

Proposals that pass the individual thresholds AND the overall threshold will be considered for funding — within the limits of the available budget (i.e. up to the budget ceiling). Other proposals will be rejected.

Among proposals with equal scores within the same topic: “Projects focusing on a theme that is not otherwise covered by higher ranked projects will be considered to have the highest priority.” After that, they are prioritised by their score for ‘Relevance’, then ‘Dissemination’, then ‘Quality of content and activities’.

The form structure

Part B, the technical description, in the order of the Creative Europe template (V4.0). The objective is chosen in Part C, online on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

1. 1.Project summary
2. 2.1. Relevance
   • 1.1 Background and objectives
   • 1.2 Needs analysis
   • 1.3 Complementarity with other actions and innovation — European added value
   • 1.4 EU overarching priorities
3. 3.2. Quality of content and activities
   • 2.1 Concept, methodology and project design
   • 2.2 Partnership and consortium
   • 2.3 Target groups and audiences
4. 4.3. Project management
   • 3.1 Consortium management and decision-making
   • 3.2 Project teams, staff and outside resources
   • 3.3 Cost effectiveness and financial management
   • 3.4 Project management, quality assurance, risk management and monitoring and evaluation strategy
5. 5.4. Dissemination
   • 4.1 Impact and ambition
   • 4.2 Communication, dissemination and visibility
6. 6.5. Work plan, work packages, activities, resources and timing
   • 5.1 Work plan
   • 5.2 Work packages, activities, resources and timing
7. 7.6. Other
   • 6.1 Ethics
   • 6.2 Security
8. 8.7. Declarations
9. 9.Annexes

How you write it in AvenEU

• ✦Part B section by section, with every question of the template and an estimate of the pages your text fills against the call's 50-page limit.
• ✦EUri analyses each section against the call's four criteria, each with its own threshold, and the objective you choose.
• ✦The detailed budget table, with the official workbook's own arithmetic, and a download of the official workbook filled with your figures.
• ✦EUri proposes budget lines from your proposal text, each with the passage it comes from.
• ✦Partner suggestions from Erasmus+ data, filtered to the countries Creative Europe admits.
• ✦A Word file of Part B that keeps the template's instructions and processing tags, ready to move into the official template.