Call for proposals: Preparatory Action "Cinemas as Innovation Hubs for Local Communities"

Opening: 04 July 2019
Closing: 25 September 2019

The Commission is launching a 2M € call for proposals to create innovative cultural hubs around cinema theatres, notably in areas where there is limited cinema and cultural infrastructure.

Results announced

We would like to thank all participants for the interest in the Call. We received a total of 46 applications, out of which 5 projects are selected for funding and one project is placed on a reserve list. Please find all the details about the award decision here.

Taking into account the role of cinemas for local communities, this action should test new ways of support for the creation of innovative cultural venues and empower cinemas to innovate and play a more important role in their local communities. This action will support audience development activities encouraging cinemas to provide access not only to audiovisual content, but also to other cultural content and services, as well as educational activities and/or entertainment activities for young audiences.

Objectives

The preparatory action will test new cinema-going experiences, while taking into account local audiences’ needs, and will focus on:

(a) Testing new ways of rethinking the cinema experience and creating innovative cultural venues;

(b) Audience development and building communities through interactive experiences;

Expected results

The expected results of this action are:

Creation of innovative cultural hubs centred around cinema theatres, involving collaboration between cinema theatres as well as with other operators across the cultural and creative sectors;
New ways of engaging with existing audiences and reaching out to new audiences, especially young people, by offering quality and diverse European creative content as well as educational activities;
Innovation regarding the cinematic experience leading up to the development of new cultural consumption models;
Support the social and economic development of local communities through organising events, debates and special educational screenings and/or events; including beyond the life span of the project;
Enhance cross-border collaboration among cinema operators as well as between cinema and other cultural organisations including in areas with limited cinema infrastructure.

More information

Preparatory Actions are meant to introduce and test new initiatives with funding for not more than three years. This call for proposals is the first call of the Preparatory Action “Cinemas as Innovation Hubs for Local Communities”.

The maximum co-financing rate of is 80% of the total eligible costs.

Further information about the call is available in the related documents.