The European Commission has announced the success of its i-Portunus pilot scheme, providing funding for artists working abroad.
In the last year the €1m i-Portunus pilot, funded through the EU’s Creative Europe programme, has delivered funding support for 343 artists and creative professionals in the visual and performing arts from 36 countries to work abroad for periods between 15 and 85 days. The pilot, which is delivered by a consortium of academic bodies including Germany’s Goethe-Institut, the Institut francais in France, the Lithuanian Nida Art Colony of Vilnius Academy of Arts and Izolyatsia in Ukraine, will continue until February 2020; when the consortium will produce a full evaluation and set of policy recommendations.
More than 3,200 artists and cultural professionals submitted applications for funding through the i-Portunus pilot between April and September 2019. Successful candidates had to demonstrate a specific objective, with key examples provided by the pilot’s organisers including developing international collaborations, completing an artistic residency focused on production; and engaging in professional development in a specific country. On 15 and 16 October 2019, a conference was held in Brussels bringing together the project’s stakeholders, participants and national and international cultural institutes; with the goal of sharing information and exploring ways in which the programme could be improved.
Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Tibor Navracsics, said: “I am proud to have launched this first ever EU funded scheme helping artists and cultural professionals to gain experience abroad and build new partnerships with other creators across borders. This is key to boosting innovation and competitiveness in Europe’s cultural and creative sectors which have an important role to play in our economies and societies.”
The Commission intends to invest a further €1.5m in two similar pilot projects in 2020; with the results and recommendations of these new schemes, along with the results of the i-Portunus pilot, collated to inform proposals of permanent action in the 2021-2027 Creative Europe programme.
