Why Britain needs to become a member of Creative Europe once again - Yorkshire Post Letters
From: Martha Cross, Cinder Lane, York.
We know that all our creative industries, which give us pleasure, education and comfort, need funding.
Prior to Brexit, the UK was a member of the Creative Europe programme. It provides a variety of support including funding to all areas of the creative industries. It is potentially a huge source of funding for all sectors of the UK creative industries. During its last complete funding cycle (2014–2019), a total of 609 projects involving UK organisations received €203m.
The UK is eligible to rejoin as the 41 members also include countries outside the EU: Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Ukraine and Tunisia.
According to the European Commission, it is technically possible for the UK to join the Creative Europe programme from 2027, provided that the UK government formally declares its interest in doing so to the European Commission by May 2026.
Unfortunately, the Government appears to be disinterested in this opportunity. In April of last year, Chris Bryant at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said that the government had no plans to rejoin Creative Europe.
A lot has happened since April 2025. The UK has had to rebuild many other links with Europe due to global instability and Creative Europe would sit perfectly within this new approach.