Brussels, 30/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a press release, the European Commission announced the selection of 217 projects which will be offered grants in 2005 under its Culture 2000 programme. A total of over 33 million euro will be granted to around 700 cultural organisations, as 30 countries are taking part in Culture 2000 (2000-2006) (the EU25, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, Bulgaria and Romania).
In 2005, 196 annual projects (including translation projects, translating more than 400 books) have been selected to a total of around 18 million euro, as well as 21 multi-annual cooperation projects (focusing on the visual arts, performing arts, cultural heritage, literature, books and reading) to a total of around 15.5 million euro. Ján Figel', EU Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism, said: “Once again, the projects selected in the framework of the Culture 2000 programme are an illustration of the extreme diversity of European cultures. The selected projects will actively participate in the constant development of pan-European cooperation in the field of culture.”
In 2006, Culture 2000 will support projects across the artistic and culture spectrum without focussing on any particular sector.
The European Commission has proposed a new cultural cooperation programme for the period 2007-2013 which will concentrate on three priorities, namely the mobility of artists and cultural workers, the mobility of works and intercultural dialogue. A description of the funded projects is available at: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/culture/eac/index_en.html