Creative Europe - MEDIA | Cartoon Forum

“Animation, a key sector of the European audiovisual industry, offers infinite possibilities for great combinations of creativity and innovation, stimulating the economy, job creation, and our rich culture. At the same time, this sector has, in recent years, successfully embraced the new consumption trends of an increasingly broad and diverse audience, adapting to the growing demand from viewers of all ages. Now more than ever, this work is vital to strengthen the competitiveness of the sector in Europe and beyond. […]” Lucia Recalde • Deputy Director, Head of Unit “Audiovisual Industry and Media Support Programmes”

"[...] The integration of animation tools and know-how into rapidly expanding fields, such as virtual worlds, has opened up new horizons in terms of creation and development of markets, making it possible to create experiences that are both immersive and engaging. Similarly, animation represents a fertile ground for collaborations. In recent years, this sector has developed a production model based on European cooperation, through co-development and co-production initiatives often supported by the Creative Europe MEDIA programme. This approach has helped to create a truly European industry for audiovisual animation production, with structuring effects for the entire sector.

Through the Creative Europe programme, the European Commission intends to continue supporting the sector's efforts to improve its global competitiveness. European animation indeed faces many challenges, in particular the development of new talents, maintaining a cutting-edge production volume in Europe, and stimulating investment.

Cartoon Forum has clearly identified these challenges. CARTOON provides a unique opportunity for those involved in animation to come together and discuss common issues, thereby fostering the emergence of new co-productions that will in turn have a better chance of travelling internationally. I wish you an excellent edition, may it be as successful as the previous ones." — Lucia Recalde

The MEDIA strand of the Creative Europe programme supports the European film and audiovisual industries to develop, distribute and promote European works, taking into account today’s digital environment.

In addition it

encourages cooperation across the value chain of the audiovisual industry and at EU level in order to scale up enterprises and European content globally
nurtures talents – wherever they come from – and facilitates knowledge-sharing
supports innovative solutions to meet the market demands and trends
engages with audiences of all ages, especially the younger generations