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Did you hear about the European Investment Fund (EIF)?

25 March 2019

On 22 March EFA attended a seminar “Be creative – call the bank” organised by the EIF, aiming to inform about the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (CCS GF) as well as to improve the understanding between the financial institutions on the one hand and entrepreneurs on the other hand.

The CCS GF is an initiative managed by the European Investment Fund on behalf of the European Commission and has been launched in June 2016 in the framework of the Creative Europe programme.

What does this mean to you as a festival ?

Entrepreneurs, such as festivals, are focussed on their (artistic) project, while banks, investment companies and funds are looking at the organisation. On top of this, loans to the cultural sector are often smaller and imply higher risks, making it uninteresting for financial institutions. Therefore small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the cultural and creative sectors often face difficulties in accessing affordable debt financing for their projects.

This is why the CCS GF is launched. Financial institutions that signed up for the CCS GF programme receive a guarantee of 70% for the loans given to organisations from the cultural and creative sectors.

This way it is more interesting for financial institutions to give loans and you as a festival will have easier access to debt financing.

Does your festival depends on subventions that are received much later than the costs occurred, does your festival invests in creations that bring revenues with a large delay? Then you might need a loan. In this case you will have higher chances to get a loan if you consult the nearest financial intermediaries that are part of this project. You can find the list here.

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