The European Union-Eastern Partnership Culture and Creativity Programme is inviting small and medium-sized towns and regions to apply until 31 January 2017.

The systematic development of creative industries in Europe is already showing the results. For instance, with revenues of €535.9b, the creative and cultural industries contribute to 4.2% of Europe’s GDP. The sector is its third-largest employer, after construction and food and beverage service activities, such as bars and restaurants (according to the report “Creating growth. Measuring cultural and creative markets in the EU”, December 2014).

The selected pilot towns or regions from Eastern Partnership countries will receive the following advantages:

•    analysis of their current cultural and creative resources;

•    tailor-made roadmap for future development of cultural and creative sectors;

•    media coverage across the Eastern Partnership region and showcasing good practices from the selected towns/regions;

•    access to capacity building package for towns/regions' representatives and their communities, opportunity to work with specialized experts;

•    networking opportunities with international peers in other EaP countries as well from the European Union countries both online and face-to-face.