What we do
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Unite
Advocacy in the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) – in the UK often referred to as “creative industries” – tends to happen in silos and without regular exchange across the Channel. Responding to this need, the Forum unites organisations from multiple CCS sub-sectors in the EU and the UK to identify common needs and speak with a united voice.
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Co-create
Policy discussions tend to be led from the top-down with occasional engagement from organisations working on the ground. The Forum, on the contrary, has a bottom-up approach. It convenes conversations among CCS organisations from the EU and the UK to identify and discuss common challenges and co-create ambitious policy solutions.
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Advocate
Advocacy focused on the CCS in the UK and in the EU tends to be reflective of the needs of CCS sub-sectors with stronger institutional capacity. Taking a holistic lens, the Forum advocates among the UK government and the EU institutions – most notably the Commission and the Parliament – for policy changes that reflect the needs of the CCS as a whole.
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Steer
Until the creation of this Forum, the CCS did not organise strategically with the aim of impacting important moments in EU–UK relations. The Forum steers the efforts of CCS organisations across the EU and the UK in advance of key official meetings, having started with the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) in November 2025.
Our current campaign: Join Creative Europe
The Forum has joined forces with the European Movement UK, the largest pro-European grassroots organisation in the UK with over 26,000 members and over 250,000 supporters, to advocate for the UK to join the EU’s Creative Europe programme from 2027.
What you can do:
Are you UK or EU citizen? Sign our petition here.
In the UK? Write to your MP (find them here) asking them to support our campaign using this draft letter.
You can link us with high-profile artists, musicians, film directors, curators, writers… willing to support our social media campaign? Write to us.
The inaugural Forum meeting and the Policy Recommendations
The inaugural meeting of the Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations took place on 20 October 2025 in Brussels at MEDAA, the European House of Authors.
Around 50 participants – CCS representatives from the EU and the UK as well as governmental and parliamentary observers from both sides of the Channel – developed joint Policy Recommendations, subsequently co-signed by more than 200 stakeholders from the EU and the UK, and published on 11 November 2025, in advance of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) meeting on 17 and 18 November 2025 in London.
The Policy Recommendations emphasise that culture and creativity are vital to the political, societal and economic relationship between the EU and UK, particularly at a time of growth of the CCS, rapidly evolving technologies and new regulatory challenges.
The Policy Recommendations were shared with more than 250 relevant policymakers from the EU and the UK – including the members of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, the members of the respective parliamentary committees responsible for culture (EU, UK, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland), several other parliamentarians as well as numerous government officials.
