Forum on EU–UK Cultural & Media Relations

Who we are

The Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations is an independent pan-European grassroots initiative. Preparatory work for its take-off began in September 2024.

The Forum organises face-to-face fora uniting EU and UK Cultural and Creative Sector organisations to co-create ambitious policy recommendations addressing common needs, for which the Forum advocates and in relation to which it steers advocacy efforts.

The inaugural Forum took place in October 2025 in advance of a meeting of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly. Now, the Forum is focused on getting the UK back into Creative Europe.

What we do

Unite

Advocacy in the Cultural and Creative sector 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 to identify common needs and speak on behalf of the sector with a united voice.
Co-create

Policy discussions tend to be led from the top-down with occasional engagement from organisations working on the ground. The Forum changes this. It convenes conversations among CCS organisations to identify and discuss common challenges and co-create ambitious policy solutions.
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 European Commission for policy changes that reflect the needs of the CCS sector as a whole.
Steer

The Forum steers the efforts of CCS organisations across the EU and the UK in advance of pivotal moments of EU–UK relations, starting with the PPA in late 2025 and continuing with the review of the EU–UK TCA in 2026 and the UK-EU Summit.

Join us

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 Creative Europe.

What you can do:

UK or EU citizen? Sign the petition here.
In the UK? Write to your MP (find them here) asking them to support our campaign using this draft letter.
Can you link us with high-profile artists, musicians, film directors, curators, writers… willing to support our social media campaign? Write to us.

Hear from musician Tom Gray on why strengthening EU-UK relations and joining Creative Europe matters

The inaugural Forum took place in October 2025 in Brussels at MEDAA, the European House of Authors, in advance of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, which happened in November 2025.

Around 50 participants – EU/UK CCS representatives and 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.

Policy Recommendations resulting from the Inaugural Forum meeting

Read the full Policy Recommendations here and the Press Release here.

The EU and the UK are strategically important partners in the CCS with historically aligned approaches to cultural engagement and regulation. However, cooperation – and thus, the sectors’ continued growth – is currently limited by multiple barriers. Moreover, fast-moving developments in new technologies mean that close collaboration – beyond what was agreed in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) – is now essential. We call on all institutions of the EU and the UK to commit to the following measures:

I. Transnational Funding of the CCS across the EU and the UK, namely:

● Commit to full UK participation in the successor to Creative Europe within AgoraEU – the proposed EU funding programme for 2028-2034 – to enable structured, multilateral and efficient transnational cooperation, creative collaboration and innovation, and explore the potential of UK participation in the current Creative Europe programme in 2027 as a pilot phase;

II. Cross-Border Collaboration across the EU and the UK, namely:

● Establish a structured dialogue for the CCS as a formal knowledge sharing framework to ensure stronger collaboration between the EU and the UK;

III. Individual Cross-Border Mobility between the EU and the UK, namely:

● Remove common barriers (to be identified by a dedicated mobility working group) to cross-border mobility of CCS professionals;

IV. Cooperation of the EU and the UK in Regulation and Innovation

● Address the impact of emerging technologies on the CCS, such as Generative AI, by working together through the formal knowledge sharing framework recommended in (II).

See the full list here.

Does your CCS organisation agree? Fill this form to keep updated of further activities.