11/10/2026, 11:17

Thanks to your fantastic support, we've passed the 2,500-signature mark and received over 500 new signatures in just five days. So why not keep the momentum going for another 24 hours?

We've therefore extended the petition deadline by one final day, until Monday, 12 October, and we're now aiming to crack 3,000 signatures before Tuesday's handover to the new UK government!

Let's make every last signature count! Please share the petition one more time with your colleagues, friends and networks. Every signature strengthens our call for the UK's participation in Creative Europe!

👉 Sign and share: https://www.openpetition.org/uk/petition/online/united-kingdom-to-join-the-creative-europe-programme-from-2027

Thank you for helping us make our collective voice heard!

Mafalda & Benjamin
Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations

11/10/2026, 11:00

Extension by one final day before petition handover to the UK government on 13 October.


New deadline: 10/12/2026
Signatures at the time of the change: 2,860

06/10/2026, 11:20

Dear supporters,

Next Tuesday, 13 October, we will submit our petition to the new UK government.

We have already reached 2,362 signatures. With your help, let's make one final push and cross the 2,500 mark before submission.

If you haven't done so recently, please consider sharing the petition once more with colleagues, friends and professional contacts who may support the UK's participation in Creative Europe.

Sign and share here:
openpetition.org/!ukjoince

The petition will remain open for signatures until Sunday, 11 October.

Thank you for your continued support of this common cause.

Kind regards,
Mafalda Dâmaso & Benjamin Feyen
Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations

26/09/2026, 8:14

We will deliver the petition to the UK Government on 13 October, therefore we are keeping it open for more signatures until 11 October.


New deadline: 10/11/2026
Signatures at the time of the change: 2,353

11/09/2026, 8:29

We are keeping the petition open until the date of delivery to the UK government (date tbc, expected within the next few weeks) to allow for more signatures.


New deadline: 09/27/2026
Signatures at the time of the change: 2,347

29/08/2026, 17:39

We will deliver the petition to the government in late September. Extending the deadline for two weeks allows us to gather more signatures in the meantime.


New deadline: 09/13/2026
Signatures at the time of the change: 2,331

30/06/2026, 14:38

Dear supporters,

In light of the ongoing changes in the UK government, we have decided to extend the petition deadline until 31 August.

This extension will allow the petition to be presented once the new political leadership and ministerial responsibilities have been confirmed, creating the best possible conditions for constructive engagement on the UK's return to the Creative Europe programme.

A nice side effect: We have two more months to collect signatures. If each of you - currently 2,077 signatories - convinces just one other person to sign, we will get really close to our collection target of 5,000 signatures. Should be possible, right?

We appreciate your continued support and look forward to submitting the petition at a moment when it can have the greatest impact.

Kind regards
Mafalda & Benjamin

30/06/2026, 14:07

In light of the ongoing changes in the UK government, we have decided to extend the petition deadline until the end of August.

This extension will allow the petition to be presented once the new political leadership and ministerial responsibilities have been confirmed, creating the best possible conditions for constructive engagement on the future of EU-UK cultural relations and the UK's return to the Creative Europe programme.

We appreciate your continued support and look forward to submitting the petition at a moment when it can have the greatest impact.


New justification:

Background information and supporting evidence:

The EU's Creative Europe programme plays a key role in strengthening Europe’s Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS). With a current budget of €2.44 billion for the funding cycle 2021–2027, the programme supports thousands of projects and professionals promoting cross-border cooperation, artistic mobility, and cultural diversity, and boosting the economic potential of the CCS.

The programme is open both to EU member states and to third countries. This makes the UK eligible for joining. Currently, 41 countries participate in Creative Europe, including Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Ukraine and Tunisia.

The UK successfully participated in the programme until the end of its EU membership. It was a major contributor to and beneficiary of Creative Europe. During its last complete funding cycle (2014–2019), a total of 609 projects involving UK organisations received €203 million. Via the programme’s MEDIA strand, 196 UK films were supported with €32 million of funding via European distributors, generating a revenue of €575 million. The combined support directly to the UK was €100 million. Its benefits were extensive: the positive impact of UK participation was significant for both sides – be it on international partnerships and networks, including international co-productions, on creativity and innovation, on audience and cultural development, or on knowledge, skills and capacity development.

The UK’s withdrawal from Creative Europe weakened the UK’s CCS and significantly reduced opportunities for European cultural cooperation. Joining Creative Europe would give UK CCS organisations and professionals significantly facilitated access to cross-border funding and cultural exchange. Furthermore, it has the potential to unlock technical conversations that have barely advanced in the last few years, such as those regarding touring.

Since the UK's decision to leave the EU in 2016, CCS organisations and experts from both the EU and the UK have repeatedly called for closer cooperation and full participation in European culture programmes, including Creative Europe.

Most recently, in November 2025, more than 200 stakeholders from the Cultural and Creative Sectors in the EU and the UK co-signed a Policy Recommendations document that demanded from the EU and UK institutions to "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". These Policy Recommendations had been developed at the inaugural Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations in October 2025.

Importantly, the value of Creative Europe is recognised across the UK’s nations:

• ​​The Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons published a report on British film and high-end television calling on the UK to join Creative Europe;
• The Welsh cabinet has called on the UK to access Creative Europe;
• The Scottish government has also called for “full reassociation to the Creative Europe programme”;
• The Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service acknowledged that artists based in NI had used to count on Creative Europe funding to support their work.

According to sources within the European Commission, it is technically possible for the UK to join the Creative Europe programme from 2027, provided that the UK government formally declares its interest in doing so to the European Commission ideally by mid-2026.

Finally, this petition also recognises the broader political context of an increasingly complex world. The EU and the UK have to stand together to defend our common values and interests. Joining the Creative Europe programme would be an important step in this direction.

30/05/2026, 11:21

We have received updated information concerning relevant deadlines and therefore decided to extend the petition by another month.


New petition description:

This is a Europe-wide petition calling on the UK Government to formally declare the United Kingdom's interest in fully participating in the EU's Creative Europe programme from 2027.

We, the undersigned, citizens from across the EU and the UK, call on the Government of the United Kingdom to:

1. Formally declare the United Kingdom's interest in participating fully in the EU's Creative Europe programme from 2027, to be addressed to the European Commission by May 2026;mid-2026;
2. Enter formal negotiations with the relevant EU institutions with the aim of establishing UK participation in the EU’s Creative Europe programme from 2027;
3. Commit to continue the UK's participation in the follow-up programme to Creative Europe from 2028.

We urge the UK Government to act in the interest of cultural and artistic exchanges, in recognition of the significant contribution of creativity to economic growth, and in support of stronger EU-UK relations.

This petition is an initiative by the Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations.

--

Why does this matter?

The EU and the UK are strategically important partners with historically aligned approaches to research, education, and cultural engagement. In 2024, the UK officially rejoined the Horizon Europe research programme as an associated member. In 2025, it was agreed that it will join Erasmus+. It is now time for the UK to join Creative Europe.

The Creative Europe programme is a multiplier of creativity. It allows organisations from the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) to pool their resources and co-create, develop, and distribute cultural and creative goods and services in a wide range of subjects (ranging from literature and publishing, the performing arts, design, architecture and cultural heritage to music, film and the audiovisual sector, including partnerships with Public Service Broadcasters such as the BBC) for which there is neither sufficient interest from the market nor adequate support from national funding agencies. It strengthens artistic freedom and cultural diversity, supports experimentation and pluralism, engages audiences of all ages, and enhances the lives of hundreds of millions of people. One of its strands, MEDIA, is an established and well-known brand in the audiovisual sector.

The programme’s impact also goes beyond the CCS. In the 41 countries – many outside the EU – that currently participate in the programme, projects funded under Creative Europe build understanding and positive narratives, support innovation, and contribute to growth.

Regrettably, with the end of the UK’s EU membership, the UK left Creative Europe, hurting the CCS, our societies, and our democracies on both sides of the Channel.

Background information and supporting evidence:

The EU's Creative Europe programme plays a key role in strengthening Europe’s Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS). With a current budget of €2.44 billion for the funding cycle 2021–2027, the programme supports thousands of projects and professionals promoting cross-border cooperation, artistic mobility, and cultural diversity, and boosting the economic potential of the CCS.

The programme is open both to EU member states and to third countries. This makes the UK eligible for joining. Currently, 41 countries participate in Creative Europe, including Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Ukraine and Tunisia.

The UK successfully participated in the programme until the end of its EU membership. It was a major contributor to and beneficiary of Creative Europe. During its last complete funding cycle (2014–2019), a total of 609 projects involving UK organisations received €203 million. Via the programme’s MEDIA strand, 196 UK films were supported with €32 million of funding via European distributors, generating a revenue of €575 million. The combined support directly to the UK was €100 million. Its benefits were extensive: the positive impact of UK participation was significant for both sides – be it on international partnerships and networks, including international co-productions, on creativity and innovation, on audience and cultural development, or on knowledge, skills and capacity development.

The UK’s withdrawal from Creative Europe weakened the UK’s CCS and significantly reduced opportunities for European cultural cooperation. Joining Creative Europe would give UK CCS organisations and professionals significantly facilitated access to cross-border funding and cultural exchange. Furthermore, it has the potential to unlock technical conversations that have barely advanced in the last few years, such as those regarding touring.

Since the UK's decision to leave the EU in 2016, CCS organisations and experts from both the EU and the UK have repeatedly called for closer cooperation and full participation in European culture programmes, including Creative Europe.

Most recently, in November 2025, more than 200 stakeholders from the Cultural and Creative Sectors in the EU and the UK co-signed a Policy Recommendations document that demanded from the EU and UK institutions to "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". These Policy Recommendations had been developed at the inaugural Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations in October 2025.

Importantly, the value of Creative Europe is recognised across the UK’s nations:

• ​​The Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons published a report on British film and high-end television calling on the UK to join Creative Europe;
• The Welsh cabinet has called on the UK to access Creative Europe;
• The Scottish government has also called for “full reassociation to the Creative Europe programme”;
• The Northern Ireland Assembly Research and Information Service acknowledged that artists based in NI had used to count on Creative Europe funding to support their work.

According to sources within the European Commission, it is technically possible for the UK to join the Creative Europe programme from 2027, provided that the UK government formally declares its interest in doing so to the European Commission by circa May 2026.mid-2026.

Finally, this petition also recognises the broader political context of an increasingly complex world. The EU and the UK have to stand together to defend our common values and interests. Joining the Creative Europe programme would be an important step in this direction.

20/05/2026, 6:09

Dear supporters,

Our petition calling on the UK government to join Creative Europe is approaching the finish line – 11 days remain until it’s closed on 31 May.

Currently, we have reached only 1,700 signatures – which unfortunately is much lower than what we had expected. We hope (and are quite certain) this number doesn’t reflect the actual views and needs of the Cultural and Creative Sectors in the United Kingdom and in the European Union.

The higher the number of signatures, the more convincing our demand is. Therefore, let’s use the remaining 11 days to get more signatures. If numbers begin to increase significantly, we can extend the deadline for another week or so – but that’s it. Then, we will have to deliver the petition to the British government.

You can help by reminding your friends and colleagues of the petition once more. Just share this link with them: http://openpetition.org/!ukjoince.

Furthermore, we would also like to remind you of our social media campaign with the European Movement UK. Please send us…

• a photo (vertical) and quote of max. 15 words,
• a short video (vertical) of around 30 seconds,

…explaining why the Creative Europe programme matters to you, ideally with reference to previous successful Creative Europe projects.

It is up to the Cultural and Creative Sectors to raise their voices and make this petition a success. We can only facilitate it.

Best wishes,
Mafalda and Benjamin