Please make sure to first read our detailed Open Call and Guidelines.
In this page you will find our answers to the most frequently asked questions concerning the Perform Europe application process and website. Consult this document if you have questions about:
A: All Creative Europe Countries (27 EU member states plus 14 non-EU Participating Countries) are eligible:
Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine.
In addition, Overseas Countries and Territories and the Outermost Regions of the participating countries are also included:
Denmark: Greenland
France: French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Territories, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Reunion Island, Saint Barthelemy, Saint-Martin, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna Islands
Portugal: Azores, Madeira
Spain: Canary Islands
The Netherlands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius
A: Yes. It is the country of residence that determines eligibility for a Perform Europe grant, not nationality.
A: No. The UK is no longer part of the Creative Europe programme.
A: No. The UK is no longer part of the Creative Europe programme.
A: Yes, the same partnership can apply again, but with a different proposal.
A: First, eligible artistic works need to fall within the performing arts field. In the framework of Perform Europe, performing arts follow the definition given by the European Union : theatre, dance, performance, circus, outdoor arts and puppetry. Eligible works need to be centred on one or more of these subcategories.
Artistic works and touring opportunities centred on live music are excluded. However, eligible works can include music as one of their elements. For instance, music theatre remains eligible under Perform Europe.
The same applies to visual and multimedia art. Eligible works can include these elements, but they need to be centred on one of the performing arts subcategories listed above.
Second, your artistic work needs to be already produced and ready to tour before 1 March 2027. The Perform Europe grant does not cover the production costs of new creations.
Third, eligible artistic works can have different shapes, scopes and formats. There are no specific restrictions or guidelines on their structure (length, number of performers, audience setting, etc.). For this reason, existing artistic concepts or initiatives developed within the proposal to be applied and presented in different contexts are eligible. For example, this includes participatory performances and site-specific works.
Finally, looking at the artistic works of previously selected projects could help you understand if your work is eligible.
A: Performing arts, in the framework of Perform Europe, follows the definition given by the European Union: theatre, dance, performance, circus, outdoor arts and puppetry. The statement “Live music excluded” indicates that arts works/touring opportunities primarily focused on live music are not eligible for this call. Perform Europe is complementary to the Greenbeat nexus initiative (also supported by the European Union), which is entirely dedicated to music. That is the reason performances centred around live music, such as opera, live electronic music or standalone music productions, fall outside the scope of our call. However, music theatre remains eligible under Perform Europe. Music can be part of a performing arts work in eligible disciplines such as dance, outdoor arts, theatre, circus, performance or music theatre. However, it is essential that live music is not the primary discipline of the work.
A: Registration is open to individual professionals and organisations working in the performing arts and based in one of the 41 Creative Europe countries.
A: Yes, everyone who is eligible for Perform Europe is invited to register and look for potential project partners, whether they end up submitting an application or not. Please note that each profile first needs to be approved for eligibility by the Perform Europe team and it can take up to five working days for you to be able to access your account. It is especially important to keep this timeframe in mind shortly before the deadline. Early registration is recommended to make sure you will be able to submit your application in time.
A: Certainly. You can already have partners for your Perform Europe partnership when registering on the website, but it’s not necessary. When you have registered with a profile, you can use the Matchmaking Platform to browse through all registered profiles.
A: You can find a full guide on how to use the Matchmaking Platform here.
A: To find people interested in applying for the current Perform Europe open call, tick the “Show profiles available for the Perform Europe Open Call collaboration” box on the Matchmaking dashboard to filter relevant profiles. All profiles interested in the current call will have “collaboration badge” next to their profiles.
If you would also like to indicate that you are open to collaborations, go to your profile under General Settings and tick “Open to collaborations to participate in Perform Europe’s current Open Call”. If you are creating a new account, you can enable this option during registration. The collaboration badge will then appear next to your profile.
A: Yes. But in order to be able to submit an application, all partners of your partnership need to have a profile registered on the website, which also serves as the digital application tool.
A: All partners involved in an application have to create an account on our website in order to apply, but it is not required to engage with the Matchmaking function. If desired, it is possible to make your profile invisible to others (go to: “My account”, “General settings”, “Make my profile private”).
A: No, it is not mandatory. The Conversation Starter is a resource offered as support to applicants, but it is optional to use it.
A: You can find the exact questions of the application as a download on the bottom of the Open Call page here on our website. Please note that proposals must be submitted through our online application form. If you have any issues related to access with this digital form, please contact us at info@performeurope.eu to discuss alternative submission possibilities.
A: All Perform Europe processes are carried out in English, including the application, contracts and reports. However, language skills are not rated in the evaluation and applicants are welcome to make use of online translation tools.
A: Yes. If you receive national, public or private funds, you are eligible to apply for Perform Europe funding. You will be asked to add this information to the income section of the budget template for your application.
When it comes to EU funding, Perform Europe is committed to improving diversity and accessibility for performing arts artworks in EU funding. You are not eligible to apply for Perform Europe funding if you receive EU funding for the same proposal.
If a performing arts work included in the proposal has previously received EU funding for its creation, the application is eligible provided that this funding has ended before 1 March 2027 (the earliest starting date for the implementation of Perform Europe proposals).
A: Perform Europe can cover 100% of the budget needed to implement the proposal.
A: Yes.
A: Yes, partners taking part in the same partnership can be located in the same country, as long as the partnership includes at least 3 partners from at least 3 different Creative Europe countries.
A: Yes, this is possible. The performing arts work (minimum 1) should tour to at least 3 different Creative Europe countries, whether they are the same countries as the ones in which the partners (incl. lead partner) are based, or not.
A: Yes.
A: There is no requirement of a specific roles/functions of certain partners for each partnership. However, keep in mind that each Perform Europe partnership proposal must present at least one performing arts work in at least three different Creative Europe countries and that for this purpose three partners either need to be presenters themselves or they need to have confirmed collaborations established with organisations which can present performing arts works.
This means that the creator (company or artist) of the artistic work(s) being toured, as well as the presenting contexts (venues or organisations), may be official partners in the project, but they do not have to be.
To sum up, the partners must be able to present the work proposed in, at least, three different countries. We speak of the location of a presentation as a “presentation context”. It is possible that it serves a proposal to show work in a presentation context which is not a conventional venue, is a hired location, a non-artistic organisation or another sort of presentation context. It is up to the partners to decide whether to include such presentation contexts as partners or to collaborate with external organisations which are not part of the Perform Europe partnership.
A: Indeed, it is possible to collaborate with partners that are not from the performing arts sector, if in the frame of the proposal, they are engaged in touring and presenting a professional performing arts work.
A partner can be, for example: an artist, presenter, producer, performing arts company, NGO, educational institution, artist’s collective, residency space, venue, festival.
A: Yes, this is possible.
A: No, Perform Europe does not set a maximum for artistic works, presentations or partners of a proposal. It is up to you to decide what can make your proposal stronger, and it is up to the evaluators to make the final decision. Please remember that each proposal must include at least one performing arts work (excluding live music and opera) to be presented in a minimum of three different Creative Europe countries.
A: There are no limitations regarding the country where the artistic work was created, nor on the nationality of its performers. However, organisations and artists based outside of the eligible countries cannot be partners in your proposal, and the artistic work must tour in at least three different eligible countries. Perform Europe does not fund the creation of artistic work, only the touring of it.
As an European programme co-funded by the European Union, Perform Europe must guarantee that its actions support the development of inclusive, diverse, and environmentally sustainable cross-border touring in the performing arts across the 41 Creative Europe countries. All proposals will need to demonstrate their relevance to the programme’s mission and priorities. For more information on the evaluation procedure, you can refer to section ‘L. Evaluation, award procedure, criteria’ of the Perform Europe open call.
A: Yes.
A: Virtual mobility refers to the use of information and communication technologies to implement a project with an international partner at distance. Hybrid mobility involves a mix of physical and virtual mobility.
A: Yes.
A: Each partnership is required to allocate a minimum of 1.5% of the requested grant amount for joint capacity building activities for the benefit of the partnership during the proposal. The training should focus on key topics of the proposal, aligning partners in terms of skills and knowledge related to these topics. It is up to the partnership to decide which capacity-building activities they need to better implement their proposal. Some partners may have more expertise in certain domains than others, the aim of the training is to gain knowledge and skills.
As an example: if a partnership plans to tour and present a performance for a young and blind audience, it could be beneficial for all partners to undergo training on how to effectively accommodate them.
Partnerships are free to decide which trainer(s) they would hire. Perform Europe will also offer a list of potential trainers with various areas of expertise. The list will only be shared after the selection of applications.
A: The Perform Europe team will check the formal eligibility of your application. If your application is eligible, individual evaluators with a high level of expertise and professional experience in the performing arts, will assess your proposal in line with the qualitative criteria of Perform Europe. The evaluation of all eligible applications will take place after the deadline of 22 October 2026.
A: Proposals can be implemented between 1 March 2027 and 31 January 2028.
A: All artistic works need to be finished and ready to tour before 1 March 2027, the beginning of the implementation period for partnership proposals.
A: The partnerships decide which grant category they apply for, according to the resources needed for the implementation of their proposal. There are no specific eligibility and award criteria per grant category.
A: The grant will be transferred to the account of the lead partner of your partnership.
A: The lead partner of a selected partnership will sign an agreement with Perform Europe, according to which they will receive the Perform Europe grant to implement the proposal. The lead partner will be responsible for managing the Perform Europe grant.
A: Yes, but keep in mind that the Perform Europe grant will be transferred to the lead partner, who will be responsible for managing the budget and paying all partners and collaborators, so it needs to be possible for this individual to handle the administrative and legal side of receiving the grant.
A: Yes, as long as the partners can prove all expenses with valid receipts. (See below, ‘Justification of expenses’). You can transfer themoney either based on an invoice issued by a partner, or based on proven actual costs which your partner has valid receipts for.
A: Perform Europe proposals must include a finished artistic work: a finished production or finished artistic concept ready to be presented to audiences in different contexts. Costs related to the production of new artistic works are not eligible.
However, we understand that there might be some preparatory work needed for implementing a finished artistic work or an artistic concept in different contexts (e.g. rehearsals). We will accept to cover a certain part of the preparation costs, up to 10% of the requested funding amount. A major part of the grant should go to touring activities.
A: It is up to each partnership to discuss fairness in their context and for their proposal. Partnerships decide together which fair conditions they will apply in terms of fees, salaries and other personnel costs. In the application they can explain why they made this decision. Selected applicants will be asked to report on the fair practices applied during the implementation of their proposal.
A: The grant of €15,000, €25,000 or €55,000, plus requested top-up budget, will be the total amount transferred to grant recipients. Any VAT costs which might occur must be calculated by the partnership as part of the requested grant and if applicable, as part of any other costs and incomes acquired by the partnership.
A: If you have to pay taxes or VAT as part of the total costs of your proposal, those taxes should be included in your budget.
A: Yes.
A: You should fill in the budget with remuneration gross amounts, meaning all costs paid for the employment.
A: In-kind contributions should not be included, as those are an agreement between all partners and are not invoiceable.
A: The Perform Europe grant can cover technical equipment rental. The Perform Europe support grant can also cover technical equipment purchase, but only if it is justified that the presentation(s) cannot happen otherwise and if this cost does not exceed 5 % of the requested Perform Europe grant amount.
A: It is up to your partnership to jointly decide which amount you indicate in this budget line.
A: Yes. We do recommend dedicating part of your budget to any costs connected to accountancy and reporting.
A: Wherever possible, provide detailed information per cost you will make or per invoice you will receive, instead of lump sums. Add lines if needed, and if so, make sure to check the formulas.
A: Please use this converter.
A: The lead partner will be asked to fill out and sign a financial statement for each reporting period. Additionally, the lead partner is responsible for collecting and correctly archiving all invoices and proof of payment during the project implementation and for at least 3 years after the last instalment is received.
A: In order to justify meals and per diems, you would need either a proper invoice, or a signed per diem receipt by each member of your staff stating at least the date, per diem amount, name of the recipient and signature.
A: It is up to each partnership to decide how you divide resources. Please write about it in the application.
A: Yes, you can include these estimations under the section ‘Other income’.
A: No. If a partnership proposal is selected, the partnership receives the full grant from Perform Europe unless some of the activities listed in your contract are not realised.
A: Selected partnerships will receive a kit with communication materials and guidelines from Perform Europe.
A: No.
If you have any questions about Perform Europe after reading the open call, guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions, you are welcome to join the bi-weekly online Help Desk sessions organised by the Perform Europe team. Sessions will include presentations and Q&A.
We also remain available for any additional questions at info@performeurope.eu.