Small Places, Big Dreams: Funding and Diversifying Revenues for Creatives in Non-urban Areas

This video explores funding strategies and revenue diversification for cultural and creative professionals in non-urban areas, showing how local contexts can be turned into strategic advantages. It introduces key European funding programmes and offers practical guidance on identifying suitable opportunities, aligning project ideas with call priorities, and developing strong proposals based on excellence, implementation, and impact. It also highlights the importance of understanding community needs, building partnerships, and clearly articulating project value and outcomes. The video addresses common application mistakes and promotes an impact-driven approach through simple questions such as “So what?”. It further emphasises the need to diversify income sources, including public funding, sponsorship, crowdfunding, earned income, and monetising expertise or assets, and concludes by encouraging resilience, continuous learning, and long-term financial planning for sustainable development. Keywords: Funding strategies, Revenue diversification, EU programmes, Financial sustainability, Funding applications, Proposal writing, Culture and Creative Industries (CCIs) Written and presented by Lidia Varbanova, International Consultant, Educator, and Researcher Contributors: Julius Heinicke, Educator and Researcher in Cultural Policy and Diplomacy Martina Fraioli, International Projects Manager and Researcher Director and editor: Ema Konstantinova Camera and sound recording: Zdravko Ruzhev This video was produced within the project “IN SITU – Place-based Innovation of Cultural and Creative Industries in Non-Urban Areas.” The IN SITU project has received funding from the HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions under Grant Agreement number 101061747. The content of this video represents the views of the authors only and is their sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains. This video includes materials from royalty-free libraries, selected content from publicly accessible online sources, and AI-generated images. Such materials are used for non-commercial, educational purposes to provide context and support the topics discussed. All content has been incorporated in good faith. Relevant online resources: Business Finland. (n.d.). EU funding playbook. https://eufundingplaybook.fi Creative FLIP. Finance, learning, innovation and patenting for cultural and creative industries. https://creativeflip.creativehubs.net Cicchiello, A. F., Gallo, S., & Monferrà, S. (2022). Financing the cultural and creative industries through crowdfunding. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles... Creatives Unite. So you need money guide. https://creativesunite.eu/synm/ Crowdfunding for Culture. https://www.crowdfunding4culture.eu CrowdfundingHub. Crowdfunding industry report and resources. https://crowdfundinghub.eu Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (n.d.). CultureEU funding guide. European Commission. https://culture.ec.europa.eu/funding/ cultureu-funding-guide European Commission. Funding & Tenders Portal. https://ec.europa.eu/info/fundingtend... European Commission. Creative Europe programme. https://culture.ec.europa.eu/creative... European Commission. CulturEU funding guide for culture and creative sectors. https://culture.ec.europa.eu/funding European Investment Fund. Access to finance for cultural and creative sectors. https://www.eif.org Fundraising Field Guide. A practical guide to fundraising strategies and donor engagement. https://www.fundraisingfieldguide.org/ Indiegogo. Crowdfunding guide for creators. https://www.indiegogo.com/en/info/cro... Kickstarter. Creator handbook. https://www.kickstarter.com/help/hand... On the Move (n.d.). A list of funding guides for mobility of artists and creative workers. https://onthe-move.org/resources/funding