The Regional Director for Youth stated in Horta that the Government of the Azores, through its various departments, has been and will be ready to continue to be a partner in projects developed by cultural and creative agents.
 
Lúcio Rodrigues spoke at the end of a cycle of three information sessions on the "Creative Europe" programme. The government official stressed that this programme "has an implementation period until 2020 and a financial envelope of 1.4 billion Euros, divided into the MEDIA and CULTURA sub-programmes and intersectoral actions."
 
"If we lived in isolation in the past, today the Azoreans are no longer confined to their island or even to their islands," added Lúcio Rodrigues. According to him, this programme "will open lines of credit and bring opportunities to cultural and creative agents that will allow them to operate internationally, facilitating the transnational circulation of works, the mobility of artists, the search for new audiences and the enhancement of the sector' financial capacity."
 
At a time when "the country is recovering from a severe economic crisis, it is essential to use Community funding available in all forms so that Azorean cultural agents may develop their area of intervention."
 
"Cultural operators know they can count on the programmes of the Regional Government and Erasmus + for mobility," Lúcio Rodrigues said, pointing out the "support provided by Regional Directorate for Youth has to the submission of applications to Erasmus +."
 
The "Creative Europe" programme allows applications for the creation of video games, collaborative platforms, artistic residences and training courses, literary production, literary translation, creation of school radio clubs and online radios.
 
It aims to enhance the promotion of cultural diversity and European language, thus boosting the competitiveness of cultural and creative sectors and promoting their smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
 
"We should not miss by 2020 the opportunity to promote the best that is made in the Azores at a cultural and creative level. The access to the "Creative Europe" programme is intended to encourage cultural production in the archipelago," said Lúcio Rodrigues.
 
The information sessions on the "Creative Europe" programme were held in Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo and Horta, involving the participation of more than one hundred cultural and creative agents of the Azores.