€1.4 million will support cross-border touring of performing arts across 41 Creative Europe countries.
Table of Contents
The Perform Europe Open Call invites performing arts professionals and organizations to develop international partnerships for touring finished artistic works across Europe. Perform Europe will distribute EUR 1.4 million to at least 25 partnerships. Applicants may request EUR 15,000, EUR 25,000, or EUR 55,000, with additional sustainability and accessibility top-ups bringing the maximum award to EUR 60,000. Each proposal must include at least three partners based in three different Creative Europe countries and present the same finished work in at least three eligible countries. Applications close October 22, 2026, at 23:59 CEST.
OF THE FIELD.
Perform Europe Open Call Snapshot
What: Funding for partnerships touring and presenting finished performing arts works across Creative Europe countries.
Who: Performing arts professionals and organizations legally based in eligible Creative Europe countries.
Where: 41 Creative Europe countries. Presentations may be physical, digital, or hybrid.
Award / Support: EUR 15,000, EUR 25,000, or EUR 55,000, plus top-ups of up to EUR 5,000. Maximum award: EUR 60,000.
Application Fee: FREE
Deadline: October 22, 2026, 23:59 CEST.
Official Link: Perform Europe Open Call
Get the Strategy Coach Notes: https://www.patreon.com/pformart/posts/perform-europe-164546692
Get The Application Strategy
Perform Europe evaluates the entire touring system proposed by the partnership. Applicants must connect the artistic work, partner structure, presentation contexts, budget, access measures, environmental planning, and audience strategy. The work must already be finished and ready to tour. Reviewers will assess why each partner is necessary, how the same work will function across three countries, how resources and responsibilities will be shared, and how the core priority appears throughout the proposal. The application includes separate sections on fairness, capacity building, communications, touring contexts, artistic innovation, and the secondary priority. Each response must reinforce the same operational plan.
About the Perform Europe Open Call
Perform Europe supports partnerships that rethink how performing arts works tour across borders. The program covers the 27 European Union member states and 14 additional countries participating in Creative Europe. Eligible disciplines include theatre, dance, performance, circus, outdoor arts, and puppetry. Work primarily focused on live music or opera is excluded. Perform Europe encourages proposals involving underrepresented communities, regions, and touring routes. Each partnership must choose diversity and inclusion or the fight against climate change as its core priority and incorporate measures addressing the other priority.
Each proposal must include a minimum of three partners legally based in three different eligible countries. The partnership must appoint a lead partner who submits the application, signs the funding agreement, and receives the grant. At least one finished artistic work must be presented in at least three different Creative Europe countries. Presentations may take place physically, digitally, or through hybrid formats. Complementary activities can include workshops, public talks, screenings, installations, training sessions, and audience events. Every partner must register for a Perform Europe account before submission. Account approval can take several working days.
What Is Offered
- EUR 15,000 small grant
- EUR 25,000 medium grant
- EUR 55,000 large grant
- Up to EUR 5,000 in additional top-ups
- Maximum total award of EUR 60,000
- Green mobility top-up of EUR 400 per person per presentation date
- Accessibility support top-up of EUR 400 per person per presentation date
- Family top-up of EUR 200 per child per presentation date
- Audience access top-up of EUR 800 per presentation date
- Visa top-up of EUR 120 per person requiring a visa
- Overseas and outermost regions top-up of EUR 175 per person per presentation date
The grant may cover artistic fees and salaries, travel, accommodation, subsistence, administration, reporting, communication, translation, surtitling, equipment transport, copyright fees, access measures, environmental measures, complementary activities, and capacity building. Venue and equipment rental or purchase may be eligible when required for the presentation and limited to 5% of the requested grant. Preparation costs connected to presenting an existing work may represent up to 10% of the requested grant.
Who Should Apply
The call is open to organizations and individual professionals working in the performing arts and legally based in an eligible Creative Europe country. A partner may be an artist, collective, company, producer, presenter, venue, festival, residency, educational institution, NGO, or another professional entity that creates or presents performing arts work. Eligibility is determined by the country where the applicant is legally based. UK-based applicants are ineligible. Each partnership must include at least three partners from three different eligible countries and must have confirmed presentation contexts for the touring plan.
Perform Europe Open Call Timeline
Open Call Launch: June 23, 2026
Application Deadline: October 22, 2026, 23:59 CEST
Selection Results: January 2027
Earliest Touring Start: March 1, 2027
Latest Touring End: January 31, 2028
The requested grant is paid to the lead partner in three installments. The first installment is 60% after the contract is signed. The second installment is 20% after approval of the first narrative report and financial statement. The final 20% is paid after completion, reporting, and approval of Perform Europe’s final report by the European Union. Top-ups are paid after the project is completed and supporting documentation has been approved.
Why This Opportunity Matters
Perform Europe provides substantial support for established works that are ready to enter new geographic, institutional, digital, and audience contexts. The program can cover 100% of eligible project expenses and includes grant categories suitable for touring systems of different scales. Its structure places artistic presentation within a wider framework of partnership development, fair compensation, access, environmental responsibility, knowledge sharing, and audience engagement. The opportunity is especially relevant for artists and organizations that already have a finished work, confirmed international relationships, and a clear method for adapting presentations across several locations.
OF THE FIELD.
Apply to The Perform Europe Open Call
Apply through the official Perform Europe website
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