Forum on EU–UK Cultural & Media Relations
Who we are
The Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations is an independent pan-European grassroots initiative, founded in September 2024 by Mafalda Dâmaso and Benjamin Feyen. We are based in London and Brussels.
Our aim is to improve the cultural and media relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom with a bottom-up approach. We believe that the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) – in the UK often referred to as “creative industries” – are crucial to the political, societal and economic relations between the EU and the UK.
The Forum organises face-to-face fora uniting CCS organisations from the EU and the UK to provide a platform for the exchange of experience and best practices, and to co-create ambitious policy recommendations addressing common needs. The Forum advocates among official EU and UK stakeholders and steers common advocacy efforts.
The inaugural Forum meeting took place in October 2025 in advance of a meeting of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly. Currently, the Forum is focused on getting the UK back into the EU’s Creative Europe programme.
What we do
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Unite
Advocacy in the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) – in the UK often referred to as “creative industries” – tends to happen in silos and without regular exchange across the Channel. Responding to this need, the Forum unites organisations from multiple CCS sub-sectors in the EU and the UK to identify common needs and speak with a united voice.
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Co-create
Policy discussions tend to be led from the top-down with occasional engagement from organisations working on the ground. The Forum, on the contrary, has a bottom-up approach. It convenes conversations among CCS organisations from the EU and the UK to identify and discuss common challenges and co-create ambitious policy solutions.
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Advocate
Advocacy focused on the CCS in the UK and in the EU tends to be reflective of the needs of CCS sub-sectors with stronger institutional capacity. Taking a holistic lens, the Forum advocates among the UK government and the EU institutions – most notably the Commission and the Parliament – for policy changes that reflect the needs of the CCS as a whole.
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Steer
Until the creation of this Forum, the CCS did not organise strategically with the aim of impacting important moments in EU–UK relations. The Forum steers the efforts of CCS organisations across the EU and the UK in advance of key official meetings, having started with the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) in November 2025.
Our current campaign: Join Creative Europe
The Forum has joined forces with the European Movement UK, the largest pro-European grassroots organisation in the UK with over 26,000 members and over 250,000 supporters, to advocate for the UK to join the EU’s Creative Europe programme from 2027.
What you can do:
Are you a UK or EU citizen? Sign our petition (COMING SOON)
In the UK? Write to your MP (find them here) asking them to support the campaign using our draft letter (COMING SOON).
Can you link us with high-profile artists, musicians, film directors, curators, writers… willing to support our social media and PR campaign? Write to us.
Hear from British musician Tom Gray on why strengthening EU-UK relations and joining Creative Europe matters
The inaugural Forum meeting and the Policy Recommendations
The inaugural meeting of the Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations took place on 20 October 2025 in Brussels at MEDAA, the European House of Authors.
Around 50 participants – CCS representatives from the EU and the UK as well as governmental and parliamentary observers from both sides of the Channel – developed joint Policy Recommendations, subsequently co-signed by more than 200 stakeholders from the EU and the UK, and published on 11 November 2025, in advance of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) meeting on 17 and 18 November 2025 in London.
The Policy Recommendations emphasise that culture and creativity are vital to the political, societal and economic relationship between the EU and UK, particularly at a time of growth of the CCS, rapidly evolving technologies and new regulatory challenges.
The Policy Recommendations were shared with more than 250 relevant policymakers from the EU and the UK – including the members of the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, the members of the respective parliamentary committees responsible for culture (EU, UK, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland), several other parliamentarians as well as numerous government officials.
Policy Recommendations resulting from the inaugural Forum meeting
Read the full Policy Recommendations here and the Press Release here.
”The EU and the UK are strategically important partners in the CCS with historically aligned approaches to cultural engagement and regulation. However, cooperation – and thus, the sectors’ continued growth – is currently limited by multiple barriers. Moreover, fast-moving developments in new technologies mean that close collaboration – beyond what was agreed in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) – is now essential.”
In the Policy Recommendations, the more than 200 co-signing CCS stakeholders call on all institutions of the EU and the UK to commit to - amongst others - the following measures, categorised into four paragraphs.
I. Transnational Funding of the CCS across the EU and the UK
● 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
II. Cross-Border Collaboration across the EU and the UK
● Establish a structured dialogue for the CCS as a formal knowledge sharing framework to ensure stronger collaboration between the EU and the UK
III. Individual Cross-Border Mobility between the EU and the UK
● Remove common barriers (to be identified by a dedicated mobility working group) to cross-border mobility of CCS professionals
IV. Cooperation of the EU and the UK in Regulation and Innovation
● Address the impact of emerging technologies on the CCS, such as Generative AI, by working together through the formal knowledge sharing framework recommended in (II)
See the full list here.
The Forum’s Policy Recommendations, including joining Creative Europe, are supported by more than 200 EU and UK organisations, including the following (which co-developed them):
Who we are
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MAFALDA DÂMASO
Co-founder and co-chair
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About us
Prof Mafalda Dâmaso (London) and Benjamin Feyen (Brussels) have been professionally involved with the European (i.e. both EU's and UK's) Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) for over a decade in various roles in academia and policymaking. In September 2024, they teamed up to establish the Forum on EU-UK Cultural & Media Relations and began preparatory work for its take-off. -
BENJAMIN FEYEN
Co-founder and co-chair