The ERICarts Institute carried out a six month study for the European Commission between April and October 2008 on mobility incentives in the culture/creative sector. This was not intended to be an audit of all mobility related schemes in Europe, but rather a survey and analysis of the range and scope as well as motives and results of such programmes.
During the course of the study, ERICarts collected information on:
* mobility trends in different regions of Europe;
* recent debates taking place within individual countries;
* existing mobility schemes (their objectives, kind of support, target beneficiaries, eligibility conditions and the nature of benefits);
* the main motives for funding bodies to support mobility; and
* the main sources where professionals can find information about mobility incentives or barriers.
The team developed a classification of the main types and objectives of mobility schemes and tried to assess, on the basis of a rather limited supply of comparable data, their impact/effectiveness.
Recommendations for action are targeted to mobility funders within Member States and call for complementary action on the part of the European Commission, which respects the principle of subsidiarity for EU action in the cultural sector.