New line of grants of up to 45,000 euros for live music in festivals

The Department of Culture has published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC no. 9737, of August 25, 2026) Resolution CLT/3031/2026, of July 31, which publicizes the Agreement of the Board of Directors of the Office of Support for Cultural Initiatives approving the specific guidelines for grants for professional live music programming in festivals. The new line, identified as CLT547, provides aid of up to 45,000 euros per application.

The Agreement, adopted in the Board of Directors session on July 28, 2026, is integrated into the Strategic Grant Plan of the Department of Culture 2025-2028 and is deployed within the framework of the Artist Statute of Catalonia, with the objective of providing greater projection, presence, and dissemination of music in Catalonia and improving the working conditions and stability of professionals in the sector.

Purpose and beneficiaries

The purpose of the guidelines is to support the programming of professional live music concerts in festivals developed through municipal initiative. A festival is understood as a set of professional concerts that form a programmatic unit, carried out during a determined period in one or several previously defined towns, and which are not part of the regular or permanent programming of the performing arts space where they take place.

The beneficiaries are the city councils of Catalonia and the entities that depend on them, including commercial companies with fully or predominantly public share capital.

Amount and eligible expenses

The amount of the grant cannot exceed 80% of the eligible expenses, with a maximum of €45,000 per application. Applications for less than €3,000 will not be admitted. Only the performers’ fees are considered eligible expenses, with a maximum of €30,000 per concert.

To be eligible, the following requirements, among others, must be met:

• The duration of the festival cannot exceed four months.
• The total artistic contracting expenses cannot exceed €250,000.
• The programming must include a minimum of four concerts, and more than 50% must be paid.
• Each concert must have a minimum of €500 in artistic contracting expenses.
• The beneficiaries must have carried out at least one edition of the festival.
• Each application can only include a single festival and a single edition.

Evaluation criteria

The assessment is carried out using automatic criteria (up to 50 points), non-automatic criteria (up to 20 points), and complementary criteria (up to 14 points). The presence of Catalan cultural creation, the use of the Catalan and Occitan languages, and original Catalan authorship are rewarded, as well as the incorporation of emerging and female artists. Projects must achieve a minimum of 12 points in the automatic criteria and 12 in the non-automatic criteria.

The resolution, signed by Josep Maria Carreté Nadal, president of the Board of Directors, establishes that an appeal for reversal may be filed against the Agreement, which does not exhaust the administrative route, before the head of the Department of Culture within one month of publication.

This new line of grants reinforces public support for professional live music and municipal-initiative festivals, a key sector for the dissemination of Catalan creation and for the stability of artists and cultural professionals in Catalonia.

Fuente: Diari Oficial de la Generalitat de Catalunya, núm. 9737, 25 d’agost de 2026, secció Altres disposicions (referència oficial: CVE-DOGC-A-26233022-2026).