Mobility has fractured
Artists, technicians and production staff now navigate different visa and permit systems across Europe, with the 90-days-in-180 rule making longer tours and residencies far harder.
UK-EU creative cooperation
Creating Culture Together
A practical reset for the musicians, performers, production teams and creative businesses whose work has been made harder, more expensive and less viable by Brexit red tape.
Brexit has put one of the UK's strongest sectors under unnecessary strain.
The report focuses mainly on music and the performing arts, but its central warning applies across the creative economy. Cross-border work, collaboration and touring once helped UK talent flourish across Europe. Those routes now sit behind a thicket of visa rules, work permits, customs paperwork, haulage restrictions and lost funding.
The damage is practical, immediate and avoidable.
UK creatives now face different systems in each EU member state, while the 90-days-in-180 Schengen rule makes extended touring and collaborative work much harder to plan. EU cultural professionals working in the UK also face barriers, limiting the flow of talent in both directions. For emerging artists and smaller operators, these constraints can wipe out the financial case for cross-border work altogether.
The cost is measured in cancelled tours, lost work, reduced exports, weakened collaboration and fewer opportunities for audiences on both sides of the Channel.
Nearly half of UK musicians report reduced EU work since 2021, with more than a quarter losing that work entirely.
Average tour earnings have fallen by 45 percent, and 59 percent of musicians say touring is no longer viable.
Loss of Creative Europe has weakened funding, networks and co-production opportunities.
Core findings
The report identifies a pattern of avoidable friction that has hit mobility, touring logistics, funding, merchandise, broadcasting and the day-to-day ability of artists to build sustainable careers.
Touring has become more expensive
Cabotage limits restrict tour vehicles, while ATA carnets, CITES paperwork and customs processes add costs and delays for instruments, staging, equipment and merchandise.
Collaboration has weakened
Leaving Creative Europe has reduced access to funding, networks, co-production routes and early-stage development opportunities that once helped UK organisations lead across Europe.
A twin-track reset
The report calls for action through EU negotiations and domestic reform. Some problems require agreement with Europe, while others can be fixed by the UK Government without waiting for a wider settlement.
Track One: negotiate with the EU
The Government should use the UK-EU reset and the next summit process to secure practical arrangements that restore the creative sector's ability to work across Europe, while also pursuing multilateral solutions on visas and touring rules alongside bilateral negotiations.
- Agree a short-term mobility and work framework covering touring performers, creatives and associated staff, while tackling the issues hampering their EU counterparts in the UK.
- Relax cabotage rules affecting both UK and EU touring operations, enabling productions to move equipment across borders without unnecessary restrictions.
- Join Creative Europe, the EU's flagship cultural programme, with a commitment to participate in its successor, AgoraEU.
Track Two: act at home
The UK can remove domestic barriers now, reducing unnecessary bureaucracy for UK creatives and for EU cultural professionals working in the UK.
- Reduce the cost and complexity of ATA carnets for instruments and equipment.
- Designate St Pancras International as a CITES port for musicians travelling by Eurostar.
- Clear the A1 certificate backlog and meet the 15-day target for issuing them.
The six main changes we are asking for
These are the measures that would make the biggest practical difference to artists, producers, venues, touring companies and the wider creative supply chain.
A short-term mobility and work framework for touring creatives
UK cultural professionals and associated staff need clear, consistent and proportionate routes for short-term paid work across Europe, with documentation designed around the realities of touring and cross-border creative work.
A relaxation of cabotage rules for the cultural sectors
Orchestras, theatre companies, bands, dance productions and specialist hauliers need the freedom to move instruments, sets and staging across multiple countries, supported by both bilateral and wider multilateral arrangements that reflect how touring actually works.
The UK joining Creative Europe and AgoraEU
Rejoining the programme would restore access to funding, European networks, co-productions and collaborative opportunities, particularly for independent producers, SMEs and emerging talent, with a commitment to the successor AgoraEU programme.
Lower paperwork costs for instruments and equipment
ATA carnets can cost more than £400 before deposits or insurance, with larger ensembles facing bills of £2,000 to £5,000 per tour. Reducing those costs would help remove a direct barrier to touring.
St Pancras as a CITES port
Musicians with affected instruments should be able to use Eurostar, rather than being pushed towards more expensive and less sustainable travel routes simply to have paperwork checked.
Reliable A1 certificates for temporary work abroad
Creative freelancers need certificates issued within the 15-day target so they can prove they remain in the UK National Insurance system and avoid losing contracts, payments or bookings.
The single market remains the comprehensive answer.
The report is clear that the fullest solution would come from the UK re-entering the EU single market and customs union, restoring the deeper framework needed for frictionless mobility, collaboration and trade. These recommendations are the practical steps government should take now while the wider political case continues.
The UK's creative industries are a national asset. Hard Brexit has made their work harder, poorer and less connected. Government should stop treating this damage as inevitable and start removing the barriers.
Full report
Read the full paper and back a practical reset.
Creating Culture Together sets out a clear programme for rebuilding UK-EU creative cooperation, reducing red tape and defending one of the UK's most important sources of economic strength and cultural influence. With a further UK-EU summit expected in summer 2026, now is the time to act.