Global Peer Learning Series: Impact, Investment and Innovation in the Cultural and Creative Sectors — Session 2

Lending to culture: loans and blended finance in the cultural and creative sectors

Cultural and creative organisations often struggle to access conventional finance, even when well run and financially viable. In response, funders and intermediaries around the world are developing loans and blended finance models designed for the sector — combining public, private and philanthropic capital, often on concessionary terms, to provide repayable finance that fits how cultural and creative organisations actually operate.

This second session examines how this works in practice, through two contrasting cases: how to price finance for organisations that don’t fit a standard credit model, how to blend capital and share risk, and how to support borrowers so that lending strengthens rather than strains them.

Cultura Capital (Nuevo León, Mexico) is the country’s first microcredit programme for the cultural sector. Developed by the State Secretariat of Culture with the Secretariat of Economy and Banca Afirme, it offers creative practitioners interest-free loans alongside business training. Its blended design is notable: the state subsidises the interest while the bank takes a share of the credit. It will be presented by José Ramírez Garza, Director of Cultural Innovation at the Secretariat of Culture of Nuevo León and Cuitláhuac Rodríguez, Director of Individual Microcredit Products at Banca Afirme. Read more here.

Cultuur+Ondernemen (Netherlands) has been lending to the cultural and creative sectors since 2012. Funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, it offers loans from €5,000 to €500,000 at interest rates of 2 to 5%, assessed on the business case rather than artistic merit, and pairs them with training and coaching. It will be presented by Hilde van den Berg, who will reflect on what more than a decade of lending has taught them. Read more here.

Chaired by Florencia Giulio of Pulso, the session features candid discussion and audience Q&A.

Please note that this session is aimed at practitioners actively investing in the cultural and creative sectors or with proven interest in this field (for example, through active fund design & development). As such, we ask attendees to tell us briefly about their work or interest when registering, and places will be offered on that basis. We plan to run more open sessions later on, so that those newer to the field can take part too.