Through Act for Culture in Europe: Phase II (Act4C), Culture Action Europe (CAE) offers an action plan to address the trends emerging from the long European crisis and to help the Creative Europe programme attain its objectives in the context of the EU 2020 strategy. In the three years 2014 – 2017, CAE will work to strengthen cultural operators’ capacity to function in their field of action, to develop stronger relations with their audiences and communities and to find new economically viable business models in the digital age. CAE will endeavour to have a structuring effect on the cultural sector by creating high-level synergies not only among cultural networks but also with cultural operators and civil society at large. CAE will bring cultural participation closer to the core of citizens’ and decision-makers’ priorities at a time when the sector faces major challenges. At this juncture, when a number of reports highlight the decline in cultural participation in Europe and raise concerns about European citizens’ sense of well-being, CAE believes that the cultural sector needs to formulate a structured response with targeted actions at three levels: i) cultural networks, ii) cultural operators and iii) the broader civil society at large. Uniquely placed to act on these three levels, CAE will contribute to this structured response by helping the cultural sector to adapt to changing social and economic conditions, to measure the impact of their work on the audiences and to enhance European citizens well-being. Above all, the project will raise awareness of the contribution of culture to the development of sustainable societies.Carefully balancing social and economic innovation, Act for Culture in Europe: Phase II offers a concrete programme of activities to address the needs of European citizens’ today.