DEN-CuPID is a Strategic Partnership between SMEs, academic institutions and Local Authorities associations, which aims primarily at improving transversal competencies, such as entrepreneurship and managerial skills, and at enhancing knowledge of people active professionally or voluntarily in the field of cultural management. It envisages the optimization of local capacities in designing and implementing projects based on the local cultural endowment, as well as the ability to involve financial and funding tools, particularly innovative ones, for the accomplishment of these projects. Culture is a rather ill-funded field nowadays, and thus the need for fostering innovation in this field is even more urgent, in order for local societies to be able to turn cultural heritage and cultural activity to a lever of sustainable development. Such change is also hindered by an actual mismatch in the training background of people working in the field of culture and the actual need for innovative approaches and projects. DEN-CuPID aims to address these issues by developing an innovative education and networking platform and a training course comprising a dual-learning approach, to ensure the prolonged development of skills throughout the working life of people, and to better match transversal competencies with the actual demands, in alignment with the 2020 agenda for new skills and jobs. At the same time, DEN-CuPID approach is very well compatible with fast-developing Local and Regional branding processes. Therefore, the project’s results and good practices are expected to stimulate, enhance, and be incorporated into a broader strategy developed by local and regional authorities towards Local and Regional branding, which could break through existing restrictions of sector-oriented approaches to localized development.
Den-Cupid consortium consists of eight partners with diverse but complementary background in the field of cultural heritage management including Universities, SMEs, cultural associations, authority representatives and other stakeholders. Among others, the joint activities included the conduction of three transnational project meetings, where the partners established their functional cooperation schema, decided on the strategic pathways to be followed throughout the project, monitored the project evolution and took any mitigation measures whenever needed. One main axis of the project was the conduction of four international educational workshops in equal European host-countries, with over 70 participants in total. Experienced trainers guided the workshop discussions in order to present both in theory and in practice major cultural heritage managerial issues, provide well-structured cultural projects for local authorities or private stakeholders, highlight the best practices on cultural sustainability and explore the process of ultimately receiving funding for a future cultural project. The interaction with and among the trainees in those physical meetings was beneficial to both ends, as on one hand the trainers could effectively showcase invaluable insights based on their working experience and on the other hand the trainees could identify future collaboration frameworks and extend their perspectives individually or organizational wide. The main results of the project, which are openly available, may be concluded as follows; A) The proposition of a training methodology for any interested party in the cultural heritage management sector, B) The collection of valuable training material to be used as a guide for further development, C) The provision of a benchmark-type and needs' assessment educational survey of the participant countries, D) The showcase of four real-life cultural scenarios, where a significant number of different stakeholders is profiled and may inspire future relative activities, E) The provision of a collaborative electronic educational platform as a tool to establish new cooperation, receive mentoring from expert individuals, promote entrepreneurial mentality, improve skills and competencies, exchange insights and ideas. The above results were disseminated by all partners, mostly by the participating networks, through the participation in national and international cultural conferences and workshops, via the integrated project channels and by any bilateral networking initiated within the range of the project. In a few words, the legacy of the project may be concluded as a "one-stop-shop" for any interested stakeholder involved in the world of cultural heritage management to receive insights for competency improvement.