The artistic and cultural sector is growing all over Europe. This trend is stronger in countries with a long tradition (like UK) where the impact on GDP and jobs is considerable, weaker in other areas of Europe that still need policies and ecosystem to foster the growth of the sector.What is visible all around Europe is the need, for the operators of the sectors, particularly arts/culture, to develop business models and entrepreneurial skills to make their activities and organizations sustainable and economically viable in the mid and long term. The economic crisis had an impact on the contribution of the public sector to the financing of creative and cultural activities and organizations. The majority of the operators were strongly relying on these contributions to sustain their activities and with the cuts now have to become able to structure themselves as real enterprises, searching for clients, investors and other source of financing. Starting from these considerations the project wants to support artists and cultural organizations/professionals to:- Develop/improve entrepreneurial skills - Structure/reshape business models of the organizations- Get support from mentors - Get support from peers facing similar issues in the countries involved sharing best practices and solutions To do so the project wants to transfer and adapt a methodology used to support new entrepreneurs or those already managing a company called “The Enterprise Circle”. Through the development of tailored methodologies, tools and processes the partnership will train European artists from Spain, Italy, Hungary, Greece and UK in developing their entrepreneurial competences and in connecting through a process of continuous learning based on face to face events and online sessions on the Social Learning Platform of the project.The partnership is composed of representatives of the sector, intermediary organizations, target group directly involved in the proposal covering Europe from Spain to Poland, from UK to Italy ensuring the right mix of competences (entrepreneurship education expertise and artists and cultural representatives), of previous EU cooperation experience and geographic representation.The project will therefore impact, with its training offer, on a sector demanding for specific entrepreneurial skills, ensuring the implementation of EU 2020 principles and Entrepreneurship fo All initiatives.
The rich history and heritage of Europe make of culture an invaluable asset for Europe, which together with the talent and qualification of people in 28 countries across Europe makes that art and culture are call to be one of the engines in the economic and business growth of Europe. Training the people who will be moving forward this sector on the necessary entrepreneurial competences to effectively make culture and art a source of economic growth is a priority for Europe, even more taking into account the accredited lack of entrepreneurial competences and abilities of professionals in the artistic and cultural sector who possess abilities which are seen as opposite to those required by a business person. The ArtEnprise project has been conceived to advance in this EU priority and support artists and cultural operators in developing entrepreneurial skills. The project has analysed in depth the competences, abilities and areas of entrepreneurial expertise that artist and cultural operators should have to successfully perform as entrepreneurs. Such analysis has entailed quantitative and qualitative research involving both experts and the final target group, and an exhaustive desk research of similar previous initiatives in every one of the 28 EU countries, and has resulted in the development of a “Framework of Entrepreneurial competences for artist and cultural operators” in which these competences are structured into 3 main levels of experience. This is a valuable tool for artists and cultural operators to measure, assess and become aware of their current entrepreneurial competency levels. Conversely, trainers, educators and experts in entrepreneurship education and coaching can use it to develop tailor-made curricula and learning activities to improve artists and cultural operator’s entrepreneurial spirit. The project has advanced more in the goal of supporting artist, cultural organisations and professionals to develop and improve their entrepreneurial skills and has developed a specific methodology based on the concept of Enterprise Circles to support artists and cultural operators across Europe to start up and develop their business from their artistic and cultural practice. The ArtEnprise methodology is explained in the Enterprise Circles Facilitator Manual, a document addressed to those trainers, employment and entrepreneurship counsellors who want to organise group training and coaching activities to help the artist and cultural operators they work with to acquire the necessary entrepreneurial competences. The ArtEnprise methodology is complemented with a social learning platform https://training.artenprise.eu/en/ which is accessible both by trainers and by artist and cultural operators as “learners” looking to directly improve their entrepreneurial skills. The platform offers free access to training modules specifically designed for artists on the topics which has been identified as key when it comes to start a business in the cultural and artistic sector. Users can also access a European online community where the can meet other artist from different EU countries, exchange views and knowledge, collaborate with and create synergies. With all the different tools developed, the ArtEnprise project has made a valuable contribution to the development of entrepreneurial competences in the arts and cultural sector, which is expected to have a multiplier effect after the end of the project thanks to the extensive network of stakeholders in the field or cultural industries and entrepreneurship which has been established during the project which has served as a catalyst for many other initiatives and projects to be developed by the project partners in the near future contributing to fulfilling the training needs of this sector.