As Europeans we all know that culture and creativity are essential elements of the European identity, but perhaps few of us are aware of just how important they are to the overall growth and prosperity of the European economy. This knowledge gap, or general ‘misbelief’ has deep roots in our histories, as politicians as well as professionals have long overlooked the importance and economic potential of the cultural and creative industries, as well as creativity more generally in everyday civic life. In more challenging times such as during the Covid crisis, we have all relied on creative and cultural works to get us through the toughest days, whether literature, radio, music, films or TV they have been our solace and our comforter. They stand as a 'beacon of hope' to overcome the despair for many people and communities; but do governments or local policy makers give the creative sectors the credit they deserve for their civic service? After all, the creative and cultural sectors are the second most impacted after tourism in the ongoing Covid crisis. Across Europe, entrepreneurship drives innovation, competitiveness, job creation and growth. It allows new innovative ideas and concepts to be turned into successful ventures and furthermore can unlock the personal potential of individuals. Entrepreneurship in the creative sector is important to ensure the continued development of societies and is at the heart of wellbeing of the wider economy. Aside from entrepreneurship, encouraging creative and cultural dialogue can be developed as key components of local economic development. Cultural and creative industries are often strongly dependent on location, they feed on local traditions, and therefore they are especially suitable channels to, not only share the energies of place, but also further serve communities and contribute to community cohesion. Making Space 365 partners believe that by employing creative methods in community contexts by bringing different decisions makers together can benefit wider society by creating shared creative spaces and projects that explore the common needs of society in a 'bottom-up' development process. Just as creative and cultural industries act as a catalyst and an innovation engine, employing their approaches and methods can bring benefits that strengthen the human economy. Local councils and municipalities, as the most local forms of the government have a key role to bring together the disparate elements of entrepreneurship, culture and creativity with young people and decisions makers at all levels to explore the potential of implementing shared creative activities and the diverse units of economic and social activity contained in the civic space. Making Space 365 partners propose 4 intellectual outputs: Making Space 365 Framework for Social, Civic & Community Education and Engagement Making Space 365 Creative Skills & Entrepreneurship Youth Training Curriculum Making Space 365 Civic Action and Creative Youth Event Guidebook Making Space 365 Creative Calendar An international training event will be hosted with participation of front-line youth leaders and workers and a Making Space 365 Festival & Showcase Event will be held in each partner country to celebrate the project results. Making Space 365 resources will be the tools with which young people, youth leaders, community organisations and local stakeholders can create grass roots movements and momentum to ensure the communal voice is heard. The project will develop a new working model and methods for devolved decisions that involves shifting the burden of decision making from municipal leaders to include a spectrum of local voices; e.g. community members, local businesses, youth and community organisations in a creative space where different perspectives are valued. This is a two way methodology and we want to support whole communities to engage in more meaningful, locally relevant discussion, that not only increases community engagement with the cultural and creative sectors, but that traditional civic and community roles also become invested in creative approaches and share the methods within their civic and community structures. Making Space 365 will develop tools, training and approaches that can help communities, youth and community organisations celebrate a pride and ownership of something that is ‘of’ and ‘with’ the community rather than just ‘for’ the community. The impact of engaging with the Making Space 365 model will be long lasting and create a model for long term engagement that can be sustainable and transferable to new settings. The Making Space 365 materials will be designed for face to face or online delivery, essential in such uncertain times; and it is intended that by targeting young people we can make a difference that will be transferred to new settings as those involved embark on their working journey, taking up employment within the community or starting their own creative businesses.
The project team intended and still does, that the project to be a sustainable resource, and to some extent provide tools that serve the local community and young people to ensure creativity thrives to benefit everyone. Another aim of the project methodology was to ensure that, by employing creative methods in community contexts, and by bringing different decisions makers together, this could benefit wider society by creating shared open, creative spaces to explore the common needs of society in a 'bottom-up' developmental and democratic process. Our wider aim was to give young people, especially those with their sights set on the creative industries, a stake in society and the potential to shape community policy in new and creative ways. Just as creative industries act as catalysts and innovation engines; employing their approaches can bring benefits and youth-empowered change that can strengthen the wider human economy. Local councils and municipalities, as with most forms of local government, have a key role to bring together disparate elements of the community and especially of young people to encourage the fostering of the entrepreneurial spirit, community culture, and enterprising creativity. By bringing these groups into the wider debate with decision-makers of all levels, we wanted to enhance the diverse economic and social potential within the shared civic space.
In challenging times such as during the Covid 19 crisis, we all relied on creative works to get us through the toughest days; whether literature, radio, music, films, or TV they were our solace and comforter. In the Making Space 365 project we set out to address this overlooked facet of the creative community by developing materials that put creatives at the center of the community and in a position to influence decision-making. The need to support young people to be more involved in civic life can be achieved by giving them the skills to bring about change; essentially entrepreneurial skills and the mindset to make change happen. This project intended to scaffold support for young people; ensuring that their enterprising involvement in community projects and initiatives was made possible by facilitating the requisite skills, not only contributing to the social and wider economy but also shaping it in a sustainable way. As our main project title stated; we truly wanted to 'maximize the potential of young people through creative and cultural entrepreneurship in the community'. Also, by bringing a wide range of people from the community together, the partners wanted to develop meaningful training materials to empower youth at all levels. The further needs of young people were also addressed by ensuring they were at the center of the project development, giving them a voice and a truly creative outlet as a way of engaging with the community and the agencies that serve it. We addressed the basic need for a sense of belonging; an essential feature for society to function cohesively, especially during crises such as the Covid 19 pandemic. We also targeted the need for young people to tackle, head-on, the most pressing challenges that we all face across Europe and beyond; climate change, social challenges, community cohesion, culture and environment, poverty, and education and integration to name a few. UN SDG plays a part in the project activities as well as other frameworks such as EntreComp that support the need for education and ideas into action across Europe.