In the context of one of the most disruptive global events in recent history, creativity&wellbeing (WB) are at the forefront of societal resilience. The sector of "arts,culture,creativity" is, alongside science, technology&business (3 pillars), pivotal for the development of society and the global economy; WB &quality of life would be drastically undermined by any irreversible harm to either pillar. The current global business model relies on a skills structure that has proven to lack innovative capacity, resilience, and quality in disruptive times. Hence, the need for an integrative paradigm in which creativity and arts are not solely "the creative economy" but form part of society's fabric. The core of all these actions was the push to generate WB for the whole society: a consistent attribute that allows for green growth, sustainable job development, rapid adjustment to Industry x.0 while retaining a well-rounded society's basic features. The CIRCLE proposes an innovative approach. It brings together actors from 3 countries, with expertise in entrepreneurship,creativity,digitalization and targets 2 groups: creatives and noncreatives, to upgrade their resilience by building digital, creative and sustainability skills and allow cross-fertilization. The project adds flexibility and structure, with an overarching digital umbrella, supporting the individuals to make better decisions about their businesses or ideas, thus supporting the EC efforts made during the last decade, when CCS have gained increased attention in European Union policymaking. PROJECT OBJECTIVES Developing and testing tools to upgrade the capacity of creatives overcome challenges posed by disruptive situations such as the C19 pandemic, and focusing on: creative skills, digital skills, sustainability&WB. Build the capacity of a group of 60 creatives and non creatives freelancers/entrepreneurs with the use of the developed tools and make them more resilient Build the capacity of a core group of staff within the partnership on “how to support creatives” to improve their capacity to provide services for creative in disruptive situations. ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS 3 Transnational Project Meetings - to, adjust objectives and create synchronicity and flow and strengthen institutional ties of the consortium members. 2 Joint staff training: 1st to prepare facilitators, 2nd for lessons learned and aligning the messages and support offered to participants in the following webinars (peer to peer sharing, networking and online festival). 4 Blended learning activities - Distance learning and in-presence capacity building activities are proposed to test the tools and to create a training course that can be used by organizations/ trainers that support the creative sector, particularly in difficult contexts such as the COVID 19 pandemic. 60 participants in LTTs, 30 creatives, 30 non creatives, interested in entrepreneurship, out of which at least 25 from disadvantaged groups (5 migrants+Roma,20 women), 11 webinars prior and post LTT, At least 30 impact measurement questionnaires, 60 EuroPass certificates 3 Multiplier events-150 multipliers A digital campaign, reaching 100000 people, to disseminate the project and raise awareness of the opportunity offered by creativity in an entrepreneurial setting 3 Intellectual Outputs for creatives Entrepreneurial WB(IO1): interactive tool building on creativity as the ultimate renewable resource, with a key role in the achievement of sustainable development and the Agenda2030; +Entrepreneurial wellbeing defined as positive and distinctive mental state, which reflects entrepreneurs’ affective and cognitive experiences of engagement in entrepreneurship. Creative WB(IO2): a theoretical framework made of examples of how, when and where creative wellbeing has been put in place ( best practice analysis), a competence framework to stress which new competence creative needs in order to play an innovation role in the health and wellbeing system, a practical guide on how to ideate, plan, perform and measure the impact of the creative intervention which could result in actions for creative wellbeing. Digital WB(IO3): digital skills upgrading for creatives and serve as a tool to upskill them and equip them with the needed capacities to address challenges imposed by disruptive contexts. 3 Intellectual Outputs for non creatives Entrepreneurial WB(IO4): provide participants with skills on how to turn their business model more sustainable and in line with SDGs, and improving their resilience and work in line with the Agenda 2030. Creative WB(IO5): support the adoption of creative thinking and creative problem solving to adapt the business approach to the new reality. Digital WB(IO6): capacity building activities for entrepreneurs of any sector, to build their digital skills and address challenges in disruptive contexts. 14.000h+ for IOs, with 50.5% focused directly on creatives. 1 Online Festival
PROJECT OBJECTIVES Developing and testing tools to upgrade the capacity of creatives overcome challenges posed by disruptive situations such as the C19 pandemic, and focusing on: creative skills, digital skills, sustainability&WB. Build the capacity of a group of 60 creatives and non creatives freelancers/entrepreneurs with the use of the developed tools and make them more resilient Build the capacity of a core group of staff within the partnership on “how to support creatives” to improve their capacity to provide services for creative in disruptive situations.
The consortium identified a couple of needs and gaps of the CC sector and the opportunity to address them. We noticed that there was a need of a set of courses to address CC sector specifically and build their entrepreneurial competences, giving them structure and making their projects more sustainable. We noticed that creativity helped entrepreneurs overcome the challenges faced due to the pandemic context and decided to create a set of ecourses that could further be used by any entrepreneurs to develop their creative skills and thus become more resilient, thus incresing the capacity to valorise the innovative power of creative actions in other sectors of economy, society, community allowing to measure the non economic impact of cultural actions. We also addressed the digital skills both for new productions and marketing of the cultural products, as well as consumptions from the side of the audiences. By having an KA2 partnership project we could offer the opportunity for internationalization and mobility of professionals from the sectors and cultural products in order to develop European cooperation or access new markets. Another important focus was addressing the need for wellbeing in a post pandemic world and thus focused the activities on working smarter and more efficient and integrating innovative practices in day to day activity to be able to create the much needed work life balance. The project added flexibility and structure, with an overarching digital umbrella, supporting the individuals to make better decisions about their businesses or ideas, thus supporting the EC efforts made during the last decade, when CCS have gained increased attention in European Union policymaking. The 2018 European Agenda for Culture and the Creative Europe Programme aim to help CCS thrive in an international and digital environment. Thus, the partnership was built on the 3 pillars - culture and creativity, entrepreneurship, and digitalization.” We saw an increased interest into developing creative industry through entrepreneurship, as one of the policy recommendations is to ensure the CCS are adequately included in all programmes for entrepreneurship (future COSME programme, Horizon Europe). The project was carried out TRANSNATIONALLY, and enhanced the spirit of a European-wide community of creatives and noncreatives, striving towards a multicultural, innovative, creative ecosystem that delivers on the overall goal of a resilient, innovative, competitive, and inclusive society.