<< Background >>FILM-SKILLS is a project that brings together Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian partners – three film schools and two film industry organisations - with the aim of developing occupational qualifications’ standards for film occupations as a recognition interface between the labour market, higher education institutions, and other forms of training. The export of film production services is on the rise, and so is the need for specialists of technical and coordinating positions. However, communication from the film industry has indicated that it may be difficult to fill certain crew positions with competent people. Film producers have expressed that occupational standards would help to understand skills gaps, competencies, and job descriptions of film workers and overcome existing disparities. FILM-SKILLS aims to align the needs of the film industry with the applied and academic approaches of higher film education. The skills acquired in higher learning should match the expectations of the labor market, and conversely, film sector participants should have access to additional training and skills’ validation.<< Objectives >>The qualifications system would allow film students and -workers to enhance their labour market compliance as they acquire new competencies and can prove their skills. Also, certification of skills would facilitate film workers’ transnational exchange if the certification is mutually recognized. The occupational qualifications system will be inclusive and open, taking to account previous work experience and training when assessing a persons’ qualification. FILM-SKILLS creates preconditions to offering courses and training to film sector participants, enrolled and non-enrolled, that lead to occupational certification. This is especially important in the fast-transforming film sector, the participants of which have to continuously familiarize themselves with new technologies and production norms.The project will help to organize the national film industries and create conditions for lifelong learning in the field. The project has the potential to enhance the partner countries’ image as strong „film countries“.<< Implementation >>The occupational qualifications system will be based on the model used by the Estonian Qualifications Authority (EQA) and ESCO (European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations) classification.The project partners adapt the existing guidelines to create a qualification standards’ system for the film sector in the Baltic region with the potential of extending the network internationally.<< Results >>Occupational standards for 18 film positions will be developed in cooperation of educators and acting film industry professionals. As such, skills’ mismatches and gaps will be assessed, with the possibility to regulate the gaps by creating the occupational standards that will be used and mutually recognized by the educators, film producers, and film workers alike.During the project, the principles of offering preparatory courses to the qualification certification will be developed, as well as examination guidelines.Course descriptions will be prepared and introductory materials compiled for the selected occupations. A website will be launched that displays the project results in an attractive manner, targeting film professionals and the general public. Project results – guidelines to creating qualification standards and the 18 developed occupational standard – will be openly available to be used by any organisation or person.

The objective of the project is to create new knowledge on the factors and expressions of young people’s (13-25 y.o.) participation, its authenticity in formal and non-formal education settings, as well as in extracurricular activities; develop strategies and practical solutions for the promotion of authentic and meaningful participation both on individual level and in the interaction of involved stakeholders; make an epistemological and practical contribution to the development of a youth-centred participatory approach. A methodology in which the boundary between researchers, educators and young people is made permeable has been chosen: design-based implementation research, participatory action research, and participatory evaluation research. Visual methods, including digital storytelling and photovoice, will be used to explore young people's experiences. The research project will be implemented by the Latvian Academy of Culture and its interdisciplinary researchers’ team experienced in research on democratic and participatory processes, as well as on the youth sector. Testing and validating new forms of civic participation will contribute to an open and democratic learning environment. Apart from scientific publications, a range of applied results are planned aimed at recommendations for youth and education policy makers. The impact of the project is planned on the field of education sciences, as well as youth sociology, and their research community in Latvia un abroad.

"The lack of effective solutions in access to culture and culture-forming activities by people with disabilities is undoubtedly a problem in modern Europe. There are countries where people with disabilities are still not full citizens due to the lack of solutions enabling active participation in social/ cultural life.In our opinion, the task of the ""Audio description and subtitles against exclusion"" project is to ensure that every resident of countries participating in the project has such right to equality, non-discrimination and active participation in cultural activities that are so important for proper functioning in society. In our opinion, audio description and subtitles for the deaf should be the standard in the functioning of all European cultural institutions. The research carried out by the Centrum Kultury Wroclaw-Zachod shows that despite a clear increase in proposals addressed also to people with disabilities, their number is insufficient. The reason for this is, among others, the lack of qualified staff who would take care of adapting the current offer to the needs of people with sight and hearing impairments. It is known from the survey and environmental interview that program employees of Wroclaw cultural institutions and Lower Silesian centres working with people with disabilities know what audio description and subtitles are. At the same time, they lack the competence and skills to implement these methods in the life of their institutions.The level of culture availability and adaptation of the offer to the needs of people excluded from it is different in different European countries. Western European countries (richer) are characterized by greater program diversity addressed to people with disabilities. Poor countries - Eastern Europe does not apply the principle of availability at all or it is minimal. Our action is a response to the requests and needs of people with disabilities who want to actively participate in society on equal terms. We will implement the ""Audio description and subtitles against exclusion"" project with institutions from Lithuania, Cyprus, Romania and Latvia. Institutions from countries where activities related to the adaptation of the cultural offer to the needs of people with sight and hearing impairments are practically absent.The main goal is to improve the qualifications and skills of the culture employees in creating audio description and subtitles for the hearing impaired, but at the same time adjusting the program offer (by preparing audio description and subtitles) to the reception by the blind and deaf. Workshops on creating audio description for films, performances, visual arts and subtitling will be organized.The implementation of the main goal will consist of a series of intermediate goals;- learning about the environment and the needs of the blind and deaf people. The workshops will also be conducted by blind people and will contain solutions from other countries, e.g. the ""didu"" method from Spain,- acquiring the ability to create programs integrating all groups of participants,- implementing audio description for the blind and subtitles for deaf to their own activities, - improving professional and non-professional skills.The target group are employees of partner institutions. International cooperation will allow the exchange of experiences and good practices, as well as a discussion on the level of culture accessibility in EU countries. The project involves the implementation of four 5-day workshops and study visits1. Audio description in theatre performances (Romania)2. Audio description in visual arts (Lithuania)3. Audio description in film (Latvia)4. Subtitling for films for hearing impaired, theatre performances and television programs (Cyprus)5. Conferences - events disseminating intellectual results6. Study visits The project will open with a study visit in Poland. 25 people will take part in the workshop, 5 people from each partner. They will be employees of cultural institutions, artists. Participation in trainings will enable participants to acquire new competences and skills, and will also allow them to broaden and acquire additional skills, change their professional qualifications and thus expand the cultural offer of their native institution. The knowledge from the workshop will allow the implementation of various artistic events in a comprehensive manner, providing recipients with sight and hearing disabilities on an international level. Extending the current offer with suggestions addressed also to the blind and deaf people will have a positive impact on the audience development and will minimize the effect of exclusion from the society of people with disabilities. The intellectual result will be a textbook containing theory and practical advices on how to create audio description and subtitles for the hearing impaired."

The IN SITU project combines research and experimental actions to advance the innovation-related practices, capacities, and potential of CCIs based in non-urban areas of the EU, a constituency of the CCI sector that has grown in visibility and significance over the last decade in Europe and internationally but which is still vulnerable due to the lagging attention of research and policy to its needs, characteristics, and potentials. The project aims to advance understanding of the forms, processes, and governance of innovation involving cultural and creative industries (CCIs) located in non-urban areas of Europe and to advance the ability of non-urban CCIs to act as drivers of innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability for the locales in which they are located. IN SITU brings together leading approaches to investigating economic evolution and diversification, a challenge-oriented approach to processes of innovation, non-urban place-based planning and development, and creative industries entrepreneurship to investigate the situation of CCIs in non-urban areas. The project couples this with a pragmatic capacity-building programme to enable CCIs to address some of the key issues of their communities/region and of our time. The core defining aspect of IN SITU is the interlinking of research and practice through place-based IN SITU Labs, hubs for projects in 6 non-urban regions across Europe, located in Portugal, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Latvia, and Croatia. Involving both Europe-wide research and place-based experimentation, IN SITU will provide an in-depth knowledge of the direct and indirect effects, cross-sectoral connections and spillovers, innovative strategies and systems, and needs of CCI practitioners in non-urban areas. Complementary to this, the project will assess and advance the multi-level innovation and culture policy and planning frameworks that contextualize and can enable this work.

Tracks4Crafts examines and transforms the transmission of traditional crafts knowledge (TCK) to enhance the societal and economic valuation of crafts and align them with a future-oriented heritage approach in Europe. As intangible cultural heritage (ICH), crafts and TCK can be seen as resources for competitiveness, innovation, and sustainable development and quality of life, contributing to SDG 4, 8 and 11. Yet the tools, formats and instruments needed to foster the transmission and employment of TCK are lagging behind, which hampers the full development of its potential. Our objectives are to enhance and transform the transmission of TCK for a more effective economic as well as societal valuation of crafts. This is achieved in 4 Tracks, in which we (1) transform learning processes in physical spaces in which crafts people collaborate (in hi-tech environments, including fablabs and maker spaces etc.), (2) develop new digital technologies that enhance and transform transmission of TCK, (3) produce tools and instruments which enable capturing and optimising the value of the produced TCK (business modelling, certification and property protection), and (4) create networks to foster and disseminate the societal and economic value of TCK (e.g. through the CHARTER-alliance). The output is based on experiments in 8 craft ecosystems in which we develop and test formats for learning and tools for certification and validation in which (1) the economic and cultural barriers related to traditional TCK-transmission are addressed (i.a. the lengthy nature of learning, the fear of the craft getting lost…) and (2) the full potential of technology is tapped (i.a. for turning embodied TCK in open-source knowledge). To ensure that the solutions bridge the heritage perspective and the economic and societal needs and that our solutions are shared and transferable, our approach is deeply interdisciplinary and based on processes of multi-stakeholder co-creation (including action research).