<< Background >>he Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) are among Europe’s most dynamic sectors. According to Eurostat, the CCS employ 8.7 million people in the EU, equivalent to 3.8% of the total workforce in the EU, representing 1.2 million enterprises. However, the CCS are facing a growing number of challenges such as globalisation, the twin green and digital transitions and decreasing funding opportunities. Moreover, the CCS are one of the hardest hit by COVID-19 that reshaped the way CCS professionals work. This situation might have severe long-term effects such as changes in cultural demand and engagement or risks of exacerbation of inequalities within the sector. The new challenges and trends have also revealed the unpreparedness of the cultural and creative professionals to adapt to a very dynamic, uncertain and rapidly changing sector and call for a shift in skill sets to reap the full potential of CCS. The partnership has carried out an online Stakeholder Consultation to map out the needs of cultural professionals. Its findings underpin the European tendencies and our partnership’s observations in their national context: out of 126 respondents 63% said that thinking ahead to the next ten years (2021-2031) the needed skills for professionals in the CCS will change to a considerable extent, 30% said that they will fundamentally change, 7% said that they will remain more or less the same, and 0% said that it will remain the same. In this context, ensuring a better match between the supply of skills and the demands of the labour market is crucial. If left unaddressed, the CCS will be at risk of skills shortage, mismatches and gaps concerning both emerging sub-sectors as well as very mature ones that undergo the twin transitions. Most training opportunities for CCS professionals in Europe are rather centred in discipline-based knowledge in arts, and students are not always ready to enter the modern labour market as they lack important skills. Consequently, management activities of cultural projects fail to adapt to change and often result in non-strategic, ad hoc efforts lacking clearly defined objectives and targets. Due to a lack of management know-how in the sector and lack of staff with the right mix of skills in the CCS, it remains difficult for a large number of organisations to adapt to new challenges such as the twin transitions and to scale up their cultural and artistic activities. These new challenges keep rising in the CCS, but the capacities of Cultural Managers to respond keep shrinking. In this context, VET trainers must step up and prevent the skills shortage of learners. The partnership of Pro Progressione, KEA European Affairs, The Green Room and the Central European University aims to respond to growing need for relevant training opportunities in Cultural Management that better take into account the new evolutions and challenges that are shaping the Cultural and Creative Sectors, and thus that better matches the new skills needs. We have mapped out the new skills needs and have identified three areas where there is a lack of know-how in the field of Cultural Management: skills in professionalized project management, change management and green transition management. The C’man project has been designed to respond to the upskilling needs of Cultural Managers experienced by partners in their country and in Europe.<< Objectives >>The C’man project has five main objectives that are in alignment with European trends and needs of the Cultural and Creative Sectors, as well as with the Erasmus+ programme priorities such as the Adaptation of VET to labour market and the fight against climate change. 1) ADAPT VET IN THE FIELD OF CULTURAL MANAGEMENT TO THE NEW NEEDS OF CCS by designing five new targeted materials (3 Guides, 1 toolbox and 1 training scheme) which meets the specific upskilling needs of the sector; 2) BRIDGE A GAP OF KNOW-HOW IN THE CCS by developing project, change and green transition management skills of Cultural Managers based on the specifics of the sector; 3) BOOST THE COMPETITIVENESS AND RESILIENCE OF CCS by ensuring a better match between the supply of skills and the new demands of the labour market through new VET opportunities and materials in Cultural Management; 4) REINFORCE CCS ROLE IN THE FIGHT OF CLIMATE CHANGE by developing green skills for Cultural Managers to deliver eco-friendly cultural projects; 5) ENABLE MORE CULTURAL ORGANISATIONS TO SCALE UP AND INTERNATIONALIZE THEIR CULTURAL PROJECTS by supplying Cultural Managers with the right mix of skills.<< Implementation >>There are several types of project activities such as Transnational Project Meetings, Learning Teaching Training activities, work with the Stakeholder Forum, Production of Results and Multiplier Events. They are all designed to effectively achieve the project objectives and ensure smooth delivery of high-quality Results. Transnational Project Meetings provide meeting points for partners in the project timeline, as well as key milestones in the development of our Results. Transnational Project Meetings will play a crucial in the planning and co-creation process of Results, as well as their evaluation and final production process. The Production of Results can be divided into three main phases: 1. research and knowledge exchange 2. development 3. testing, evaluation and finalization. Each Result is designed to be used as an independent resource. However, they also work together: partners build on the content of other Results and the end users will find complementary knowledge and skills development in all five. While Result 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 (the three C’man Guides and the C’man Toolbox) is aimed mostly at Cultural Managers, but also at VET trainers in Cultural Management, the Result 5 (C’man Training scheme) is mostly aimed at VET trainers in Cultural Management. The final Results is expected to bring long-lasting effects on our target groups, contributing to achieve our project objectives. Learning teaching training activities also serve as milestones in the development of our Results. There will be three Job shadowing & Knowledge exchange workshops at Pro Progressione, KEA and The Green and one Pilot training taking place at the premises of Central European University. These activities are essential to kick-start the knowledge exchange and cooperation among partners in the first period of the project, as well as to test the developed Results before final launch during the pilot training. These will support the partnership in developing high-relevance Results that correspond to academic standards and to the identified new skills needs of Cultural Managers. National Multiplier Events will be held in Hungary, Austria, Belgium and France and will be completed by a large-scale virtual event with +90 attendees. The main goal of these events is to ensure that our Results are promoted, and that stakeholders actively understand their value and are motivated to introduce them in their own organisations and networks. These events will contribute to the achievements of project objectives by transferring knowledge with the aim to enable wider stakeholders to use and take up results, and thus these events will support us in ensuring Results are translated into impact. At the beginning of the project, each participating organisation will invite 2 Cultural Managers from their country to form the Stakeholder Forum. There will be 8 pax in total representing 8 different cultural organisations in 4 different countries. The purpose of this Forum will be to allow representatives of our target group to freely discuss, criticise and evaluate our work throughout the whole project. By directly working with our target group not just in the launch phase but in the development phase as well, we largely contribute to the achievement of project objectives, as it will help the partnership mould the Project Results into resources that authentically respond to their real-life needs and interests of our target group, as well as to ensure that our final resources reflect national context.<< Results >>The C’man project has been carefully designed to produce a series of results that will upskill Cultural Managers and allow VET trainers in Cultural Management to adapt to the new labour market needs of the CCS. During the project, we will work closely as partners and with the target group to generate quality results that are of high relevance. The C’man project will produce five new materials in Cultural Management: three C’man Cultural Management Guides in PM² Management, Green Transition Management and Change Management, which purpose is to empower Cultural Managers with green skills, professionalized project management skills and skills to manage change and transitions; one C’man Cultural Management Toolbox, which purpose is to complement the C’man Guides with a set of tools and artefacts; one C’man Cultural Management Training Scheme, which purpose is to transform the C’man Guides and Toolbox into a training scheme relevant for the labour market, that VET providers can easily adapt. The project will generate the following quantifiable results: at least 8 cultural organisations from the Stakeholder Forum will follow and support the development process of Project Results and directly benefit from them, at least 150 Cultural Managers and staff will download the Guides and the Toolbox, adapting their skills to new challenges and trends that are shaping the CCS and at least 40 VET trainers in Cultural Management will use the C’man materials and the Training scheme to adapt their teaching practice to new labour market needs. We also expect several important long-term outcomes such as the change of perception concerning VET in Cultural Management in Europe by adapting to the new skills needs, the professionalization of Cultural Managers in the field of project management, the pro-active integration of the European Green Deal principles into cultural and creative projects, the know-how of Cultural Managers to rapidly and effectively adapt to change and transitions, an increased resilience and boosted competitiveness of CCS, a strong uptake of Results in partner countries and beyond and lowered disparities in CCS among partner countries in the accessibility and quality of Cultural Management training. The project will also generate useful results for partner organisations such as more modern and dynamic professional environment inside the participating organisations by integrating Results into their regular work, competitive advantage in consulting and training for skills development, increased capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level, improved Cultural Management competences and internationalisation strategies, reinforced cooperation of CCS with VET sector, expanded network and consolidated position as “eco-friendly” organisations able to contribute to European Green Deal.

ILUCIDARE is a three and a half year project to promote and leverage heritage-led innovation and international relations through the creation and activation of an international community of heritage practitioners in Europe and beyond, while strongly contributing to the overall objectives of the communication Towards an EU strategy for international cultural relations (JOIN/2016/029) and EU international cooperation in research and innovation (COM(2012)497). ILUCIDARE refers to both “elucidare”, aiming to provide a common definition of CH-led innovation and international relations, and “lucidare”, aiming to raise awareness, provide assistance, leverage and upscale CH-led innovation and international relations on a global scale. ILUCIDARE opts to tie its activities to strong established networks rather than just creating a new isolated project with little or no impact. The project will enable the exchanges of best practices, knowledge transfer, skills development and cross-fertilisation within its global network through an extensive use of digital engagement strategies and tools as well as participatory activities including focus groups and co-creation ateliers, 3 high-level international conferences – aka Playgrounds, 5 international competitions (including 4 ILUCIDARE special EU Prizes for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra awards), online training by means of a Youtube Learning Channel with community manager, 2 academic training courses, and onsite capacity buildings in 11 capacity buildings in 10 countries in Europe, the Western Balkans, South America, Middle East and Africa. The strong international component of ILUCIDARE activities will allow to foster intercultural dialogue and effectively improve EU external relations through cultural heritage diplomacy. Based on continuous exchanges facilitated by a special appointed Community Manager, ILUCIDARE will act as an hub for heritage-led innovative solutions and will support spill-overs and sustainable development collaborations to better preserve and promote heritage, especially where it is at risk.

Thirty years ago, the internet, social media and smartphones had not been invented. Yet a generation later, almost every facet of our individual, public and -now- online life are dominated by the fast-pacing digital transformation. Last year we saw the privacy and data of millions of social media users compromised with little to no accountability for those responsible, national elections influenced by users in different states, news outlets struggling to convince readers of facts, and the European Union taking proactive measure to protect the data privacy of its citizens in its first transnational regulatory action. Yet, the digital literacies and capabilities necessary for citizens to thrive in a digital society and act as responsible and effective participants, are unequally distributed across the European cultural, economic and social strata, with the public sphere consequently rapidly dissolving. ARTSFORMATION will respond through research, innovation and applied artistic practice to these societal challenges, by equitably developing the capacity of artists and citizens alike -including those from geographically remote, socio-economically excluded minority, refugee and migrant backgrounds- to respond cohesively in making their communities and groups resilient and adaptive in the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Creative Industries Cultural Economy pROduction NEtwork (CICERONE) provides policymakers with a unique and innovative perspective from which to understand the cultural and creative industries (CCIs). Previous analyses have mapped the location and distribution of the CCIs; CICERONE innovates by exploring the flows of products and ideas that generate the economic and cultural values in and of places, and which also account for the disparities between them. Moreover, CICERONE explores the evolving relationships between cultural and the economy. Place is central to this project; place as co-produced by networks: jobs, ideas, cultures and economies all come together in unique combinations in places, this is what makes them ‘unique’. The variations in local capacities to respond to global forces determine the past, present and future of all territories. By using the global production network (GPN) approach we develop a comprehensive understanding of CCIs (in the form of industries, clusters and networks). Furthermore, CICERONE will translate this new research into a stakeholder network, and an observatory, whose designs are reflective of the network approach. These will themselves be part of European capacity building which will serve to strengthen CCIs’ collective representation, empower sustainable co-creation, and spur local cultural resilience, jobs and economic activity. At its core, CICERONE provides an academic analysis harnessed to economic, cultural and social impacts in terms of local capacity building in, and across, places; as well as deepening our understanding of the inequalities and lack of diversity of social characteristic and economic employment opportunities that characterises the CCIs.

MESOC adapts and further develops a method for “transition based” impact assessment derived from a previous Unesco Chair publication, building a structural model of the Societal Dimension of Culture, as defined by one of the strategic objectives of the European Agenda. The model will be used in the project: - To define the perimeter of investigation of the societal value and impacts of cultural policies and practices, thus framing and guiding the collection of academic and institutional literature and the definition of a set of case studies relevant to the three crossover themes of a) Health and Wellbeing, 2) Urban and Territorial Renovation and 3) People’s Engagement and Participation; - As a theoretical lens to propose and validate, using the Delphi method, in collaboration with a large representation of key institutional, academic and professional actors, a long list of impact transmission variables and indicators reflecting the underlying approach (“theory of change”) of the surveyed case studies; - As an evaluative tool to assess the societal value and impacts of cultural policies and practices related to the three crossover themes, both diachronically and synchronically, within 10 European City pilots; - To propose a (tentative) set of statistical data sources (possibly including new ones that are practically and economically feasible) which could complement existing measures of the societal value and impacts of culture by adding its effects on personal well-being and health, citizens involvement and participation, urban identity and social cohesion. The ultimate, expected output of the project is a Free and Open Access, online service (named the MESOC Toolkit) that could be used by both researchers and practitioners (the latter including both policy makers and cultural operators from all over the EU) to measure the societal value and impacts of cultural policies and practices.