IETM has launched, in partnership with Eleusis, European Capital of Culture 2021, a call for performing arts professionals to participate in a training week on internationalization.
The week will be run by tutors that will share their knowledge on topics like: intercultural communication, funding and planning, censorship, press and public management.
20-25 places available to do not miss this chance to go international!
The decision has been made: I am going abroad! But does that always mean one has to go on this journey alone and without help? We don´t think so!
As discussed in some chapters of the ICCI Handbook the reasons to go abroad, the so-called triggers can be various. The EU for instance provides several funding programmes that ease the barriers of going abroad. In the following two examples are discussed to explain what advantage such programmes can bring.
When wanting to work in a foreign country it can help immensely to know somebody there. They can help with analysing the market, understanding the culture and giving advice about customer´s behaviors. But how can one get such an Colleague from another country? One good way for example is, to get into a cooperation with them. And even better if this happens within the framework of an funding programme. In that way financial aid is included. The “Support for European Cooperation Projects 2019”-Programme is our first example: Eligible are cooperations in creative- and cultural industries in the EU. Until December 11th 2018 all citizens/organisations based in the EU can apply for this funding. 44.659.800€ are available, whereas around 40% are reserved for small projects. (This programme does not necessarily include a stay abroad.)
More Infos and Application here:
Another interesting Call is the “EMAP/EMARE: European Media Art Platform / European Media Artists in Residence Exchange 2019”-Programme. This is about residencies. Digital artists with an EU Passport can apply for a two-month stay abroad at truly very interesting partner institutions (list of partners is in the link below). Such an opportunity counts twice. On the one hand the funding is an financial aid. On the other hand one get´s to know the local scene, interesting and relevant institutions. All this in the target country, while working directly with stakeholders from the scene. Most probably at least one helpful contact arises from such a stay, but mostly more.
More Infos and Application here: https://call.emare.eu
These two examples are two out of many more. They might not directly apply to your situation, but most likely there is a funding programme that does. This article´s aims is to draw your attention to the possibility of such programmes. For the sake of completeness it has to be mentioned, that not only the EU offers such funding. In general the cultural offices of the EU countries do too. In Germany for example the Goethe-Institut offers a international cooperation funding that can be applied for from any country, but with an german partner (more info here https://bit.ly/295Pipk). Look out for such opportunities!
Nevertheless, it has to be said, that such applications do take time and effort. You are best advised to call the information contacts suggested on the websites or talk to experienced colleagues. It does take practice to understand the funding structures. But once you do, it can be a fruitful source for your entrepreneurial projects.
Best of luck for your future funding applications from the ICCI-Team!
3D Druckzentrum Ruhr in cooperation with University of Fine Arts Essen organizes two
FutureLab Workshops in the creative quarter of Essen City, Germany. International Tutors, who
created Innovations, share their new knowledge in the field of Creation and Technology.
The Participants can foster their own creative abilities in art and creation and make new
contacts with other working professionals.
There are two different classes consisting of an international group of working professionals in creative cultural industries (CCI), art and design. The results are presented and discussed in a final event, after completion of the FutureLab period.
They are looking for professionals in VR, AR, and XR, who want to further their skills in a small group of peers from around the world. For this academy, they provide travel and accomodation in part or in full.
Join them now -> https://futurelab.ruhr
Download -> Call for Artists
The training week in Matera saw the participation of cultural and creative entrepreneur from countries that were not in the partnership of the project.
This is the case of Milan Vracar that decided to come all the way to Matera from Novi Sad in order to take part in the training and build possible cooperation for his work at Kulturanova, actively involved in the future program of the city as European Capital of Culture in 2021.
In Matera, Milan took contact with Sabina Baciu, creative entrepreneurs from Romania, and her Nod Maker Space. During the week they found common interest and a project to work on together.
It is the “Mater Library and 100 Romanian design objects” Sabina is working on and that will soon see a contribution by Milan.
The cooperation in the words of Sabina:“After ICCI training in Matera I developed a partnership with one of the international participants (Milan Vracar) and we are in contact for the project ”100 Romanian design objects” that I am coordinating. Specifically, I will itinerate the exhibition in Novi Sad, Serbia – and I am very happy I had the chance to meet an interesting partner in Matera.”
But Sabina did not just started a cooperation with one of the participants, she is now also part of another European project developed with one of ICCI partners, Power Net!
“Also I started a collaboration with Power Net and we are now partners in an Erasmus+ project on the topic of urban art.”
On September 27th, a sunny and warm day the ICCI Barcamp in Germany took place. The location was a building at „Halfmannshof“, an old artists settlement.
The participants, on the contrary, were mostly young entrpreneurs. None of them had worked abroad but all of them wished to do so.
The barcamp began with a casual getting to know each other in the sun. By the time all 20 participants arrived, the location changed to indoors and the presentation began.
The day was structured in 3 parts. The first part covered the presentation of the ICCI programme. The second part was a practical one about the ICCI platform – there was a walkthrough on how to register and how to navigate the platform. The third part was the training with several of the tasks from the ICCI handbook.
While the first part people seemed to be really interested into the idea of ICCI. During the second part most of them directly followed the walkthrough and registered on the platform. As an ending for these two theoretical parts the self-assessment tool about one´s confidence with the topic was filled in by the participants.
After the break, the last part of the day began with an video-greeting from Brune Charvin an participant from the initial training in Matera, Italy. She explained what exercise helped her getting started with concrete plans for her internationalisation. For her, so she said, formulating a Mission Statement made everything else fall into place.
This video was not only meant as a teaser, but as well as an structure for the following topics. In order to think of an Mission Statement, two other exercises were made beforehand. First was an exercise about one’s own goal system. This exercise was about prioritising ideally, as well as economic goals. Second was the positioning-exercise. The participants were asked to position themselves in a matrix between high or low customer-orientation and on the other axis between Applied Arts or fine Arts. The aim here was to take a look at one´s work and position from a customer’s or partner´s point of view.
With this new input about aims and positions the last exercise was formulating a Mission Statement. As an inspiration Brune Charvins Mission Statement was projected.
This part turned out to be quite intense and was followed by a lot of talks and discussions from all participants.
After another short break the barcamp entered its actual barcamp-phase. The participants could choose which topic they want to dive into next: Barriers, S.M.A.R.T. Goal Specification, SWOT Analysis or choosing possible countries. Their choice was the S.M.A.R.T. Goal Specification. For this the worksheets from the ICCI Handbook were distributed.
While talking about the outcome, the discussion shifted to the question „at what point does the actual creative work suffer from rearranging one´s capacity to do all the organisational work?“ While exchanging views and ideas on this question two possible summaries of what has to be fulfilled before going abroad were shown in the presentation. And with this input the official part of the Barcamp ended. The feedback was quite positive and the participants showed a lot of interest in taking these new thoughts from the day further.
The evening ended with everyone chatting, eating Pizza. Even then the main topic of conversations was „internationalisation“.
Milica Jojevic – Scenographer and Online Marketing Manager
End of January, beginning of February 2018 I was fortunate enough to attend the first ICCI-Training in beautiful Matera, Italy. I have been one of two trainers talking about the international marketing plan for creative entrepreneurs. At the same time I was and am a creative entrepreneur myself. Therefore meeting all these great people from 9 different countries, with different roles in the CCI, was interesting to me in two ways. On the one hand talking about the importance of marketing and what power it can have for oneself, brought me joy. I strongly believe, that all the great work done in CCIs should be recognized more for its greatness. In order for that to happen it is necessary not only to promote ones work, but as well to know where to do so and under what circumstances. On the other hand, as an scenographer it was a great and inspiring opportunity to meet so many kindred spirits.
While I held contact with a few participants, one contact turned out to be of another quality. After I returned to Germany it did not take too long and an E-Mail arrived. It was Brune Charvin. Brune is a Videographer and Photographer. In her Mail she asked me, along with others, for an opinion about one of her applications. I was very happy to answer and honored she even asked.
A few months later it was my turn to ask her for help. I was trying to find a structure for the ICCI Barcamp in Germany. Since the time for the event was limited and a lot of the content was theoretical, I decided to add something a bit more vivid to it. I had the idea of a short video clip where someone from the Matera participants is greeting the German participants from abroad and telling them their Mission Statement. That someone was of course Brune. At least I wanted it to be her. In Matera everyone had a little emotional moment when she read her Statement out loud – the perfect example I thought.
I wrote a short message to Brune. The answer was “Sure” and soon after I had the video. Being her wonderful, positive self Brune really did give an insight into her own process of finding not only the Mission Statement but professionalising for the internationalisation. Have a look for yourselves:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YvlB9senbMQhdfUulTQr_6Kicp3SprIH/view?usp=sharing
Even though it’s not actually an artistic or professional cooperation, it is one between those kindred spirits mentioned above, which I think is just as precious!
Have you heard about Creative Europe programme? Lots of artists have had possibilities to fulfill their dreams and ideas with the help of Creative Europe. An applications are open just now!
The main objectives of the support for European cooperation projects are:
– To strengthen the capacity of the European cultural and creative sectors to operate transnationally and internationally and to promote the transnational circulation of cultural and creative works and transnational mobility of cultural and creative players, in particular artists;
– To contribute to audience development by engaging in new and innovative ways with audiences and improve access to cultural and creative works in the Union and beyond with a particular focus on children, young people, people with disabilities and underrepresented groups;
– To contribute to innovation and creativity in the field of culture, for instance through testing of new business models and promoting innovative spillovers on other sectors.
The deadline for Call for proposals EACEA 34/2018 ‘Support for European cooperation projects 2019’ (Category 1 – Smaller scale cooperation projects up to euro 200000) and Category 2 – Larger scale cooperation projects up 2 000 000 euro) is Dec 11th 2018!
Sounds like a plan?
The Barcamp offered by FYG Consultores in Spain took place in July 5 th , 2018. During the event, assistants were offered the possibility to get a deeper look at the different parts of the ICCI project.
The event began with an introduction on the current situation of the CCIs (Creative and Cultural Industries). Through this explanation, FyG was able to examine how each of the products created by ICCI project aims to help the main target group. After this, the platform created by the project was presented, including also the different modules produced by partners, which are available in that same platform.
Finally, the event manager made a presentation on the training activity carried out by the project in Matera (Italy), explaining how participants were able to cooperate and learn together in a transnational vision.
Participants in the event were especially surprised with the great response that the CCI community had in participating in the training event.
To conclude, the Barcamp was an excellent dissemination event and allowed the project to open to new, potential participants and users.
Elvira Rilova- Acelerador de artistas
In January 2018 we were invited to participate as a Spanish Cultural Industry in the meeting for cultural internationalization organized by the EU through its Creative Europe program in the beautiful Italian city of Matera, the European Capital of Culture in 2019. In Matera I had the opportunity to meet a large number of artists and managers all disciplines from 9 countries in Europe. Many of these interesting projects were developed in peripheral cities, far from the big centers of power. I was especially struck by those projects related to the Visual Arts, which is my field of action. Although my platform is located in Madrid and we also operate in Mexico, one of our main projects is developed in a small provincial city.
I know how complicated it is to work with avant-garde Contemporary Art in a city that is not used to it: local artists are usually off national circuits, the few museums and institutions struggle to bring rented exhibitions from great contemporary artists, and only one self-managed cultural center bets on the work of emerging artists. Thai is why I created the Artist Book Fair of Castilla and León, an initiative that I have been running since 2015 and that aims to gather in the city of Burgos the most interesting panorama of the artist’s book and the edition. What always leads me to ask myself, How can local talent be involved? How can we convince the institutions of the city that our work is necessary to sow interest in art? How can we get the public to normalize and enjoy contemporary art?
In Matera I had the opportunity to meet a young curator and cultural manager, Giovanna Maroccolo, with whom I shared these concerns, as she develops a self-managed project in Padova, a small provincial town in northeastern Italy. Giovanna invited me to give a joint curatorial workshop in her space during the month of May, a proposal that I happily accepted because I was very interested in learning about the situation of cultural management in Italy in small cities.
Giovanna Maroccolo has managed to set up a multidisciplinary cultural center, managed with two other cultural associations dedicated to the field of performing arts, in a city with a great historical and artistic load and a large university environment, but that does not have a great movement in contemporary art. Giovanna has taken advantage of the proximity of the almighty Venice and in particular, one of the institutions that support young contemporary creation , the Massa Bevilacqua Foundation in order to create an alliance with its cultural center. Giovanna´s cultural Center, Neo, has become a satellite space of the exhibition that every year the Foundation dedicate to their young scholars. During my stay in Padua I was able to learn about the strategy followed by Neo, led by Giovanna Maroccolo, to become a satellite of the Massa Bevilacqua Foundation.
Thanks to the kind invitation of Neo I was able to meet a large group of artists from the Veneto Region, their concerns and aspirations. Giovanna Maroccolo offered me the opportunity to learn the reality of cultural management in Padova, which is very close to ours, and thanks to this new training program that she proposes, we have approached positions and created new lines of collaboration. In 2019 we want to carry out a joint curating project so that a group of young Italian creators can exhibit in Madrid and the same way back in Padova. We also have invited Giovanna Maraccolo to run a curatorship for the Artist Book Fair of Castilla and León. We want to show her our strategies to develop a cultural projects in a small city of the North of Spain. But is not only about work, ICCI made possible a great friendship that we will continue to celebrate in the future.
This was not the only collaboration that came up from the ICCI Meeting, I was invited to make a curatorship of videoart for the IV El Escorial Meeting of Videoart. Artists and collegues that I knew in Matera (Ole-Kristian Hayes, Coral Pereda, Brune Charvin and a selection of videos curated by Milan Vracar) are showing a selection of videos under my coordination.
https://www.takeawayprocesscontemporaryart.com/microproject-25-iv-jva-el-escorial
We asked our partners what they are “bringing home” after two years of ICCI project. The view of partners is covering the role of intermediaries, the program cities can implement as platform for Creative Industries, the view of experts of internationalisation on the specific challenges of Creative Industries, the focus from Cluster and supporting organizations working on capacity building program for the sector.
Enjoy!