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 policymakers 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 the well-being 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.
Erasmus+ project “Making Space 365: Maximising the Potential of Young People through Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship in the Community” 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.
Erasmus+ project “Making Space 365” project 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.
Official project webpage: www.makingspace365.eu
The project on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/makingspace365
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us projects@inovacijubiuras.lt
