Adamob (Valia) presented the results of the two years project “Creative Training for Europe” to a mixed group of students, young professionals, artists, directors and emerging talents in Amsterdam in two different days. The event was organized within the Erasmus+ dissemination guidelines, to share the results of the project with the local communities. The participants got the opportunity to hear about the Erasmus+, the organization and further details about the project. During this event, information about Erasmus+ were presented, what is it, for whom, what are the benefits and how it works. Although most people already knew Adamob from previous events and projects, some participants were with us for the first time and they had the chance to hear more about the organization and the opportunities it offers to people of all ages. Lastly, participants got to hear about the project, the core pillar projects, the results, the methodologies of the two year-long research, the transnational cooperation, the theoretical background that was used for the creation of the online platform, the online free course and the online community. The concept of entrepreneurship can be a significant opportunity for artists to decrease the unemployment levels and the participants of the event showed a high interest in the course and the ways they may benefit from the project’s results in their real life. The event lasted one hour, as a Q&A session was followed by the presentation and then an engaging discussion about opportunities from a local to a European level.

A similar event was organized the next day in Rotterdam. The same topics were discussed in the same set up, but in another big city, in order to secure the inclusion of different groups within the country. The group of people who joint was also mixed, people who work with adults with disabilities, artists, psychologists, trainers and young creatives. An interesting point coming from this event was that many who have been expressing interest in becoming entrepreneurs, faced difficulties and various challenges in the practical aspects of that path. This is exactly one of the core issues what the project wanted to address as well. Therefore, it was a very rewarding moment for Adamob to share the results with the locals and assist them in this challenging transition. The online course is providing practical materials and tools which people can use to take their first steps. In addition, the online community provides a platform for people to network, interact with the work of others, get inspired and/or collaborate.

Overall, the events were very successful; the attendants and stakeholders expressed the will to be more in involved and to even share the project results in their Christmas newsletter. This is a clear indicator that highlights their interest in the project and its potentials. Several participants also expressed their interest in future events and mobilities, which strengths our work on a local level and the engagement of the local communities.

Adamob ME Leaflet
Adamob ME Presentation

In each group of this event, the project “Creativity Training for Europe” was presented describing its potential and benefits. The work carried out with volunteers and collaborators since the beginning of the project was also presented, with the testimony of two of them.

Attendees learned about the tools that this project provides to creative people, and the opportunities that this entails; being able to personally review any of them during the act.

This also included the presentation of the CT + e-Learning Platform, which they could also try in person during the event.

Likewise, the CT + Creative Training Community was presented, having to attend to the many questions and curiosity of the attendees about it. Support was given to the registration of those attendees who requested it.

They were also approached about other helpful support programs for low-skilled and unemployed creative people that Postal 3 regularly runs. Attendees were also informed of other projects for creative people or those linked to the employment of low-skilled and low-qualified people that Postal 3 is carrying out or will carry out soon.

International projects for creative people, or useful initiatives linked to creativity training, or entrepreneurship in general, were also reported. And two local companies linked to creative activities explained the current requirements in the market, and the opportunities that this represents.

Finally, in all the groups, a debate was organized and developed around the current situation of creative personnel, the existing training needs, their shortcomings, future needs, and the opportunities that currently exist at the European level when developing a creative activity.

The attendees expressed their satisfaction both with the free access tools offered by CT + Project, and with the possibility that initiatives like this continue to be carried out.

In fact, a constant in the six organized groups was that the attendees stressed the need to provide more facilities and opportunities to train creativity, the need to do it specifically, to have high-quality training plans, and the need that these are always duly updated.

From Postal 3, we want to highlight and thank the good disposition of all the attendees, participating in an active and positive way in an environment conditioned by the pandemic, which made everything a little more difficult. Without them this would not have been possible.

The project allows users to rethink a business idea using competencies such as reflection and innovation, which are both key skills that provide great successful. There is no doubt that big ideas have always big doses of creativity! Furthermore, the participants counted on an activity guide which supported them during all the online training. The guide helped them to acquire the knowledge and competencies established in the curriculum.

Other relevant asset of this project is the on-line community where users can share their own experiences, resources and entrepreneurship opportunities. Working myself as a community worker, I believe that “meeting point” results very enriching for the participants.

Finally, its transferability and free availability to any interested user is one of the things I like the most. To share the knowledge in order to improve collectively!

By Mara Moliner

Image S. Hermann & F. Richter en Pixabay

Since the beginning of its development, Creativity Training Project (CT+) was presented as an interesting and solid project which could offer young creatives the possibility to improve their entrepreneur skills and get into a community where they could share their skills and talents.

From the perspective of the external evaluation, objectives of the project should work as powerful tool in the development of the careers of all these participating young creatives by empowering them and offering the possibility to show their talents on a global free accessed platform.

With the cooperation of all partners of the project (Cyprus, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and UK), all the objectives have been successfully achieved. Their efforts have resulted into an online course which from now on will be used by creative people willing to improve their skills in entrepreneurship and be more competent when developing their ideas. Furthermore, the online community will be used not only by young creatives to stay in touch and show their talent but also to create new networks and for all the public looking for any specific work to hire.

The dissemination of project results carried out so far and all the dissemination actions which will be done from now on, are key to get a great impact throughout Europe. The bigger the community grows the better for its members to develop their ideas and get to be successful creative entrepreneurs.

LMC are including the CT+ Curriculum, Methodology and E-learning platform alongside our existing adult education provisions and they are also available to our vocational learners who are looking to improve their creativity and entrepreneurial abilities. The CT+ website and resources are available via the LMC website and there is a link to the CT+ e-learning platform via the LMC internal MOODLE learning space, this is accessible to all LMC staff and students.

Throughout the CT+ project lifetime LMC has also been working alongside several local community organisations who focus on adult education provision. The CT+ open educational resources (OERs) have now been provided to these adult education providers to be utilised by a wider target audience. These adult education providers will embed elements of the CT+ project into their service provision and signpost their adult learners to the project website and e-learning platform. One of the adult educators also plans to provide regular CT+ themed workshops for those who are wanting to investigate potential entrepreneurial opportunities. LMC will continue to share the CT+ project website and OERs with our adult learners and community partners.

Overall, LMC has found CT+ to be an extremely valuable project that has become increasingly more important as many employment opportunities in the post-Covid economy are likely to become freelance, self-employed or require entrepreneurial skills. We feel that it is more vital than ever to support the development of creativity and entrepreneurial competences in as wide an audience as possible. This has been a key theme running through the CT+ project and will continue after the project has been completed.

The event was organised at ‘The Mall of Cyprus’ in Nicosia, Cyprus the main aim of the project is to promote   the development of relevant and high-quality skills and competences such as creativity and innovation linked with entrepreneurship.

During the event the project’s results were presented:

• Project information: Duration, Target Group, Project aims and objectives
• IO1 – European Framework of creativity training in entrepreneurship
• IO2 – European Curriculum of creativity training in entrepreneurship
• IO3 – European Methodology of creativity training in entrepreneurship
• IO4 – e-Learning course of creativity training in entrepreneurship

Moreover, participants were asked to register on the CT+ Community and to ask the trainers questions related to the project or the event.

Our first event took place on the 23rd June and we welcomed a small group of 15 attendees who represented local adult service providers. The event ran from 10.00am until 15.00pm and included a presentation of the project rationale and key objectives followed by presentations and breakout workshops based around each of the project intellectual outputs. Participants were asked to sign in at a reception area and were given a Covid-19 health and safety briefing. Before being welcomed into the hall where the event was taking place.

Our second event took place two weeks later and we felt more confident and capable of inviting a larger number of attendees as a result of the first successful event. This event involved 37 attendees representing some local service providers, employers and a selection of adult learners. The event ran from 09.30am until 15.00pm and followed a similar agenda to the first smaller scale event.

Overall, both events went as well as we could have hoped considering the circumstances and the limits on what we could do during the pandemic. We managed to welcome a total of 52 adult educators, learners and employers over the two events. All participants provided positive feedback on the events, activities and project resources. Many participants were also interested in using the outputs going forwards either as part of their service provision or to increase their employability and entrepreneurial opportunities.

The learners worked through the content and accessed the resources via the e-learning platform. We received positive feedback from both the educator and the learners. They found the content interesting and engaging and thought that the e-learning platform well-presented and easy to use.

We plan to continue to implement the project resources with local stakeholders once the pandemic situation improves but we are also utilising them within the College with our own Adult learners. The college will be setting up an entrepreneurship hub for our staff and learners to be able to access the project resources and to get information, advice and guidance on potential entrepreneurial activities.

This negative influence has brought the following consequences:

• Serious crisis in the market. The confinement and the economic crisis has caused an unprecedented crisis in the consumer market for creative and/or artistic products. This, in turn, has caused a paradigm shift, where now Internet is no longer just a collaborative communication channel, but the market itself; at the same time that it has become an essential work tool at all levels.
• Serious business crisis. Most of the creative and artistic sector is made up of small and medium-sized companies that have been the first victims of the market reduction, and of the impossibility of carrying out their usual activity in the conditions necessary for their activities; defined for a reality prior to the pandemic.
• Impossibility of developing creativity. Creativity, both understood as a concept, and also understood as an inalienable cultural current in today’s Europe, sees two key sources for its development at risk:
• The development of creative competences, and the development of all the associated learning, has stopped as it cannot be carried out in a face-to-face context, for most of the fields and the arts.
• The general culture in Europe, and the creative trends that it can -and should- generate, are now in danger because they are totally conditioned by these previous circumstances. The limitations to personal work, as well as to the development of creative/artistic projects, will imply a strong impact and bias in the existing creative fields, and their contributions in the short and medium term; totally limiting the free circulation of ideas, artistic currents, and new points of view.

Therefore, we need to reflect on the important moment that we are living, not only from a labour and business perspective, but also from a totally creative point of view, faced with a challenge and a danger that can modify our perspective and potential culture in the coming years.

That culture will be the direct consequence of everything we do from now on.