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Arts and Culture as Enablers for Growth



The international project “Routes to Employment. Arts and Culture as Enablers for Growth” (R2E) is aimed at increasing the employability and life skills of young artists and creative workers, trained at formal educational institutions or in informal ways, by accompanying them in the critical passage from education to profession.
Performing and visual artists who want to find their places as professionals in the cultural sector need hands-on training. They need tools and skills enabling them to face complexity, intercultural and interdisciplinary open-mindedness and cross-disciplinary competences, and awareness of the contemporary artists’ role in society.

The R2E project offers possible answers to the gaps in arts education and in the start-up of artistic professions, by combining the holistic approach of the ROOTS & ROUTES creative education methodology with the training and advising system for the professionalisation of young artists and cultural workers developed by SMartBe. This lead to developing and delivering two main intellectual outputs:
  • a transnational unified curriculum, a guidebook for artistic and entrepreneurship training targeting individuals and institutions active in arts education;
  • easy to handle guidance sheets giving an overview of the different workers’ statuses available to artists and creative professionals in the project countries.

The curriculum was tested in pilot training activities implemented nationally. Here, the approach to entrepreneurial tools and skills was embedded in a flexible non-formal setting aimed at
  • understanding contemporary arts and culture as a field of organic and interconnected disciplines, skills, sensitivity
  • investigating the artist’s role within socially engaged artistic practices
  • stimulating critical thinking and arousing awareness on personal responsibility towards oneself and the others when defining and pursuing one’s objectives.

Three transnational training events were organised for staff of all partner organisations, to exchange and test methods and practices in different contexts, with topical focus on: e-skills (networking and social media), transnational mobility awareness, contemporary arts and public sphere. Exchange and harmonisation of the national pilot training experiences helped developing the final trans-national unified curriculum.

Two sets of multiplier events were organised in all partner countries, to share and discuss the educational methodology with local stakeholders, to collect input for the curriculum and to disseminate the project’s results and achievements.

Curriculum

One of the two main intellectual outputs of the R2E project is the trans-national unified curriculum: a flexible and varied catalogue of educational building bricks for artistic and entrepreneurship training, available online here.

Info Sheets

The second key result of the R2E project are info sheets detailing the different workers’ statuses available to artists and creative workers in the project partners’ countries. You can find them below for free download.

If you are a young artist planning to go professional in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain or the UK, here’s a quick way to find comprehensive information about social statuses, taxation and social insurance for artists and creative workers in those countries.

The information contained in the info sheets aims at giving an overview of the complex reality of working statuses. Though updates are carried out, readers should be aware that amounts and percentages can be subject to slight variations. In any case of doubt or further question, the national offices of the SMart network, who will provide information in the frame of the possible, can be contacted: http://smart-eu.org

Erasmus+
The R2E project was funded by the EU programme ERASMUS+ as Strategic Partnership in the field of Vocational Education and Training. Project partners are: Stichting ROOTS & ROUTES (coordinator, NL), SMartBe (BE), Centro di Creazione e Cultura (IT), Rock in Faches (FR), Brouhaha International (UK), Rutes i Origens (ES), ROOTS & ROUTES Cologne e. V. (DE), ROOTS & ROUTES International (NL), Albeda College (NL).

The information published here reflects only the authors’ views; the European Commission and the ERASMUS+ national agencies are not responsible for any use that may be made of the informations it contains.

Info Sheets

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