Important
News
If you work
in the
arts
or creative industries?
OR
If you
train, teach
or coach people in artistic and creative
activities in a work-based or community-based
setting?
OR
If you use arts and creative
activities as a
catalyst to engage
or re-engage people into society for
example refugee communities, disabled people, young
people etc?
You are not alone! In fact you
are working in
one of the most
dynamic sub-sectors of the creative
industries and in a field of practice
which is gaining momentum across the European
Community.
Despite over 30
years of participatory arts practice – the sector has
developed without any recognition or validation by
mainstream regulators and policy makers. And as
arts funding is placed under increasing strictures it is
important that the strongest possible case can be made
for this work – in a way that will attract mainstream
funding and support. This will help organisations
to explain and demonstrate the quality of their work and
to present a stronger case so that resources can be
accessed to engage or re-engage people in learning, work
and society.
The skills, experience and
know-how of our practice is used every day by our
workforce. This practice is highly valuable and
highly relevant to tackling today’s social and political
challenges. Despite having so much to offer, our
workforce, our work and the people that we nurture and
develop remain invisible. Not adequately
consulted, not valued for the contribution we have made
and not adequately resourced or built into plans for the
future.
A way
ahead Faced with this
challenge of validating the sector in a climate where
public investment is placed under great scrutiny a group
of organisations got together to look for solutions.
This consortium was:
Together this consortium secured
funding from European Commission for the project
EURO-ASPIRE. The
vision outlined in the bid was to develop a framework to
recognise and validate the skills and expertise of
people working in arts-led informal learning.
The framework has been developed and
is being piloted in different European
countries. What has emerged from the review of the
partners was that we share many of the same practices,
we work with similar participants, learners, trainees,
and our trainer profiles are very similar. In
short we face the same fundamental issues. But
excitingly there is a body of practice that is working
in different European countries. So we are a
European sector and that means we have a critical mass
of organisations, staff and learners.
Where do we go
from here?This is where you come
in! We want you to join with us by carrying out any
or all of the following:
- trying out the framework to profile the quality,
knowledge and expertise of the staff in your
organisation;
- engaging in joint projects including trainer
exchanges, increased mobility within organisations and
other staff development opportunities within our
sector;
- demonstrating the contribution, value and
potential of our sector to relevant and appropriate
commissioners of public or private services across
Europe.
- identifying and addressing the needs of the
sector.
Please complete our short
survey
to register your details, we appreciate your
contribution.
