The Partnership for Creative Apprenticeships (P4CA) project seeks to apply new models to support the delivery of Quality and Effective Apprenticeships in the Creative and Cultural Sector, by building the skills of apprenticeship coaches and In-House Company trainers. P4CA will promote the application of the European Framework for Apprenticeships to the CCIs in 6 European countries and develop new training content and joint VET qualifications for apprenticeship coaches and in-company trainers, to integrate work-based learning and apply knowledge in practical workplace situations in the CCIs.In the context of high levels of youth unemployment and youth poverty across Europe, the CCIs have been identified by the European Parliament as playing a key role as a driver for growth in the European economy. They contribute more than any other sector to youth employment and have proved to be most resilient during the post-2008 economic crisis. Whilst the new creative technology and working patterns of the CCIs are attractive to young people, the entry routes are often through personal networks or unpaid internships which exclude young people from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds. Apprenticeships can help increase access and diversity, but take up in the CCIs has been slow. The CCIs comprise a very high proportion of small and micro-businesses (95% of the workforce). Such businesses lack capacity or resources to take on apprenticeships. And VET trainers and training institutions often do not well understand the working patterns of this new dynamic and fast-moving sector. To address these multiple challenges P4CA brings together a partnership of experienced VET providers from 6 countries (UK, Slovakia, Poland, Italy, Hungary and the Republic of North Macedonia), who are based in creative clusters or hubs that bring together in dynamic networks the three target groups that need to collaborate in order to create a successful creative apprenticeship (CCI employers; VET trainers and institutions; and young creatives). Recognising the complex hybrid eco-system of the CCIs and their distinct sub-sectors, PC4A will take a novel approach that is based upon cooperative networks to build the capacity of the sector to host more apprenticeships. P4CA will use a model of Peer Review and Development Groups bringing together the interested parties and connecting them transnationally through peer-to-peer mentoring. It will also embed international mobility experiences in order to transfer and exchange practice between countries. P4CA will promote a ground-breaking transnational European approach to the validation and accreditation of competences acquired through informal and non-formal learning, based upon the EQF-aligned CLOCK YOUR SKILLS framework, recently launched in 2016 and now recognised in 10 EU countries. The development of CLOCK YOUR SKILLS involved some of the P4CA partners over a period of over 10 years. CLOCK (Collective Learning Open Curriculum Kit) is designed to validate real-life work-based experience and is supported by a European network of peer-to-peer mentor and assessors including 20 Sector Experts, thus complementing P4CA’s model of widening its impact through PDR Groups and communities of practice. Specific results of P4CE will be: 36 Apprenticeship Coaches and In-Company Trainers in the CCIs trained to support delivery of effective and quality Apprenticeships and to act as advocates for Apprenticeships with Creative Employers 18 Apprenticeship Coaches have their competences validated and accredited through the international CLOCK YOUR SKILLS informal learning programme 144 learners (young people, CCI employers, VET trainers, advisory experts) participate in PDR Groups 37 apprenticeship trainers and learners have participated in transnational exchange and transfer of practice through blended mobilities and staff training events 180 attenders at 6 dissemination events in 6 countries The primary impact of P4CA will be in training Apprenticeship Coaches to support the promotion and delivery of more Apprenticeships in the Creative and Cultural Industries. They will realise enhanced skills and knowledge, a better understanding and overview of the context and needs of the Creative and Cultural Industries and of how to support young people and employers in developing better and more effective apprenticeships. They will have access to a range of new and innovative learning resources, tools and Self Directed Learning materials tailored to their needs which will enable them to develop their skills and practice, and they will have access to recognition and accreditation of their skills at a European Level. Beyond this P4CA draws upon extensive networks of the partnership and 21 Associated Partners including engagement with policy development to animate and mobilise the impact at regional, national and international levels.

The rich history and heritage of Europe make of culture an invaluable asset for Europe, which together with the talent and qualification of people in 28 countries across Europe makes that art and culture are call to be one of the engines in the economic and business growth of Europe. Training the people who will be moving forward this sector on the necessary entrepreneurial competences to effectively make culture and art a source of economic growth is a priority for Europe, even more taking into account the accredited lack of entrepreneurial competences and abilities of professionals in the artistic and cultural sector who possess abilities which are seen as opposite to those required by a business person. The ArtEnprise project has been conceived to advance in this EU priority and support artists and cultural operators in developing entrepreneurial skills. The project has analysed in depth the competences, abilities and areas of entrepreneurial expertise that artist and cultural operators should have to successfully perform as entrepreneurs. Such analysis has entailed quantitative and qualitative research involving both experts and the final target group, and an exhaustive desk research of similar previous initiatives in every one of the 28 EU countries, and has resulted in the development of a “Framework of Entrepreneurial competences for artist and cultural operators” in which these competences are structured into 3 main levels of experience. This is a valuable tool for artists and cultural operators to measure, assess and become aware of their current entrepreneurial competency levels. Conversely, trainers, educators and experts in entrepreneurship education and coaching can use it to develop tailor-made curricula and learning activities to improve artists and cultural operator’s entrepreneurial spirit. The project has advanced more in the goal of supporting artist, cultural organisations and professionals to develop and improve their entrepreneurial skills and has developed a specific methodology based on the concept of Enterprise Circles to support artists and cultural operators across Europe to start up and develop their business from their artistic and cultural practice. The ArtEnprise methodology is explained in the Enterprise Circles Facilitator Manual, a document addressed to those trainers, employment and entrepreneurship counsellors who want to organise group training and coaching activities to help the artist and cultural operators they work with to acquire the necessary entrepreneurial competences. The ArtEnprise methodology is complemented with a social learning platform https://training.artenprise.eu/en/ which is accessible both by trainers and by artist and cultural operators as “learners” looking to directly improve their entrepreneurial skills. The platform offers free access to training modules specifically designed for artists on the topics which has been identified as key when it comes to start a business in the cultural and artistic sector. Users can also access a European online community where the can meet other artist from different EU countries, exchange views and knowledge, collaborate with and create synergies. With all the different tools developed, the ArtEnprise project has made a valuable contribution to the development of entrepreneurial competences in the arts and cultural sector, which is expected to have a multiplier effect after the end of the project thanks to the extensive network of stakeholders in the field or cultural industries and entrepreneurship which has been established during the project which has served as a catalyst for many other initiatives and projects to be developed by the project partners in the near future contributing to fulfilling the training needs of this sector.

The importance of soft skills within the creative and cultural sector and within the labour market, in general, is a fact that has gained the recognition of the most important research centres, as well as, the most innovative companies in the world.The project aims to produce a methodology able to identify, strengthen and recognize artists’ soft skills and facilitate the connection between artists and the labour market through the certification of creative soft skills. The project is therefore directed to artists of any kind of art (from visual to classical arts) at the early stage of their career and organizations dedicated to training, developing and promoting artists with the objectives of:- Supporting artists in developing new skills that create new job opportunities in non-creative contexts;- Reinforcing their profile in terms of employability of their artistic profile and skills;- Developing an innovative approach to recognize, develop and validate competencies in non-formal learning settings.To achieve these objectives, the first activity will be a research aimed to establish the framework of creative soft skills within the Creative and Cultural Industries.Each skill will be evaluated from an entrepreneurial and an artistic perspective (the artistic fields in which it is implemented, such as directing or conducting for management of leadership; the creation of a piece for creative thinking and problem-solving; the live performances for dealing with uncertainties, etc.).The second activity will be the development of a methodology aimed to guide artists in the identification, exploitation and developing soft skills. The methodology’s innovative quality is the adoption of Jungian archetypes as representations of soft skills. The contents produced throughout the first two phases will be structured in an open source toolkit that aims to make the methodology accessible and replicable. The toolkit represents a theoretical and practical base for the last phase of the Creative Soft Skills process that is the Certification of the artists’ soft skills.The certification methodology provides mentoring, peer review and access to qualifications through a cluster of 1-1’s, in small groups or in larger groups in project-based learning and customised skills acquisition and development. Learners will access dynamic and complex professional contexts at the appropriate level for their competences with access to supervision and mentoring support to reflect on further development needs, newly acquired skills and, effectively applied knowledge and skills across a range of different situations. The training provided during the pilots and the training at a national level will involve learners in delivering projects that integrate the skill-sets and enable the reflection on the skills developed and the collection and mapping of pieces of evidence to demonstrate skill-sets applied in the project at the appropriate level.The project is conceived as an international programme that operates at local and international level connecting learners to professionals within the industry. In this way, it forges an international and interdisciplinary community network that connects local and international employees, freelancers, volunteers, business owners and managers from different sectors and countries to each other. These connections enable detailed conversations about practice and practice-based learning. These conversations are usually multi-disciplinary, transnational and highlight common shared experience and give awareness of broader or newer perspectives among professionals and pre-professionals. The aim is to provide a more socially-inclusive community of experts and to create a level-playing field based on the effective application of skills and knowledge gained in a broad cross-section of pre-professional settings. We aim to encourage and enable access to more pre-professional opportunities for those individuals outside traditional or narrow pathways and insider networks.In the long term, the project aims to disseminate across Europe an innovative tool that could increase job opportunities for artists, reinforce the organizations dedicated to training and promotion of artists, encourage creative practices that involve artists within companies.

"The term “cultural industries” is used almost interchangeably with the concept of “creative industries”. Whereas the notion “cultural industries” emphasizes the cultural heritage and traditional and artistic elements of creativity, the notion of “creative industries” tends to place emphasis on individual creative talent and innovation, and on the exploitation of intellectual property. Those industries (performing, visual arts, broadcast media, digital games, design, creative marketing, PR, fashion, cultural heritage) which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property are a powerful tool to activate new learning processes (mainly non formal) for EU citizens and community.Analysis made on the sector pointed out the potential contribution of CCIs to the economy and society first (KEA 2006) in terms of wealth and jobs (UNCTAD 2008/2011), then on the positive spillover effects on employment other non-creative sectors (KEA 2009). The project “Break in the Desk” has developed a training package to train creative and artists in order to stimulate their entrepreneurial spirit making them able to activate new business and projects, creating economic value from their performances and activities. In doing so, the Strategic Partnership, built by the project, has also exploited creative thinking and non-formal training competences of CCIs to facilitate a process of innovation in SMEs from non-creative sectors and Public Administration departments. CCI operators can play a role in the process of innovation of other economic sectors, in which creativity is not common as a feature, by applying creative, non formal facilitations and training through transversal methodologies (“break in” intervention). Project objectives have been:- to promote entrepreneurship education for artists and cultural operators performing an action of ""translation"" of terms and concepts from the business sector to the world of arts and culture;- to support sustainability of artistic and cultural organizations and projects through the process of training activated by the project;- to enhance the relevance of the learning offer for CCI operators, by developing new and innovative approaches to spread a creative/innovative culture inside SME/PA- to develop and test methodologies, tools and concepts that facilitate organizational development and product creation inside SME/PA- to foster the assessment of transversal skills and promote the take-up of practical entrepreneurial experiences The Strategic Partnership activated to reach project objectives and develop related intellectual outputs was composed by:- Creative and Cultural industries coaching and training organizations: Materahub (Italy)- Creatives and Artists representatives: Collage Arts (UK)- VET organizations experts in the field of CCIs and recognition/assessment of outcomes: Rinova (UK)- Local public development organizations representative of SMEs interests: Consorcio Provincial de Desarollo Economico Cordoba/Instituto Provincial de Desarollo Economico Cordoba (Spain)- Clusters of Creative and Cultural Industries: Cultural Innovation Competence Center (Hungary)- Universities dealing with research/education on Creative and Cultural Industries with a specific focus on training and development programs for creative entrepreneurship: Aalto University/Mikkeli University/XAMK University (Finland)- Public Authorities in charge of local policy for education, youth, job: Rome Municipality Department for Youth, Equal Opportunities and Entrepreneurship (Italy)- A European network of Creative and Cultural organizations: Euromedinculture(s) (France)- An SMEs business association/chamber of commerce: Sibiu Chamber of Commerce (Romania)- A technical partner in charge of the dissemination, networking and e-learning platform: Link Campus University (Italy)- A regional development agency that promoted urban regeneration through Creative Industries valorization: SAMOA (France)Project target group was composed of primary beneficiaries (150 artists and creative involved during barcamps – 21 selected for the training activities) and indirect beneficiaries (the selected Public Organization (Saint Nazaire Development Agency) and SME to pilot the “break in intervention”).The project has finally:- trained artists and creative from Italy, UK, Finland, France, Hungary, Romania and Spain to stimulate their entrepreneurial spirit and develop their business skills - offered them a web based social elearning platform for further training and networking - trained them to become facilitators of innovation in SMEs and Public Administrations through process of creative intervention- shared a policy to support creativity in its application to VET system, entrepreneurship education and spillover effects with other EUcountries not involved in the project"