Spiritus Loci aims to recover a physical and spiritual experience of space through art that makes it possible again the continuous dialogue with memories, lights, shadows and the new needs, facilitating the re-adjustment between the person, the collective and his place. A moment that awakens the attention for those neglected and careless places that allows to every person to acquire the “consciousness of the living”, a real process that is triggered by a conversation between our own essence and the places, as suggested by the anthropologist La Cecla.The advent of Covid-19, instead, has radically changed the destiny of the cultural sector, leading to the loss of jobs for many cultural associations. But the cultural and creative sector can contribute for a sustainable development: rethinking the purpose and the meaning of public spaces, bridging the gaps of cultural poverty, promoting new models of economic and employment growth, repairing social fractures and bringing new projects to forgotten territories. Six organisations from 5 European countries, Italy, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece and Lithuania, have taken up this challenge, being conscious that together we can better face with this problem which covers the whole Europe.The general aim of the project is to deal with the crisis caused by the European pandemic through creativity, meanwhile looking for innovation and transnational cooperation, unlocking the potential of young people through new artistic languages. The specific objective is to develop innovative and creative learning pathways for direct and final audiences acting in the cultural sector with new technologies. According to this challenge, in each partner country, the commitment will be focused on the development and the evaluation of results with the direct beneficiaries: managers of cultural associations, junior and senior volunteers, cultural operators, individual and associate artists, educators and trainers, students, scientific and cultural communicators, and supporters. The direct recipients will develop along with young volunteers, junior artists, university students, and young cultural operators. It will be realized a path of 300 hours of training, involving a total of more than 150 participants. 12 staff teachers/researchers will benefit by 50 hours of training on digital skills and among external stakeholders, with the events we expect to reach directly 200 recipients and indirectly more than 30,000, through the multiple online channels.The methodology applied allows the acquisition on the ground of effective collaborative practices, based on the experience of transnational cooperation, which at local level will strengthen the integrated territorial networks, contributing to the dissemination of this intergenerational learning opportunities. The composite curriculum includes distance training (synchronous and asynchronous) integrated to the activities in presence, on the field and project work, with the realization of an event by the participants.The use of virtual environments and multimedia will be harmonized to the actions in the presence, with productions aimed to attract general public, expanding the audience permitting to the production of Spiritus Loci being accessible online and so on different devices and in the different partners’ languages as well as in English to ensure its replicability. The potential multiplier effect in Italy could be important, given the capillarity of the Pro Loco and the success of the Universal Civil Service as a bridge to the labour market, as well as in Germany and Lithuania, in the universities, as an example of extra-curricular activities to acquire key competences such as cultural and artistic expressions, digital and intercultural skills. In the same way in Greece and Bulgaria, the proposal has good opportunities to take root in educational practices for young people interested in pursuing a professional career in this sector with a specialization in art and new technologies. This methodological choice relies on the need to focus the path to the actual and concrete realisation of an event, orienting the role of the teacher, artist or senior organiser to a function of support, accompaniment, facilitation, guidance.The key words that generally identify the expected impacts of the project are inclusion and creative innovation of the new generations. The experience of Spiritus Loci will provide an opportunity to contribute to the national and European debate on the digital transition and the effects that this transformation, accelerated by the pandemic, will have on educational systems, non-formal adult education and culture.The intellectual outputs are:IO1. Education to Beauty Curriculum (blended).IO2. Education to Beauty Digital Storytelling and Video Documentary.IO3. Interactive toolkit (MOOC and Audio-book).

"According to the European statistics (2018): only 20-25% of students in EU schools are taught by teachers who are confident with technology use; 43% of Europeans lack basic digital skills; 71 million students attending schools in Europe need to develop their skills for the digital society.The target of EU initiatives is both students and teachers since lifelong learning is one of the fields where Europe falls behind and one of the key aspects of the Digital Education Action Plan. This plan (EU Commission, 2018) is the focal point of e-learning and intends to support technology-use and digital competence in education. In light of the ""COVID-19"" emergency, many ""traditional"" teachers have discovered and started using distance learning.However, EU countries show a different situation in the development of the e-learning system in adult education. In fact, On the base of Eurydice’s report (2015) the percentage of adults (25 - 64 years old) who participated in distance learning (formal or informal), on EU average rate of 2.2%, were: 1.5% (-0,7) in Bulgaria, 4.9% (+2,7) in Spain, 1,5% (-0,7) in Italy and 0.7% (-1,5) in Romania (Eurostat data).In Spain, the relatively high participation rate seems to reflect the efforts made by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports (MECD). They have several complete distance learning programs funded with public funds.While the registered data are negative in Bulgaria, Italy and Romania, even if different large-scale programs and private initiatives promoting e-learning training for adult education are active. Nevertheless, neither the teachers nor students are prepared and equipped to produce effectively a teaching and learning process engaging the adults, who are, in most cases, immigrants.In this context, the needs revealed are the following:- Improving teachers’ skills in the use of e-learning modality by identifying new environments and curricula for training, technical and organizational changes.- Identifying an effective pedagogical approach to overcome the issue related to low competences in ICT of adult learners. Most adults are ""digital immigrants"" (Prensy 2001) in that who weren't born with current technology and the language of computers is not their native dialect. - Defining an effective evaluation and assessment system in distance learning which requires increasing flexibility, in terms of modular programs and qualifications within the adult education system.Thus, the project aims at:- Defining a common framework for the identification of teaching and learning approach which can promote and implement effectively the integration of new technologies in adult education by encouraging the use of modern concepts in education and a healthy working environment and teamwork, creating developing programs attractive to adults, allowing them continuous shaping throughout their lives.- Reinforcing the assessment and evaluation system in distance learning through the pedagogical tools and techniques which can improve the teaching and learning flexibility.- Designing open education resources aiming to define the technical skills for the didactic use through main devices, exploiting the principles of ""BYOD"" (""Bring Your Device""); the methodological skills for teaching approaches; for effective integration of the Apps into teaching activity; the skills for managing, producing and distributing digital content.- Utilizing the attractiveness of technology to improve social inclusion focused, mainly, on language skills improvement and responsible use of technology in terms of safety and ethical rules. - Improving the collaborative sense among teachers and schools through the exchanging of experience, good practices to enhance the use of technology in adult school.Target group: Adult school teachers/educators and students.The main results will be as follows:- Framework to integrate new technologies in adult education through project-based learning- Promoting digital skills for classes 2.0 development in adult education- Outputs and recommendations for classes 2.0 implementation in adult educationShort- term impact:- Providing teachers with needed skills to reinforce the teaching and learning process in the distance learning implementation to improve the quality of teaching.- Integrating the designed curriculum into participating schools to increase the quality and competitiveness of their educational offers.- Improving digital literacy of students and their awareness in the use of technology in learning to reinforce and support a major social inclusion.Long-term impact:- Guaranteeing a high quality and competitiveness of the educational system implemented in the adults’ school thanks to the modernization of didactic teaching and learning approaches and the improved staff skills involved.- Supporting transnational cooperation among adult schools to ensure a continuous exchange of good practices and permanent collaboration"

To quote John Howkins “Creativity can lead to innovation. Innovation seldom leads to creativity.” In other words, creativity is a mindset that needs to be cultivated to drive innovation, and the creative and cultural economy offers a plethora of tools to do so. Despite this, society tends to perceive culture and creativity as an indulgence, not as means to promote innovation. This is reflected in our education, our policies and our approach to work: Both young students and “seasoned” professionals are often steered toward careers and skills that focus on sciences that create easily quantifiable value, those that are considered to be affiliated with entrepreneurial skills. However, despite the lack of validation from business and education, many people do wish to pursue a carrier in the creative and cultural sector. They see gaps in the market or pressing challenges that need solutions. They begin to address these, as part-time creators or workers within the growing gig economy.However, they try to build a stable career around their solutions, they realize that the shift to entrepreneurship is not easy – it’s hard to access traditional business skills, and the existing language, culture and practices of the entrepreneurial lifestyle do not work for them. The lack of outlets for their creative training and skills often leads to a crisis of confidence– and a reluctant return to the traditional workplace.On the other hand, the European Commission developed the Europe 2020 strategy, an initiative designed to support growth and jobs across the EU, according to which the culture sector is able to increasingly contribute to employment and growth across Europe. Following the adoption of the Europe 2020 strategy and the European Agenda for Culture, the Commission has placed an increased emphasis on support to Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) because the sector is generating an increasing number of jobs while at the same time is contributing to innovation in other sectors, such as information and communication technology. Cultural Heritage entrepreneurship, in specific, represents an important component of cultural entrepreneurship that becomes an important factor contributing to countries' GDP, labor force market development, to export and import of goods and services (WIPO, 2003).While it is widely expected that culture and heritage automatically inspire innovation and new creative entrepreneurship, at the same time, entrepreneurship is one of the challenges that the cultural sector, with a focus on cultural heritage, is facing which can be addressed by the development of research teaching and curriculum development (Zaman, 2015).Therefore, the iCREATE project will develop and deliver an integrated package for their Cultural Entrepreneurship Acceleration, generating entrepreneurial creative thinking for sustainable cultural heritage management and business startup. The iCREATE projects offer young people a Tailored Training Framework based on their Training needs Analysis. It includes tools and approaches that accelerate Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) entrepreneurship within and around cultural heritage from the creation of the business idea and value proposition until the business start up and first steps toward sustainability.In order to do that iCREATE project partner, seeks to develop:Research analysis for the level of competences in management, entrepreneurship, and innovative thinking for people in the creative and cultural Industry, including social entrepreneurship in cultural heritage entrepreneurship.iCREATE aims to develop and test a Tailored Training Framework that delivers tailored training for young people (secondary, post-secondary, and HE), employed in cultural institutions or unemployed, all aspiring to become entrepreneurs and who want to start own business in cultural heritage domain.MOOC for improvement of skills and knowledge of young people in the cultural sector and for business startup. The MOOC envisages three parts,-1st Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and conception of the business idea-2nd Start and Sustain the business.-3rd Online tools and methodological guides that will guide them through the startup process. A step by step guide on all the administrative activities that need to take place when launching a company, in the CCI ie. Life cycle of a company from registration to pay taxes and social insurance.The project seeks to train at least 120 aspiring entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative industry as well as 15 trainers on the developed materials of the project.The project partnership is compiled by six partners from 5 countries and the project outcomes will be disseminated through the Multiplier events that are going to take place in all partner countries for the benefit of youth aspiring entrepreneurs.

The current situation, shown by the Eurostat data 2019, related to the unemployment rate of young people is high in different European Countries. Concerning the EU Media (35,2%), Italy has an unemployment rate of 42,7% followed by Greece with 40,6%, Bulgaria 35,8%, and Latvia 30,4%.The youth unemployment (labour force aged 15 to 24 years old - the earliest point at which mandatory school education ends) tends to be higher than unemployment in older age groups. Typically, teenagers who are fresh out of education do not find jobs right away. Additionally, it also tends to be higher in emerging economies than in industrialized nations.In the European Union, unemployment, in general, has been on the rise since 2008, which is due to the economic crisis which has led to a considerable job loss, fewer job offerings, and consequently, to a rise in the unemployment rate.All in all, the number of unemployed persons worldwide is projected to rise, and this is not due to the economic crisis alone, but also the industrial automation of processes previously performed by workers.The transformations of the worldwide economy lead to the need for digital skills for nearly all jobs where ICT complements the existing tasks. Careers such as engineering, accountancy, nursing, medicine, art, architecture, and many more - require increasing levels of digital skills.However, on the base of the Eurostat data, the percentage of young people who have basic or above basic overall digital skills in 2019 are 51% in Greece, 43% in Latvia, 42% in Italy and 29% in Bulgaria.To cope with this situation, several key competencies facilitate young people's transition to the job market and future career prospects.In this direction, according to EU Commission communication ‘Rethinking education: investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes’ (2012), entrepreneurship education, a one of the key competence, is recognized as the supporting tool for young people to develop a general set of competencies applicable in all walks of life, not simply about learning how to run a business. This means acquiring the ‘the ability to think critically, take initiative, problem-solve and work collaboratively’.Consequently, real-world experience, through problem-based learning and enterprise links, should be embedded across all disciplines and tailored to all levels of education to create new opportunities for business creation as a career destination.In this context, the common needs emerge among the countries involved:1.To promote entrepreneurial and digital skills in school curricula in terms of concrete knowledge, skills, and attitudes.2.To encourage the development of critical thinking and problem–solving skills in students to cope with new digital challenges.3.To promote STEM approach to reinforce interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teaching in a different contest with the involvement of all academic disciplines and guaranteeing social inclusion and gender equity in this particular field.4.Reinforcing school and teacher networks to share resources and best practices.Thus, the project responds to these needs with the following objectives:- Defining a common framework for digital entrepreneurship following the EnteCom Framework.- Designing a new curriculum for the promotion of new digital careers with a special focus on STEM skills development with the support of the European Digital Competence framework.- Operationalizing such curriculum through the application of the design thinking method which promotes the development of creativity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset with a strong focus on understanding the needs and desires of the end-user.- Supporting STEM skills (vertical and horizontal skills) useful for professional careers for both teachers and students.- Improving the collaborative sense among teachers and schools through the exchanging of experience, best practices focusing on the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach.Target group: Secondary school teachers and students.The main results will be as follows:- Framework to integrate entrepreneurial and STEM skills through design thinking approach- STEM and entrepreneurial skills reinforcement through 3D serious games environment - Outputs and Recommendations on integrated STEM and entrepreneurship educationShort- term impact:- on students: improve STEM and entrepreneurial skills; increasing student motivation through the design thinking approach for STEM and ICT careers and a 3D Learning Environment;- on teachers: provide them with needed skills on how to integrate STEM and entrepreneurship education in school curricula; improve teaching processes through design thinking approach; reinforce their role as learning facilitator for entrepreneurial and STEM skills development.Long-term impact:- A digital entrepreneurship curriculum to be integrated into the school curriculum- Supporting transnational cooperation among the schools