<< Background >>he Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) are among Europe’s most dynamic sectors. According to Eurostat, the CCS employ 8.7 million people in the EU, equivalent to 3.8% of the total workforce in the EU, representing 1.2 million enterprises. However, the CCS are facing a growing number of challenges such as globalisation, the twin green and digital transitions and decreasing funding opportunities. Moreover, the CCS are one of the hardest hit by COVID-19 that reshaped the way CCS professionals work. This situation might have severe long-term effects such as changes in cultural demand and engagement or risks of exacerbation of inequalities within the sector. The new challenges and trends have also revealed the unpreparedness of the cultural and creative professionals to adapt to a very dynamic, uncertain and rapidly changing sector and call for a shift in skill sets to reap the full potential of CCS. The partnership has carried out an online Stakeholder Consultation to map out the needs of cultural professionals. Its findings underpin the European tendencies and our partnership’s observations in their national context: out of 126 respondents 63% said that thinking ahead to the next ten years (2021-2031) the needed skills for professionals in the CCS will change to a considerable extent, 30% said that they will fundamentally change, 7% said that they will remain more or less the same, and 0% said that it will remain the same. In this context, ensuring a better match between the supply of skills and the demands of the labour market is crucial. If left unaddressed, the CCS will be at risk of skills shortage, mismatches and gaps concerning both emerging sub-sectors as well as very mature ones that undergo the twin transitions. Most training opportunities for CCS professionals in Europe are rather centred in discipline-based knowledge in arts, and students are not always ready to enter the modern labour market as they lack important skills. Consequently, management activities of cultural projects fail to adapt to change and often result in non-strategic, ad hoc efforts lacking clearly defined objectives and targets. Due to a lack of management know-how in the sector and lack of staff with the right mix of skills in the CCS, it remains difficult for a large number of organisations to adapt to new challenges such as the twin transitions and to scale up their cultural and artistic activities. These new challenges keep rising in the CCS, but the capacities of Cultural Managers to respond keep shrinking. In this context, VET trainers must step up and prevent the skills shortage of learners. The partnership of Pro Progressione, KEA European Affairs, The Green Room and the Central European University aims to respond to growing need for relevant training opportunities in Cultural Management that better take into account the new evolutions and challenges that are shaping the Cultural and Creative Sectors, and thus that better matches the new skills needs. We have mapped out the new skills needs and have identified three areas where there is a lack of know-how in the field of Cultural Management: skills in professionalized project management, change management and green transition management. The C’man project has been designed to respond to the upskilling needs of Cultural Managers experienced by partners in their country and in Europe.<< Objectives >>The C’man project has five main objectives that are in alignment with European trends and needs of the Cultural and Creative Sectors, as well as with the Erasmus+ programme priorities such as the Adaptation of VET to labour market and the fight against climate change. 1) ADAPT VET IN THE FIELD OF CULTURAL MANAGEMENT TO THE NEW NEEDS OF CCS by designing five new targeted materials (3 Guides, 1 toolbox and 1 training scheme) which meets the specific upskilling needs of the sector; 2) BRIDGE A GAP OF KNOW-HOW IN THE CCS by developing project, change and green transition management skills of Cultural Managers based on the specifics of the sector; 3) BOOST THE COMPETITIVENESS AND RESILIENCE OF CCS by ensuring a better match between the supply of skills and the new demands of the labour market through new VET opportunities and materials in Cultural Management; 4) REINFORCE CCS ROLE IN THE FIGHT OF CLIMATE CHANGE by developing green skills for Cultural Managers to deliver eco-friendly cultural projects; 5) ENABLE MORE CULTURAL ORGANISATIONS TO SCALE UP AND INTERNATIONALIZE THEIR CULTURAL PROJECTS by supplying Cultural Managers with the right mix of skills.<< Implementation >>There are several types of project activities such as Transnational Project Meetings, Learning Teaching Training activities, work with the Stakeholder Forum, Production of Results and Multiplier Events. They are all designed to effectively achieve the project objectives and ensure smooth delivery of high-quality Results. Transnational Project Meetings provide meeting points for partners in the project timeline, as well as key milestones in the development of our Results. Transnational Project Meetings will play a crucial in the planning and co-creation process of Results, as well as their evaluation and final production process. The Production of Results can be divided into three main phases: 1. research and knowledge exchange 2. development 3. testing, evaluation and finalization. Each Result is designed to be used as an independent resource. However, they also work together: partners build on the content of other Results and the end users will find complementary knowledge and skills development in all five. While Result 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 (the three C’man Guides and the C’man Toolbox) is aimed mostly at Cultural Managers, but also at VET trainers in Cultural Management, the Result 5 (C’man Training scheme) is mostly aimed at VET trainers in Cultural Management. The final Results is expected to bring long-lasting effects on our target groups, contributing to achieve our project objectives. Learning teaching training activities also serve as milestones in the development of our Results. There will be three Job shadowing & Knowledge exchange workshops at Pro Progressione, KEA and The Green and one Pilot training taking place at the premises of Central European University. These activities are essential to kick-start the knowledge exchange and cooperation among partners in the first period of the project, as well as to test the developed Results before final launch during the pilot training. These will support the partnership in developing high-relevance Results that correspond to academic standards and to the identified new skills needs of Cultural Managers. National Multiplier Events will be held in Hungary, Austria, Belgium and France and will be completed by a large-scale virtual event with +90 attendees. The main goal of these events is to ensure that our Results are promoted, and that stakeholders actively understand their value and are motivated to introduce them in their own organisations and networks. These events will contribute to the achievements of project objectives by transferring knowledge with the aim to enable wider stakeholders to use and take up results, and thus these events will support us in ensuring Results are translated into impact. At the beginning of the project, each participating organisation will invite 2 Cultural Managers from their country to form the Stakeholder Forum. There will be 8 pax in total representing 8 different cultural organisations in 4 different countries. The purpose of this Forum will be to allow representatives of our target group to freely discuss, criticise and evaluate our work throughout the whole project. By directly working with our target group not just in the launch phase but in the development phase as well, we largely contribute to the achievement of project objectives, as it will help the partnership mould the Project Results into resources that authentically respond to their real-life needs and interests of our target group, as well as to ensure that our final resources reflect national context.<< Results >>The C’man project has been carefully designed to produce a series of results that will upskill Cultural Managers and allow VET trainers in Cultural Management to adapt to the new labour market needs of the CCS. During the project, we will work closely as partners and with the target group to generate quality results that are of high relevance. The C’man project will produce five new materials in Cultural Management: three C’man Cultural Management Guides in PM² Management, Green Transition Management and Change Management, which purpose is to empower Cultural Managers with green skills, professionalized project management skills and skills to manage change and transitions; one C’man Cultural Management Toolbox, which purpose is to complement the C’man Guides with a set of tools and artefacts; one C’man Cultural Management Training Scheme, which purpose is to transform the C’man Guides and Toolbox into a training scheme relevant for the labour market, that VET providers can easily adapt. The project will generate the following quantifiable results: at least 8 cultural organisations from the Stakeholder Forum will follow and support the development process of Project Results and directly benefit from them, at least 150 Cultural Managers and staff will download the Guides and the Toolbox, adapting their skills to new challenges and trends that are shaping the CCS and at least 40 VET trainers in Cultural Management will use the C’man materials and the Training scheme to adapt their teaching practice to new labour market needs. We also expect several important long-term outcomes such as the change of perception concerning VET in Cultural Management in Europe by adapting to the new skills needs, the professionalization of Cultural Managers in the field of project management, the pro-active integration of the European Green Deal principles into cultural and creative projects, the know-how of Cultural Managers to rapidly and effectively adapt to change and transitions, an increased resilience and boosted competitiveness of CCS, a strong uptake of Results in partner countries and beyond and lowered disparities in CCS among partner countries in the accessibility and quality of Cultural Management training. The project will also generate useful results for partner organisations such as more modern and dynamic professional environment inside the participating organisations by integrating Results into their regular work, competitive advantage in consulting and training for skills development, increased capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level, improved Cultural Management competences and internationalisation strategies, reinforced cooperation of CCS with VET sector, expanded network and consolidated position as “eco-friendly” organisations able to contribute to European Green Deal.