The third Training Hotspot has come to an end, after 5 intensive days of interesting lectures and interactive activities. From the 1st to the 5h February, the beneficiaries from both fields participated in To the TrainHEART – A TRAINART’s focus on core skills for CCIs, organized by Consorzio Marche Spettacolo and live-streamed from Ancona, Italy.

The first two days were dedicated to new management models for cultural spaces (Field A), while the third and fourth day touched topics on artistic interventions in non-conventional contexts (Field B). On the last day, both fields were reunited for a workshop to discuss their ideas for future pilot actions.

This time, we had the chance to gather all the beneficiaries’ feedback using the platform slido.com, an online tool that allows the users to display the answers to their poll in real time during Zoom sessions and more. The results were the following:

A FEW KEYWORDS

“Interesting”, “amusing”, “useful”, “challenging” and “informative” are just some of the adjectives used to describe the event. Someone said “exhausting” and “inspiring, but too many information in a short time”, which is very much understandable given the 14 speakers distributed in 5 days. Some others appreciated the use of digital tools such as the Zoom Whiteboard and Slido.com and described the event as “digitally alive”.  According to many, it has also been “motivating” and “inspiring”, thanks to the chance to share their ideas on future projects and to listen to those of their fellows.

When asked to explain these keywords, these were (a few of) the responses:
“Found key elements to keep developing the ideas for the project”. – Blanca, Spain.
“Inspiring_because it opened new perspectives about international partnerships/projects/experiences;
Challenging_because it made us think concretely on our pilot action It strengthened professional relationships because we got the opportunity to hear other’s ideas and I really would like to figure out how to really connect more our paths and projects. Please let’s have a beer together soon somewhere !”
– Francesca, Italy.
“It was very interesting to hear so many different and interesting ideas for the projects. It has really broaden my views and opened opportunities for some new collaborations.” – Irena, Serbia.
“Interesting speakers, good variation of invited speakers, that gave new perspectives on subjects. Fun to hear all the people’s ideas.” – Robin, Sweden.

“It was very interesting ’cause every Trainart Hotspot allows us to learn new things and go out of our comfort zone, maybe there’s too many things to talk about in a very little time but this is the game in this new videocall era.” 

“The last part – the small groups – was eye-opening. It gives a deeper understanding on the ideas, the specific cultural and national perpectives we all have, and the things we have in common. So cool!” 

Favourite intervention and why

The most appreciated intervention resulted to be Pietro Floridia’s “Performing Arts and Community Building:
the Experience of Cantieri Meticci”. Our benenficiaries found his presentation to be clear, inspiring and passionate. His projects on social inclusion and community building communicate a clear vision and strive for the most effective results.

Damiano Aliprandi has been praised for his intervention on the economic sustainability of cultural and creative spaces. His notions were considered useful and relevant, especially when applied in the context of the post-Covid recovery.

Monica Calcagno and her academic view on participatory art have been welcomed by the benenficiaries as a way to broaden their view on their own work. Moreover, Patrizia Braga with her Design Thinking Process, Stefano Bosco and his challenging urban participation approach with Stalker Teatro, and Bertram Niessen with his expertise on the physiognomy of the new cultural centres in Italy have also been mentioned as inspiring content.
Overall, they found all the speakers to be interesting for a variety of reasons and useful for many different purposes in their own branch of the cultural and creative sector.

Working on the pilot action idea: how far are we?

The last day was dedicated to a reflection on possible pilot action ideas. The beneficiaries had the chance to share their own aspirations as well as their know-how.
Ideas may not be fully clear yet, but the session has sparked some interesting inputs and offered some food for thoughts to further develop and adjust one’s plans.
Nevertheless, some of the participants seemed to have a quite set idea already:
“It was very useful and time in groups passed really quickly. Only listening to other people’s ideas and comments really helped me to make my idea more clear.” – Irena, Serbia.
“It was fun because it was something we have thought about a lot already, but never in such specific details. It was useful to see the difficulty of thinking in practice and the obstacles we might face in the future.” – Nataša, Serbia.
“The idea is clear, I was looking forward to having the chance of writing it down. I discovered that instead of 1 action, I actually have 3… And the networking with others is one of them… I hope it will work out even under this pandemic. I hope the economic model will come out.” – Marianna, Italy
“Yes, we have started developing it, it is not clear the financial model, but what we know what we want to do.” – Laura, Spain.
“It was very helpful to write it down in such a short time. A sort of squeezed idea. Now I got the juice!”
In conclusion, we would like to wish all the best to our beneficiaries with their future pilot actions. May this project be the blueprint of a new, innovative model of “doing creative business”, that trascends boundaries and creates solid European networks.
But till then, we look forward to seeing them all in the next Training Hotspot, live from Ireland, organized by the Limerick City and County Council and Social Impact Ireland.

The podcasts are out! Listen here to all the interventions

Watch here the open event Creative Europe 2021-2027: What’s Coming?