Digitalizing the Creatives

Activities at “Digitalizing the Creatives”

In this Erasmus+ Learning Activity the main aim is to foster the transversal skills and active engagement of staff of the Train2Sustain partner organizations, all of whom are working in the CCI sector. The training took place between 7th and 9th of July 2022 in Tolmin, Slovenia, and was attended by ten representatives of the Train2Sustain partner organizations from Slovenia, Serbia, Austria and Greece.

The questions this Learning Activity wanted to answer were: How can we create a bridge from theory to practice to be able to support our artistic collaborators on the long term by sharing our acquired know-how with them? How can we increase the Digital Readiness of our staff and affiliated artists and creatives?

The training programme focused on both the theoretical and the practical part of cultural and youth work, with the aim of equipping participants with practical skills in several training areas. The programme was intense and offered a lot of material and formal and non-formal learning methods over the course of three intense days, which the participants successfully worked through and eventually mastered. The three-day workshop was held under the guidance of professionally qualified and experienced mentors, chaired by Diana Shikhalieva.

What were the goals of this Learning Activity?

To equip staff working in CCI with practical skills for creating online versions for their cultural/ creative interventions
to help the participants skip from theory to practice when it comes to working creatively in the digital world
to produce a multiplier-effect for sharing know-how and therefore reaching a broader European dimension
to train the target group about ways to support artists to better handle the digital transformation of cultural/ creative activities
to empower the target group to develop and promote their own virtual events/ cultural interventions through new relevant platforms and online channels for event management

What did the participants learn?

Before the Learning Activity, the participants embarked on a self-evaluation process. How well trained were they to work, create and collaborate online?

The participants especially wished to focus on the medium of “video and film” as method of digitalization, online cultural work and audience expansion. In order to “bridge the gap” from theoretical to practical knowledge and skills, they were confronted with all the stages of video creation: from the theoretical introduction to film making to the steps of the film making process. All practical elements and wording of the film language were discussed, such as composition, framing, lighting, sound. Practically applying different types of editing and being able to successfully pitch the ideas of the participants were a part of this process too. A practical part of the training was the process of digitalizing a real-life event (a concert) and working on sound, framing and postproduction steps (such as digital rights, dissemination method, teaching film and media to youth, etc).

After the learning activity in Tolmin, the participants were better able:

to use digital technologies to foster youth’s active and creative engagement with digital cultural interventions
to use digital technologies within CCI to foster transversal skills, deep thinking and creative expression
to open up to innovative tools and involve learners themselves in hands-on activities
to plan for and implement digital cultural/ creative events and interventions and be able to guide youth/ young artists in the digital transformation of their art/ cultural intervention processes so as to enhance the effectiveness of the training participants’ support
to use a range of digital technologies confidently, creatively and critically to enhance the participants’ professional activities.

The Leaning Activity was based on the principle of exchange of knowledge and experience, and the group work provided networking opportunities at an international level. Finally, the training increased the participants’ skills in promoting their own events and learning new online/ digitalized ways to organize cultural events in the future.