June 2018

The last pilot course of the “ECVET for the Creative Industries” project took place in Rzeszów, Poland on the 12^th-16^th of June. It was hosted by the Polish project partner INNEO – local centre for training and research, which specialises in entrepreneurship and ICT training. The event was organized in KWADRAT – Subcarpathian Creative Space. It’s a coworking office as well as an incubator and a venue of creative and IT meetings, networking events and programming courses. It is a very important spot on the map of Rzeszów, which is said to be a “city of innovation”.

About the Polish “Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries” course

On the contrary to training courses in UK, Ireland, Spain and Italy – the Polish course was organised as a weekly recurring event. The participants spent 3 hours almost each week in the period of 3 months attending the course. This form of training was most suitable for Polish students; it also facilitated the process of completing the assignments and giving regular feedback by a tutor.

The course had a similar structure to other training courses organized in the framework of EfCI project. The knowledge was divided into 4 units, each of them concerned different aspects: personal brand and online presence, communication and negotiation, business planning as well as creative entrepreneurship in Europe. However, the resources were adapted to match the Polish context, with the special emphasis on local education system, law regulations, social and market trends and financial possibilities.

Young people with skills, degrees and big dreams

Since Poland is a country where formal education is considered to be of great importance, most of the participants were young people with university degrees. Some of them were still students, the others were working in industries not related to their degrees. The course was supposed to deal with their weaknesses and insecurities, since Polish students tend to have great professional skills and theoretical knowledge, but lack in entrepreneurial skills and self confidence.

The responses of students were very optimistic throughout the duration of the course. They all agreed that the aspects taught during the course were highly practical and useful for their future professional development. More than half of the participants are also applying for LRN’s “Level 3 in Entrepreneurship for European Creative Industries” qualification.

Project partners teaching about creative industries in their countries

During the last day of the training course EfCI project partners contributed to the training by presenting information about the creative industries in UK, Spain, Ireland and Italy. The participants were highly interested in hearing about their professions in different countries, comparing the problems and opportunities of their colleagues around Europe.

The joint staff training event as well as the course itself was considered a success by the participants. In their evaluation questionnaires students stated that the programme of the course should become more popular in the future because it is a perfect response for the imperfection of creative education system. All of them said that whey would recommend the course to their friends if another edition were organized in the future.

The 4th pilot week course of the EfCI project in Creative Industries has been hosted by 3Si – a centre in Seville that works to support the social, economic and cultural integration of people as part of local and European employability, training and education programmes – in Seville at Lab Seville – LAB is a space created by Alejandro Rojas, a professional of graphic design. The space was designed by him with the intetion of being a place for entrepeneurs, students and creative people, where they can share their work, knowledge and in this way the culture of Seville can be promoted.

European partners and univesity lecturers for Creative Industries

The training activity has been promoted together with the partners from Capacity Ireland, Capacity London, 3Si (Spain), Studio Inneo (Poland) and Materahub (Italy) taking part in teaching activities for the Level 3 Certificate in Entrepreneurship for European Creative Industries.

The course has been run by 3 tutors that are teachers of design in Universities in Seville. They have a broaden experience in the sector of Creative Industries and they work also as photographers (Diego Gallego, Alfonso Aguilar and Alejandro Rojas).

Transversal skills for a bright career

The 8 participants of the course, have had the opportunity to learn about different topics that will help them in their future jobs and careers. Some of the students involved are currently at University finishing their degrees in marketing and architecture. Some others, are trying to set up their own bussiness or trying to find a job in different sectors.
For this reason, it was very helpful for them to use the tool delivered by Materahub, the“Creative Project Canvas”, that helps artists and creatives to reflect and detail their own idea/project and make it sustainable.