Advertising the Self – Marketing Vocational Education in Arts and Design Erasmus Project

Project Title

Advertising the Self – Marketing Vocational Education in Arts and Design

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Advertising the Self – Marketing Vocational Education in Arts and Design (#advertisingtheself) was planned and has been implemented by HTBLVA Graz – Ortweinschule (AT), the Soares dos Reis School of Arts, Porto (PO), the Liceo Artistico “Scuola del Libro”, Urbino (IT), and the Technikum Fototechniczne, Warsaw (PL). The participating schools in #advertisingtheself all offer specialized educational pathways in Arts and Design. Vocational qualifications in specific fields such as Graphics and Communication Design, Film and Multimedia Art, Photography, Product Design, Book Design, Ceramics Art Craft and Jewellery Design can be obtained by students aged 14+.

Rationale:
After graduation, students need to find their place on the job market, either being employed or working free-lance. In any case, marketing and advertising the self is essential in Arts and Design to make oneself seen and heard and to stick out from the rest. Relevant skills and competences need to be improved.
Schools, on the other hand, need to present themselves in the best of lights and reach out to the general public in order to attract more and eventually “better” students. Communicating with the outside world by choosing the right marketing instruments for different target groups is essential.
Both staff and students involved in projects are aware of the fact that collaborating with colleagues and students from other European countries does not only bring in new perspectives on effective (self-) marketing, but also offers the chance to practice English in the context of one`s field of education. And since European projects require dissemination of activities and results, they offer plenty of opportunities to explore and implement diverse marketing instruments.

In the light of the rationale laid out above, #advertisingtheself aims at:

a.) Developing skills and competences of self-marketing of students to be able to present themselves as competitive participants on the labour market.
b.) Developing awareness of the self as an artist through autobiographical approaches and self-portraits in respective fields of arts and design (from photography to paintings).
c.) Exchanging know-how and experiences concerning the marketing of schools and educational pathways to attract more and better students.
d.) Fostering digital competences and the use of ICT to be able to communicate and present oneself effectively online.
e.) Engaging students in disseminating processes and project outputs.
f.) Fostering European exchange, intercultural communication and foreign language acquisition.
g.) Supporting entrepreneurship and the acquisition of foreign languages in vocational contexts (CLIL).

#advertisingtheself mainly centres around 4 short-term exchanges of groups of pupils. The project is laid out over a period of 24 months and 4 workshops (=Learning Activities), one in each country. There will be individual workshops for accompanying teachers and students and each group will do different activities and work on different products/ results. The workshops will be attended by an average of 8 students and 2 teachers from each school. The hosting partner involves additional students/ teachers/ stakeholders depending on the activities planned. Each partner will be responsible for disseminating workshop activities and related results. At least 100 students and 25 staff will travel to partner schools to attend activities.

Activities result in the following tangible results:

On student level:
– Self-portraits (diverse media), documentations ot works (photos, videos), self-presentations (elevator pitches), English CVs and language passes.
– Individual on- and offline portfolios
– Documentation for transfer purposes of all 4 workshop activities and results in the form of a PDF Brochure

On school level:
– Effective Strategies and Good Practices in Marketing of Schools / PDF Brochure.
– Enhanced school websites and Social Media Channels
– Dissemination materials (e.g. roll-ups, folders) emphasising the European direction of the schools involved

On project level:
– Project Logo, Poster and Folder /Project Website /Social Media Channels

We especially expect improved skills and competences of students in the area of communicating in a foreign language (including intercultural communication), digital competence, a sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, and cultural awareness and expression. Above that #advertisingtheself promotes a comprehensive approach to language teaching and learning in putting emphasis on the vocational contexts of language acquisition (CLIL).
On the long run, the partners also expect increased capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level in terms of reinforced cooperation with partners in Arts and Design from other countries, a more modern, dynamic, committed and professional environment inside the organisations and the readiness to integrate good practices and new methods.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 121284 Eur

Project Coordinator

HTBLVA Graz – Ortweinschule & Country: AT

Project Partners

• Escola Artística de Soares dos Reis
• LICEO ARTISTICO “SCUOLA DEL LIBRO”
• Technikum Fototechniczne