DigiKommune: Bringing Art to the Masses across Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

DigiKommune: Bringing Art to the Masses across Europe

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 : Partnerships for Creativity

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

Female artists and creatives have experienced loss of business and income during Covid-19. The project envisages a skills injection through tailored learning and knowledge exchange to enable creative businesses to take their work online, which we term virtualisation. This could be staging events, promotion of artist portfolios or facilitating online sales and projects which enhance soft skills, adaptability and resilience for online business delivery models, ensuring that businesses thrive and survive. The purpose of the project is to revive and extend methods by which audiences are reached to reinvigorate income streams and individuals’ business sustainability through skills development.

The context for this project arises from the unprecedented business disruption across Europe. Women in particular have been badly affected, notably female artists and creatives. Many may be disadvantaged, excluded, migrants, affected by business curtailment during Covid-19 and suffering economic hardship. Many of the businesses in the arts and creative sector consist of sole traders or SMEs and the digital competence required to take businesses online in a short timescale have resulted in many being economically inactive, with livelihoods threatened. This is an innovative project for female artists and creatives to sustain their businesses through virtualisation and digital competence to facilitate commercialisation, routes to market, digital performance and to combat the unforeseen economic disruption and business survival during and after Covid-19. This will indirectly benefit arts and creative communities across Europe by bringing digital arts to the masses.

Research on early adopters to identify guidance on successful virtualisation, theory, models, readings and case studies will take place. The Local Digikommunes provide an experimental space where learners can test out ideas, plan virtualisation, make short demos e.g short online presentations, produce digital posters for events, and trial methods of reaching an audience through live-streaming. Exploration of soft and hard skills such as online sales and marketing will take place and methods will include self-assessments, quizzes, reflection, reflective exercises and production of digital products surrounding an arts/ creative event. Learning from peers will be encouraged and the project acknowledges the social aspect of learning and builds on the resources and particular skills of individual practitioners.

The project will encourage participation of female artists and creatives in each partner country. The training in each country will involve 10-15 female artists and creatives and the Local Digikommunes will involve 5-8 per country. The Digital Arts Spaces will involve a min. 6 female artists and creatives per partner country, potentially reaching an audience of 15 in each session, (therefore up to 60 in total) as arts and creative businesses are showcased, premiered and taken to the masses.

The 4 Intellectual Outputs are as follows:
IO1 – Skills portfolio: The learning phases to investigate already successful online arts businesses and fact-finding to identify the digital skills particular to digital competence in an online environment.
IO2 – Digital training: Training modules in digital hard skills to enhance business awareness and digital competence, based on themes and needs emerging from IO1.
IO3 – Local DigiKommunes: The local Digikommunes provide the supportive and reflective spaces for trial and error, planning, testing, experimentation and exploratory thinking, providing a space where the hard and soft skills may be applied and implemented.
IO4 – Digital Art Spaces: This inclusive output will provide exposure to audiences, experimentation with virtualisation of goods and services, feedback from audiences and consumers and individual reflection on skills, putting what has been learned into action. It is envisaged that arts and creative businesses which found livelihoods curtailed will be in a positive position at the end of the project to commercialise their ideas, having found a sustainable, digital, business model for successful continuation of the business.

The project is founded on innovative social learning, and includes provision of training to facilitate the hard and soft skills for virtualisation, online approaches and business continuation during Covid-19 and beyond. The enhanced skills individuals achieve by participation in the project will help support economic participation, business continuance and contribute to future proofing arts and creative female businesses against further Covid-19 repercussions. Across EU partners, a wider digital arts community will be promoted and accessed by audiences. There is also an opportunity to leverage economies of scale to promote events, goods and services, in sustainable ways, collaboratively where possible, strengthening local and European networks and local skills within the creative economy.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 205365 Eur

Project Coordinator

INOVA CONSULTANCY LTD & Country: UK

Project Partners

• L’Albero, associazione culturale
• Inova Aspire B.V.
• CESIE
• Fundacja ARTeria