Performing Arts Entrepreneurs Erasmus Project

Project Title

Performing Arts Entrepreneurs

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 : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

The performing arts combine some of the oldest art forms and their origins can be traced back to earlier times when literacy and language were for the few rather than the masses; when the wisdom of the wise and the rule of the powerful were transmitted by stories, morality plays and in rhyme and song. The performing arts are and always have been flexible and adaptable to the circumstances and the times we live in. Through war and peace, times of prosperity and times of poverty, the performing art have performed; providing entertainment and relief from the stresses and strains of everyday life. After all, what would life be like without the Bowie’s, Baryshnikov’s or the Bond’s of this world. Overlooking the obvious entertainment value provided by these and many other household names they have also contributed significantly to the economy. Musicians, dancers and actors along with performers in a whole list of other art forms are key contributors to the cultural and creative industry sector, which in turn is a significant contributor to the GDP of all countries in Europe. Leaving aside the financial factors, in a time of cultural diversity in Europe, traditional art forms are of ever increasing importance as vehicles for expressing one’s cultural identity and underpinning that identity moving forward.

Part-time work, short-term contracts and self-employment have long been a characteristic of the performing arts sector, and they are becoming even more pronounced. For performing artists, it may well be the case that, references to ‘self-employment’ or ‘part-time employment’ are euphemisms for periods of unemployment. In many countries, there are strong political and social forces in favour of protecting traditional culture, as well as an ethos of public support for the arts. However, these are curbed, to some extent, by financial pressures and are also being crowded out by the interest in audiovisual technology as a source of employment.

STARDUST partners are of the opinion that building business acumen within the performing arts sector is both a worthwhile and timely intervention. The range of opportunities now open to performing artists to build sustainable careers in their chosen artistic discipline has been profoundly increased by the technological developments of recent years. There are now national and international markets open to almost every individual artist on a scale that has only previously available to a very small, select few. There is however a note of caution that must be taken into consideration as although performing artists are generally considered as a group, within the performing arts sector there are different sub-sets that will have different needs and different potential opportunities to exploit. In response to this the STARDUST consortium are proposing the development of a bespoke, multi faceted entrepreneurship training curriculum that will have specific modules tailored to the needs of 3 distinct groups, namely; Musicians; Dancers; Actors. The modules that will be tailored to suit the needs and address the opportunities for each of these sub-sets of the performing arts sector will be accompanied by a full set of relevant, more business acumen focused curriculum modules.

The Performing Arts Entrepreneurship curriculum to be developed will include 8 core modules based on the most appropriate competences to be selected from the EntreComp Framework and 4 elective modules for each artistic discipline. Partners will also develop an in-service training programme for VET professionals interested in supporting the business development of performing artists. During the project life-cycle it is estimated that 6 VET tutors in each partner country will complete the in-service training while a minimum of 12 performing artists will complete the bespoke curriculum in each partner country. At the project close a Final Conference will be held in Spain when all project outputs will be presented along with audio-visual testimonials of the performing artists who participated in the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 221880 Eur

Project Coordinator

INICIATIVAS DE FUTURO PARA UNA EUROPA SOCIAL COOP V & Country: ES

Project Partners

• ALIANCE LEKTORU a KONZULTANTU
• Mindshift Talent Advisory lda
• UDRUJENIJE GRAGDANA DAH TEATAR – CENTAR ZA POZORISHNA ISTRAJIVANJA
• SPEHA FRESIA SC
• FUTURE IN PERSPECTIVE LIMITED
• Hauptstadftallee 239 V V UG (Skills Elevation FHB)