Validation and Certification in the field of European
Cultural Co-operation Project Management
The
VANIA project was launched to meet the strong challenges
that face managers and policy makers today on the European
cultural scene. The cultural field is undergoing huge
changes: globalisation has transformed cultural creation
and production, as well as cultural habits and consumption
patterns. The cultural sector operates in a European arena
and it is increasingly evident that cultural projects will
have to be organised on a collaborative basis across
frontiers. This follows both market and cultural policy
logics.
Unfortunately, cultural education programmes in Europe have
been slow to respond to these challenges and this has not
been helped by the fact that the processes transforming
culture are imperfectly understood. Europe is therefore in
danger of lacking sufficient skilled cultural managers able
to run transnational co-operation projects, which today,
and in the future, will be a key element of success for the
knowledge base of the European workforce.
To address the challenges faced by the cultural sector,
there needs to be enhanced recognition that new specialist
employment skills are needed, and this in turn implies a
need for the certification of the qualification and
competencies acquired by new professionals working across
frontiers.
This has been VANIA's goal. To achieve it, a partnership
was set up compromising:
FMH
- The Marcel Hicter Foundation (project
leader) has run many training programmes and
action-research projects in recent years and developed
important capacities in the field of cultural co-operation
and stimulated cultural networks. It administers the
European Diploma in Cultural Project Management, a unique
non-formal training programme for European cultural
managers active in the field and designed to reinforce
their interaction, skills and capacities.
Cupore,
Foundation for Cultural Policy Research established
by the University of Jyväskylä and the Finnish Cultural
Foundation, and supported by the Ministry of Education and
Culture, carries out research in cultural development,
cultural labour markets, multiculturalism and cities,
co-operates with a number of other European research
institutions and networks, is involved in teaching and
developing curricula for cultural policies, cultural
management and international cultural co-operation.
IIC
- International Intelligence on Culture, an
independent research, consultancy and policy development
organisation, works primarily for the public sector
(usually government ministries of culture and/or education,
arts councils or European institutions). For more than 20
years its Director has been involved in the delivery of
professional development training for cultural managers and
policy makers on subjects such as European cultural
co-operation, European networking, raising funds for
transnational projects, and comparative cultural policies.
EVREMATHIA
A.E.,
a
Vocational Training Centre accredited by the National
Accreditation Centre (EKEPIS), aims to offer innovative
solutions for continuing vocational training of employees
and the unemployed, the human resources development of
enterprises and organisations, research and development in
the fields of lifelong learning, professional certification
and e-learning. The company particularly pursues innovation
through its participation in European Programmes and
Community Initiatives.
ENCATC
–The European Network of Cultural Administration
Training Centres representing
training institutions across Europe has also contributed to
VANIA. It collected information and data from its members
and will disseminate the projects results.
The VANIA project has run for two years, from Autumn 2005
until October 2007.
Cupore carried
out the first background study for the VANIA project
entitled "Two
surveys on availability of education and training for key
competencies and skills required for European cultural
project management". This
comprised surveys of both training institutions and of
young professionals.
In the second stage,
International Intelligence on Culture undertook
a qualitative survey of experienced cultural practitioners
to verify the skills and competencies needed for managing
transnational cultural projects, and looked at competencies
required for transnational work in the business sector.
The
Fondation Marcel Hicter focused
on the sector's training tools and methods and produced two
analysis on "Teaching
transnational cultural co-operation in Europe today -
situation and perspectives" and
"The
impact of the European Diploma in Cultural Co-operation
Project Management".
Evremathia
A.E. worked
on the "Validation
and certification of training courses in the field of
European cultural co-operation project management
—Standards and Requirements",
introducing a
process for course certification linked to competency-based
training.
The
results of our analyses and proposals to cultural
professionals, trainers, policy makers and networks were
presented during a specialized seminar organised in Delphi
in August 2007. The interactions that took place there
enhanced our knowledge and enabled us to incorporate the
core findings and proposals in a publication, edited by Rod
Fisher and Effie Karpodini-Dimitriadi (available on request
from the Fondation Marcel Hicter). Herewith you will find
the complete surveys and analyses we produced for the VANIA
project. We hope it will be useful for all stakeholders and
especially for educators and transnational cultural
co-operation course designers.
Some
notes on terminology
Some brief observations are necessary on what we mean by
transnational cultural co-operation projects. At its
simplest we mean the engagement in cultural projects of
partners from different countries. Of course, such actions
have been variously described as European or trans-European
cultural co-operation and international collaboration or
exchange. However, such terms can also imply other
meanings. This is explained in Chapter I (footnote I) and
is worth repeating here.
In this study we are using the terms
“international”, “European”,
“transnational” and
“trans-European” to refer to co-operative
activities in culture. “International” and
“European” are generic concepts, which
frequently refer to bi-lateral and multilateral cultural
co-operation of national and sub-national units from the
point of view of national policies and interests.
“Transnational” and
“trans-European” refer increasingly to cultural
co-operation where activities of units, be they small
companies, NGOs, networks or individuals, transcend both
national borders and objectives.
“Transnationalism” is increasingly used in the
case of economic (“transnational
corporations”), ethical, environmental or social
objectives (“Medicins sans Frontiers” and Green
Peace”), or ideological objectives (political
movements). In the cultural sector such terms as
“intercultural”, “multicultural”,
“cross-cultural” and
“transcultural” are also used. In this report
we try to take these conceptual distinctions into account.
Ultimately, however, we opted for
“transnational” as our preferred term in
relation to cultural c-operation projects. It fits with our
theme dealing with co-operation focussed on Europe, but not
limited to it.
We would like to thank VANIA's partners, networks,
colleagues in the field, training organisations and the
Leonardo da Vinci programme, which have made it possible to
produce this analysis. We strongly hope this will be the
start of a process that will help the cultural co-operation
sector to develop in Europe and play a creative role in our
multiple and changing world.
Jean
Pierre Deru,
Director
of the Fondation Marcel Hicter