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SPACE (European mobility project) awarded by EU
IETM News - Europe - posted by IETM on 11.12.08
Nine national cultural institutions with an international policy and practice created a new platform, dedicated to Support the Performing Arts Circulation in Europe: SPACE. This platform has just been granted by the EU Commission under the line "Networking of existing structures supporting mobility in different cultural sectors", and IETM is one partner for this project, which will run between 2009 and 2011.
The members of SPACE share a position in between politics and the artistic field in their own countries, work as centres of information, promote the (performing) arts on a national and international level and are experienced in supporting and running European cultural projects. They share the belief that one of the cornerstones of a European Cultural Policy is to facilitate the circulation of (performing) arts across Europe, and also realize there are still a lot of imbalances in this transnational arts sphere, between countries, regions, artists, disciplines and cultural operators.
Partners of SPACE: ONDA (fr), VTI (be), TIN (nl), British Council (uk), ETI (it), Red House (bu), Arts Institute (cz), New Theatre Institute (lat), Pro Helvetia (ch), IETM (international), Team Network (international), La Belle Ouvrage (fr).
The SPACE project’s objective is to give priority to the mobility of arts productions and to combine cultural mobility with cultural diversity, European citizenship and investing in emerging generations. Still a young initiative, SPACE will enlarge the network while implementing the different activities of the multi-layered project.
In close cooperation with other networks and partners, SPACE is ready to run a project on 3 levels:
1. ‘Travelogue’ Data exchange & research
ONDA, IETM and ENICPA plan a research programme to map the current state of affairs in the international dissemination of performing arts productions and generate ideas for developing innovative models and instruments to create a more balanced situation;
- Technical work to develop guidelines and recommendations for linking, sharing, harmonizing and comparing data on a transnational level;
- ‘Travelogue’, an online prototype to be used for mapping the international mobility of performing arts works;
- Training sessions and a conference, aimed at institutional capacity building around standards and methods for linking, sharing and comparing data between countries and sectors.
2. Training and Development Pilot Programs
Approximately 100 emerging professionals from different European countries will be selected: performing arts programmers, tour managers, journalists, trainers and ‘creators of opportunity’. Each group will undergo an intensive and geographically mobile programme throughout Europe, that will be developed and run with the cooperation of other networks and organisations such as Team (performing arts magazines), NextStep (European festivals) and la Belle Ouvrage (trainers of cultural managers). The goal is to create a permanent and sustainable programme, that develops new visions of European cooperation.
Read here the call for applications for the first training session!
3. Institutional Capacity Building
Partners SPACE believe that institutions like the ones working together in this project, can play an important role in supporting cultural mobility and circulation in Europe, especially because they bring together national and European policy and practices. But the non-existence of this type of institution in some European countries is one of the asymmetries of the present situation. Therefore, part of the project is to enlarge SPACE with the inclusion of other existing institutions, and to support and stimulate new institutions, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, to play a role in creating opportunities for their national artists and art professionals to work on a European level.
Each of the 3 parts of the project has its own activities and objectives. The combination of the 3 will provide the data, experiences and practice which can be used to imagine and design a future EU programme to support the mobility and circulation of artistic works across Europe, in a way that existing imbalances can be addressed.
As a partner, IETM provides an overview of the ‘mobility landscape’ to the partners, and advises on key elements missing (and needed) in the EU cultural landscape, as well as current thinking and research at EU level. IETM’s continuing presence in EU level think tanks, reflection groups and platforms allows to inform the partners about current political and artistic issues, helpful in developing this project.
IETM’s will help to focus on a number of elements:
- Visibility and diffusion of the project and results via its two different newsletters and its website
- Interactive access to the project and its results for the professional sector, via working sessions in its annual Plenary Meetings and its series of Satellite Meetings in Europe.
- Continuation of the research and information project to collect, analyse and compare national
policies and programmes affecting arts mobility, which IETM piloted in May 2008 with the Flemish theatre Institute and some SPACE members.
- Opportunities for training professionals during IETM’s events, and identification of good trainers, and experience in training the trainers for mobility
- Provision of expertise within the network : 20 cultural institutes, arts councils, ministries + 400 very experienced member organisations from 45 countries, collaborating, co-producing and touring regularly in Europe and beyond.
If you would like to know more about this project, check the website: http://www.spaceproject.eu/ .
You can also read the mobility programme "networking structures supporting mobility" and find out which other projects have been awarded.
