EUROPEAN ARTS AND HUMANITIES STUDENTS (AHS) FACE CHALLENGES WITH ACCESSING GRADUATE LEVEL EMPLOYMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPPORTUNITIES. THESE COURSES TYPICALLY DO NOT HAVE A DIRECT ROUTE TO THE JOB MARKET, REFLECTED IN HIGHER UNEMPLOYMENT AND LOWER SALARIES. THERE CAN BE A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE FROM ACADEMICS ABOUT ALIGNING SUBJECT EXPERTISE WITH WIDER INDUSTRY NEED AS WELL AS A LACK OF RECOGNITION BY BUSINESSES OF THE WIDER BENEFITS AND SKILL SETS OF AHS GRADUATES.
DEDICATED SUPPORT IN HEIS FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY HAS BEEN MAINLY FOCUSED ON BUSINESS,ECONOMICS AND ICT FACULTIES (UBI). AHS STUDENTS COME FROM A VERY DIFFERENT STARTING POINT, WITH EDUCATION AND SKILLS THAT DO NOT MEETINDUSTRY NEEDS IN AN OBVIOUS WAY. THE AHS PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMME WAS DEVELOPED TO IMPROVE THE LONG‐TERMENTREPRENEURIAL AND PROFESSIONAL PROSPECTS FOR AHS STUDENTS.
PROJECT
AHEH PROJECT HAS CREATED A NEW EUROPEAN NETWORK OF ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS AND INTER‐DISCIPLINARY BUSINESSES THAT ENABLES AHS STUDENTS, FACULTIES AND ENTREPRENEURS TO SHARE KNOWLEDGE AND OVERCOME CHALLENGES; FOR EXAMPLE, IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES, DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS AND ACCESSING GRADUATE‐LEVEL EMPLOYMENT.
Download the training handbookPROGRAMME
Trainees Profiles
The AHs Professional Training Programme was designed for university students (from final year undergraduates to postgraduate) and researchers from different Arts and Humanities backgrounds.
Duration and Structure
The AHs Professional Training Programme was prepared to be delivered in 5 days but it can be adapted and restructured, depending on the needs and conditions of the promoter (for example, the promoter might choose to deliver only one session of the whole programme or adapt it to integrate with other programmes). Should this be the option of the promoting organization, the AHEH network are available to offer guidance and assistance.
Day 1 to 4
Morning
Workshop activities including presentations and hands-on exercises.
Afternoon
Inspirational “Meet the professionals” session (30 min.), followed by group work andmentoring (according to each group’s needs).
Day 5
Morning
Groups have time to rehearse their final presentations. Pitch session and selection of the best project/ presentation by a panel of juries.
Afternoon
Networking lunch and wrap up.
MAIN GOALS
Workshop sessions ideally should all be delivered during the morning period, so that students have time to work on their projects and consult with experienced AHs professionals (mentors) during the afternoon period each day. Each day, there should also be a moment for AHs professionals to share their experiences and advice with the students (max. 30 minutes including Q&A).
By the end of the training programme, the students should be able to:
- Understand team dynamics and how their skills can contribute to a particular project development;
- Develop a communication strategy (namely, how to structure a website and manage their social media presence);
- Do project planning and iteration, namely, through the use of the Creative Project Canvas and other tools;
- Structure a pitch presentation and find the best way to deliver it;
- Understand the basics of intellectual property (particularly, copyright) and how to use it strategically according to their projects’ goals;
- Understand and apply techniques to take control of their own physical presence (namely, speech and posture), in order to improve their presentations;
- Deliver a short, lively and clear pitch presentation of their project.
Besides these goals, students, teachers, hub managers and business experts should also benefit from expanding their professional networks and, therefore, their future opportunities forcollaboration.
Outline of the programme
For a 5 day duration programme, with a group of 25 students, the recommended outline has been defined as follows.
All the modules
For a 5 day duration programme, with a group of 25 students, the recommended outline has been defined as follows.
Module 1
Initiation & Ideation
Ice-breaking session where students introduce themselves
and discuss their goals and expectations about the programme through a series of interactive exercises. This is followed by team-building exercises to define the working groups. At the end of the session, challenges are presented and, through design thinking strategies, teams should be able to decide and briefly present the dea they will be developing throughout the rest of the days.
Module 2
Creative Project Planning
During this day, the groups learn how to use project planning basic concepts and tools, namely the Creative Project Canvas, in order to develop their project structure/ business model (depending on the challenge they chose). The Creative Project Canvas is the tool suggested for the groups to during the entire training week, to plan and reflect on theproject/solution/prototype to be delivered at the end of the pilot.
Go to the module 2Module 3
Intellectual Property and Strategy for CulturalProfessionals
After a brief introduction about the characteristics of cultural markets’ structures and dynamics(particularly those of cultural work), students will learn the basics of intellectual property (with special focus on copyright) and how such regulations can affect their work (projects, business or career wise). In the second part of the session, through a series of examples of AH projects (businesses and non-profit), they will be introduced to other differentiation factors and how they can strategically use them in their projects in order to reach their own goals more effectively.
Go to the module 3Module 4
Communication and Pitch
The Pitch and Communication session starts with some pitch warm-up exercises, so the teams can test a first approach to present their projects to each other.
They learn how to structure and deliver a good 5 minutes pitch and also about essential communication rules and techniques that will help them define the communication strategy for their projects.
As the day ends, a series of drama exercises allow students to learn and test their most natural and important communication tool: their own bodies.
Module 5
Body as Communication Device
In this session, participants are introduced to ideas and exercises that explore presence in relation to the body as a communicative devise and they are invited to partake in a number of exercises.
Go to the module 5Module 6
Meet The Professionals
Depending on the chosen format/ duration of the programme, you can choose to include “Meet the Professionals” short sessions involving your guest entrepreneurs/ mentors.
Go to the module 6Module 7
Final Pitch Day
In the final day, the teams will present their 5 minutes pitch to a panel of 5 juries, who will give feedback on the project and the presentation performance and decide which team is the winner.
Go to the module 7SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
A strong social programme to keep the engagement and enhance the network effects among all participants throughout the training week/days is highly recommended. Besides collective lunch breaks, informal evening gatherings should happen regularly and cultural activities (such as guided city tours, exhibitions or performances) should be organised whenever possible. Such activities contribute to reinforce team building, knowledge sharing and networking, increasing opportunities not only for the projects being developed during the training but also for further collaborations beyond the
period of the programme.
RESOURCES ANDLINKS
☞ Arts and HumanitiesEntrepreneurship Hubs project website
www.artshumanitieshub.eu
☞ Creative Project Canvas
www.creativeprojectcanvas.com
☞ Artenprise Project
training.artenprise.eu
☞ NESTA Creative Enterprise Toolkit
www.nesta.org.uk/toolkit/creative-enterprise-toolkit
☞ Creative Commons Toolkit for Business
business-toolkit.creativecommons.org
☞ Method Kit Canvas
www.methodkit.com
☞ Human Centered Design
www.designkit.org/human-centered-design
☞ Artslog – from artists to artists
www.artslog.com
☞ Copyright Basics
certificates.creativecommons.org/cccertedu/chapter/2-1-copyright-basics
☞ Copywrong performance
copywrong-cc.tumblr.com
☞ Ecosystemapp Project
ecosystemapp.net
☞ The Business Model Theatre video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLKqthJOdN8
☞ Patsy Rodenburg – The Second Circle Lecture, Michael Howard Studios NYC, 2008.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ub27yeXKUTY
☞ Marina Ambramovic – ‘An Art made of Trust, Vulnerability & Connection, Ted Talk, 2015
www.ted.com
AHEH PROJECT PARTNERS
● University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UK)
● Coastal Housing (UK)
● Link Campus University (Italy)
● MateraHub (Italy)
● Faculty of Humanities of Rijeka (Croatia)
● University of Alcalá (Spain)
● Innogate to Europe (Spain)
● University of Porto (Portugal)
● UPTEC (Portugal)
● Xamk University (Finland)
● Pink Eminence (Finland)
● IT Carlow (Ireland)
● Visual (Ireland)