Newsletter four 2021

Dear friends and partners of EDUCULT,

Changing politics presents a window of opportunity for changes in general. The cultural sector regularly gets little political attention, which allows for budget increases to go unnoticed, as recently happened at the federal level in Austria. The other side of the coin however is that when a budget cut happens, few notice except a small number of interest groups. Most of the time, however, it is neither of the two options, but a resigned stagnation. So that’s over for now – one might think. Let us hope so. The signs are good. A look at Germany shows that the funding systems are being questioned, new ideas are finding a place and the artist as an individual with questions of social security is being moved back into the centre. Part of this is “Fair Pay”, as it is currently getting a major boost in Austria.

A look at the education systems in Europe though gives less hope. Change is traditionally more difficult here, currently also strongly dampened by Covid-19 regulations that demand full administrative attention. A study conducted by EDUCULT in the province of Salzburg, which has now been published in German, began before the pandemic and found the province as having an extremely active arts education scene. One and a half years later, however, things look much more challenging. During the crisis, arts educators are struggling with schools closed to outsiders and a lack of support tools. Activity in schools has dropped sharply. In addition, fewer and fewer resources are allocated to the arts, whether in the curriculum or in teacher training at teacher training colleges. Digitalisation and STEM subjects are the focus of the federal Ministry of Education. A shift to STEAM, i.e. the integration of the arts, is a long way off. A mistake, we think. And unfortunately a topic that completely disappears in the political discourse. It is time to urgently change that. Let us not wait.

Your EDUCULT Team

EDUCULT IN ACTION provides current information on our projects.

EDUCULT TALKS introduces people with diverse backgrounds.

EDUCULT IN EXCHANGE informs about international exchange and co-operations.

EDUCULT INFORMS about international affairs, projects and meetings.

Wimmer’s Quarterly

Our Jobs are no Longer Our Lives

A few days ago, a comment by Karin Bauer appeared in the Standard that made my ears prick up. She reported on a recent survey by the US insurer Breeze, according to which 65% of Americans would be willing to give up at least five percent of their income if they could stay in the home office. 15% would even accept a loss of up to a quarter of their pay. Half of traditional office workers would be willing to quit their jobs if they not given the opportunity to work from home (see breeze 2021: To remain remote, employees are willing to give up benefits, PTO, & salary). [read more]

EDUCULT in Action

URB_ART

In October 2021 we had the pleasure to travel to Reykjavík to hold a partner meeting for URB_ART. The project aims to support adults from socio-economically disadvantaged communities through activities and concepts of Urban Arts Education. In Iceland we reflected on the work of the „Baseline Survey on transdisciplinary and multilingual Urban Arts Education”, which was published. We also focused on planning the next steps of the project, such as a compendium of storytelling resources and an in-service training package in the framework of Urban Arts Education. [read more]

SoPHIA

At the end of September 2021, the project consortium met in Dublin for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. The meeting was especially dedicated to the exchange with stakeholders on the main results of the project. In particular, this is the SoPHIA model for impact assessment in the field of cultural heritage, which EDUCULT helped develop and which will be published this autumn. Building on this, a toolkit for applying the model as well as policy recommendations will be formulated and published in the coming months. [read more]

Independent Performing Arts and COVID-19

The study has been completed and the first results were presented at Radialsystem Berlin in September. This is followed in early November by another presentation and discussion at the Akademie der Künste Berlin together with other academics who have done research on the topic of independent performing arts. [read more]

BOOST

After creating a first draft of a benchmark tool that aims to support education providers in amateur arts and culture in promoting social inclusion and accessibility in their work and events, we are now in the testing phase. In the context of practice methods, EDUCULT acts as a consulting partner for practitioners. In October 2021, we had the pleasure to travel to Poland to meet with our Polish and Slovenian partner organisations and stakeholders to plan the process for the practice methods, the output of which will be a video. [read more]

New Pathways for German-Turkish Youth Exchange

The project is currently in the main phase of evaluation. The evaluation entails participant observation in various workshops of the three projects, as well as interviews with stakeholders, those who worked on the projects, and the participants. Following a mixed-method design, data from a document analysis will be triangulated with data obtained through quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. [read more]

Multilingual Rhetoric Contest “SAG’S MULTI!” 2021/22

The project was taken on by the ORF in 2020 and continues to receive organisational support from EDUCULT. The registration phase for “SAG’S MULTI!” 2021/22 will run from 1 October to 7 November 2021. This year, the preliminary round of the competition will also be conducted digitally. This means that participation in the preliminary round will be through video submissions of speeches. The main round and final round are planned to take place in front of an audience and jury at schools in the provinces (main round) and ORF studios (final round). Participants can upload the videos for the preliminary round until 15 November. [read more]

EDUCULT Talks

The visual artist Yun Wang was born in China and lives and works in Vienna. After originally coming to Austria to study music, she decided to change plans and study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. Between June and September 2021, she showed some of her works at the “Salon of Cultures” in the exhibition “WOS HOST G’SOGT?” at EDUCULT. In a video conversation with EDUCULT she talks about her work, life in Vienna and what her art means to her. [read more]

EDUCULT in Exchange

D/Arts

In October another event series of the recently formed initiative D/Arts took place. D/Arts is aiming to diversify the arts and cultural sector in Vienna by provoking discussion, forming networks and alliances, providing educational activities and researching the field. EDUCULT has been a part of the platform since its beginning in spring 2021 and has been happy to participate in recent events. Please follow the initiative via the website or social media to be updated on further events. [read more]

AER-V

In September we had the pleasure to host our partners from FAIE (Poland), COOSS (Italy) and Future World Centre (Cyprus) in Vienna as part of the Erasmus+ project. Right Challenge (Portugal) and Interfolk (Denmark) joined our meeting online. The project aims to develop recommendations for the certification and validation of the skills and competences of international project managers working in civil society organisations in the field of adult education. In addition to productive hybrid meetings at the MQ Vienna, we introduced our guests to Viennese cuisine and skittles.

EDUCULT Informs

ENCATC Members Talks

On 29 October 2021 (14:00-15:30 CEST) the 20th ENCATC Members Talk will focus on “How to overcome the challenge of accessibility in a physical and human wellbeing sense?” The aim of this event is for participants to shed light on best practices from European projects and initiatives and provide participants with practical ideas and examples they can use and implement immediately. In the framework of this Members Talk, accessibility is understood as physical accessibility and accessibility for people with disabilities. It will also be the opportunity to explore digitalisation and how it can contribute to remote accessibility. [read more]

Accessible Communication: Clear Language and Design

Errors in communication (visual and written) are common and repeated and continue to prevent visitors form having access to the content of exhibitions and other media. Museum professionals and designers complain about a mutual misunderstanding as to the role and responsibilities of each party. This online seminar via Zoom on 8 and 9 November 2021, aims to better understanding our public’s needs and how those working in the planning and communication of content can contribute towards answering efficiently and affordably those needs. [read more]

A Cultural Deal for Europe – Annual Policy Conversation

Culture Action Europe (CAE), the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), Europa Nostra, also in its capacity as coordinator of the European Heritage Alliance and Bozar – the Centre for Fine Arts, are pleased to invite you to join the Annual Policy Conversation A Cultural Deal for Europe, to be held in a hybrid format – at Bozar, Brussels and online – on 18 November 2021 from 15:00 to 18:00 CET. [read more]

13^th Eastern Neighbours Film Festival

Eastern Neighbours Film Festival presents the best recent films from East and Southeast Europe, from countries with a small but often powerful cinema production. The 13th edition of ENFF will be hosted on-site, starting on 26 November 2021. With a new selection of films and guests of honour, the festival will celebrate filmmakers who bring originality, knowledge and better understanding of their culture. An important part of the program consists of the OnTour screenings. This year the festival will visit cinemas in Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Nljmgen and Utrecht. [read more]

Conference on the Future of Europe

The European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission have committed to listen to Europeans and to follow up, within their sphere of competencies, on the recommendations made. European citizens, from all walks of life and corners of the Union, with young people are playing a central role in shaping the future of the European project. The first step to making your voice heard is registering on the Conference on the Future of Europe platform. Once you log in, it’s time to join the discussion. [read more]

European Partnership for an Innovative Campus Unifying Regions

EPICUR, the European University Alliance, belongs to the first generation of European Alliances to pilot a new way of intensifying collaboration among Higher Education institutions through the creation of a European University. Since November 2019, the teams in the eight universities of the alliance are working together to test and experiment different approaches to make this vision a reality. This is through multilingualism and safeguarding and strengthening European linguistic diversity, through student-centred learning and collaborative teaching formats inspired by a Liberal Arts and Science approach, through service-learning and research based internships closely connected to our regional eco-systems, and through imagining and facilitating new forms of mobility (physical, virtual, blended) available within an EPICUR inter-university campus. [read more]

Arab Culture and Arts Network – ACAN

ACAN is an independent, non-profit organization established in 2020 during the Coronavirus pandemic crisis on the initiative of cultural activists. The organization was formed with the aim of networking individuals and cultural and artistic institutions, for cultural solidarity and opening a link and channels for the exchange of events, festivals, and experiences in art and culture in the Arab region and opening cultural bridges in the Middle East. [read more]