When thinking about future perspectives for the Cultural and Creative Sector (CCS) beyond the COVID-19 crisis, a return to the ‘old normal’ is not considered a viable option. Given the vulnerabilities that characterised the sectors already pre-COVID-19, the crisis has provided a unique momentum to re-think dominant structures and practices and to experiment with possible alternatives, often in intra- and inter-sectoral collaboration.
The “Paint the Bit” project mainly wants to grasp some critical aspects of the arts and culture sector, exacerbated by the global pandemic from at an early stage. For many CCS workers, such as artists and freelancers, the cultivation of their professional networks done during events, fairs and festivals is crucial to attract new work and to secure future income but most of these were cancelled due to COVID-19.
An increased use of digital tools during the last two years raised concerns as well about the degree of digital skills of artists and CCS professionals and their readiness to digitise. While some digital formats and solutions were easy due to the availability of basic expertise, the uptake of digital solutions for competitive e-creation and e-distribution has not been an easy pathway to follow but it will be particularly this know-how to strongly influence their future success in business.
“Paint the Bit” redefines artistic and cultural creation in the digital age, forging innovative skills for inclusive production and distribution.
What Paint the Bit wants to achieve is:
to strengthen and contaminate the Cultural and Creative sector professionals’ skills for a digital, innovative and inclusive production and distribution;
to identify new job profiles and define a VET curricula that helps better respond to the current market framework of artistic and creative production;
to provide a blended training and capacity building path for CCS professionals that can help reinforce their digital and transferrable competences so that they can increase their efficiency and acquire career adaptive competences.