Helping artists with fewer opportunities to learn and explore digital media – together
The use of digital media has rapidly changed in the past few years. This means it is increasingly harder for media education to keep up and ensure that people can use and read the digital media to its fullest potential.
The Professional Media Presence project (PMP) focuses on co-creating and offering tools and opportunities for European artists, to claim their digital professional space by learning and exploring together. The project invites artists from various backgrounds to seminars, workshops, and residencies to listen and share their experiences and ideas, and to learn from not only experts, but from each other.
We want to attract and engage artists that might find fewer opportunities to collaborate or work. They might face extra challenges due to e.g. social prejudice, limited financial resources, bodily or sensory restrictions or other challenging life situations. Together we create a safe space for co-creation, as well as expressing and discussing important topics. As a result, we will have a better and safer digital tomorrow for all artists to support their professional development and careers.
Co-creating, discussing and learning together
The project engages artists from various backgrounds to seminars, workshops, and residencies to listen to their experiences and ideas, and to learn from not only experts, but from each other.
The real obstacles artists face
The project aims to attract and engage artists that might find fewer opportunities to collaborate or work. They might face extra challenges due to e.g. social prejudice, limited financial resources, bodily or sensory restrictions.
Together we create a safe space for co-creation, as well as expressing and discussing important topics. As a result, we will have a better and safer digital tomorrow for all artists to support their professional development and careers.
Professional Media Presence project is co-funded by the Creative Europe.
What are we doing and offering?
During the project we are working with a wide range of experts together with artists. We organise online seminars, workshops, offer international residencies which all lead to the culmination of the PMP project with an open source digital/online toolkit for all those interested in developing their professional media presence. Check these out:
The “Professional Media Practices for Artists” toolkit is the main outcome of PMP project. It is a collection of best practices, methods, and practical examples of professional media practices for artists and creative organizations. It will work as a guidebook to discovering the most efficient professional “digital self” and enable claiming one’s own digital space. It also presents different media channels and new technologies, specifies their purposes, and provides guidelines and help for co-operation. It will guide appropriate media readership and behavior. It will also work as an educational method for formal art educating as well as a support tool for informal art pedagog.
The toolkit will be based on the contents created throughout the PMP, following the From Artists to Artists Approach (FATAA). The National Artist Teams will work on the toolkit development throughout the whole project, with multiple approaches. The toolkit will be a co-creation of artists from 7 European countries.
The toolkit will be openly available online, with translations in English, Finnish/Swedish, Slovakian, Italian, Spanish, Croatian and Maltese. Toolkit will provide tools that help artists wherever they are. It will also include materials for both formal and non-formal arts media pedagogy, enabling the usage of the toolkit in different countries with different arts education practices.
National Artist Teams (NATs) are first and foremost artists focused on collaborating inside their local groups and as importantly between the 7 PMP partners’ artists located in 6 different EU countries. They exist in collectives, clubs, gatherings, or interest groups who wish to learn, share, have conversations and co-create together with other artists. They consist of artists who are interested in the international development of their careers, despite not having as many opportunities for their career development as some others. They are artists with diverse backgrounds, including those with fewer opportunities (due to e.g. minority status, societal, financial, or geographical challenges, disability, ethnicity or any other reason).
National Artist Teams gather monthly to discuss art, current topical issues, to co-create, to learn from one another and expert lectures, to have pizza, positive energy and peer-support. The final structure and content of the NAT gatherings will be decided by the artists themselves. At the end of the PMP project, an international, multi-media and multi-art exhibition will take place simultaneously in 6 locations around Europe. All NAT artists will get an opportunity to showcase their art at the exhibition.
The NAT members are eligible to apply to the Professional Media Presence Workshop Weeks. The travelling, accommodation and food will be supported for these weeks, and a per diem will be paid to the artists. At these workshop weeks, NAT members will have the opportunity to collaborate with the NATs from other project countries. They will create methods and raw material for the PMP toolkit. The workshop-week participants are eligible to apply for a 2-month residency, where they will get to develop the toolkit materials further, as well as work on their own art.
NAT Open Call Round 2 is open from August 11 – October 15th, 2023. You can find more information here.
We will organise 5 online expert seminars. Those are all led by recognised experts in their field related to the 5 Themes (see below). In addition to the members of the National Artists Team and the project staff, online seminars are open to all other interested participants. Online seminars are basis for the work in the following Workshops Weeks. It all ties in together, different activies support each other and help deepen the understanding and skills.
Each Online Seminar is followed by a Workshop Week. FATAA (see below) media methods and practices suited for artists are used to share best practices with each other, and to discuss with fellow artists ways how the lessons learned in the Online Seminars can be transformed into their professional lives and into useful and helpful methods. These methods will be captured and shared in articles, podcast series and the Toolkit. Guest presenters will stimulate dialogue and discussion related to the Workshop Weeks’ themes. Workshop weeks will be held in Finland (fall 2023), Italy (spring 2024), Slovakia (fall 2024), Spain (spring 2025) and Croatia (fall 2025).
All participants in the Workshop Weeks are eligible to apply for the 2-Month Artist Residency which comes after each workshop. They will be held in Finland (fall 2023 and fall 2024), Italy (spring 2024), Spain (spring 2025) and Croatia (fall 2025) where the PMP partners will host two selected international NAT artists at each residency.
Each Online Seminar and Workshop Week is followed by a 2-month residencies around the Europe. All international NAT artists who have been selected and participated in the previous workshop week can apply and two will be selected for the following 2-month residency for working together in the creation of a chapter for the Toolkit and to showcase their work internationally.
Residencies will be held in Finland (fall 2023 and fall 2024), Italy (spring 2024), Spain (spring 2025) and Croatia (fall 2025)
At the end of the PMP project, an international, multi-media and multi-art exhibition will take place simultaneously in 6 locations around Europe. All NAT artists will get an opportunity to showcase their art at the exhibition.
During the project we will write 5 academic and professional articles about the PMP work for the academic and professional art-, education-, youth- and/or media journals.
A podcast series with minimum of 15 episodes about different topics related to art, media and professional presence will be produced during the workshop events and published in various digital platforms. Topics for the podcast series can be for example; Media and Accessibility; Representation and Respect; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion or Being an Arts JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion). The podcast series is part of the continuous dissemination of the project results and one of the ways we want to ensure easy access to the material for everyone.
There will be open access online MOOC courses with the seminars as the main content. These will enable participation for anyone with an internet connection and an opportunity to offer official certificates for the participants.
FATAA From-Artist-To- Artist-Approach is based on peer learning, co-development, and co-creation in an impactful, inclusive and discussive manner.
Workshops, online seminars and all other project activities are built on five themes:
- Media & Art
- Online Media & Digital Storytelling
- Social Media & Media Readership
- Future Media
- Media and Professional Identity
Project members
PMP project unites 7 different sized partners from six different EU countries. The project is built upon partner organisations the exchange of expertise, conversations, and shared recognition of the need for better media education amongst the creative sector.
The consortium complements one another bringing together different-sized organizations from different sectors with different expertise. We have people with insight and connections from the creative sector, as well as development work expertise from both formal and non-formal sectors to make ensure that the project benefits reach as many artists as possible. All partners have strong networks to local artists with disadvantaged backgrounds and fewer opportunities.
- 1. COO: Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland)
- 2. Lapland University of Applied Sciences (Finland)
- 3. Youth for Equality (Slovakia)
- 4. Espronceda (Spain)
- 5. Perypezye Urbane (Italy)
- 6. Culture Hub (Croatia)
- 7. Prisms (Malta)
Funder
Professional Media Presence project is co-funded by the European Union´s Creative Europe program.
