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1. Acquiring cultural and creative competences through education and training

2. Specialised training for professionals in the education, culture and youth fields

3. Providing quality access to creative environments

Acquiring cultural and creative competences through education and training

Formal education

Creativity appears in the National Core Curriculum's [(Nemzeti Alaptanterv) referred hereinafter to as NCC] key competencies as a cross-curricular development goal. Furthermore, the following key competencies explicitly relate to the concept:

• Communication competencies (mother tongue and foreign language),
• digital competencies,
• personal and social competencies,
• employee, innovation and entrepreneur competences.

Art is taught through specific classes related to

• music,
• drama and dance,
• visual culture, and
• video culture and media literacy.

In addition, in the learning area of technology, design and digital culture appears in the topics addressed.

Non-formal education

As mentioned above, the system of basic cultural care related to community culture emphasises learning outside the school context, and the NCC also highlights the role of acquiring experiences in the field of arts and creativity in cultural institutions. Many museums offer museum educational activities for children such as the Hungarian Natural History Museum, which has interactive learning programmes for all age groups, or the Petőfi Literary Museum, which has an online lesson possibility for school-aged children. In addition to the programmes already mentioned, there are many smaller-scale initiatives led by NGOs or cultural institutions. Some innovative examples can be found in the conference proceedings of the 2017 ELTE Workshop for Arts Education.

Specialised training for professionals in the education, culture and youth fields

The Community Coordination programme has introduced as a BA level education in the field of cultural management (offered since 2016). The Cultural Community Coordination specialisation (Közösségszervezés BA, Kulturális közösségszervezés szakirány) enables its graduates to create community development processes for self-organising activities of local communities. The main fields of the specialisation include

• community culture,
• culture mediation and
• community development.

Started in 2023 autumn, an MA level education in cultural mediation is also available (Kulturális mediáció MA).

Trainings on art education and art therapy

The most relevant training programmes related to the use of art in education are those focusing on art education and/or art therapy. These are mostly postgraduate or continuing education programmes, such as the postgraduate specialised training in theatre pedagogy offered by several Hungarian universities.

The University of Pécs Faculty of Music and Visual Arts offers postgraduate training on art therapy (Művészetterápia szakirányú továbbképzés), whereas the John Wesley Theological College has a postgraduate training of complex art therapy. The ELTE University offers a continuing education programme on Museum Education.

Several higher education institutions provide education to become a professional in the cultural sector. The most important ones, regarding visual arts, include the

• Hungarian University of Fine Arts (Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem);
• Kodály Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music (Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem Kodály Intézet);
• Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem);
• University of Theatre and Film Arts (Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem).

These institutions offer the following courses:

• MA level education of visual educators, 
• Graduate degree education in music pedagogy,
• MA programmes in design and art management, 
• visual art education, and
• a drama instructor BA programme (which was last launched in 2022).

An initiative in 2024, is a further education programme launched by Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Radnóti Theatre, titled Introduction to action methods 1 - challenges in the classroom, at school targeting teachers of primary and secondary education. The programme aims at the education and practice of different socio-dramatic action methods that could help teachers to solve communication problems between teachers, parents and students.

Providing quality access to creative environments

'AGORA' places

The most relevant programmes are connected to the system of community culture and have been mentioned before. (For more information see sub-chapter 8.4 Promoting culture and cultural participation.) The role of AGORA is unquestionable when approaching access to creative environments. AGORAs were designed as

'multifunctional community centres and community culture institutions which are suitable to operate in a way that integrates community culture; education and adult education, and experience features in a specifically created built environment.' (Németh, 2013)

The Youth Cultural Festival of the Carpathian Basin

An important event specifically targeted for showcasing young people's projects in arts is 'Kultivál' (The Youth Cultural Festival of the Carpathian Basin). During the festival young artists – painters, photographers, actors, musicians – from Hungary and from the neighbouring countries where ethnic Hungarians live, have the opportunity to

• learn,
• network and
• present.

In 2022 'Kultivál' was organized by the Hungarian Ethnic Cultural Institute in Slovenia, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Innovation and by the Slovenian Ministry of Culture ('Kultivál', 2022).

Pannon Unifest

Another youth culture festival is the Pannon Unifest (Pannon UniFest), where talented young Hungarian artists can

• meet,
• perform,
• learn and
• compete.

Other events

In addition, there are many events organised by municipal governments, educational, cultural and other institutions that offer young artists the opportunity to present themselves, but these (with the exception of educational institutions) rarely focus explicitly on young artists. An excellent example of a market initiative where many young design artists can present is WAMP, a design and fashion fair, where emerging Hungarian designers can showcase their works.