8.6 Developing entrepreneurial skills through culture
Developing entrepreneurial skills through cultural activities
The creative industry is taken into account in the document Vision and Strategy of Development of Slovakia up to 2030 (a long-term strategy for sustainable development of Slovak Republic).
Cultural investment contributes to wider policy goals and the strong vision by the MoC to associate its policy efforts in a multi-disciplinary dimension by pooling resources from other stakeholders:
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other Ministries, notably the Ministry of Economy and related agencies (the Slovak Business Agency and the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency); the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth; the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs;
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cultural institutions (notably the AV Fund and Arts Council which operate on the arm's length principle in respect to the MoC) and other national organisations (Intellectual Property Office);
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self-governing regions.
It is stated that the potential of the value of culture and creative industry is insufficiently used in Slovakia. Employment in culture and creative industry in 2016 accounted for only 2.5% of total employment, with the EU average at 3.7%. In Slovakia, however, the share of the creative industries in employment is less than 1%, which is below the lower limit of employment in the creative industries in the EU (2018). In the case of the employment indicator in the creative industries, the Art Education sector has the highest continuous share in the observed period, in which the number of employed persons ranges from 3 181 (2013) to 3 714 (Cultural Industries in Slovakia Report, 2020).
Measures have also been proposed to remove barriers to the further development of the CCI, which also affect youth education (Policy Recommendations to Creative Slovakia, 2020):
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Reinforce arts, culture and creativity in formal education at schools and universities to reach and educate future talent as well as audiences, including:
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Promote specialised training for art teachers at schools and art universities to understand the potential of digital media and new technology, establish links with local creative hubs for CIs entrepreneurs.
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Review curricula to ensure that arts education is adapted to the evolution of popular/contemporary arts, for instance by taking into consideration new music genres (such as pop / rock music, electronic music), mass media culture, digital media studies also with a view to grow new audience for Slovak cultural content (music festivals, animation, serious gaming);
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Modernise curricula to improve digital media literacy in schools and arts universities (numeracy, coding, digital design in 2D/3D, creative storytelling fits for transmedia, virtual reality and augmented reality) to train the next generation of professionals in digital media (e.g. animators, game developers, technicians in special effects, audio and video specialists, graphic designers, advertising);
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Support programs for on-the-job training and exchanges between students and CI businesses and increase opportunities for young people to work in the cultural sector starting with volunteering or internships, also via EU programmes such as Erasmus, European Volontary Programme, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, i-Portunus artists’ mobility and others.59 This will also contribute to building bridges between education/skills and employment of young people and foster young people’s active citizenship;
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Enable artistic intervention in schools as well as youngster’s attendance at cultural events with a view to stimulate imagination, creativity and curiosity;
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Consider partnership with the video games industry to develop games for education (serious gaming, edutainment). This will also contribute to improve the social recognition of video games as useful tools for education against the perceived negative influence video games might have on users.
Policies, in association with the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth, are required to modernise the school curricula and the teaching of the Arts. Arts education should include the development of media literacy. To remain attractive to investment and provide capacity it is important to nurture the training of technicians and creatives notably in AV industries and digital media. The development of the capacity of cultural entrepreneurs to manage finance, marketing or understand the value and management of intellectual property also requires more consideration.
Recommendations in the field of education are included in the Implementation Plan of the Cultural Spending Review 2021-2025.
The National Cultural Centre conducts competitions for children and young people:
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AMFO - a nationwide progressive competition and exhibition of amateur photographic work. The main goal of the competition is to acquire knowledge, develop skills, visual literacy and artistic growth of individuals through knowledge, implementation and presentation of photographic work.
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CINEAMA - a nationwide progressive competition and screening of amateur filmmaking. The target group are children, young people and adults who compete in three age groups and in several genre categories: documentary, reportage, feature film, animated film, experiment, video clip, minute film. CINEAMA helps to develop talent, artistic creativity, talent and also technical skills in the field of amateur filmmaking. It creates a space for the artistic representation of reality, for the author's expression of opinions, attitudes, experiences of filmmakers. The best awarded works are nominated for a selection, from which the jury will create a non-competitive collection presented at the Czech national competition Czech Video Salon and a collection for the world competition of amateur films UNICA.
Support young entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative sectors
In 2019, The Ministry of Culture of Slovak Republic announced a call for creating Cultural-creative centers.
Funds from IROP, priority 3 Mobilization of creative potential in the regions, which is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, will be obtained for the construction of creative centers by the city of Trenčín, Trnava and Košice self-governing regions and Radio and television of Slovakia branch in Banská Bystrica. The common goal of the planned Cultural-creative centers is to increase employment in the cultural and creative industry. They will be created after reconstruction and modernization in existing buildings. Their goal will be to develop the creative potential of students and graduates of the arts and creatives, creative workers, artists, the liberal professions, as well as entrepreneurs and other persons in the cultural and creative industry. In addition to building infrastructure, they will also invest in the development of non-profit organizations, public and academic sector organizations and services based on the requirements of their region.
These are complex projects that combine investments such as construction and innovative technologies with so-called soft expenses, such as training and counseling. Therefore, steady drawing of funds is expected until 2023, when the projects must be implemented.
Approved projects:
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the city of Trenčín,
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approved amount of non-refundable financial contribution: 7,598,279.20 €
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the Star Centre for Cultural and Creative Potential will provide studios and art incubators. It will house activities from various areas of the cultural and creative industry, from cultural heritage, through architecture, design, to fine arts, theater, folklore, film and music.
2. Kreatívne centrum Trnava (the Trnava Creative Centre)
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approved amount of non-refundable financial contribution: 7 672 664,85 €
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the Trnava Creative Center will create conditions for the development of various areas of the cultural and creative industry. The planned FabLab, Dielňa and Media Lab, for example, will offer machines for fashion design and textile production, or a graphic workplace with professional technology for virtual reality and other services.
3. Kreatívne centrum Košického kraja (the Creative center of the Košice region)
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approved amount of non-refundable financial contribution: 17 992 625,22 €
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the creative center of the Košice region will focus mainly on new media (media art) and design. It will also provide space for development in projects in the fields of crafts, performing arts, visual arts and cultural heritage. It will support new and existing business plans in the cultural and creative industries.
4. Kreatívne centrum RTVS Banská Bystrica (Creative center RTVS Banská Bystrica)
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approved amount of non-refundable financial contribution: 10 185 653,54 €
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the RTVS Banská Bystrica Creative Center wants to develop the cultural and creative industry in the audiovisual field in Banská Bystrica region. In addition to the audiovisual industry, it will also focus on related creative activities, such as graphic work, video game development, software applications and more.
Since 2011, Anténa has been developing educational activities in the field of working with light and lighting design under the heading School of Lighting Design. Since 2017, Anténa has been organizing educational workshops called Anténa WORKS! As part of building the capacity of employees of independent cultural centers and following the example of the Trans Europe Halles network, a project of exchanges of employees in culture between individual cultural centers was launched (Staff Exchange). In 2020, for the first time, Anténa organized a professional conference on the topics of independent culture management under the heading Antenna CONFERENCE.