1. AIM
“DigitACT: Developing Digital Skills for Young Actors and Young Performing Arts Technicians in the era of Pandemic” (2020-1-CY02-KA227-YOU-002025) is a transnational ERASMUS+ project which aims at intervening in the pandemic aftermath situation in performing arts. Specifically the project aims at supporting young performing arts professionals and technicians to adapt to the digitalization needs and evolution of their field as a means of setting up a sustainable and durable professional path for themselves and their working ecosystem. The two main pillars of the project are: a. creating advanced digital skills to both target groups in relation to digital broadcasting of their activity and work b. boosting personal digital promotion skills for young professionals. Young actors and technicians who are about to enter the respective job market or have just entered it, are facing huge difficulties in adapting to these new circumstances for which they were probably not sufficiently trained in their drama schools and faculties. In many countries, lots of plays were streamed through the web in very low quality, thus degrading the image of the artistic product and the artists themselves. On the other hand, young actors, who are now trying to build their professional profile, meaning their web presence (professional platforms, digital portfolios, digital networking spaces, digital CVs, audition videos, self-presentation during online interviews/auditions) will have to upgrade their digital skills as a manner of boosting their personal digital marketing skills, thus, enhancing their career development. DigitACT project addresses the above-mentioned needs helping young actors and young technicians to be better included in the performing arts job market which is undergoing a dramatic transformation. The project is carried out simultaneously in 5 EU countries: Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Italy. DigitACT is led by MITOS organization (Cyprus) and its duration is 24 months starting from May 2021.
2. TARGET GROUPS
Direct beneficiaries/participants:
- Young actors and performers
- Drama school graduates (about to enter the respective job market)
- Drama school students
- Young theatre and performing arts technicians
- Graduates of technical schools/faculties who wish to enter the performing arts sector
- Technical schools/faculties students who wish to enter the performing arts sector
Indirect beneficiaries/participants
- Theatre and performing arts associations, organisations and institutions
- Drama schools, performing arts training centers and trainers
- Cultural policy makers Performing arts audience General public
3. OBJECTIVES:
• To equip young professionals in the field of performing arts, namely actors/performers and technicians, with specialised digital skills in order to permit them to adjust their work methodologies and outcomes to the pandemic conditions and to upgrade their professional digital presence as a means of more efficient cyber networking (aligned with “Economic Dimension” priorities of the New European Agenda for Culture adopted by the European Commission in 2018) • To encourage the mobility (meaning the capacity of being virtually present wherever it is needed) of young professionals in the cultural sector and remove obstacles to their mobility, especially the ones imposed by the pandemic ( “Social Dimension” of New European Agenda for Culture)
• To boost job retention, job creation, career development and life-long learning for young professionals in the performing arts
• To spread the message of the urgent need for adapting to the new conditions among the culture and art sector and encourage stakeholders to take relevant initiatives in the partner countries.
• To support culture as an engine for sustainable social and economic development (“External Dimension” of the New European Agenda for Culture)
• To foster the cultural capability of all Europeans by making available a wide range of cultural activities and providing opportunities to participate actively ( “Social Dimension” of the New European Agenda for Culture)
4. OUTCOMES
PHASE 1
Extensive qualitative and quantitative research with the participation of performing arts professionals The research will lead the partnership to identify the new needs of this target group throughout the changes that the pandemic imposed.
PHASE 2
Once the needs have been identified, partners shall proceed with the creation of the below outcomes:
- 1 training curriculum for actors
- 1 training curriculum for technicians
- 1 training curriculum for Young Ambassadors (performing arts young professionals who will spread the project’s message in the sector)
- 5 workshops with 100 actors and 5 workshops with 50 technicians in total across the 5 partner countries
- 5 Training for 50 Young Ambassadors in the 5 partner countries
- 1 “DigitACT Pros” mobile app which will help professionals obtain a smart portfolio app to promote their work in different contexts.
- 5 National Pools and 1 EU pool of DigitACT Young Ambassadors
- 1 EU Charter for Digital Skills in Performing Arts (coalition for the promotion of digital skills within the performing arts sector)
- 1 international conference at the end of the project
For more information visit the website https://digitactproject.eu/