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Make it Happen: Community Building and Audience Development for the Future

Vienna, Austria
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Brendan Fox
Filip Hendrickx
Jolanda De Wit
Alessandro Balestrieri
Lucia Delgado
Laura David
Kira Halfmeier
Sophie Francois
Veerle Herssens
Kuldar Pajula
Maaike Tubex
Oksana Jacmenova
How should you engage with the society of tomorrow? Who is your current audience and who would you like them to be? And how can you create social impact that builds a sense of community and belonging in our crisis-ridden world? In this international training programme tailored to your needs, we provide the necessary skills and guide you from theory to practice. Participation is free of charge.

Higher cost of living, increased expectations, high competition, lower mobility willingness, audience decline – in a continued poly-crisis situation, socio-cultural organisations are confronted with changed cultural behaviour. To be future-proof, they need to fundamentally rethink their relationships with communities and audiences and the way they work.

The international training programme “FULCRUM – Make it happen: Community building and audience development for the future” supports you in this transformation process:  

  • You will gain knowledge on how to build a solid community around your organisation to support a sustainable development;

  • You will learn how you systematically collect relevant data and use it in practice for an audience development tailored to your needs; 

  • You will be guided by experts in identifying your future needs and understanding how to transform this knowledge into concrete and feasible steps within your own organisation to initiate necessary transformation processes;

  • You will meet, exchange and collaborate with colleagues from cultural organisations all over Europe that also want to rethink their work with and for their communities and audiences.

The programme is designed to build on your specific experiences, needs and interests, to ensure a relevant, tailor-made learning path. After the training academy in Vienna, trainers Niels Righolt from Center for Kunst Og Interkultur and Jonathan Goodacre from the Audience Agency will guide you in a series of learning labs to implement the changes you want to see in your own organisation.

  • May/June 2024: Needs analysis (online survey)
    Assessing the individual starting points and focus areas of participating organisations to tailor the content and design of the Training Academy to their needs.

  • September 18th-20th 2024: Training Academy in Vienna
    Two-and-a-half-day in-person training for skills development and networking

  • November 2024 – March 2025: Three Learning Labs (online)
    Feedback and support to guide implementation steps in practice

  • April 2025: Certification of participation 
    Certificates will be awarded to all trainees who completed the training

The working language of the programme is English, hence participants should be able to follow and participate actively in discussions in English.

Who can apply

The training programme specifically addresses staff members of socio-cultural organisations who are members of ENCC (Europe), ACC (Belgium), cult! (Belgium), Bundesverband Soziokultur (Germany), IG Kultur (Austria), Dire Fare Baciare (Italy), ACCE (Estonia) or ALCC (Latvia).

We will particularly welcome people from organisations that are already planning to tackle these issues in the near future. Our most important selection criteria are your willingness to put into practice what you learn in your daily work and to share your experience with fellow socio-cultural operators in your networks and communities, becoming “ambassadors” for audience development and community building. 

Financial and time cost

Participation in the programme is free. Travel and accommodation costs for attending the Training Academy in Vienna will be refunded, in compliance with our sustainable travel policy (you find it at the bottom of this page). 

Expected preparation time: besides the two-and-a-half-day training in presence and the three online learning labs lasting 2 to 3 hours, foresee a time investment of 2 to 3 days for preparing relevant information and implementing lessons learned during the whole training programme for your organisation. 

Application

Applications closed on May 7th. The announcement of selected participants will be made by May 22nd 2024.

Good to know: If you need assistance to apply, we’re happy to support you individually! We are also accepting applications via video or audio files, should filling out the online form pose a barrier to you. Contact us by writing an email to our capacity building manager at ingrid.danckaerts@encc.eu.

Selection Process

A total of 24 socio-cultural organisations from 8 countries (3 organisations per partner) will be selected. Only one representative per organisation can participate in the Training Academy in Vienna. The same representative should participate in the following online sessions.

Selection Criteria

  • Willingness of the organisation to implement and pursue necessary transformation processes;

  • Your willingness as the organisation's representative to share acquired knowledge and experiences in your respective regional context as an "ambassador" (e.g. in workshops, discussions, interviews);

  • Position in your organisation that allows you to enact change vith a view to ensuring the impact of the training;

  • Some previous knowledge of community building and audience development will be considered a plus;

  • Preferential treatment is given to applicants from vulnerable organisations and staff of organisations with fewer opportunities to participate in international learning activities.

Good to know: If you would like to participate but are confronted with particular barriers, or have special needs, please let us know via the application form or by getting in touch with us directly! The programme foresees the possibility to provide financial support for such candidates to enable them to participate.

The pre-selection of participants from the ENCC network will be conducted by the ENCC staff. The final selection will be agreed on by all FULCRUM project partners, with a view to ensuring a balanced representation in terms of gender, origin (urban/rural areas) and size of the selected socio-cultural organisations.

Trainees have now been selected! Here you find who they are and the organisations they represent:

  • Maaike Tubex, from CC De Schakel;

  • Filip Hendrickx, from Cultuurhuis Belgica;

  • Brendan Fox, from Galway Arts Cente;

  • Laura David, from Centre culturel de Huy;

  • Sophie François, from Centre culturel du Brabant Wallon;

  • Jolanda de Witt, from OKH Vöcklabruck;

  • Lucia Delgado, from Frauenhetz;

  • Oksana Jacmenova, from The Unity House;

  • Kuldar Pajula, from Culture house of Kiili;

  • Triino Lest, from Kuressaare Kultuurivara;

  • Alessandro Balestrieri, from Teatro della Caduta;

  • Kira Halfmeier, from Bollwerk 107;

  • Tim Többe, from B-Side

Other selected trainees come frol the following organisations:

  • Bürgerhaus Mahndorf;

  • Il Campanile;

  • Culture house of Tsirguliina;

  • Culture Association of Northern Riga;

  • Kuldiga Center of Culture;

  • Jazzit Salzburg;

  • La Venerie;

  • Kunstwerkt vzw;

  • Kulturni dom Franca Bernika Domžale;

  • GC Schilde

This training programme is part of the Erasmus+ project "FULCRUM - skills development for future-proof socio-cultural centres". The project aims to support socio-cultural organisations to become more sustainable and future-proof, by strengthening skills development and their capability for action (a fulcrum is a pivot point or leverage). The project is a cooperation by partners in Belgium, Austria, Estonia, Germany, Italy, and Latvia, as well as the European Network of Cultural Centres (ENCC). Learn more about FULCRUM here.

For any inquiries, we are here to support you: reach out to Ingrid, our capacity building manager, at ingrid.danckaerts@encc.eu.

  • Browse the photo gallery here - credits: IG Kultur

  • Listen to Audience Development in the Cultural Sector: interview with Jonathan Goodacre here