ArtEZ, HKU, and AHK explore how creative professionals can collaborate more effectively with SMEs
- Entrepreneurship
How can (art) students and creative professionals add value to medium and small businesses (SMEs)? This question was the focal point of a large-scale, two-year study conducted by the Amsterdam School of the Arts (AHK), the University of the Arts Utrecht (HKU), and ArtEZ University of the Arts, financed by Regieorgaan SIA. The experiences and outcomes are documented in an online magazine 'Creatief Talent Werkt,' (Creative Talent Works) and it was presented on September 28th during a symposium.
Hoe kunnen (kunst)studenten en creatieve professionals van meerwaarde zijn voor midden- en kleine bedrijven? Die vraag stond centraal in een grootschalig, tweejarig onderzoek dat de Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (AHK), de Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (HKU) en ArtEZ University of the Arts samen hebben uitgevoerd. Het onderzoek werd gefinancierd door Regieorgaan SIA. De ervaringen en uitkomsten zijn opgeschreven in een online magazine 'Creatief Talent Werkt' en werden op 28 september gepresenteerd tijdens een symposium.
Creatief Talent Werkt (CTW) is about collaborating with emerging creative professionals. With this initiative, three art universities (HKU, AHK, and ArtEZ) aim for a sustainable collaboration with organizations within and outside the arts. The potential of creative talent is enormous, as noted by SMEs and representatives from the public sector. Creatives possess innovative power necessary to approach complex issues from a different perspective and propose unconventional solutions. To fully leverage creative talent, it's crucial to understand the challenges that make collaboration effective.
Read the magazine here (in Dutch)
Sustainable collaboration with SMEs
In the online magazine, you will find, among other things, an interview with Carin Rustema, a researcher and facilitator who contributed to this research from ArtEZ. Alongside students from the ArtEZ master's course Werkplaats Typografie, Carin investigated how, from ArtEZ, we can establish sustainable collaborations with SMEs beyond the walls of the art academy. She talks, among other things, about the collaboration she initiated with Het HEM from the Werkplaats Typografie and how she organized a special course with Pakhuis de Zwijger. You can read the full interview with Carin via this link.
Read the interview with Carin here (in Dutch)
ArtEZ Business Centre
The ArtEZ Business Centre (ABC) from ArtEZ contributed to this research. The ABC assists alumni and students in navigating cultural entrepreneurship. To do this well, the ABC explores and collects current developments and professional knowledge around art entrepreneurship and maintains networks that matter. They also regularly organize events for alumni and students on cultural entrepreneurship and help students with special vouchers to take their first steps as entrepreneurs.
The research was funded by the Regieorgaan SIA and aimed to make (art) students valuable to SMEs through an innovation traineeship, in the broadest sense of the term.