This is not a goodbye… just a see you later!

CONNECT has reached its end and now it’s time to make a balance and thank each of you for your being part of it.

We started back in January 2017 with a lot of energy and also some concerns about the looooong list of deliverables that was waiting for us and some insecurities about the big challenge of having to co-design the Twin-Track Programme (TTP)

Here we are in Deusto after our Kick-off meeting! 3 years younger!!!!

After this, many Skypes took place to define our methodological framework and to prepare the launch our research activities. We have to thank all those cultural practitioners all over Europe that accepted to respond our survey; all those students that took part in focus groups or in-depth interviews and all those academics and training providers that sent us information about their programmes and answered all our questions. If you are interested in our findings, you can look into our research reports. Based on the results of the survey, we have even publish the following guide: Becoming an audience-centred organisation. Guidelines for developing an audience approach at cultural organisations.

In the second semester of 2017, with the research findings on our minds, all our efforts went to the co-design of the TTP. So, we met for one week in Warsaw… As Anne explains in her video, after a lot of divergent thinking (including a point of some anxiety), we finally came out with the backbone of our TTP.

The output of the Warsaw mobility: the TTP skeleton

After this, we worked hard in detailing all the syllabuses that we have published on our website in a compendium that might be inspiring for you. Do you want to know the details? Then go ahead and download it!!!

At the same time that this structure was setup and further developed, the mentoring scheme was also being defined and in June 2018, we all met again in Rome and learnt a lot about mentoring tools thanks to Adrian and Sian, our Goldsmiths experts. Do you also want to learn some mentoring exercises? There you go: download our toolkit for mentors!!

In Rome, we also had the opportunity to meet local cultural professionals and policy makers during the event “Connect Rome - Conversations on Audience Development, Cultural policies and Higher Education”. In September, more discussions took place during the Warsaw Forum.

And, after Rome, the big moment had arrived. We launched our call for participants and started to organise all the logistics for the delivery of the TTP in the different hubs. First, Denmark in September, then Spain and Poland in October and finally Italy and the UK in November. A big thank you to all the students and practitioners that decided to join our international community. A community that was nurtured with the learning mobilities in Turin (January 2019) and Bilbao (November 2019).

Family photo of the Turin mobility ?

After Turin, most of our participants started to first design and then implement their action research projects and soon the mentoring schemes were activated. Many challenges came across and different solutions were adopted and so, step by step, we slowly arrived to the end in all our hubs. On our YouTube channel you can watch videos where some of the projects are summarized (e.g. Prado Museum, ZAWP) or some of the participants talk about their experience (e.g. Italian participants, UK participants) and even some mentor-mentee interviews (e.g. Spanish / Danish).

Finally, during this last bit of the project that has taken place since the summer, we have analysed dozens of materials, and reflected and discuss among us, partners. What has worked? What has not worked that well? What have been the outcomes? And the impact? All this process has been reflected on paper in the evaluation report, the monitoring report and the recommendations on validation. You have all the three reports online, so, if you are interested, go ahead!

And… what happens next?? Well, Poland, Italy and Spain are already running an adapted second edition of the TTP and UK and Denmark are also planning to do so. We have also applied for a Knowledge Alliances (call 2020) project to continue building on Connect’s legacy. Fingers crossed and keep posted!!!!