New mobility opportunities for the ECHN members!

September always brings new beginnings, and to open the new season, ECHN is launching 4 brand-new mobility opportunities for the hub members of our network!

A new section on the ECHN website is now ready to be explored. Through the Programs tab you can browse the current open calls for members and apply for the learning and mobility opportunity that suits you the most.

The application deadline for most open calls is on the 13th October, so hurry up and don’t miss the chance to let your hub’s members and staff go on professional and upskilling journeys around Europe
If you have any questions regarding one of the open calls, join us at the Info Day session on Wednesday 21st 5pm (CET), where we will help you navigate the application process for the programs.

Sign up for the Q&A session on the link here.

The following open calls will be launched yearly, and will stay open for applications until the 1th October:

  • Staff Exchange: a mobility program powered by ECHN that enables staff members of the network’s hubs to visit another creative hub and gain valuable working experience and innovations to introduce in their own hub upon their return. 10 ECHN members will be selected for a tailored exchange that can vary in time (from 1 week to 3 months) and format (job shadowing, lectures, hands-on experience etc).

  • Peer to Peer Learning Program: Peer learning is a collaborative way of learning from each other and developing new concepts and ideas with people engaged in the same or relevant field of work. 10 Hub managers or cultural or creative professionals will be selected every year to be part of a peer-to-peer learning program that aims to engage leading, established, and innovative creative hubs with peers from emerging creative hubs across Europe. The idea of the exchanges is to seek new formats of cross-sectoral cooperation, to initiate projects of co-creation or collaborative plans, as well as to share knowledge and expertise across Europe. Participants will also receive a budget to create an event at the hosting hub venue.

  • ECHN Workshops: Creative hubs are storehouses of expertise and 21st century skills for the CCIs. For this reason, ECHN is launching a new pilot learning program where different hubs will have the opportunity to hold their own workshops addressed to other hub managers and culture and creative professionals. Every year, one creative hub from the ECHN network will be selected and supported for the organisation of a learning workshop open to the public. Smaller hub members will be prioritised to be selected to take on this task. Applicants will share their workshop proposal and the members of the network will have the chance to vote on the proposal they prefer. The workshops can be based on a blended model of learning.

The fourth mobility program will be open all year round:

  • Hubs Alliance: a dedicated long-term program for free travel and work of hub members across all the joining hubs of the Alliance. The participating hubs can apply to this program to form a Europe-wide workspace and give the opportunity to their members to spend up to five days working in another creative hub. The cultural and creative professionals of the network can travel with the security of a workspace and an accommodation, making it easier for them to travel, connect and exchange ideas with the peers and the local scene of the hosting hub.
  • A dedicated long term program of travel and work for creative hub’s members across the Alliance. To become a member of the Alliance, participating Hubs make available workspace to welcome external community members and, in return, allow their community to access workspaces across Europe, with all expenses covered for up to 5 days in the host hub! The cultural and creative professionals of the network can then travel with the security of a workspace and an accommodation, making it easier for them to connect and exchange ideas with the peers and the local scene of the hosting hub.

We are currently opening the doors of the Hubs Alliance to create a network within the network of hubs willing to broaden their workspace across Europe!

Join the Alliance here, and you will be the first ones to appear on the Alliance map!

It is of utmost importance to stay united and create a large scale Alliance for the creative and cultural professionals that populate our hubs 💪 Disseminate these open calls among your community to give them the opportunity to join our learning and mobility programs!