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FOURTH NEWSLETTER CCI4TOURISM
CULTURAL AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES FOR SUSTAINABLE CULTURAL TOURISM
THE MAIN RESULTS OF THE CCI4TOURISM PROJECT
Adopted Transnational Action Plan of the CCI4Tourism Project
On 30 November 2022, the Business and Cultural Development Centre (KEPA) organized a plenary meeting in Thessaloniki in order to adopt the Transnational Action Plan of the international project CCI4Tourism offering “cultural tourism 4.0” across the entire Adriatic-Ionian Region. The meeting was coordinated by KEPA external consultants Stavros Mantzanakis and Eleftheria Ntonou and attended by 27 representatives of the nine project partners.
After the opening addresses by Angeliki Barakli from the KEPA Centre and Davide De Nicolò from the leading project partner, company Tecnopolis STP, the moderators presented ten initially proposed project actions, which were then additionally analysed and amended by the attendees using the provided efficient methodology.
The plenary meeting was the perfect setting to present all the newly formed project ideas making up the final transnational action plan for Adriatic-Ionian cultural tourism. The action plan encompasses five actions ranging from marketing to content aspects of cultural tourism while also tackling digitalization issues, which has had the greatest impact on the tourism offer:
1. Development of a regional accelerator of cultural creative industries in the Adrion Region.
2. Training entrepreneurs in creative industries on how to increase the economic value of their offer.
3. Allocating vouchers to corporative schemes that include tourism companies and providers in cultural creative industries.
4. Digitalization of cultural heritage and its accessibility to the wider public.
5. From inspiring awards to experiencing the unexplored.
KEPA Centre’s external consultant Eleftheria Ntonou from Helenos Consulting attested: “Considering the current trends in cultural tourism, the goal of the current action plan is to provide the tools and concrete recommendations to policy-makers, economic entities, and key stakeholders to make cultural and creative industries the driving force in a renewed cultural tourism offer.”
The meeting in Thessaloniki was concluded with a discussion about the second important document of the CCI4Tourism project, the Transnational Strategy to strengthen the knowledge and competences in the field of cultural creative industries.
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| Validation of the action plan. |
CAST INITIATIVE Network
The nine CCI4Tourism project partners founded the CAST Creative and Sustainable Tourism Initiative Network. This is a community of actors co-creating new business model ideas of sustainable cultural tourism both at the local and the transnational level. These new business models will result in sustainable creative and tourist products that will serve as accelerators of regional economic growth on one side and promote sustainable practices on the other.
To achieve its goals, the network strengthened the capabilities of so-called creative hubs that were involved in the CCI4Tourism project, as creative hubs have a crucial role in developing the entrepreneurial skills of individuals and connecting creative cultural professionals. Future, especially young users of the creative hubs—young entrepreneurs—can look forward to the latest training, coaching, tutoring, as well as business services and support in including them in the creative, cultural, and technological sector.
The website for the CAST initiative is available at www.cast-initiative.eu.
Closing Event of the CCI4Tourism Project
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| The closing event of the three-year CCI4Tourism project was held in Thessaloniki on 1 December 2022. The project’s main focus was strengthening the entrepreneurial skills of professionals in cultural and creative industries for the valorization of cultural heritage and the development of sustainable tourism models in the Adriatic-Ionian Region. |
The closing event was hosted by the project partner KEPA (Thessaloniki) and was attended by the nine partners as well as project beneficiaries and other guests. It was a good opportunity for the international project partners to present the key project results and most impactful experience.
Although much of the execution of the CCI4Tourism project was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the partners achieved all the major project goals. They carried out a range of diverse activities and prepared two important documents as the basis for establishing the project goals, i.e., the Transnational Strategy for Strengthening the Knowledge and Competences in the Field of Cultural Creative Industries and the Transnational Action Plan for Offering “Cultural Tourism 4.0” Across the Entire Adriatic-Ionian Region.
The Transnational Action Plan is composed of five actions providing the key stakeholders with the tools to make cultural and creative industries the driving force for a renewed cultural tourism offer.
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| Claudia Baracchini, Friuli Innovazione Research and Technology Transfer Centre |
As Claudie Baracchini from the Friuli Innovazione (FINN) Research and Technology Transfer Centre describes, the Transnational Strategy outlines the priority tasks to be common standards of success, a digital and green knowledge centre, inclusion on the international market, and reciprocal learning and networking.
Along with the Transnational Strategy, Claudia Baracchini also presented the guidelines to support cultural creative industries on the tourism market in the Adrion Region. Katarina Sekirnik from the Development Agency Sora (RAS) from Slovenia and Jana Puškar from the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina (FEP) highlighted the pilot action mechanism that has proven to be a useful support tool in the hybridization of both sectors.
The attendees of the CCI4Tourism closing event agreed that one of the key elements was the noticeable improvement of the entrepreneurial skills of actors working in the field of cultural and creative industries, i.e., the founders of local creative hubs that form the network of the CAST INITIATIVE creative hubs. The focuses of the local creative hubs and the specialization of operations were presented at the closing event by Tamara Paleka and Branka Nakić from the Zadar Country Rural Development Agency (AGRRA) and Vladimir Amidžić from the City Development Agency Banja Luka (CIDEA).
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| Along with CCI4Tourism, two other projects were being carried out as part of the ADRION project subsection: EMOUNDERGROUNDS and CREATURES. The partners in these projects prepared a document for policy-makers in the field of cultural heritage and signed a joint memorandum entitled “An Adrion Observatory for Culture and Tourism Sectors”. |
RELEVANT LOCAL EVENTS
AGRRA
On 10 and 11 December 2022, the Zadar Country Rural Development Agency (AGRRA) held a weekend workshop entitled Creative Dialogues as part of the AGRRA Creative hubs. The workshop, held in the Bure Centre in Biograd na Moru, featured entrepreneurs from cultural and creative industries from Zadar who were discovered by AGRRA through the CCI4Tourism project. The entrepreneurs shared how to use one’s own talent to found one’s own company.
Senka Lončar, a painter from Zadar attested that one of the things the entrepreneurs who took part in the CCI4Tourism project “learned was to monetize their creativity.” Anđela Ledenko Pešut, whose hobby of making balloon decorations grew into a family company, is pleased to have been part of a project in which she saw as a unique opportunity to “meet with people who are trying to achieve the same as you and are succeeding.”
The second day of the workshop included a presentation of professional product photography equipment. Those entrepreneurs who wanted to use the opportunity to have their products professionally photographed were delighted to attend the presentation.
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| Creative dialogue |
CIDEA
Creative Hub 78 in Banja Luka hosted an event entitled Creative Dialogues as part of the CCI4TOURISM project. The event, which highlighted the role of cultural creative industries in tourism development, featured 360° VR films about Banja Luka and a promotional video about the symbol of the town of Banja Luka – the Dayak boat. The attendees were able to exchange both the creative ideas that could contribute to local tourism development as well as their views on the activities that have already been carried out by CIDEA.
IRI
3ANGLE Hub, the cultural and creative industry accelerator working as part of the IRI Centre in Kaštel Novi, developed and promoted two digital education programs as part of the CCI4Tourism project: Digital Marketing and How to Code with No Code. The programs are designed for individuals working in the field of cultural and creative industries, but can also be utilized by people from other sectors.
The courses can be found on the website 3angle.org—under the E-learning section (https://3angle.org/e-learning/)—and are available to anyone looking to upgrade either their marketing skills or their knowledge of digital products. The digital marketing course was developed by experienced marketing experts and aims to improve skills of the available digital tools and boost online promotion and sales, while the course How to Code with No Code provides an introduction to using systems with no code to develop digital products, such as digital guides or educational applications.
The videos are easily accessible: just enter your e-mail address in the field under the desired course and you will receive an e-mail with the instructions and materials.
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Stand-up and Open Doors Day
On 17 November, the Open Doors Day of the 3ANGLE Hub, which is part of the IRI Centre, took place in the modern loft of the high school in Kaštel Novi. The event showcased both past and future projects of the creative hub and invited creative entrepreneurs to join the hub team in creating innovative business stories.
Ana Ban, head of the creative hub, explained that the Center IRI is an entrepreneurial support organisation working to strengthen local, regional, and national capacities for research, innovation, and business growth. In this context, the 3ANGLE Hub focuses on the digitalisation of the creative industries and organises a number of workshops and seminars that bring together local stakeholders in the cultural and creative industries.
Since 3ANGLE Hub is all about creativity, the organisers ended the Open Doors Day on a creative note. They brought their activities closer to the locals with an evening of stand-up comedy at the Kaštela Coop Agricultural Cooperative, where Ante Tavizi, Ivica Lazaneo, Josip Škiljo, and Tomislav Primorac gave the audience a good laugh and warmed them up. The laughter was followed by dancing, hosted by DJ Josip Škiljo.
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CONTACT
Mateja Simčič
Project coordinator at RDA Green Karst
mateja@rra-zk.si
+386(0)5 72 12 243
The project is financially supported by the European Union, INTERREG ADRION (Adriatic-Ionian) Programme 2014–2020.
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