Mission
By sharing our cultural values and our cross-sectoral and international perspectives, we aim at building a more resilient, collaborative, and innovative European cultural sector. We are convinced that, through the CultureSharing network, every professional, at any stage of their career, can truly thrive thanks to mentorship, collective intelligence, and intergenerational cooperation.
Vision
Through mentoring and supporting individuals, institutions and organizations we strengthen the European cultural sector, making it more resilient, sustainable, diverse and dynamic. Our synergetic experience and knowledge enhance new ideas, transitions and development, encouraging cooperation instead of competition. We commit ourselves to contribute to a more inclusive and promising future for all.
The CultureSharing – European Network for Cultural Mentoring is an informal structure, which connects individuals, who are working in a broad sphere of culture, especially as: project managers, production managers, organizers, artists of various fields of arts, cultural activists and cultural animators, tutors, mentors, academic teachers, researchers, journalists. The network’s scope of activity is Europe and chosen non-european countries.
The network is consolidated among shared values, such as:
→ mutual aid – helping, sharing and exchanging knowledge, skills, experience, attitude among professionals in culture
→ research into new tools for development cultural and artistic area
→ taking an advantage of the diversity of Network’s members’ profiles and the variety of cultural fields in which it operates
→ mutual exchange between professionals in the cultural sector, in different fields, and at European level
→ horizontal and inclusive relationships between mentors and mentees
→ cooperation over competition.
The Network’s aims are:
→ facilitating access to diverse cultural perspectives and practices
→ enabling the recipient (artists, authors, project leaders, producers, leaders ect.) to gain diverse viewpoints through mentoring by professionals from various European countries, broadening their understanding of international cultural issues
→ supporting the development of projects on a European scale, by helping project leaders navigate the cultural, administrative, and legal specificities of different European countries while fostering cross-border cooperation and co-development
→ encouraging innovation through cultural diversity, via offering mentoring that promotes creativity, innovation, and resilience, nourished by a plurality of traditions and working methods from diverse cultures
→ providing tailored support for European artistic projects via development mentoring paths adapted to recipients’ needs who wish to expand or export across multiple European markets, offering them an expanded view of international opportunities and challenges
→ strengthening the resilience of local cultural actors, by providing local artists, organizations and institutions with the tools to stand out on the European and global stage
→ influencing and initiating the processes of shaping the culture management policies and strategies on local, regional and European levels
With realisation of the objectives the Network plans to achieve:
→ preventing the isolation of cultural actors
→ opening the cultural sector up to different models of operation and management
→ sharing experience and good practice
→ encouraging the networking
→ developing of the cultural projects – increasing efficiency, quality, sustainability, durability of the impact of their results
→ deepening of multicultural understanding
→ finding with the recipients real solutions of some particular challenges they face in their daily work
→ preventing thinking about the other cultural actors as a competition.
To fulfill its aims the Network’s activities are built on the individual tailor-made approach using:
→ mentoring
→ mentoring circles for groups of mentees
→ “peer to peer” exchange
→ cross mentoring
→ professional coaching
→ collaborative work
→ collective intelligence
→ tool development
→ audit and evaluation tools
→ consulting
→ teaching and training.
Since the network is an informal structure at this stage, all decisions are made by consensus determination or by majority vote of all members. The network is open to new members – in particular, individuals who are graduates of the Mastère Spécialisé Européen en Management des Entreprises Culturelles in Dijon, as well as, in the future, other experienced cultural professionals. When necessary for more effective management, we are open to the possibility of formalizing the network’s structures.