"Workshop of Culture Practitioners: Mapping Experience"

Educational platform for professional development, personal growth, and establishing and supporting partnerships in the field of culture. ‍ 

Despite the image of the culture sector, which constantly needs to prove its pertinence and effectiveness, Ukrainian cultural institutions mobilized fast as a lightning and offered assistance in a disastrous situation.  
The second iteration of the Workshop of Culture Practitioners focused on the key question of “Why do we need culture in a country fighting a defensive war?” It aims to help participants to bring together and reflect on the institutional experience of work in the first eight months of the war; to analyze what form we can put it in so that it can help others and help us grow; to re-purpose ourselves in an environment that has also changed or is currently undergoing the change, and to re-evaluate the opportunities and value of partnerships; to understand the needs of their new audiences and the ways to interact with them; to see and formulate new goals and objectives that the culture now faces: (self)decolonization, de-occupation, overcoming trauma); and to look strategically and with optimism into the future.

This project is implemented by the Department of Cultural Studies of the Ukrainian Catholic University with the support of the ZMIN Foundation.  

 "Workshop of Cultural Practitioners", based on the principles of openness, cooperation, dialogue and development, focuses primarily on adults already engaged in the cultural sphere, seeking to grow personally and professionally.

The program is based on the idea of ​​cultural practice as a creator of new ideas and practices, building bridges between different spheres of public life, able to initiate and implement individual projects, intensify existing cultural institutions, form networks of various partnerships, caring for local communities, analyze resources for the cultural, social and economic development of the city, to offer a quality competitive cultural product. ‍

Training modules focus on defining competencies in cultural practice and creating a professional network, finding resources for personal and institutional development, forming a value-oriented understanding of culture, familiarity with the theory and tools of change management, mastering participatory methods and effective interaction in culture. Acquired knowledge and competencies of the participants of the program while working on the project of the desired change for the organization or institution through the outline, which is presented at the end of the program in public defence. ‍