Tallinn Creative Hub
Local Action Plan 2014 1st draft
15.04.2014
I) OVERVIEW
Tallinn Creative Hub is a provider of supportive environment and platform for
CCI sector, improving the business competence in CCI.
Our mission is to stimulate sustainable growth and innovation in CCI, and also
between culture and creative industry by creating new tools and methods for
future.
Tallinn Creative Hub goals and vision in context of Creative SpIN project
-Promoting alternative culture tourism. In addition to the traditional sites
tourists come to visit Tallinn has a big alternative culture scene waiting to be
discovered. Ideally working towards developing new urban spaces in which
culture, creativity and functionality are a uniting factor for the local community.
-Encourage entrepreneurship among creative individuals, encouraging
innovative and interdisciplinary products and services, encouraging export of
those (and therefore also creating new jobs).
-Encourage dialogue for change.
Contributing to changing the strategy of funding interdisciplinary projects
(program designed especially for Creative SpIN project in coordination with
Entrepreneurship program and Free City project)
Encourage dialogue between politicians and policy-makers with CCI and local
communities
-Taking an active role in Estonian cultural export
-Joining and actively participating in new international networks
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Our advantages
-Tallinn Creative Hub has already recognized the importance of interdisciplinary
and cross-sectorial cooperation projects and is actively working to build
competences in this area.
-Tallinn Creative Hub has competences in different areas as well as a wide
network of partners in different fields both locally and internationally (different
universities and organizations in the creative sector).
-We are integrating Creative SpIN project into our already existing
developments, projects and events to test the efficiency existing formats and
create new ones.
Challenges
-Limited means to find funding for interdisciplinary projects.
-Local Support Group- building a new LSG is a priority. Right now we have a
small group of people- TCH project managers with a wide range of expertise in
different areas. As a wider Local Support group we have the project managers‘
network of people and advisors. We are designing a new structure for the LSG,
keeping in mind that these people would stay as informal advisors to use even
after the CS project has officially ended. Building the LSG will be in cooperation
with Entrepreneurship mentor group, it will include people from Urban Garden
open-call jury and key partners from universities.
-Non-entrepreneur attitude among in the creative and culture sector.
-Bringing together and involving different institutions, local communities, and
local government on a regular basis, not just for isolated projects.
-Involving politicians into task groups that are by nature non-political but rather
a local community working together to better circumstances.
-Finding the right tools to measure the outcomes and impact of the actions.
Dissemination plan.
-All the available Tallinn Creative Hub channels: different parts of our websites;
our Facebook pages; our produced events and venues.
-Depending on the event. SISU- appropriate project partners‘ and networks‘
channels
-Our financers’‘ channels
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-Different national and private TV, radio, newspaper, magazines, websites (news,
events, profile pieces, interviews etc).
-Social media, blogs, and other alternative channels
II) LOCAL ACTION PLAN 2014
This action plan is devised to support our goals and vision and target the
challenges using Tallinn Creative Hub’s resources- developments, projects and
network as tools.
Our different developments- Makerlab, Urban Garden, Entrepreneurship
program, Concrete Theater project, Experimental Kitchen and Café Kanala,
Foodlab, Residency program, Free City project, Stalker festival and New
Circus Development Center - are working together closely not just in theory
but in practice. We always try to combine different projects and events to have a
wider range of expertise included, to achieve a bigger impact and a better
outcome.
The smaller Local Support Group – Tallinn Creative Hub project managers- was
assembled to devise this Local Action Plan, taking into account all the
possibilities each of our development and projects have to offer.
PROCESSES
-Encouraging dialogue for change, bringing together communitiesTarget group: policy makers, CCI, local organizations of citizens, city
developers, activists, different Development Centers, local communities.
Organizing is supported by: Entrepreneurship program, Free City project,
Residencies program, Urban Garden, The Concrete Theater project
Financing: EAS, European Committee, Archimedes, Cultural Endowment of
Estonia, Hasartmängumaksu nõukogu
Actions:
-Organized meetings (roundtables, seminars, luncheons, workshops etc- specific
method to be specified during the process) for policy makers, CCI, local
communities to:
-introduce the importance of creative aspect and arts to policy makers
-to encourage changing policy on project financing systems to make them more
flexible and suitable for interdisciplinary projects
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-to bring together community representatives and the citizens to find out what
are the real challenges people are facing and what solutions can we come up
with collectively by bringing together groups of people with different skills.
The key question is to identify the real needs and problems in each of these
categories and to find sustainable tools for having a real impact on the
community.
Urban Garden is an ideal place for these events. The possibilities in that space
are are flexible. It is also a testing model for our future bigger premises and
platform.
The expected outcome of these meeting is practical, for example: a task group of
people focusing on specific problems and solving them using what the creative
industry has to offer; a study; a methodology; a proposal for local government;
new project ideas etc. It is hard to predict the specific outcome right now in
advance, it will depend on the specific people who will take part in the meetings.
Possibly bringing in an external expert with experience to teach us methodology
and/or moderate the event.
The important thing to take into account in these processes is that for these
meetings to be successful we need to include a large variety of skills and
knowledge- experts in specific fields, people with vision and ideas, key
stakeholders, the target group of the outcome, people with connections, people
with knowledge of financial management, people with project management skills
etc.
-Residency Program as a development was launched in autumn 2013. The
international program is trans-disciplinary as a whole: it is a platform of various
fields, cultures, themes, (social) movements, political thoughts, etc. The program
is supporting emerging and also established artists and professionals, active
theoreticians and practitioners from different fields like creative education,
community arts, fashion design, street art, circus, comics and cartoon,
journalism, (experimental) music, science, food culture, start-up business,
human rights, etc. The program is aimed at providing a supportive environment;
promoting cross-cultural dialogue and collaboration; crossing borders of
disciplines, fields and geography; encouraging public discourse, thoughtful and
respectful dialogue, exchange and exploration. The Residency Program
follows the idea according to what culture holds a mirror up to society, and that
it provides creative ways for us to understand and deal with differences, opens
up different public discussions and debates, among other things, about the forms
and intensity of the connections of art/culture, status of an artist, freedom of
speech and freedom of expression, etc.
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-Artistic Intervention.
Timeframe: next training in May 2014
Introduction to the methodology was introduced as a part of The Concrete
Theater project and the work continues with ‚managers‘ training to execute
artistic interventions in Estonia in the future. The process includes not only
teaching the methodology to the future managers but also studying how the
project is received here, how to offer this service to best suit the needs of both
companies and the artist. Based on success-stories, this serves as a way to
introduce creative and artistic approaches to the work environment and
everyday life of people who otherwise might not be exposed to the arts scene
and/or need a creative way to tackle problems that have not been solved with
conventional methods.
-Encouraging entrepreneurship and export of products/servicesTarget group: CCI, different age groups.
Organizing is supported by: Entrepreneurship program, Makerlab, Foodlab
Financing: EAS
Actions:
-Entrepreneurship program.
Timeframe: ongoing
In addition to developing further the projects in the entrepreneurship
programmed, we are making changes in our service design. Interviews with
partners have showed that an approach needs to be devised that will make the
process easier for people who have no prior entrepreneurship experience. The
keyword is gamification and testing this approach is already in action. Building
an international mentor group to help with reaching international markets is an
ongoing process. An important part is the educational program (see below).
The goal of our Entrepreneurship program is not just to encourage
entrepreneurship but to promote and develop the CCI in Estonia.
-An independent part of Tallinn Creative Hub, but also a vital part that works
together with the Entrepreneurship program is our newly opened Makerlab that
provides a space for experimenting with products and making prototypes.
Makerlab is a place for individuals and groups of people who want to create.
Tallinn Creative Hub Makerlab is the first of its kind in Estonia- it is open to
everybody and it welcomes both professionals and beginners alike. Makerlab
encourages people to find creative solutions from fixing household appliances to
designing and making prototypes of products and it has the capacity to produce
the products on a smaller scale. Makerlab has the capacity to manufacture the
products on a smaller scale, giving people the chance to develop their product
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and also become an entrepreneur. The purpose is to invigorate the creative
industry and art scenery to encourage new businesses. Since the Makerlab has
just been opened, an important goal for 2014 is to test our service design- how to
best reach our target audience and how to best help young entrepreneurs and
makers achieve their goals.
-Experimental Kitchen and Café Kana is a platform for developing new,
experimental and innovative food products as well as creating new businesses
dedicated to creative food industry.
-Cultural tourism and export of Estonian (contemporary) cultureTarget group: people who are interested in contemporary (alternative
culture)
Organizing is supported by: Urban Garden event program, Stalker
Showcase festival, Entrepreneurship program and Makerlab, New Circus
Development Center, street art, local communities
Financing: EAS, City of Tallinn
Timeframe: ongoing
Actions:
-Tallinn Creative Hub is dedicated to promoting alternative culture tourism. In
addition to the traditional sites tourists come to visit Tallinn has a big alternative
culture scene waiting to be discovered. The program in the Urban Garden is
devised in a way that it would offer a large variety of events for different target
groups. We strive to have events that are innovative, community uniting, aimed
at different age groups. The area of Kalamaja where Tallinn Creative Hub Urban
Garden and our future premises are located is a beloved neighborhood of
creative people and businesses. Estonian Art Academy’s building also relocated
there as of recently. This is a good basis for developing the area into an
alternative culture area that is a destination for locals and tourists.
Program in the garden is divided into 3 parts: public (open call for summer
projects in the garden); our own productions; other promoters‘ events. The
open call is a chance for everybody (private citizens, organizations, groups of
people etc) who wishes to execute their event ideas in the urban public setting.
This is a chance for everybody to create the kind of environment they want to
live in, a chance to speak up about what kind of events, happenings they want to
have in the urban space. This is a chance for them also be the executer of their
own ideas provided that the projects are innovative, accessible to everybody and
oriented towards uniting the community. Every new project has the potential to
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reach new target groups and every successful project has the potential to inspire
more creativity and new projects. The jury of the open call consists of our project
managers and other experts in different fields, whom we also consider to be out
larger Local Support Group. Tallinn Creative Hub has a wide network of different
local and international promoters and organizations to ensure that a variety of
events are represented and to attract even more unique interdisciplinary
productions
In addition to the Urban Garden program, the Stalker Showcase festival is
working together with other big festivals all year round, which is an important
part of spreading the word about interdisciplinary and alternative projects,
introducing new interesting and upcoming creative people and projects, and
attracting new partners.
The events include: music events, different festivals, theatrical plays,
performances, exhibitions, lifestyle events and outdoor sports activities,
workshops and art classes. A new and welcome trend is to incorporate many
different things into one project.
Examples:
*Vint44- Ping-Pong tournament throughout the summer season that promotes
building a community, propagating sports and active lifestyle that is selfsustainable by organizing successful music events together with the
tournaments.
* Snowball, Art on Wheels, an international street art project. It is a road-trip
through many countries with pre-owned cars that have been painted by different
local artists. It is art, it is art marketing, it is a lifestyle event.
-Urban gardening. The aim is to develop and propagate urban gardening,
spreading the idea of an urban lifestyle, bringing together the communities of
like-minded people. The possibility of urban gardening and implementing selfsustainable gardening in our weather conditions is being further explored. One
of the aims is to bring together hobby gardeners and professional volunteers to
design the process of urban gardening and to build competence in the field. This
includes building our own competences in the field as well as an educational
program for a wider audience who will in turn share their knowledge to further
develop the idea of urban gardening in Tallinn.
*PEOPLE (schools)
-Educational program
Target group:
Organizing is supported by: Entrepreneurship program, Free City project,
Residencies program, Urban Garden, The Concrete Theater project,
Makerlab.
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Financing:
Timeframe: ongoing
Actions: Educational program is an ambitious endeavor, involving almost
every aspect of Tallinn Creative Hub. Each of our developments has an
educational program planned for 2014. In addition to already existing relations
(Viljandi Culture Academy, TTK University of Applied Sciences, Tartu University)
a big emphasis is placed right now to further build a strong network and
partnerships with Estonian Art Academy, Estonian Music and Theater Academy,
Tallinn University, Tallinn University of Technology and Estonian Business
School. In many cases the different parts of Tallinn Creative Hub are joining
forces to develop this interdisciplinary educational program.
In many ways the network of people from different universities serve as our
wider Local Support Group. In addition to working with them on specific
projects, these people are vital to helping us determine bottlenecks, determine
new trends, setting new goals and helping implement them.
-Entrepreneurship program. By entrepreneurship trainings we don’t mean
exclusively training people to become entrepreneurs. It is rather a state of mind,
being active and having a venturesome-state-of-mind attitude we want to spread
among the target group. This program will be most beneficial to Art Academy
students and artists, but is not targeted only for them. Universities are an
important place to find experts to expand the mentor pool for starting
entrepreneurs and to offer internships and training to students.
-Tallinn Creative Hub Makerlab is the first of its kind in Estonia- it is open to
everybody and it welcomes both professionals and beginners alike. Makerlab
encourages people to find creative solutions from fixing household appliances to
designing and making prototypes of products and even producing the products
in the Makerlab. Workshops and educational program are designed to be for
small children, schoolchildren, university students and adults, both professional
and amateurs. Workshops will be integrated with our Entrepreneurship
program, as these two developments support one another. Makerlab is working
closely together with Tallinn Art Academy.
-Foodlab is a professional platform for promoting and developing Estonian local
raw material and new product development. The educational program include
lectures and/or workshops to unite food enthusiast to learn about new ways of
understanding and experimenting with food and propagating ways of healthy
eating for children as well as adults.
-Residencies program is working together and initiating contact mainly with
Tallinn Art Academy, Viljandi Culture Academy, Tallinn University and Estonian
music and Theater Academy, involving both students and lecturers. At first the
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cooperation is meant mainly for the students and lecturers, but as the program
evolves, it will be more open to other interested parties.
-Concrete Theater project has already proved that there is a need and interest
for interdisciplinary projects both on lecturers‘ and student level. The project is
coordinated by Tallinn Creative Hub and brings together Viljandi Culture
Academy and TTK University of Applied Sciences.
-Free City- a series of independent events is designed to bring and hold together
a community of like-minded people who share an interest in open source
technology and improving the urban environment. Free City events are planned
in cooperation with newly opened Makerlab. The prototypes will be produced in
the Makerlab. Depending on the product, it can be used as a basis for conducting
research or used to make project proposal to the local government.
-Right now university students are resource that has not been used effectively
enough to do research in the creative field. A lot of students in the humanities
fields are struggling to find a subject for their thesis. Combining their needs with
the needs of the creative industry would be a win-win situation for everybody:
the student can research a subject matter that is relevant, up-to-date and needed,
and the outcome can be used to make improvements by the organization.
PROJECTS
Projects we see growing out of the processes:
-Active groups of people or a project that is dedicated to involving politicians in
creative world
-Active group that is dedicated to bringing together civic society and local
organizations to communicate their needs and solve them
-Strong interdisciplinary educational program in cooperation with different
developments and other institutions.
-Artistic intervention program
-Strong cultural program to attract tourists
-More entrepreneurs among the creative sector and products for export
-Creating a new attitude towards urban spaces and sustainable environment
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